Switching regulator output capacitor current estimation

1. A method of operating a switching regulator having a power stage coupled to a load through an inductor and a capacitor, the capacitor being a single capacitor or a bank of capacitors in parallel, the method comprising:

controlling operation of the power stage via a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal generated based on a difference between a reference voltage and a load voltage of the load;

sampling the load voltage;

sampling inductor current of the inductor at a lower rate than the load voltage;

estimating capacitor current of the capacitor based on the sampled load voltage;

generating a first modification term based on the sampled inductor current;

generating a second modification term based on the estimated capacitor current;

combining the first and the second modification terms to form a voltage offset;

adjusting the reference voltage by the voltage offset; and

adjusting the PWM signal applied to the power stage based on the adjusted reference voltage.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein adjusting the PWM signal applied to the power stage based on the adjusted reference voltage comprises adjusting a duty cycle of the PWM signal based on the adjusted reference voltage.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein generating the first modification term based on the sampled inductor current and combining the first and the second modification terms to form the voltage offset comprises:

generating a first voltage value from the sampled inductor current;

converting the estimated capacitor current to a second voltage value; and

subtracting the second voltage value from the first voltage value.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising accounting for an equivalent series resistance of the capacitor when estimating the capacitor current.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the capacitor current is estimated using a digital filter and the equivalent series resistance of the capacitor is accounted for when estimating the capacitor current by setting a coefficient of the digital filter to a predetermined value representing the equivalent series resistance.

6. The method according to claim 3 , further comprising filtering the second voltage value so that the second voltage value is non-zero only during transient load conditions.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the capacitor current is estimated as a function of the sampled load voltage, the capacitance of the capacitor, the sampling frequency of the load voltage and an equivalent series resistance of the capacitor.

8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising providing at least one of the sampled inductor current, the estimated capacitor current and an estimate of the load current as external outputs of the switching regulator.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the switching regulator is a multi-phase switching regulator and the power stage comprises a plurality of phases each coupled to the load through a different inductor, wherein operation of each phase is controlled by a different PWM signal generated based on the difference between the reference voltage and the load voltage, wherein each inductor current is sampled at a lower rate than the load voltage, and wherein the first modification term is generated based on a sum of the sampled inductor currents.

10. A switching regulator, comprising:

a power stage for coupling to a load through an inductor and a capacitor; and

a controller operable to:

control operation of the power stage via a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal generated based on a difference between a reference voltage and a load voltage of the load;

sample the load voltage;

sample inductor current of the inductor at a lower rate than the load voltage;

estimate capacitor current of the capacitor based on the sampled load voltage;

generate a first modification term based on the sampled inductor current;

generate a second modification term based on the estimated capacitor current;

combine the first and the second modification terms to form a voltage offset;

adjust the reference voltage by the voltage offset; and

adjust the PWM signal applied to the power stage based on the adjusted reference voltage.

11. The switching regulator according to claim 10 , wherein the controller is operable to adjust a duty cycle of the PWM signal based on the adjusted reference voltage.

12. The switching regulator according to claim 10 , wherein the controller is operable to generate a first voltage value from the sampled inductor current, convert the estimated capacitor current to a second voltage value and subtract the second voltage value from the first voltage value to generate the adjusted reference voltage.

13. The switching regulator according to claim 10 , wherein the controller is further operable to account for an equivalent series resistance of the capacitor when estimating the capacitor current.

14. The switching regulator according to claim 13 , wherein the controller is operable to estimate the capacitor current using a digital filter and account for the equivalent series resistance of the capacitor when estimating the capacitor current by setting a coefficient of the digital filter to a predetermined value representing the equivalent series resistance.

15. The switching regulator according to claim 12 , wherein the controller is further operable to filter the second voltage value so that the second voltage value is non-zero only during transient load conditions.

16. The switching regulator according to claim 10 , wherein the controller is operable to estimate the capacitor current as a function of the sampled load voltage, the capacitance of the capacitor, the sampling frequency of the load voltage and an equivalent series resistance of the capacitor.

17. The switching regulator according to claim 10 , wherein the controller is further operable to provide at least one of the sampled inductor current, the estimated capacitor current and an estimate of the load current as external outputs of the switching regulator.

18. The switching regulator according to claim 10 , wherein the switching regulator is a multi-phase switching regulator and the power stage comprises a plurality of phases each coupled to the load through a different inductor and the same capacitor, wherein the controller is operable to control operation of each phase by a different PWM signal generated based on the difference between the reference voltage and the load voltage, wherein the controller is operable to sample each inductor current at a lower rate than the load voltage, and wherein the controller is operable to generate the first modification term based on a sum of the sampled inductor currents.

19. The switching regulator according to claim 10 , wherein the capacitor is a single capacitor or a bank of capacitors in parallel.

20. A multi-phase switching regulator, comprising:

a power stage comprising a plurality of phases each of which is coupled to a load through a different inductor and an output capacitor; and

a controller operable to sample a load voltage of the load, sample a total inductor current for all of the phases at a lower rate than the load voltage, estimate output capacitor current of the capacitor based on the sampled load voltage, generate a first modification term based on the sampled total inductor current, generate a second modification term based on the estimated capacitor current, combine the first and the second modification terms to form a voltage offset.

21. The multi-phase switching regulator according to claim 20 , wherein the controller is further operable to provide the sampled total inductor current and the estimated output capacitor current as external outputs of the multi-phase switching regulator.

22. The multi-phase switching regulator according to claim 20 , wherein the output capacitor is a single capacitor or a bank of capacitors in parallel.