The present invention relates to microelectromechanics (MEMS) and, in particular, to a method of switching a magnetic MEMS switch utilizing a magnetic loop.
An efficient DC-DC switching regulator transforms one DC voltage to another DC voltage by time slicing the use of an inductive coil. The inductive coil is typically magnetically energized and de-energized with two different time domain periods, thereby leading to a scaling up or a scaling down of the energizing DC voltage.
A typical on-chip implementation of a DC-DC switching regulator circuit requires the fabrication of large inductors on-chip along with high and low side switching transistors. U.S. Pat. No. 5,945,820, issued to Namgoong et al. on Aug. 31, 1999, discloses an example of a DC-DC switching regulator circuit of this type. A disadvantage of this approach, however, is that, as current flows through the two switching transistors, I2R losses occur.
Disclosed embodiments provide a DC-DC switching regulator design that does not employ transistors to switch the current through the inductor coil. Rather, a magnetic microelectromechanical (MEMS) switch is used to direct energy between two separate coils having a common magnetic core.
MEMS switches are well known to those skilled in the art. Issues historic to MEMS switches pertain to their reliability. These issues include sparking, degrading contact resistance and the requirement for a conductor pair to actually contact, to thereby switch, to allow electrons to pass through the contact. In short, conventional electric current switches are inherently unreliable.
To avoid these issues, as described in greater detail below, disclosed embodiments utilize a MEMS cantilever structure that does not carry current, but rather carries magnetic flux. Thus, in order to pass flux from a first magnetic path to a second magnetic path requires no contact between the two paths.
The features and advantages of the various aspects of the subject matter disclosed herein will be more fully understood and appreciated upon consideration of the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings which set forth illustrative embodiments.
As shown in
The free beam center cantilever 106 is moved into oscillation (indicated by the arrow in
Vin voltage coil 116 and Vout voltage coil 118 formed around the core body 104 in the very well-known manner. Voltage Vin applied to the core body 104 in
Conversely,
Thus, to pass flux from the upper magnetic path (
It should be understood that various alternatives to the embodiments described herein may be employed in practicing the invention. It is intended that the following claims define the scope of the claimed subject matter and that structures and methods within the scope of these claims and their equivalents be covered thereby.
This application is a divisional of co-pending application Ser. No. 11/893,535, filed on Aug. 16, 2007, by Peter J. Hopper et al. and titled “Magnetic MEMS Switching Regulator. Application Ser. No. 11/893,535, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, is the subject of a Notice of Allowance mailed on Jul. 28, 2010. Application Ser. No. 11/893, 535 claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/839,528, filed on Aug. 23, 2006, by Peter J. Hopper et al. and titled “Magnetic MEMS DC-DC Switching Regulator.” Provisional Application No. 60/839,528 is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60839528 | Aug 2006 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11893535 | Aug 2007 | US |
Child | 12852743 | US |