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DC-DC converter

Power Electronics and Applications for

Renewable Energy (EEE406)
Week 4
S2, 2023/24

Lecturer: Xuchen Wang

[email protected]

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Outline
• Linear voltage regulators
• A basic switching converter
• The buck (step-down) converter
• The boost converter

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Questions
• Can you calculate the output voltage of the buck
converter/Boost Converter?
• Can you calculate the maximum and the minimum inductor
current of the buck converter/boost converter?
• Can you design the buck/boost converter for continuous
inductor current?
• Can you design the buck/boost converter with specifying
the peak to peak inductor current?

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Introduction
• Dc-dc converters are power electronic circuits that convert
a dc voltage to a different dc voltage level, providing a
regulated output.
• The circuits described in this lecture are classified as
switch-mode dc-dc converters, also switching power
supplies or switchers.
• This lecture describes some basic dc-dc converter circuits.
• Week 11 will describe some common variations of these
circuits that are used in many dc power supply designs.

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Linear voltage regulators
For the BJT under linear region, how to convert a dc voltage
to a lower dc voltage for the circuit shown below ?

The output voltage is

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Linear voltage regulators
The problem:
• While this may be a simple way of converting a dc supply
voltage to a lower dc voltage and regulating the output, the
low efficiency of this circuit is a serious drawback for power
applications.
• The power absorbed by the load is VOIL, and the power
absorbed by the transistor is VCEIL. The power loss in the
transistor makes this circuit inefficient.
• Therefore, the linear voltage regulator is suitable only for
low-power applications.

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A basic switching converter
• An efficient alternative to the linear regulator is the
switching converter.
• In a switching converter circuit, the transistor operates
as an electronic switch by being completely on or
completely off (saturation or cutoff for a BJT or the triode
and cutoff regions of a MOSFET).
• This circuit is also known as a dc chopper.

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A basic switching converter

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A basic switching converter
• The average or dc component of the output voltage is:

• The dc component of the output voltage is controlled by

adjusting the duty ratio D:

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A basic switching converter
• The power absorbed by the ideal switch is zero.
• When the switch is open, there is no current in it.
• When the switch is closed, there is no voltage across it.
• Therefore, all power is absorbed by the load, and the
energy efficiency is 100% .
• Losses will occur in a real switch because the voltage
across it will not be zero when it is on, and the switch must
pass through the linear region when making a transition
from one state to the other.

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The buck (step-down) converter
• Controlling the dc component of a pulsed output voltage of
the type in previous circuit may be sufficient for some
applications.
• One way of obtaining a dc output from the previous circuit
of is to insert a low-pass filter after the switch.
• An LC low-pass filter added to the basic converter. The
diode provides a path for the inductor current when the
switch is opened and is reverse-biased when the switch is
closed.
• This circuit is called a buck converter or a step-down
converter because the output voltage is less than the input.

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The buck (step-down) converter
What is the output voltage of the buck converter if the duty
cycle is D?

What happens if I remove the

freewheeling diode?

when the switch is on when the switch is off

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The buck (step-down) converter
Solution 1:

• If the low-pass filter is ideal, the output voltage is the

average of the input voltage to the filter.
• The input to the filter, Vx is Vs when the switch is closed
and is zero when the switch is open, provided that the
inductor current remains positive, keeping the diode on.
• If the switch is closed periodically at a duty ratio D, the
average voltage at the filter input is VsD.

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The buck (step-down) converter
Solution 2:
• Another way of analyzing the operation of the buck
converter is to examine the inductor voltage and current.
• This analysis method will prove useful for designing the
filter and for analyzing circuits.

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The buck (step-down) converter

Before we start, dc-dc converters in general, have the
following properties when operating in the steady state:

The inductor current is periodic:

The average inductor voltage is:

The average capacitor current is:

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The buck (step-down) converter
• The power supplied by the source is the same as the
power delivered to the load. For nonideal components,
the source also supplies the losses.

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The buck (step-down) converter
Analysis of the buck converter begins with the following
assumptions:
• The circuit is operating in the steady state.
• The inductor current is continuous (always positive).
• The capacitor is very large, and the output voltage is
held constant at voltage Vo.
• The switching period is T; the switch is closed for time
DT and open for time (1-D)T.
• The components are ideal.

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The buck (step-down) converter

• What is the output voltage?

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The buck (step-down) converter
Analysis for the switch closed:
• The voltage across the inductor is:

Rearranging:

Since VL is a constant value:

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The buck (step-down) converter
Analysis for the switch open:
• The voltage across the inductor is:

Rearranging:

The change in inductor current when the switch is open:

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The buck (step-down) converter
The net change in inductor current over one period is zero:

which is:

Solving for Vo:

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The buck (step-down) converter
• The average inductor current must be the same as the
average current in the load resistor,

• The maximum and the minimum values of the inductor

current are computed as:

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The buck (step-down) converter
• For the preceding analysis to be valid, continuous
current in the inductor must be verified.
• Since the minimum value of inductor current must be
positive for continuous current, a negative minimum
calculated is not allowed due to the diode and indicates
discontinuous current.
• The circuit will operate for discontinuous inductor current,
but the preceding analysis is not valid.

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The buck (step-down) converter
• Since Imin = 0 is the boundary between continuous and
discontinuous current,

• If the desired switching frequency is established,

In practice, a value of inductance greater than Lmin is

desirable to ensure continuous current.

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The buck (step-down) converter
• In the design of a buck converter, the peak-to-peak
variation in the inductor current is often used as a design
criterion.
• The value of inductance for a specified peak-to-peak
inductor current for continuous-current operation can be
determined by:

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The buck (step-down) converter
• Since the converter components are assumed to be ideal,
the power supplied by the source must be the same as the
power absorbed by the load resistor.

• Note that the preceding relationship is similar to the voltage-

current relationship for a transformer in ac applications.
Therefore, the buck converter circuit is equivalent to a dc
transformer.

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Example 1
The buck dc-dc has the following parameters:

Assuming ideal components, calculate (a) the output voltage

Vo, (b) the maximum and minimum inductor current.

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The Boost Converter
• The boost converter is another switching converter that
operates by periodically opening and closing an
electronic switch.
• It is called a boost converter because the output voltage
is larger than the input.

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The Boost Converter
What is the output voltage of the boost converter if the duty
cycle is D?

when the switch is on when the switch is off

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The Boost Converter
Voltage and current relationships:
• Steady-state conditions exist.
• The switching period is T, and the switch is closed for
time DT and open for (1-D)T.
• The inductor current is continuous (always positive).
• The capacitor is very large, and the output voltage is
held constant at voltage Vo.
• The components are ideal.

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The Boost Converter

• What is the output voltage?

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The Boost converter
Analysis for the switch closed:
• The voltage across the inductor is:

Since VL is a constant value:

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The Boost converter
Analysis for the switch open:
• The voltage across the inductor is:

The change in inductor current when the switch is open

is:

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The Boost converter
The net change in inductor current over one period is zero:

which is:

Solving for Vo:

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The Boost converter
• The output power is:

• The input power is:

• Equating input and output powers:

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The Boost Converter
• The inductor can be expressed as:

• The maximum and minimum inductor current are:

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The Boost converter
• Since Imin = 0 is the boundary between continuous and
discontinuous current,

• The minimum combination of inductance and switching

frequency for continuous current in the boost converter
is

• If f is selected,

In practice, a value of inductance greater than Lmin is

desirable to ensure continuous current.
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The Boost converter
• Since Imin = 0 is the boundary between continuous and
discontinuous current,

• If the desired switching frequency is established,

In practice, a value of inductance greater than Lmin is

desirable to ensure continuous current.

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Education

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The Boost converter
• Since Imin = 0 is the boundary between continuous and
discontinuous current,

• If the desired switching frequency is established,

In practice, a value of inductance greater than Lmin is

desirable to ensure continuous current.

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The Boost Converter
• For a design perspective, it is useful to express L in
terms of a desired peak to peak inductor current ripple.

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Example 2
• Design a boost converter that will have an output of 30 V
from a 12-V source. Design for continuous inductor current
and an output ripple voltage of less than one percent. The
load is a resistance of 50Ω. Assume ideal components for
this design.

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Review Questions
• Can you calculate the output voltage of the buck
converter/Boost Converter?
• Can you calculate the maximum and the minimum inductor
current of the buck converter/boost converter?
• Can you design the buck/boost converter for continuous
inductor current?
• Can you design the buck/boost converter with specifying
the peak to peak inductor current?

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Education

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THANK YOU

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