A voltage regulating module includes a fine regulating charge pump and a voltage-multiplying charge pump. The first output voltage of the fine regulating charge pump is V.sub.1=m*V.sub.0, a second output voltage of the voltage-multiplying charge pump is V.sub.2=n*V.sub.0, and a total output voltage of the voltage regulating module V=V.sub.1+V.sub.2. V.sub.0 is an input voltage, a value of m ranges from 0 to 1, and n is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

A high voltage is generated from a low supply voltage by a charge pump driven with a pulse generator. A comparator compares the low supply voltage to a predetermined proportion of the high voltage. A low power voltage divider creates the predetermined portion of the high voltage. The comparator output drives the pulse generator, and the pulse generator output resets the comparator. A high voltage to low voltage mode may also be employed using the same arrangement.

Techniques and apparatus for supplying power to gate drivers of a switched-mode power supply (SMPS) circuit. One example power supply circuit generally includes a SMPS circuit having a first input voltage node and a second input voltage node, and a charge pump. The charge pump generally includes a first capacitive element having a first terminal and a second terminal; a first switch coupled between a first input node of the charge pump and the first terminal of the first capacitive element; a second switch coupled between the second terminal of the first capacitive element and a second input node of the charge pump; a third switch coupled between the first terminal of the first capacitive element and the first input voltage node of the SMPS circuit; and a fourth switch coupled between the second terminal of the first capacitive element and the second input voltage node of the SMPS circuit.

The present invention relates to an electrical power energy converter unit for converting Direct Current to Direct Current, DC-DC, with improved efficiency and cold-start capability. In an aspect there is provided a Direct Current to Direct Current, DC-DC, converter for converting a low-voltage input to a higher-voltage output according to a conversion factor for powering a load such as a wireless sensor node, the converter comprising: a first DC-DC converter circuit arranged for converting the low-voltage input to a first higher-voltage output during a start-up mode of the load; a second DC-DC converter circuit arranged for converting the low-voltage input to a second higher-voltage output during an normal operational mode of the load; a control circuit for control of the conversion factor; wherein each of the first and second converter circuit comprises: an input stage for receiving the low-voltage input; an intermediate stage in series with the input stage for converting the low-voltage input to the first higher-voltage or second higher-voltage output circuit at a conversion factor being defined by the ratio between the input and output; a final stage in series with the intermediate stage for outputting the first higher-voltage or the second higher-voltage output; wherein each of the stages comprises: a shared capacitor for boosting voltage of said low-voltage input to said first higher-voltage output of said first converter or to said second higher-voltage output of said second converter.

A charge pump having an input section, and first and second output charge pump sections. The input section includes an input and output node and N input charge pump cells arranged between the input and output nodes. The first output charge pump section includes a first input and output node and M first charge pump cells arranged between the first input and output nodes. The second output charge pump section includes a second input and output node and K second charge pump cells arranged between the second input and output nodes (M, N, K: any integer≥1). The output node of the input charge pump section is coupled with the first input node of the first output charge pump section and with the second input node of the second output charge pump section. The charge pump is configured to provide a first output voltage on the first output node and a second output voltage on the second output node.

Operating a memory unit using a low-power DC source. The low-power DC source provides lesser power than that required to operate the memory unit. In an embodiment, charge from the low-power source is stored on a charge storage device in a first time interval. The memory unit is operated using the charge storage device as a second power source in a second time interval. A portion of one of the first time interval and the second time interval does not overlap with the other one of the first time interval and the second time interval.

Disclosed embodiments may include an integrated circuit (IC) for controlling a switched-capacitor power converter for converting voltage between first and second nodes to voltage between third and fourth nodes for use with a first plurality of switches, a second plurality of switches, a plurality of capacitors, and a plurality of resonance modules. The IC may include a controller that is configured to control the first plurality of switches to be closed and the second plurality of switches to be open to electrically connect the first node to the third node through a first one of the plurality of capacitors in series with a first one of the plurality of resonance modules.

A charge pump circuit includes a sub-circuit, which is a pumping stage circuit or an output stage circuit. The sub-circuit includes an input terminal, an output terminal, a transistor, a first capacitive device, a first diode device, and a second diode device. The transistor has a first source/drain (S/D) terminal coupled with the input terminal, a second S/D terminal coupled with the output terminal, and a gate terminal. The first capacitive device has a first end coupled with the gate terminal of the transistor and a second end configured to receive a first driving signal. The first diode device has a cathode coupled with the second S/D terminal of the transistor and an anode coupled with the gate terminal of the transistor. The second diode device has a cathode coupled with the gate terminal of the transistor and an anode coupled with the second S/D terminal of the transistor.

An apparatus for power conversion includes a switching network that controls interconnections between pump capacitors in a capacitor network that has a terminal coupled to a current source, and a charge-management subsystem. In operation, the switching network causes the capacitor network to execute charge-pump operating cycles during each of which the capacitor network adopts different configurations in response to different configurations of the switching network. At the start of a first charge-pump operating cycle, each pump capacitor assumes a corresponding initial state. The charge-management subsystem restores each pump capacitor to the initial state by the start of a second charge-pump operating cycle that follows the first charge-pump operating cycle.

The invention provides a voltage doubler switched capacitor circuit capable of detecting short circuit of flying capacitor and a detection method thereof. The voltage doubler switched capacitor circuit provides a way to connect the flying capacitor in parallel to the charging path, and calculate whether it is charged to a predetermined voltage in the designed charging time interval, and then it can effectively detect whether the flying capacitor is short-circuited.