Power consumption and device size have been placed at the primary concerns for battery-operated portable applications. Switching converters gain popularity in powering portable devices due to their high efficiency, compact sizes and high current delivery capability. However portable devices usually operate at light loads most of the time and are only required to deliver high current in very short periods, while conventional buck converter suffers from low efficiency at light load due to the switching losses that do not scale with load current. In this research, a novel technique for buck converter is proposed to reduce the switching loss by reducing the effective voltage supply at light load. This buck converter, implemented in TSMC 0.18 micrometers CMOS technology, operates with a input voltage of 3.3V and generates an output voltage of 0.9V, delivers a load current from 1mA to 400mA, and achieves 54 percent ~ 91 percent power efficiency. It is designed to work with a constant switching frequency of 3MHz. Without sacrificing output frequency spectrum or output ripple, an efficiency improvement of up to 20 percent is obtained at light load.

Rechargeable batteries are found in almost every battery powered application. Be it portable, stationary or motive applications, these batteries go hand in hand with battery charging systems. With energy harvesting being targeted in this day and age, high energy density and longer lasting batteries with efficient charging systems are being developed by companies and original equipment manufacturers. Whatever the application may be, rechargeable batteries, which deliver power to a load or system, have to be replenished or recharged once their energy is depleted. Battery charging systems must perform this replenishment by using very fast and efficient methods to extend battery life and to increase periods between charges. In this regard, they have to be versatile, efficient and user programmable to increase their applications in numerous battery powered systems. This is to reduce the cost of using different battery chargers for different types of battery powered applications and also to provide the convenience of rare battery replacement and extend the periods between charges. This thesis proposes a user programmable charging system that can charge a Lithium ion battery from three different input sources, i.e. a wall outlet, a universal serial bus (USB) and an energy harvesting system. The proposed charging system consists of three main building blocks, i.e. a pulse charger, a step down DC to DC converter and a switching network system, to extend the number of applications it can be used for. The switching network system is to allow charging of a battery via an energy harvesting system, while the step down converter is used to provide an initial supply voltage to kick start the energy harvesting system. The pulse charger enables the battery to be charged from a wall outlet or a USB network. It can also be reconfigured to charge a Nickel Metal Hydride battery. The final design is implemented on an IBM 0.18µm process. Experimental results verify the concept of the proposed charging system. The pulse charger is able to be reconfigured as a trickle charger and a constant current charger to charge a Li-ion battery and a Nickel Metal Hydride battery, respectively. The step down converter has a maximum efficiency of 90% at an input voltage of 3V and the charging of the battery via an energy harvesting system is also verified.

Due to the superior characteristics compared to its silicon (Si) counterpart, the wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor enables next-generation power electronics systems with higher efficiency and higher power density. With higher blocking voltage available, WBG devices, especially the silicon carbide (SiC) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), have been widely explored in various medium-voltage (MV) applications in both industry and academia. However, due to the high di/dt and high dv/dt during the switching transient, potential overcurrent, overvoltage, and gate failure can greatly reduce the reliability of implementing SiC MOSFETs in an MV system. By utilizing the parasitic inductance between the Kelvin- and the power-source terminal, a short-circuit (SC) and overload (OL) dual-protection scheme is proposed for overcurrent protection. A full design procedure and reliability analysis are given for SC circuit design. A novel OL circuit is proposed to protect OL faults at the gate-driver level. The protection procedure can detect an SC fault within 50 nanoseconds and protect the device within 1.1 microsecond. The proposed method is a simple and effective solution for the potential overcurrent problem of the SiC MOSFET. For SiC MOSFETs in series-connection, the unbalanced voltages can result in system failure due to device breakdown or unbalanced thermal stresses. By injecting current during the turn-off transient, an active dv/dt control method is used for voltage balancing. A 6 kV phase-leg using eight 1.7 kV SiC MOSFETs in series-connection has been tested with voltage balanced accurately. Modeling of the stacked SiC MOSFET with active dv/dt control is also done to summarize the design methodology for an effective and stable system. This method provides a low-loss and compact solution for overvoltage problems when MV SiC MOSFETs are connected in series. Furthermore, a scalable auxiliary power network is proposed to prevent gate failure caused by unstable gate voltage or EMI interference. The two-stage auxiliary power network (APN) architecture includes a wireless power transfer (WPT) converter supplied by a grounded low voltage dc bus, a high step-down-ratio (HSD) converter powered from dc-link capacitors, and a battery-based mini-UPS backup power supply. The auxiliary-power-only pre-charge and discharge circuits are also designed for a 6 kV power electronics building block (PEBB). The proposed architecture provides a general solution of a scalable and reliable auxiliary power network for the SiC-MOSFET-based MV converter. For the WPT converter, a multi-objective optimization on efficiency, EMI mitigation, and high voltage insulation capability have been proposed. Specifically, a series-series-CL topology is proposed for the WPT converter. With the optimization and new topology, a 120 W, 48 V to 48 V WPT converter has been tested to be a reliable part of the auxiliary power network. For the HSD converter, a novel unidirectional voltage-balancing circuit is proposed and connected in an interleaved manner, which provides a fully modular and scalable solution. A ``linear regulator + buck" solution is proposed to be an integrated on-board auxiliary power supply. A 6 kV to 45 V, 100 W converter prototype is built and tested to be another critical part of the auxiliary power network. / Doctor of Philosophy / The wide bandgap semiconductor enables next-generation power electronics systems with higher efficiency and higher power density which will reduce the space, weight, and cost for power supply and conversion systems, especially for renewable energy. However, by pushing the system voltage level higher to medium-voltage of tens of kilovolts, although the system has higher efficiency and simpler control, the reliability drops. This dissertation, therefore, focusing on solving the possible overcurrent, overvoltage, and gate failure issues of the power electronics system that is caused by the high voltage and high electromagnetic interference environment. By utilizing the inductance of the device, a dual-protection method is proposed to prevent the overcurrent problem. The overcurrent fault can be detected within tens of nanoseconds so that the device will not be destroyed because of the huge fault current. When multiple devices are connected in series to hold higher voltage, the voltage sharing between different devices becomes another issue. The proposed modeling and control method for series-connected devices can balance the shared voltage, and make the control system stable so that no overvoltage problem will happen due to the non-evenly distributed voltages. Besides the possible overcurrent and overvoltage problems, losing control of the devices due to the unreliable auxiliary power supply is another issue. This dissertation proposed a scalable auxiliary power network with high efficiency, high immunity to electromagnetic interference, and high reliability. In this network, a wireless power transfer converter is designed to provide enough insulation and isolation capability, while a switched capacitor converter is designed to transfer voltage from several kilovolts to tens of volts. With the proposed overcurrent protection method, voltage sharing control, and reliable auxiliary power network, systems utilizing medium-voltage wide-bandgap semiconductor will have higher reliability to be implemented for different applications.

This thesis presents a novel Resonant Switched-Capacitor Converter with Multiple Resonant Frequencies, abbreviated as MRSCC for both high density and efficiency non-isolated large step-down Intermediate Bus Converter (IBC). Conventional Resonant Switched-Capacitor Converter (RSCC) proposed by Shoyama and its high voltage conversion ratio derivation such as Switched-Tank Converter (STC) by Jiang and li employ half sinusoidal-current charge transfer method between capacitors to achieve high efficiency and density operation by adding a small resonant inductor in series to pure switched-capacitor converter's (SCC) flying capacitor. By operating switching frequency to be the same as its resonant frequency, RSCC achieves zero-current turn off operation, however, this cause RSCC and its derivation suffer from component variation issue for high-volume adoption. Derived from RSCC, MRSCC adds additional high frequency resonant component, operates only during its dead-time, by adding small capacitor in parallel to RSCC's resonant inductor. By operating switching frequency higher than its main resonant frequency, MRSCC utilizes double chopped half-sinusoidal current charge transfer method between capacitors to further improve efficiency. In addition, operating switching frequency consistently higher than its resonant frequency, MRSCC provides high immunity towards component variation, making it and its derivation viable for high-volume adoption. / MS / Following the recent trend, most internet services are moving towards cloud computing. Large data applications and growing popularity of cloud computing require hyperscale data centers and it will continue to grow rapidly in the next few years to keep up with the demand [4]. These cutting-edge data centers will require higher performance multi-core CPU and GPU installations which translates to higher power consumption. From 10MWatts of power, typical data centers deliver only half of this power to the computing load which includes processors, memory and drives. Unfortunately, the rest goes to losses in power conversion, distribution and cooling [5]. Industry members look into increasing backplane voltage from 12V to 48V in order to reduce distribution loss. This thesis proposes a novel Resonant Switched-Capacitor Converter using Multiple Resonant Frequencies to accommodate this increase of backplane voltage.

FundaÃÃo Cearense de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Cientifico e TecnolÃgico / With global need to reduce energy consumption, the search for more efficient technologies has become the focus of many studies. Among these technologies, it can mention the photovoltaic solar energy and LEDs, which have shown an expansion in recent decades. Photovoltaic generation is shown as an attractive energy source because it is renewable and its raw material is practically inexhaustible. While LEDs have a promising advance in lighting and is used in several applications. To integrate these technologies, this paper proposes the study of a DC-DC step-up switched-capacitor (SC) converter for LEDs applied to photovoltaic stand-alone systems. The proposed circuit differs from other topologies SC to insert an inductor in series with the input source, which can operate in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM), reducing losses switching, or continuous conduction mode (CCM), allowing the reduction of conduction losses in the circuit. The converter is driven by the frequency modulation, which is obtained as a function of input voltage. For this reason, the current in the LEDs can be stabilized without the need for sensor or feedback. The prototype developed in the laboratory was designed for a lamp of 54 W and operating at high frequency (up to 165 kHz), allowing the reduction of the circuit volume. Experimental results of the circuit in DCM and CCM show that the converter has a high yield, validating the proposal. / Tendo em vista a tendÃncia da reduÃÃo do consumo de energia no mundo, a busca por tecnologias mais eficientes tem se tornado o foco de muitos estudos. Dentre estas tecnologias, pode-se citar a energia solar fotovoltaica e os LEDs, que vem apresentando uma expansÃo nas ultimas dÃcadas. A geraÃÃo fotovoltaica se mostra como uma atrativa fonte de energia, por ser renovÃvel e sua matÃria-prima ser praticamente inesgotÃvel. Enquanto os LEDs apresentam um avanÃo promissor na iluminaÃÃo, sendo utilizado nas mais diversas aplicaÃÃes. Visando a integraÃÃo destas tecnologias, este trabalho propÃe o estudo de um conversor CC-CC elevador com capacitor comutado (Switched Capacitor - SC) para LEDs, aplicado a sistemas fotovoltaicos autÃnomos. O circuito proposto se difere de outras topologias SC por inserir um indutor em sÃrie com a fonte de entrada, o qual pode operar no modo de conduÃÃo descontÃnua (MCD), reduzindo as perdas por comutaÃÃo, ou no modo de conduÃÃo contÃnua (MCC), possibilitando a reduÃÃo das perdas por conduÃÃo do circuito. O conversor à acionado atravÃs da modulaÃÃo por frequÃncia, a qual à obtida em funÃÃo da tensÃo de entrada. Por este motivo, a corrente nos LEDs pode ser estabilizada sem a necessidade de sensores ou de realimentaÃÃo. O protÃtipo desenvolvido em laboratÃrio foi projetado para uma luminÃria de 54 W e operando em alta frequÃncia (atà 165 kHz), possibilitando a reduÃÃo do volume do circuito. Os resultados experimentais obtidos do circuito MCD e MCC sÃo analisados e validam a proposta, mostrando que o conversor apresenta rendimento elevado