Design of DC-DC Converter for Air Borne Radar Application

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

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Design of DC-DC Converter for Air Borne Radar Application

INTRODUCTION
The Converters widely used in many industrial applications. The Dc-Dc converter
according to the Linear and Switching regulators has been used in many radar
applications. The main basic converters of Dc-Dc converters are Buck, Boost and BuckBoost Converters. Radar applications of Dc-Dc converters are Military, Remote Sensing,
Air Traffic Control, Law Enforcement and Highway Security, Air Craft and Navigation,
Ship Safety, Space, Miscellaneous Applications. Space vehicles have used radar for
clocking and for landing on the moon, used for planet exploration, ground based radars
are used for detection and other space objects also used for radio astronomy. Using these
converters make system size reduced, EMI/EMC compatible, and highly efficient (up to
95%), gives efficient voltage regulation, pulse width modulation is used for controlling
the on-off time of the transistor and holds the output voltage constant under varying line
or load conditions.

Figure (1.1): classification of power supplies.

Dc Dc converters are available in various topologies according to the switching
regulators and a topology is the arrangement of the power devices and their magnetic
elements. Each topology has its own merits within certain application. Selection of a
particular topology is done by considering factors such as electrical isolation from input

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Design of DC-DC Converter for Air Borne Radar Application

to output, peak current flowing through power semiconductors and whether multiple
outputs are required. Buck, Boost, Flyback, Cuk, and full bridge converters are some of
different DC-DC converter topologies. This project deals with the design of DC-DC
converters for air borne radar application. Thus buck converter, boost converter and buckboost converter are used in order to convert a high DC single input voltage to low DC
multiple output voltages i.e. +5V and +3.3V from a 28V DC battery.
The scope of this project are (a) Theory of DC-DC converter, Literature survey
and its design (b) Generation of specifications based on system power requirements (d)
Choice of a suitable topology and selection of suitable component (d)Design
configuration and its simulation on Linear Technologies LT spice platform (e) Hardware
realization and finally (f) Test and Evaluation . A comprehensive report will be generated
with simulation result and test result.

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Design of DC-DC Converter for Air Borne Radar Application

CHAPTER 2
DC-DC CONVERTER

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Design of DC-DC Converter for Air Borne Radar Application

DC-DC CONVERTERS
Dc-Dc converter is an electronic circuit which converts a source of direct current
(DC) from one voltage level to another voltage. Its a class of power converter. DC to DC
converters are important in portable electronic devices such as cellular phones and laptop
computers, which are supplied with power from batteries primarily. Such electronic
devices often contain several sub-circuits, each with its own voltage level requirement
different from that supplied by the battery or an external supply (sometimes higher or
lower than the supply voltage). Additionally, the battery voltage declines as its stored
energy is drained.
Switched DC to DC converters offer a method to increase voltage from a partially
lowered battery voltage thereby saving space instead of using multiple batteries to
accomplish the same thing. Most DC to DC converters also regulate the output voltage.
Some exceptions include high-efficiency LED power sources, which are a kind of DC to
DC converter that regulates the current through the LEDs, and simple charge pumps
which double or triple the output voltage. DC to DC converters developed to maximize
the energy harvest for photovoltaic systems and for wind turbines are called power
optimizers.

Figure (2.1): Dc-Dc converter design

There are different conversion methods like linear, switching, and magnetic. These
conversing methods are briefed as follows:
Linear regulators: Linear regulators can only output at lower voltages from the
input. They are very inefficient when the voltage drop is large and the current is high as

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they dissipate heat equal to the product of the output current and the voltage drop;
consequently they are not normally used for large-drop high-current applications. The
inefficiency wastes energy and requires higher-rated and consequently more expensive
and larger components. The heat dissipated by high-power supplies is a problem in itself
and it must be removed from the circuitry to prevent unacceptable temperature rises.
Linear regulators are practical if the current is low, the power dissipated being small,
although it may still be a large fraction of the total power consumed. They are often used
as part of a simple regulated power supply for higher currents: a transformer generates a
voltage which, when rectified, is a little higher than that needed to bias the linear
regulator.
The linear regulator drops the excess voltage, reducing hum-generating ripple
current and providing a constant output voltage independent of normal fluctuations of the
unregulated input voltage from the transformer/bridge rectifier circuit and of the load
current. Linear regulators are inexpensive, reliable if good heat sinks are used and much
simpler than switching regulators. As part of a power supply they may require a
transformer, which is larger for a given power level than that required by a switch-mode
power supply. Linear regulators can provide a very low-noise output voltage, and are very
suitable for powering noise-sensitive low-power analog and radio frequency circuits. A
popular design approach is to use an LDO, Low Drop-out Regulator, which provides a
local "point of load" DC supply to a low power circuit.
Switched mode conversion: Electronic switch-mode DC to DC converters
convert one DC voltage level to another, by storing the input energy temporarily and then
releasing that energy to the output at a different voltage. The storage may be in either
magnetic field storage components (inductors, transformers) or electric field storage
components (capacitors). This conversion method is more power efficient (often 75% to
98%) than linear voltage regulation (which dissipates unwanted power as heat).
This efficiency is beneficial to increasing the running time of battery operated
devices. The efficiency has increased since the late 1980s due to the use of power FETs,
which are able to switch at high frequency more efficiently than power bipolar transistors,
which incur more switching losses and require a more complicated drive circuit. Another
important innovation in DC-DC converters is the use of synchronous rectification
replacing the flywheel diode with a power FET with low "on resistance", thereby
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reducing switching losses. Before the wide availability of power semiconductors, low
power DC to DC converters of this family consisted of an electro-mechanical vibrator
followed by a voltage step-up transformer and a vacuum tube or semiconductor rectifier
or synchronous rectifier contacts on the vibrator. Most AC-to-DC converters are designed
to move power in only one direction, from the input to the output.
However, all switching regulator topologies can be made bi-directional by
replacing all diodes with independently controlled active rectification. A bi-directional
converter can move power in either direction, which is useful in applications requiring
regenerative braking. Drawbacks of switching converters include complexity, electronic
noise (EMI / RFI) and to some extent cost, although this has come down with advances in
chip design. DC-to-DC converters are now available as integrated circuits needing
minimal additional components. They are also available as a complete hybrid circuit
component, ready for use within an electronic assembly.
Magnetic: In these DC-to-DC converters, energy is periodically stored into and
released from a magnetic field in an inductor or a transformer, typically in the range from
300 kHz to 10 MHz. By adjusting the duty cycle of the charging voltage (that is, the ratio
of on/off time), the amount of power transferred can be controlled. Usually, this is applied
to control the output voltage, though it could be applied to control the input current, the
output current, or maintain a constant power. Transformer-based converters may provide
isolation between the input and the output. In general, the term "DC-to-DC converter"
refers to one of these switching converters. These circuits are the heart of a switchedmode power supply. Many topologies exist. This table shows the most common.

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Design of DC-DC Converter for Air Borne Radar Application

CHAPTER 3
TOPOLOGIES OF DC-DC CONVERTER

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Design of DC-DC Converter for Air Borne Radar Application

Topologies of Dc-Dc Converters

The Dc-Dc converters have different topologies with respective specifications. The
various types of converters according to the switch mode power supply regulator are
divided into two types:
1. Non-Isolated converters.
2. Isolated converters.
These converters having different topologies based on Non-Isolated converter and
Isolated converter are as follows:
Non-Isolated converters are:
1. Buck converter.
2. Boost converter.
3. Buck-Boost converter.
Isolated converters are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Flyback converter.
Cuk converter.
Inverter converter.
Half bridge converter.
Full bridge converter.

The explanations of various Dc-Dc converter topologies are briefed as follows:

According to the non-isolated converters the various converters are buck, boost, and
buck-boost converters. Firstly,
3.1 DC Analysis of PWM Buck converter for CCM
3.1.1

Circuit Description:
This converter enables to step down a voltage from high level to low level. The

output voltage is lower than the input voltage, and of the same polarity. A PWM buck
dcdc converter circuit is depicted in Figure 3.1(a). It consists of four components: a
power MOSFET used as a controllable switch S, a diode D1, an inductor L, and a filter
capacitor C. Resistor RL represents a dc load. Power MOSFETs are the most
commonly used controllable switches in dcdc converters because of their high
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speeds. In 1979, International Rectifier patented the first commercially viable power
MOSFET, the HEXFET. Other power switches such as bipolar junction transistors,
insulated gate bipolar transistors, or MOSFET-controlled thyristors may also be used.
The diode D1 is called a freewheeling diode, a flywheel diode, or a catch diode. The
switching network composed of the transistor and the diode chops the dc input
voltage VI and therefore the converter is often called a chopper, which produces a
reduced average voltage. The switch S is controlled by a pulse-width modulator and is
turned on and off at the switching frequency fs = 1/T and the duty cycle D defined as,
(3.1)

Figure(3.1): PWM buck converter and its ideal equivalent circuits for CCM. (a)
Circuit. (b) Equivalent circuit when the switch is ON and the diode is OFF. (c) Equivalent
circuit when the switch is OFF and the diode is ON.
Where ton is the time interval when the switch S is closed and toff is the time
interval when the switch S is open. Since the duty cycle D of the drive voltage vGS varies,
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so does the duty ratio of other waveforms. This permits the regulation of the dc output
voltage againstchanges in the dc input voltage VI and the load resistance RL (or the load
current IO). The output voltage VO of the buck converter is always lower than the input
voltage VI .Therefore, it is a step-down converter. The buck converter bucks the voltage
to a lower level. Because the gate of the MOSFET is not referenced to ground, it is
difficult to drive the transistor. The converter requires a floating gate drive. With the input
current of the converter being discontinuous, a smoothing LC filter may be required at the
input. The buck converter can operate in a continuous conduction mode or in a
discontinuous conduction mode, depending on the waveform of the inductor current. In
CCM the inductor current flows during the entire cycle, whereas in DCM the inductor
current flows only during part of the cycle. In DCM it falls to zero, remains at zero for
some time interval, and then starts to increase. Operation at the CCM/DCM boundary is
called the critical mode.
Let us consider operation in the CCM. Figure 3.1(b)(c) shows the equivalent
circuits of the buck converter for CCM when the switch S is ON and the diode D1 is OFF,
and when the switch is OFF and the diode is ON, respectively. The principle of converter
operation is explained by the idealized current and voltage waveforms depicted in Figure
(3.2). At time t = 0, the switch is turned on by the driver. Consequently, the voltage across
the diode is vD = VI , causing the diode to be reverse biased. The voltage across the
inductor L is vL = VI VO and therefore the inductor current increases linearly with a
slope of (VI VO)/L. The inductor current iL flows through the switch.
Hence, iS = iL. During this time interval, the energy is transferred from the dc
input voltage source VI to the inductor, capacitor, and load. At time t = DT, the switch is
turned off by the driver.The inductor has a nonzero current when the switch is turned off.
Because the inductor current waveform is a continuous function of time, the inductor
current continues to flow in the same direction after the switch turns off. Therefore, the
inductor L acts as a current source, which forces the diode to turn on. The voltage across
the switch is VI and the voltage across the inductor is VO. Hence, the inductor current
decreases linearly with a slope of VO/L. During this time interval, the input source VI is
disconnected from the circuit and does not deliver energy to the load and the LC circuit.
The inductor L and capacitor C form an energy reservoir that maintains the load voltage
and current when the switch is OFF. At time t = T, the switch is turned on again, the
inductor current increases and hence energy increases. PWM converters are operated at
hard switching because the switch voltage waveform is rectangular and the transistor is
turned on at a high voltage. The power switch S and the diode D1 convert the dc input
voltage VI into a square wave at the input of the LC RL circuit. In other words, the dc
input voltage VI is chopped by the transistor-diode switching network. The LC RL
circuit acts as a second-order low-pass filter and converts the square wave into a lowripple dc output voltage. Since the average voltage across the inductor L is zero for steady
state, the average output voltage VO is equal to the average voltage of the square wave.
The width of the square wave is equal to the on-time of the switch S and can be controlled
by varying the duty cycle D of the MOSFET gate-to-drive voltage. Thus, the square wave
is a PWM voltage waveform. The average value of the PWM voltage waveform is VO =
DVI, which depends on the duty cycle D and is almost independent of the load for CCM
operation.
Theoretically, the duty cycle D may be varied from 0 to 100 %. This means that
the output VO ranges from 0 to VI. Thus, the buck circuit is a step-down converter. In
practice, the dc input voltage VI varies over a specified range while the output voltage VO
should be held at a fixed value. If the dc voltage VI is increased, the duty cycle D is
reduced so that the product DVI , being the average value of the PWM voltage, remains
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constant. On the other hand, if the input voltage, VI is reduced, the duty cycle D is
increased so that the average value of the PWM signal is constant. Therefore, the amount
of energy delivered from the input voltage source VI to the load can be controlled by
varying the switch on-duty cycle D. If the output voltage VO and the load resistance RL
(or the load current IO) are constant, the output power is also constant. When the input
voltage VI increases, the switch on-time is reduced to transfer the same amount of energy.
The practical range of D is usually from 5% to 95% due to resolution. The duty cycle D is
controlled by a control circuit.
The inductor current contains an ac component which is independent of the dc load
current in CCM and a dc component which is equal to the dc load current IO. As the dc
output current IO flows through the inductor L, only one-half of the B H curve of the
inductor ferrite core is exploited. Therefore, the inductor L should be designed such that
the core will not saturate. To avoid core saturation, a core with an air gap and a
sufficiently large volume may be required.

Figure (3.2): Idealized current and voltage waveforms in the PWM buck converter for
CCM.
3.2 Assumptions

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The analysis of the buck PWM converter of Figure 3.1(a) begins with the
following assumptions:
1. The power MOSFET and the diode are ideal switches.
2. The transistor output capacitance, the diode capacitance, and the lead inductances
are zero, and thus switching losses are neglected.
3. Passive components are linear, time-invariant, and frequency-independent
.
4. The output impedance of the input voltage source VI is zero for both dc and ac
components.
5. The converter is operating in steady state.
6. The switching period T = 1/fs is much shorter than the time constants of reactive
components.
3.2.1Time Interval 0 < t DT
During the time interval 0 < t DT, the switch S is ON and the diode D1 is OFF.
An ideal equivalent circuit for this time interval is shown in Figure3.1(b). When the
switch is ON, the voltage across the diode vD is approximately equal to VI , causing the
diode to be reverse biased. The voltage across the switch vS and the diode current are
zero. The voltage across the inductor L is given by
(3.2)
Hence, the current through the inductor L and the switch S is

(3.3)
Where iL (0) is the initial current in the inductor L at time t = 0. The peak inductor current
Becomes

(3.4)
and the peak-to-peak ripple current of the inductor L is

(3.5)
The diode voltage is

(3.6)
Thus, the peak value of the diode reverse voltage is

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(3.7)
The average value of the inductor current is equal to the dc output current IO. Hence, one
arrives at the peak value of the switch current,

(3.8)
The increase in the magnetic energy stored in the inductor L during the time interval 0
to DT is given by
(3.9)
The time interval 0 to DT is terminated when the switch is turned off by the driver.
3.2.2 Time Interval DT < t T
During the time interval DT < t T, the switch S is OFF and the diode D1 is ON.
Figure 3.1(c) shows an ideal equivalent circuit for this time interval. Since iL (DT) is
nonzero at that instant the switch turns off and since the inductor current iL is a
continuous function of time, the inductor acts as a current source and turns the diode on.
The switch current iS and the diode voltage vD are zero and the voltage across the
inductor L is
(3.10)
The current through the inductor L and the diode can be found as

(3.11)
Where iL (DT) is the initial condition of the inductor L at t = DT. The peak-to-peak ripple
current of the inductor L is
(3.12)
Note that the peak-to-peak value of the inductor current ripple _iL is independent of the
load current IO in CCM and depends only on the dc input voltage VI and thereby on
the duty cycle D. For a fixed output voltage VO, the maximum value of the peak-to-peak
inductor ripple current occurs at the maximum input voltage VImax, which corresponds to
the minimum duty cycle Dmin. It is given by
(3.13)
The switch voltage vS and the peak switch voltage VSM are given by
(3.14)
The peak diode and switch currents are given by

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(3.15)
This time interval ends at t = T when the switch is turned on by the driver.
The decrease in the magnetic energy stored in the inductor L during time interval DT <t
T is given by
(3.16)
For steady-state operation, the increase in the magnetic energy _WL(in) is equal to the
decrease in the magnetic energy _WL(out).
3.2.3 Device Stresses for CCM
The maximum voltage and current stresses of the switch and the diode in CCM for
steadystate operation are
(3.17)
and.

(3.18)
3.2.4 DC Voltage Transfer Function for CCM
The voltage and current across a linear inductor are related by Faradays law in its
differential form,

(3.19)
For steady-state operation, the boundary condition

(3.20)
is satisfied. Rearranging (3.19),

(3.21)
and integrating both sides yields

(3.22)
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The integral form of Faradays law for an inductor under steady-state conditions is

(3.23)
The average value of the voltage across an inductor for steady state is zero. Thus,

(3.24)
This equation is also called a volt-second balance for an inductor, which means that
voltsecond stored is equal to volt-second released.
For PWM converters operating in CCM,

(3.25)
from which

(3.26)
This means that the area enclosed by the positive part of the inductor voltage waveform
A+ equals the area enclosed by the negative part of the inductor voltage waveform A,
that is,
(3.27)
where

(3.28)
and

(3.29)
Referring to Figure 3.2,
(3.30)
which simplifies to the form
(3.31)
For a lossless converter, VI II = VOIO. Hence, from (3.31), the dc voltage transfer
function(or the voltage conversion ratio) of the lossless buck converter is given by
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(3.32)
The range of MV DC is
(3.33)
Note that the output voltage VO is independent of the load resistance RL. It depends only
on the dc input voltage VI and the duty cycle D. The sensitivity of the output voltage with
respect to the duty cycle is

(3.34)
In most practical situations, VO = DVI is constant, which means that if VI is increased, D
should be decreased by a control circuit to keep VO constant, and vice versa.
The dc current transfer function is given by

(3.35)
and its value decreases from to 1 as D is increased from 0 to 1.
From (3.8), (3.14), and (3.32), the switch and the diode utilization in the buck converter
is characterized by the output-power capability

(3.36)
As D increases from 0 to 1, so does cp.
3.2.5 Boundary between CCM and DCM
Figure 3.3 depicts the inductor current waveform at the boundary between the
continuous conduction mode and the discontinuous conduction mode. This waveform can
be described by

(3.37)

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Figure 3.3 Waveforms of the inductor current at the CCM/DCM boundary at VImin and
VImax.
resulting in the peak inductor current

(3.38)
Hence, one obtains a dc load current at the boundary

(3.39)
and the load resistance at the boundary
(3.40)
Figures 3.4 and 3.5 show the normalized load current IOB/(VO/2 fsL) = 1 D and the
load resistance RLB/(2 fsL) = 1/(1 D) at the CCM/DCM boundary as functions of the
duty cycle D, respectively.

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Figure 3.4 Normalized load current IOB/(VO/2 fsL) at the CCM/DCM boundary as a
function of the duty cycle D for buck converter.

Figure 3.5 Normalized load resistance RLB/(2 fsL) at the CCM/DCM boundary as a
function of the duty cycle D for buck converter.
For the worst case,

(3.41)
Hence, the minimum inductance required to maintain the CCM operation for the duty
cycle ranging from Dmin to Dmax is
(3.42)
As the switching frequency fs increases, the minimum inductance Lmin decreases.
Therefore, high switching frequencies are desirable to reduce the size of the inductor. In
some applications, the inductance L can be much higher than Lmin in order to reduce the
ripple current through the inductor and the filter capacitor. Therefore, it is easier to reduce
the output voltage ripple, to avoid the core saturation, and to reduce the winding and core
losses. If the dc output current IO and the dc input voltage VI are fixed, the peak-to-peak
inductor current _iL = 2IO can be made very large while maintaining the converter
operation in CCM. In this case, the ripple current of the inductor should be limited (e.g.
_iL/(2IO) 10 %).
3.2.6 Ripple Voltage in Buck Converter for CCM
The input voltage of the second-order low-pass LCR output filter is rectangular
with a maximum value VI and a duty cycle D. This voltage can be expanded into a
Fourier series

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(2.43)
The components of this series are transmitted through the output filter to the load. It is
difficult to determine the peak-to-peak output voltage ripple Vr using the Fourier series of
the output voltage. Therefore, a different approach will be taken to derive an expression
for Vr .
The output part of the buck converter is shown in Figure 3.6. The filter capacitor in this
figure is modeled by its capacitance C and its equivalent series resistance (ESR)
designated by rC . Figure 3.7 depicts current and voltage waveforms in the converter
output circuit. The dc component of the inductor current flows through the load resistor
RL, while the ac component is divided between the capacitor C and the load resistor RL.
In practice, the filter capacitor is designed so that the impedance of the capacitive branch
is much less than the load resistance RL. Consequently, the load ripple current is very
small and can be neglected. Thus, the current through the capacitor is approximately
equal to the ac component of the inductor current, iC iL IO.
For the interval 0 < t DT, when the switch is ON and the diode is OFF, the
capacitor current is given by
(3.44)
resulting in the ac component of the voltage across the ESR,
(3.45)
The voltage across the filter capacitance vC consists of the dc voltage VC and the ac
voltage vc , vC = VC + vc . Only the ac component vc may contribute to the output ripple
voltage.
The ac component of the voltage across the filter capacitance is given by

(3.46)
In steady state, vc (DT) = vc (0). The waveform of the voltage across capacitance C is a
parabolic function. The ac component of the output voltage is the sum of voltage across
the filter capacitor ESR rC and the filter capacitance C,
(3.47)

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Figure 3.6 Output circuit of the buck converter.

Figure 3.7 Waveforms illustrating the ripple voltage in the PWM buck converter.
Let us consider the minimum value of the voltage vo . The derivative of the voltage vo
with respect to time is

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(3.48)
Setting this derivative to zero, the time at which the minimum value of vo occurs is given
by
(3.49)
The minimum value of vo is equal to the minimum value of vrc if tmin = 0. This occurs at
a minimum capacitance given by
(3.50)
Consider the time interval DT < t T when the switch S is OFF and the diode D1
is ON. Referring to Figure 3.7, the current through the capacitor is
(3.51)
resulting in the voltage across the ESR,

(3.52)
and the voltage across the capacitor,

(3.53)
Adding (3.52) and (3.53) yields the ac component of the output voltage,
(3.54)
The derivative of vo with respect to time is
(3.55)
Setting the derivative to zero, the time at which the maximum value of vo occurs is
expressed by
(3.56)
The maximum value of vo is equal to the maximum value of vrc if tmax = DT. This
occurs at a minimum capacitance given by

(3.57)
The peak-to-peak ripple voltage is independent of the voltage across the filter capacitance
C and is determined only by the ripple voltage across the ESR if
(3.58)
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For the worst case, Dmin = 0 or Dmax = 1. Thus, the above condition is satisfied at any
value of D if
(3.59)
If condition (3.58) is satisfied, the peak-to-peak ripple voltage of the buck converter is
(3.60)
For steady-state operation, the average value of the ac component of the capacitor voltage
vc is zero, that is,

(3.61)
resulting in

(3.62)

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Figure 3.8 Waveforms of vc , vrc, and vo at three values of the filter capacitor for CCM.
(a) C < Cmin. (b) C = Cmin. (c) C > Cmin
Waveforms of vrc, vc, and vo are depicted in Figure 3.8 for three values of the
filter capacitance C. In Figure 3.8(a), the peak-to-peak value of vo is higher than the peaktopeak value of vrc because C < Cmin. Figure 3.8(b)(c) shows the waveforms for C =
Cmin and C > Cmin, respectively. For both these cases, the peak-to-peak voltages of vo
and vrc are the same. For aluminum electrolytic capacitors, CrC 65 106 s.
If condition (3.58) is not satisfied, both the voltage drop across the filter capacitor C
and the voltage drop across the ESR contribute to the ripple output voltage. The
maximum increase of the charge stored in the filter capacitor in every cycle T is

(3.63)
Hence, using (3.38), the voltage ripple across the capacitance C is
(3.64)
where fo = 1/(2LC) is the corner frequency of the output filter. The minimum filter
capacitance required to reduce its peak-to-peak ripple voltage below a specified level
VCpp is

(3.65)
Thus, Cmin is inversely proportional to fs^2 . Therefore, high switching frequencies are
desirable to reduce the size of the filter capacitor.
Using (3.38), the peak-to-peak voltage ripple across the ESR is
(3.66)
Hence, the conservative estimation of the total voltage ripple is
(3.67)
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3.2.7 Switching Losses with Linear MOSFET Output Capacitance
Let us assume that the MOSFET output capacitance Co is linear. First, we shall consider
the transistor turn-off transition. During this time interval, the transistor is OFF, the drainto source voltage vDS increases from nearly zero to VI , and the transistor output
capacitance is charged. Because dQ = CodvDS, the charge transferred from the input
voltage source VI to the transistor output capacitance Co during the turn-off transition is
(3.68)
yielding the energy transferred from the input voltage source VI to the converter during
the turn-off transition,
(3.69)
An alternative method for deriving an expression for the energy delivered from a
dc source VI to a series RCo circuit after turning on VI is as follows. The input current is
(3.70)
where = RCo is the time constant. Hence,
(3.71)
Using dWs = QdvDS/2, the energy stored in the transistor output capacitance Co at
the end of the transistor turn-off transition when vDS = VI is given by
(3.72)
Thus, the energy lost in the parasitic resistance of the capacitor charging path is the turnoff switching energy loss described by
(3.73)
which results in the turn-off switching power loss in the resistance of the charging path
(3.74)
After turn-off, the transistor remains in the off-state for some time interval and the charge
Ws is stored in the output capacitance Co . The efficiency of charging a linear capacitance
from a dc voltage source is 50 %.
Now consider the transistor turn-on transition. When the transistor is turned on,
its output capacitance Co is shorted out through the transistor on-resistance rDS, the
charge stored in Co decreases, and the drain-to-source voltage decreases from VI to nearly
zero. As a result, all the energy stored in the transistor output capacitance is dissipated as
heat in the transistor on-resistance rDS. Therefore, the turn-on switching energy loss is
(3.75)
resulting in the turn-on switching power loss in the MOSFET,
(3.76)
The turn-on loss is independent of the transistor on-resistance rDS as long as the
transistor output capacitance is fully discharged before the turn-off transition begins.
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Design of DC-DC Converter for Air Borne Radar Application

The total switching energy loss in every cycle of the switching frequency during
the process of first charging and then discharging the output capacitance is given by
(3.77)
and the total switching loss in the converter is
(3.78)
For a linear capacitance, one-half of the switching power is lost in the MOSFET and the
other half in the resistance of the charging path of the transistor output capacitance, that
is, Pturn-on = Pturn-off = Psw/2.
The behavior of a diode is different from that of a transistor because a diode
cannot discharge its parallel capacitance through its forward resistance. This is because a
diode does not turn on until its voltage drops to the threshold voltage. However, the
junction diodes suffer from the reverse recovery at turn-off.
3.2.8 Switching Losses with Nonlinear MOSFET Output Capacitance
The MOSFET drain-to-source capacitance Cds is a nonlinear capacitance of the pn
stepjunction
body diode, which depends on the drain-to-source voltage vDS,

(3.79)
where CJ 0 is the zero-bias junction capacitance and VB is the built-in potential barrier,
which ranges from 0.55V to 0.9 V. From (3.79),

(3.80)
Manufacturers of power MOSFETs usually specify the capacitances Crss = Cgd, Ciss
=Cgs + Cgd, and Coss = Cds + Cgd at f = 1MHz. The capacitances Crss and Coss are
measured at VDS = 25V and VGS = 0V. Hence, Cds25 = Coss Crss. The output
capacitance at vDS = VI is

(3.81)
Since dQ = CdsdvDS, the charge transferred from the dc input voltage source VI to the
drain-to-source junction capacitance Cds during the turn-off transition is given by

(3.82)
Hence,
(3.83)
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Design of DC-DC Converter for Air Borne Radar Application

The energy transferred from the input dc voltage source VI to the converter during the
turn-off transition is given by

(3.84)
Because dWs = QdvDS/2, the energy stored in the drain-to-source capacitance Cds at vDS
is

(3.85)
Hence, one obtains the energy stored in Cds at VI ,
(3.86)
Therefore, the energy lost in the resistance of the charging path of the MOSFET output
capacitance is
(3.87)
Hence, the switching power loss dissipated in the resistance r of the path of charging the
transistor output capacitance is

(3.88)
The transistor equivalent linear output capacitance that causes the same switching power
loss in the charging path resistance r during the turn-off transition as the linear one is
derived as

(3.89)
producing

(3.90)
During the turn-on transition, all the energy stored in the transistor output
capacitance
is lost in the MOSFET on-resistance rDS:

(3.91)
Thus, the MOSFET turn-on switching loss is

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Design of DC-DC Converter for Air Borne Radar Application

(3.92)
The transistor equivalent linear output capacitance that causes the same switching power
loss in the MOSFET on-resistance during the turn-on transition as the linear one can be
obtained as

(3.93)
resulting in
(3.94)
The total switching energy loss in each cycle of the switching frequency is
(3.95)
and the total switching loss in the converter is
(3.96)
The transistor equivalent linear output capacitance Ceq(sw) that produces the same
amount
of the switching loss as the nonlinear one at a given VI can be derived as

(3.97)
yielding

(3.98)
The turn-off switching power loss is twice as high as the turn-on switching power loss for
the MOSFET with a nonlinear output capacitance:
(3.99)

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Design of DC-DC Converter for Air Borne Radar Application

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