The master thesis deals with design of a switched DC power supply with output parameters of 30 V 60 A. The power supply uses the connection of two single switch forward converters with opposite phase. The topology was chosen based on a comparison of specific schematics in the first part. The body of the thesis is covered in chapter which deals with design and analysis of power circuits of the converter. The chapter describes detailed design of pulse transformers, dimensioning of semiconductors and cooling system of the converter. For lower power losses, the system of synchronous rectifying is chosen at the output of the circuit. The regulation of the output is based on cascade structure with a superior voltage and dependent current loop. Appropriate over current protection is provided by sensing the output current and using current transformers for primary current measure.

This diploma thesis deals with design and comparison of selected DC/DC converters, where the better of them is practically realized. The first part of the diploma thesis is focused on the general analysis of DC/DC power converters. The following part is theoretical analysis focused on the first selected topology – step-up converter. The second analysed topology is forward converter with full bridge on the primary side. The theoretical analysis also includes a description of synchronous rectifier, the differences between hard and soft switching, and the types of secondary rectifiers. Another part specializes in the detailed calculation of main components of selected converters and their subsequent power dimensioning. Both designed topologies are compared according to the required aspects. The selected better topology is supplemented by the design of control circuits and an auxiliary power supply. Practical realization of converter and commissioning follows. The diploma thesis ends with verification measurements on the realized converter and their subsequent analysis.

This thesis deals with the design and construction of a single-phase switching power supply, which is intended for direct resistive heating of iron components. The power supply is especially intended for resistive heating of horse-shoes. The supply is able to deliver an output current of up to 1500 A at a power of up to 2500 W. The first part of this work deals with the design of individual parts of the unit, the second part is focused on construction and testing of the supply and the last part contains technical documentation. The power supply was successfully tested and the required output parameters were met. However some problems do exist, especially with overheating of the output rectifier and with contacting the heated component to the output leads of the supply. These problems will be discussed in the work. The power supply can be used as an alternative solution to classic means of iron heating. The methods and ideas presented in this work can be applied in a design of a similar power supply with high output current, but most of the design rules are valid generally for the given topology.

A monolithically integrated smart rectifier has been presented first in this work. The smart rectifier, which integrates a power MOSFET, gate driver and control circuitry, operates in a self-synchronized fashion based on its drain-source voltage, and does not need external control input. The analysis, simulation, and design considerations are described in detail. A 5V, 5-µm CMOS process was used to fabricate the prototype. Experimental results show that the proposed rectifier functions as expected in the design. Since no dead-time control needs to be used to switch the sync-FET and ctrl-FET, it is expected that the body diode losses can be reduced substantially, compared to the conventional synchronous rectifier. The proposed self-synchronized rectifier (SSR) can be operated at high frequencies and maintains high efficiency over a wide load range. As an example of the smart rectifier's application in isolated DC-DC converter, a synchronous flyback converter with SSR is analyzed, designed and tested. Experimental results show that the operating frequency could be as high as 4MHz and the efficiency could be improved by more than 10% compared to that when a hyper fast diode rectifier is used. Based on a new current-source gate driver scheme, an integrated gate driver for buck converter is also developed in this work by using a 0.35µm CMOS process with optional high voltage (50V) power MOSFET. The integrated gate driver consists both the current-source driver for high-side power MOSFET and low-power driver for low-side power iv MOSFET. Compared with the conventional gate driver circuit, the current-source gate driver can recovery some gate charging energy and reduce switching loss. So the current-source driver (CSD) can be used to improve the efficiency performance in high frequency power converters. This work also presents a new implementation of a power supply in package (PSiP) 5MHz buck converter, which is different from all the prior-of-art PSiP solutions by using a high-Q bondwire inductor. The high-Q bondwire inductor can be manufactured by applying ferrite epoxy to the common bondwire during standard IC packaging process, so the new implementation of PSiP is expected to be a cost-effective way of power supply integration.

The proliferation of electronic equipment that is permanently connected to the grid causes significant parasitic losses. Yet, the design of power supplies for PCs, servers, multi-function printers, etc, is governed by the cost and component specifications at the peak operating point as well as the thermal management of the power supply itself. Most power supplies have lower efficiencies at light loads than at their rated loads. If the unit spends most of its time at the light load operating point, then the energy consumption will be much higher compared to a situation where the power supply is optimized for overall energy consumption with a specified load cycle. Considering that most electronic appliances are produced in high volume, the use of power supplies that permit easy custom design makes sense from the standpoint of energy efficiency. Over the past few years, multiple topological changes and design changes that aim to improve the efficiency of the power supplies have been proposed. However, their proliferation in low cost consumer electronics has been limited primarily by their high costs, additional area overhead and incompatibility with existing power supply converter topologies. As a part of this Master's thesis research work, a business case is first proposed to show that a market for low cost and high power rating electronic devices that exhibits high power efficiency exists. Then a novel yet simple, low cost device(SSSR) is proposed to improve the efficiency of existing power supplies without effecting major changes to their existing design. Our claims are backed up by simulation results and a working prototype. Finally, a ROI model is presented to showcase the effectiveness of the proposed solution in today's consumer market.

The advent of wide band-gap semiconductors in power electronics has led to the scope of efficient power conversion being pushed further than ever before. This development has allowed for systems to operate at higher and higher voltages than previously achieved. One area of consideration during this high voltage transition is the synchronous rectifier, which is traditionally designed as an afterthought. Prior research in synchronous rectifiers have been limited to low voltage, high current converters. There is practically no research in high voltage synchronous rectification. Therefore, this dissertation focuses on discovering the unknown nuances behind high voltage synchronous rectifier design, and ultimately developing a practical, scalable solution. There are three main issues that must be addressed when designing a high voltage synchronous rectifier: (1) high voltage sensing; (2) light load effects; (3) accuracy. The first hurdle to designing a high voltage SR system is the high voltage itself. Traditional methods of synchronous rectification (SR) attempt to directly sense voltage or current, which is not possible with high voltage. Therefore, a solution must be designed to limit the voltage seen by the sensing mechanism without sacrificing accuracy. In this dissertation, a novel blocking solution is proposed, analyzed, and tested to over 1-kV. The solution is practical enough to be implemented on practically any commercial drain-source SR controller. The second hurdle is the light load effect of the SR system on the converter. A large amount of high voltage systems utilize a LLC-based DC transformers (DCX) to provide an efficient means of energy conversion. The LLC-DCX's attractive attributes of soft-switching and high efficiency allure many architects to combine it with an SR system. However, direct implementation of SR on a LLC-DCX will result in a variety of light load oscillation issues, since the rectifier circuitry can excite the resonant tank through a false load transient phenomena. A universal limiting solution is proposed and analyzed, and is validated with a commercial SR controller. The final hurdle is in optimizing the SR system itself. There is an inherent flaw with drain-source sensing, namely parasitic inductance in the drain-source sense loop. This parasitic inductance causes an error in the sensed voltage, resulting in early SR turn-off and increased losses through the parallel diode. The parasitic will always be present in the circuit, and current solutions are too complex to be implemented. Two solutions are proposed depending on the rectifier architecture: (1) multilevel gate driving for single switch rectifiers; (2) sequential parallel switching for parallel switch rectifiers. In summary, this dissertation focuses on developing a practical and reliable high voltage SR solution for LLC-DCX converters. Three main issues are addressed: (1) high voltage sensing; (2) light load effects; (3) accuracy. Novel solutions are proposed for all three issues, and validated with commercial controllers. / Doctor of Philosophy / High voltage power electronics are becoming increasing popular in the electronics industry with the help of wide band-gap semiconductors. While high voltage power electronics research is prevalent, a key component of high voltage power converters, the synchronous rectifier, remains unexplored. Conventional synchronous rectifiers are implemented on high current circuits where diode losses are high. However, high voltage power electronics operate at much lower current levels, necessitating changes in current synchronous rectifier methods. This research aims to identify and tackle issues that will be faced by both systems and IC designers when attempting to implement high voltage synchronous rectifiers on LLC-DCXs. While development takes planes on a LLC-DCX, the research is applicable to most resonant converters and applications utilizing drain-source synchronous rectifier technology. This dissertation focuses primarily on three areas of synchronous rectifier developments: (1) high voltage compatibility; (2) light load effects; (3) accuracy. The first issue opens the gate to high voltage synchronous rectifier research, by allowing high voltage sensing. The second issue explores issues that high voltage synchronous rectifiers can inadvertently influence on the LLC-DCX itself - a light load oscillation issue. The third issue explores novel methods of improving the sensing accuracy to further reduce losses for a single and parallel switch rectifier. In each of these areas, the underlying problem is root-caused, analyzed, and a solution proposed. The overarching goal of this dissertation is to develop a practical, low-cost, universal synchronous rectifier system that can be scaled for commercial use.

This thesis contains a complete description of the design and implementation of a 500W transformer soldering station. This soldering station includes a half-bridge DC/DC converter with a pulse transformer. The device works with a very low voltage and extremely high output current. Therefore some parts have a special design to ensure the proper equipment function. Coaxial transformer with very low leakage inductance (nH units) is unusual. A synchronous rectifier is another special feature working with low voltage and high output current of the transformer. The finished functional prototype consists of a soldering station and a soldering adapter.