CAREER: Multi-Frequency Multi-Output Switching Power Converters for Dynamic Energy Distribution in Highly Integrated Systems

职业：用于高度集成系统动态能量分配的多频多输出开关电源转换器智力优势：随着技术规模在降低高度集成系统功耗方面的收益递减，研究人员正朝着将系统划分为许多子组件并在任何给定时间动态调整其电源以满足其确切需求的方向发展。为了使其有效，需要以最小的成本和占地面积实现众多高效电源。这些电源必须具有宽带宽，以实现基于需求的动态操作。本研究的目标是开发新的电源架构，该架构能够仅使用集成电容器和单个共享电感器有效地产生超过500MHz带宽的大量功率域。这将通过采用单步功率转换方法来实现，以避免级联功率转换器导致的效率下降，并通过提出多频率单电感多输出功率转换器拓扑来实现大量功率域。在这种新的拓扑结构中，从主能量源的能量切换速率与能量分布速率解耦到多个输出，因此，输出带宽不再受到输入侧低频切换的限制。通过对输出使用高频能量分布，可以实现非常快的瞬态响应，所需的输出电容器可以按比例缩小并集成在片上，从而将片外组件限制在单个电感上。更广泛的影响：拟议的研究侧重于高度集成系统中电力转换和分配的关键领域，以响应对节能，成本效益和小足迹解决方案日益增长的需求。提出的电源转换拓扑将克服实现大量电源的基本挑战，同时保持高效率，实现宽带宽，占地面积小，成本低。这将使电源的高速动态适应成为可能，这将显著降低高度集成系统的功耗。这样做的能力不仅对电池供电的设备来说是革命性的，对散热至关重要的非电池供电的设备也是如此。拟议项目的教育部分将有助于填补美国电气工程教育的严重空白，在美国，集成电源设计既不包括在传统的电力电子学课程中，也不包括集成电路课程。拟议的与得克萨斯大学-泛美分校合作的涉及西班牙裔学生的外联活动将进一步促进少数群体在科学和工程领域的参与。

CAREER: Multi-Frequency Multi-Output Switching Power Converters for Dynamic Energy Distribution in Highly Integrated Systems Intellectual Merit: With the diminishing returns of technology scaling in terms of reducing power consumption in highly integrated systems, researchers are moving towards dividing the system into many sub-components and dynamically adapting their power supplies to their exact demand at any given time. For this to be effective there is a need to implement numerous highly-efficient power supplies with minimal cost and footprint. These power supplies must feature wide bandwidth to enable dynamic demand-based operation. The goal of this research is to develop new power supply architectures that are capable of efficiently generating large number of power domains with over 500MHz bandwidth using only integrated capacitors and a single shared inductor. This will be accomplished by adopting a single-step power conversion approach to avoid efficiency degradation due to cascaded power converters, and implementing the large number of power domains by proposing a Multi-Frequency Single-Inductor-Multiple-Output power converter topology. In this new topology, the rate of energy switching from the main energy source is decoupled from the rate of energy distribution to the multiple outputs, and therefore, the output bandwidth becomes no longer limited by low frequency switching at the input side. By using high frequency energy distribution to the outputs, very fast transient response can be achieved and the output capacitors required can be scaled-down and integrated on-chip, thus limiting off-chip components to a single inductor. Broader Impact: The proposed research focuses on the critical area of power conversion and distribution in highly integrated systems in response to the growing demand for energy-efficient, cost-effective, and small footprint solutions. The proposed power conversion topology will overcome the fundamental challenge of implementing a large number of power supplies while also preserving high efficiency, achieving wide bandwidth, and small footprint and cost. This will enable high speed dynamic adaptation of power supplies, which will significantly reduce power consumption in highly integrated systems. The ability to do that will be transformational not only for battery-operated devices, but also in non-battery-operated ones where heat dissipation is critical. The educational component of the proposed project will help contribute to filling a serious gap in electrical engineering education in the US, where integrated power supply design is neither covered under traditional power electronics, nor integrated circuits curriculums. The proposed outreach activities in collaboration with the University of Texas-Pan American involving Hispanic students will further contribute to improving participation by minority groups in the field of science and engineering.