Methods and systems for defective phase identification and current sense calibration for multi-phase voltage regulator circuits
View Patent ↗Methods and systems are disclosed that may be implemented to complete individual phase current sense calibration of a multi-phase voltage regulator (VR) and/or to detect any and all individual bad phases of such a VR by utilizing the reconfiguration capability of a digital VR controller-based VR in conjunction with an improved test process. The disclosed systems and methods may be employed in one example to identify that all individual phases of the multi-phase VR are operational to contribute to the output of the multi-phase VR using a rotating single phase operation testing mode. Individual phase current sense calibration may also be additionally or alternatively completed while the VR is operating under the rotating single phase operation mode.
1. A method of testing a multi-phase voltage regulator (VR) having multiple phases, comprising controlling the multi-phase VR to operate in a rotating single phase operation mode to:
first individually enable a first one of the multiple phases of the multi-phase VR by itself to produce an output voltage for a duration of time from the individually enabled first phase alone;
analyze the separate individual output of the individually enabled first phase; and
at least one of:
determine if the analyzed separate output from the individually enabled first phase meets a predetermined phase output criteria, or
perform phase current sense calibration for the individually enabled first phase based on the analyzed separate output from the individually enabled first phase, or
a combination thereof: and
then individually enable a second one of the multiple phases of the multi-phase VR by itself to produce an output voltage for a duration of time from the individually enabled second phase alone;
analyze the separate individual output of the individually enabled second phase; and
at least one of:
determine if the analyzed separate output from the individually enabled second phase meets a predetermined phase output criteria, or
perform phase current sense calibration for the individually enabled second phase based on the analyzed separate output from the individually enabled second phase, or
a combination thereof.
2. A method of testing a multi-phase voltage regulator (VR) having multiple phases, comprising:
controlling the multi-phase VR to individually enable each of the multiple phases of the multi-phase VR one at a time to produce an output voltage for a duration of time from each respective individually enabled phase alone;
analyzing the separate individual output of each one of the individually enabled multiple phases; and
at least one of:
determining if the analyzed separate output from each one of the individually enabled phases meets a predetermined phase output criteria, or
performing phase current sense calibration for each individually enabled phase based on the analyzed separate output from the respective individually enabled phase, or
a combination thereof.
3. The method of claim 2 , where the method comprises determining if the analyzed separate output from each one of the individually enabled phases meets a predetermined phase output criteria.
4. The method of claim 3 , where the method comprises:
first determining if the analyzed separate output from each given one of the individually enabled phases meets a predetermined phase output criteria; and
then only performing the phase current sense calibration step for the given individually enabled phase if the analyzed separate output from the given one of the individually enabled phases is determined to meet the predetermined phase output criteria.
5. The method of claim 2 , where the method comprises performing phase current sense calibration for each individually enabled phase based on the analyzed separate output from the respective individually enabled phase.
6. The method of claim 2 , where the method comprises determining if the analyzed separate output from each one of the individually enabled phases meets a predetermined phase output criteria; and performing phase current sense calibration for each individually enabled phase based on the analyzed separate output from the respective individually enabled phase.
7. The method of claim 2 , where the controlling step comprises providing digital control signals to a digital VR controller of the multi-phase VR to cause the digital VR controller to produce phase control signals to individually enable each of the multiple phases of the multi-phase VR one at a time to produce an output voltage.
8. The method of claim 2 , where the multi-phase VR further comprises a digital VR controller coupled to control each of the multiple phases of the multi-phase VR; and where the method further comprises:
providing a test system having a test system voltage source, a test system controller different from the digital VR controller;
providing a test system load;
temporarily coupling the test system voltage source to provide power to a voltage input of the multiple phases of the multi-phase VR;
temporarily coupling the test system load to a voltage output of the multiple phases of the multi-phase VR;
temporarily coupling the test system controller to provide test system control signals to the digital VR controller of the multi-phase VR;
then providing power to the voltage input of the multiple phases of the multi-phase VR, and providing test system control signals from the test system controller to the digital VR controller to cause the digital VR controller to control the multi-phase VR to individually enable each of the multiple phases of the multi-phase VR one at a time to produce an output voltage to the test system load for a duration of time from each respective individually enabled phase alone;
then using the test system controller to analyze the separate individual output of each one of the individually enabled multiple phases to at least one of:
determine if the analyzed separate output from each one of the individually enabled phases meets a predetermined phase output criteria, or
perform phase current sense calibration for each individually enabled phase based on the analyzed separate output from the respective individually enabled phase, or
a combination thereof; and
then decoupling each of the test system voltage source, test system controller, and test system load from the multi-phase VR.
9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising using the test system controller to generate multi-stage VR test results comprising at least one of information indicative of whether the separate output from each one of the individually enabled phases meets a predetermined phase output criteria, phase current sense calibration information for each individually enabled phase, or a combination thereof; and then communicating the multi-stage VR test results from the test system controller to a test data collection system.
10. The method of claim 8 , where components of the multi-phase VR are assembled on a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA); where the test system includes a test fixture configured to receive the PCBA of the multi-phase VR for testing of the individual phases of the multi phase VR; and where the method further comprises:
performing the respective temporarily coupling steps by temporarily assembling the multi-phase VR PCBA to the test fixture to temporarily couple the test system voltage source to provide power through the test fixture to the voltage input of the multiple phases of the multi-phase VR, to temporarily couple the test system load to the voltage output of the multiple phases of the multi-phase VR, and to temporarily couple the test system controller to provide test system control signals through the test fixture to the digital VR controller of the multi-phase VR; and
then performing the decoupling step by de-assembling the multi-phase VR PCB from the test fixture to decouple each of the test system voltage source, test system controller, and test system load from the multi-phase VR.
11. A test system configured to test a multi-phase VR having multiple individual phases, the test system comprising:
a test system voltage source configured to be coupled to provide power to a voltage input of the multiple phases of the multi-phase VR;
a test system load configured to be coupled to a voltage output of the multiple phases of the multi-phase VR;
a test system controller configured to be coupled to provide test system control signals to the multi-phase VR;
where the test system controller is configured to provide test system control signals to the multi-phase VR to cause the multi-phase VR to operate in a rotating single phase operation mode to:
first individually enable a first one of the multiple phases of the multi-phase VR by itself to produce an output voltage to the test system load for a duration of time from the individually enabled first phase alone; and
where the test system controller is further configured to analyze the individual output of the individually enabled first phase to at least one of:
determine if the analyzed separate output from the individually enabled first phase meets a predetermined phase output criteria, or
perform phase current sense calibration for the individually enabled first phase based on the analyzed separate output from the respective individually enabled phase, or
a combination thereof: and
then individually enable a second one of the multiple phases of the multi-phase VR by itself to produce an output voltage for a duration of time from the individually enabled second phase alone;
analyze the separate individual output of the individually enabled second phase; and
at least one of:
determine if the analyzed separate output from the individually enabled second phase meets a predetermined phase output criteria, or
perform phase current sense calibration for the individually enabled second phase based on the analyzed separate output from the individually enabled second phase, or
a combination thereof.
12. A test system configured to test a multi-phase VR having multiple individual phases, the test system comprising:
a test system voltage source configured to be coupled to provide power to a voltage input of the multiple phases of the multi-phase VR;
a test system load configured to be coupled to a voltage output of the multiple phases of the multi-phase VR;
a test system controller configured to be coupled to provide test system control signals to the multi-phase VR;
where the test system controller is configured to:
provide test system control signals to the multi-phase VR to cause the multi-phase VR to individually enable each of the multiple phases of the multi-phase VR one at a time to produce an output voltage for a duration of time from each respective individually enabled phase alone,
analyze the separate individual output of each one of the individually enabled multiple phases, and
at least one of:
determine if the analyzed separate output from each one of the individually enabled phases meets a predetermined phase output criteria, or
perform phase current sense calibration for each individually enabled phase based on the analyzed separate output from the respective individually enabled phase, or
a combination thereof.
13. The system of claim 12 , where the test system controller is configured to determine if the analyzed separate output from each one of the individually enabled phases meets a predetermined phase output criteria.
14. The system of claim 13 , where the test system controller is configured to:
first determine if the analyzed separate output from each given one of the individually enabled phases meets a predetermined phase output criteria; and
then only perform the phase current sense calibration step for the given individually enabled phase if the analyzed separate output from the given one of the individually enabled phases is determined to meet the predetermined phase output criteria.
15. The system of claim 12 , where the test system controller is configured to perform phase current sense calibration for each individually enabled phase based on the analyzed separate output from the respective individually enabled phase.
16. The system of claim 12 , where the test system controller is configured to determine if the analyzed separate output from each one of the individually enabled phases meets a predetermined phase output criteria; and to perform phase current sense calibration for each individually enabled phase based on the analyzed separate output from the respective individually enabled phase.
17. The system of claim 12 , where the test system controller is configured to be coupled to provide digital control signals to a digital VR controller of the multi-phase VR to cause the digital VR controller to produce phase control signals to individually enable each of the multiple phases of the multi-phase VR one at a time to produce an output voltage.
18. The system of claim 12 , where the test system controller is different from a VR controller of the multi-phase VR and is configured to be temporarily coupled to provide test system control signals to a digital VR controller of the multi-phase VR that itself is coupled to control each of the multiple phases of the multi-phase VR and to be decoupled from the multi-phase VR after testing; where the test system voltage source is configured to be temporarily coupled to provide power to a voltage input of the multiple phases of the multi-phase VR and to be decoupled from the voltage input after testing; where the test system load is configured to be temporarily coupled to a voltage output of the multiple phases of the multi-phase VR and to be decoupled from the voltage output after testing; and where the test system controller is further configured to:
provide test system control signals to the digital VR controller to cause the digital VR controller to control the multi-phase VR to individually enable each of the multiple phases of the multi-phase VR one at a time to produce an output voltage to the test system load for a duration of time from each respective individually enabled phase alone; and
analyze the separate individual output of each one of the individually enabled multiple phases to at least one of:
determine if the analyzed separate output from each one of the individually enabled phases meets a predetermined phase output criteria, or
perform phase current sense calibration for each individually enabled phase based on the analyzed separate output from the respective individually enabled phase, or
a combination thereof
19. The system of claim 18 , where the test system controller is further configured to:
generate multi-stage VR test results comprising at least one of information indicative of whether the separate output from each one of the individually enabled phases meets a predetermined phase output criteria, phase current sense calibration information for each individually enabled phase, or a combination thereof; and
then to communicate the multi-stage VR test results from the test system controller to a test data collection system.
20. The system of claim 18 , where components of the multi-phase VR are assembled on a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA); and where the test system includes a test fixture configured to temporarily receive the PCBA of the multi-phase VR to:
temporarily couple the test system voltage source to provide power through the test fixture to the voltage input of the multiple phases of the multi-phase VR,
temporarily couple the test system load through the test fixture to the voltage output of the multiple phases of the multi-phase VR, and
temporarily couple the test system controller to provide test system control signals through the test fixture to the digital VR controller of the multi-phase VR.