Performance Parameters Lead To The Optimal Converter
by Dennis Feucht, Innovatia Laboratories, Cayo, Belize, How2Power Today, Sep 15 2016
Focus:
This article explains the performance parameters that guide power converter design toward the
ideal, and how they point toward certain features of optimal converter circuits. The starting
point is an explanation of the inherent tension in converter design goals arising from the
desire to convert one constant voltage to another, yet needing changing waveforms to do it.
From there, the article explores a few measures of optimal converter design—form factor, form
factor product, and ripple factor—that use ratios of waveform characteristics to assess the
efficiency of different power circuit topologies across the range of duty cycles. This type of
analysis enables a high-level comparison of topologies and in this article the different
metrics, or figures of merit, are applied to the three PWM switch configurations, Ćuk
converters, the boost push-pull converter, and the push-pull chopper. The article concludes by
explaining two other waveform-based parameters—utilization and crest factor—which represent
metrics for component sizing or rating.
What you’ll learn:
- How to compare the efficiency of different power converter topologies across a range of duty cycles
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