Exploration at the Confluence of Three Major Power Electronics Branches

High-frequency power electronics progresses along three major branches: PWM converters, switched-capacitor converters, and resonant converters. PWM converters have been the workhorse for most power conversion applications today. However, their bulky magnetics limit further power density improvement. Switched-capacitor converters do not need magnetics, but poor voltage regulation prevents them from a wide adoption. Resonant converters have penetrated some applications, but they are not ready to replace the PWM converters for high-power applications due to their high RMS voltage/current. Researchers in the community have searched for new solutions with better efficiency, regulation, and power density. As a result, there has been increased intertwining and interactions among these branches. The UCI Power Electronics Laboratory has been working at the confluence of PWM, resonant, and switched-capacitor converters for >7 years. During this time, we have invented several new switched-capacitor converters and resonant switched-capacitor converters. Recently, we made a breakthrough in a general “PWM-like” control/modulation method applicable to most resonant switched-capacitor converters to achieve full range voltage regulation with only a 2X frequency swing and only one small inductor (nano-henry scale without DC bias). This new generation of power converters has the potential to replace a wide array of conventional PWM converters and dramatically reduce magnetic components or eliminate the bulky magnetics overall in fully-integrated power-chips. This lecture reports our discoveries at the confluence of these major power electronics branches. Speaker(s): Keyue Ma Smedley, Atlanta, Georgia, United States, Virtual: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/287725