Hybrid switch-mode power supplies with low energy storage requirements

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Switch mode power supplies (SMPS) are in virtually all devices toady, providing well-regulated voltage or current to electric loads from, usually, not well-regulated source. The loads range from medical implants and sensors, consuming a fraction of watt, to industrial systems taking hundreds of kilowatts. A typical SMPS consists of a switch-mode power converter (power stage) and a complementary controller.***This research focuses on low-power (LP) high-frequency (HF) SMPS, processing power from a fraction of watt to few hundreds of watts and operating at frequencies from hundreds of kHZ to tens of MHz. The applications of interest include miniature devices, computers, consumer electronics, automotive, as well as, numerous other space and weight constrained systems. The research will provide solutions for conflicting requirements imposed on current LP SMPS, demanding their size reduction combined with increased power processing capability. ***In the targeted applications, SMPS, especially their passive components (inductors and capacitors), are a large contributor to the overall size and cost of the supplied systems. As such, they are a main obstacle to further miniaturization and to introduction of new features (functional blocks). The SMPS also have difficulties to, without paying a large penalty in the size and/or power processing efficiency, keep up with increasing power requirements of modern electronic loads, caused by increased data processing abilities and demands for faster charging of battery-powered devices. ***Recent transition from analog to digital control of LP HF SMPS have created an opportunity for introduction of hybrid converter topologies in LP applications. Those topologies, requiring more complex control than the traditional solutions, have proven to be both significantly smaller and more power efficient. Still, the passive, i.e. energy storing, components of these hybrid systems are of substantial size, leaving a lot of space for improvements. ***The ultimate goal of this research is to create new generations of hybrid SMPS, named low stored energy hybrid SMPS, that compared to the recently emerged solutions will have even smaller size and better power processing efficiency. The new solutions will potentially allow seamless integration of the SMPS with electronic loads (co-packaging or full on chip integration) minimizing the overall system size, its power consumption, while improving dynamic performance of the supplies. ***Also, the low stored energy hybrid SMPS will have novel features, such as inherent current limitation and plug and play operation, allowing for simple design of various modular architectures, for higher power processing applications. ***The research will build on the knowledge crated through previous NSERC grants and will be covering development of both new converter topologies and controllers. Also, optimization techniques providing time-efficient tools for comparing different solutions will be developed.