Topics in Multiple-Loop Regulators and Current-Mode Programming

Some general considerations about multiple-loop feedback are discussed, and it is concluded that incorporation of a current-programmed power stage into a ``new'' power stage model is both justified and useful. A new circuit-oriented model of the current feedback path is derived which augments the well-known power stage canonical circuit model. The current loop gain, though wide-band, is always stable if the conventional stabilizing ramp is employed but has a relatively small low-frequency value. Consequently, the ``new'' power stage is more usefully modeled by a y-parameter model in which the current loop is not explicit. Expressions for the y parameters are given that are extensions of those previously derived. Another form of the model resembles the original canonical form for duty ratio programming, and shows that current programming effectively introduces lossless series damping that separates widely the two poles of the power stage LC filter. Therefore, although current programming tends to make the power stage output behave as a current source, the contol-to-output voltage transfer function exhibits, in addition to the familiar dominant pole, a second pole at the current loop gain crossover frequency, which may lie anywhere from one-sixth to two-thirds of the switching frequency.