Power Converter With Capacitive Energy Transfer And Fast Dynamic Response

Abstract

A converter circuit and related technique for providing high power density power conversion includes a reconfigurable switched capacitor transformation stage coupled to a magnetic converter (or regulation) stage. The circuits and techniques achieve high performance over a wide input voltage range or a wide output voltage range. The converter can be used, for example, to power logic devices in portable battery operated devices.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A voltage regulator configured to receive a first voltage signal and generate a second voltage signal based, at least in part, on the first voltage signal, the voltage regulator comprising:
 a switched magnetic stage comprising an input terminal, a magnetic storage element, and an output terminal, the switched magnetic stage configured to provide a first output voltage signal at the output terminal based, at least in part, on an input voltage received at the input terminal; and   a switched capacitor converter comprising at least one input terminal and an output terminal, wherein the switched capacitor converter is configured to receive, at the at least one input terminal, an input voltage signal for a portion of a time period, and to provide a second output voltage signal at the output terminal based, at least in part, on the received input voltage signal,   wherein the second voltage signal is based, at least in part, on the first output voltage signal and the second output voltage signal.