The application relates to an electric converter for converting AC or DC input into an electric AC or DC output. A swap circuit with controllable electric switches serves to selectively swap connection of a plurality of DC power banks (DCBs) between an input terminal and an output terminal, thus selectively connecting the DCBs to an electric source or an electric load. The DCBs are formed as series of interconnected submodules (SMs) each having electric energy storage elements (ESEs) and a switching circuit for selectively by-passing or connecting the ESEs. By properly controlling the swap circuit and the switching of the SMs, the converter can be used for DC-AC, DC-DC, AC-DC, or AC-AC conversion, allowing multilevel output.

Disclosed are a voltage switching circuit and a power adapter having the same. The voltage switching circuit comprises a first switching circuit having a first terminal receiving a first voltage from a first converter, and a second switching circuit having a first terminal receiving a second voltage from a second converter. Second terminals of the first and second switching circuits are electrically connected to form a switching terminal for outputting an output voltage. When the output voltage is required to be switched from the first voltage to the second voltage, the first switching circuit is controlled to be turned off and then the second switching circuit is controlled to be turned on, and when a voltage at the first terminal of the second switching circuit is higher than a preset voltage, the second converter is shut down or kept off.

A single inductor multiple output DC-to-DC converter may be configured as a buck-boost converter. The converter may include an inductor, a plurality of switches coupled to the inductor to control energizing and deenergizing phases of the inductor, and a plurality of output rails. Each of the plurality of output rails may include at least one switch, which is configured to connect the output rail to the inductor of the buck-boost converter. Depending on the energizing and deenergizing patterns of the inductor, and the state of the one or more switches, the various output rails may be supplied with a plurality of different output voltages and / or output currents. Any of a plurality of regulating strategies may be utilized to further control the output voltages and / or the output currents.

A charge pump having only NMOS devices charges a plurality of capacitors to a parallel charged voltage level by electrically connecting the capacitors in parallel between an input voltage node and a ground by activating a plurality of first NMOS transistor switches and a plurality of second NMOS transistor switches and deactivating a plurality of third NMOS transistor switches. The charge pump then generates a series capacitor output voltage level at a capacitor series output node by electrically connecting and discharging the capacitors in series between the input voltage node and the capacitor series output node by activating the third NMOS transistor switches and deactivating the first NMOS transistor switches and the second NMOS transistor switches.

In described examples, a power management circuit includes a voltage sensor and a differential power converter. The voltage sensor is coupled in series with other voltage sensors between a high voltage bus and a ground bus. The voltage sensor senses a voltage across an impedance and outputs a control signal in response to the sensed voltage. The differential power converter is coupled in series with other differential power converters and in parallel with a load between the high voltage bus and the ground bus. The differential power converter is configured to increase or decrease a supplied current in response to a change in magnitude of the control signal.

A battery powered electronic device can include a wireless power system configured to receive power from a wireless power transmitter, a converter coupled to the wireless power system that converts a voltage from the wireless power system to a battery charging voltage, a battery comprising at least two cells, a power management unit that delivers power from one or more of the at least two cells to one or more subsystems of the electronic device, and a plurality of switching devices connecting the at least two cells, the converter, and the power management unit. The plurality of switching devices can be arranged so that a first switching configuration connects the cells in series for charging from the converter and a second switching configuration connects the cells in parallel for delivering power to the power management unit.

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for adjusting AC-DC converter output voltage, the apparatus includes a plurality of ports, an AC-DC converter circuit, a plurality of DC-DC converters coupled to a plurality of controllers, where the plurality of controllers coupled to corresponding plurality of ports to operate the one or more loads, wherein at least one controller is a master controller and the other plurality of controllers are slave controllers. The master controller configured to determine, from the slave controllers power levels for each port, calculate an optimal input voltage value for the DC-DC converters and communicate the calculated value to the AC-DC converter circuit through a constant current source to regulate the amount of DC voltage that is being supplied to the DC-DC converters to operate the one or more loads, thereby leading to improved system efficiency of multiport USB based power adapter.

A power converter device includes a converter circuit, a detector circuitry, an energy distribution logic circuit, and a ramp generator circuit. The converter circuit is configured to switch charging paths and discharging paths of an inductor according to switching signals, in order to generate output voltages. The detector circuitry is configured to generate error signals according to the output voltages and reference voltages, and respectively compare the error signals with ramp signals, in order to generate decision signals. The energy distribution logic circuit is configured to generate the switching signals and control signals according to the plurality of decision signals. The ramp generator circuit is configured to generate the ramp signals according to the control signals, in which a starting time of each of the ramp signals is different from each other.

A power apparatus applied in a solid state transformer structure includes an AC-to-DC conversion unit, a first DC bus, and a plurality of bi-directional DC conversion units. First sides of the bi-directional DC conversion units are coupled to the first DC bus. Second sides of the bi-directional DC conversion units are configured to form at least one second DC bus, and the number of the at least one second DC bus is a bus number. The bi-directional DC conversion units receive a bus voltage of the first DC bus and convert the bus voltage into at least one DC voltage, or the bi-directional DC conversion units receive at least one external DC voltage and convert the at least one external DC voltage into the bus voltage.

Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to methods and apparatus for continuous current sensing for a single-inductor multiple-output (SIMO) regulator. One example method includes operating a plurality of switches of the SIMO regulator, via a plurality of control signals, according to a plurality of switching states using a switching controller, sensing currents associated with at least a portion of the plurality of switches of the SIMO regulator using a plurality of current sense circuits, and selectively outputting a sense current from one of the plurality of current sense circuits based on a change in the plurality of controls signals occurring between a transition from a first switching state to a second switching state of the plurality of switching states.