DC-DC converters

Modern electronic systems require high quality, small, lightweight, reliable, and efficient power supplies. Linear power regulators, whose principle of operation is based on a voltage or current divider, are inefficient. They are limited to output voltages smaller than the input voltage. Also, their power density is low because they require low-frequency (50 or 60 Hz) line transformers and filters. Linear regulators can, however, provide a very high quality output voltage. Their main area of application is at low power levels as low drop-out voltage (LDO) regulators. Electronic devices in linear regulators operate in their active (linear) modes. At higher power levels, switching regulators are used. Switching regulators use power electronic semiconductor switches in on and off states. The dc-dc converters can be divided into two main types: hard-switching pulse width modulated (PWM) converters, and resonant and soft-switching converters. This chapter deals with PWM dc-dc converters. Advantages of PWM converters include low component count, high efficiency, constant frequency operation, relatively simple control and commercial availability of integrated circuitcontrollers, and ability to achieve high conversion ratios for both step-down and step-up application. A disadvantage of PWM dc-dc converters is that PWM rectangular voltage and current waveforms cause turn-on and turn-off losses in semiconductor devices which limit practical operating frequencies to a megahertz range.