Demystifying Class-E power amplifiers design

using Maple
Arturo Fajardo Jaimes
Pontifical Xavierian University
Bogotá, Colombia
fajardoa@javeriana.edu.co
Ariel Andres Jimenez Garcia Natalia Morales Varón
Pontifical Xavierian University Pontifical Xavierian University
Bogotá, Colombia Bogotá, Colombia
jimenezariel@javeriana.edu.co nataliamorales@javeriana.edu.co

√
Abstract—This document shows the development of the design frequency (ω0 ) of the LC output network and LSH CSH it
of a Class-E power amplifier through the mathematical software is defined as the variable q (1)
MAPLE under some specific requirements, using analytical √
equations. ωo LSH CSH
Index Terms—Class-E, circuits design, power amplifiers, q= = √ ; (1)
ωSH Lo Co
MAPLE.
Likewise, the variable p (2) is defined as the division between
I. I NTRODUCTION the impedance of LSH at the operating frequency and the
resistance seen by the voltage source from the PA.
The Class-E mode of operation of RF power amplifiers,
first introduced and analyzed by Sokal and Sokal in 1975 ωIp LSH ZSH
p= = = f1 (D, q); (2)
is interesting to engineering applications because it is high Vcc RP A
efficiency, theoretically 100% and simple circuit topology. The variables p and q were introduced by [3], in order to
This is possible when the switch voltage and current are simplify the math analysis.
syntonized to not occur simultaneously and hence there is no
loss in the switch from power dissipated [1].
Mathematical analysis of Class-E operation can be compli-
cated. The analysis and development of the class-E amplifier
by Raab [2], revolves around two control variables, duty cycle
and switch voltage slope. In [2], it was found to obtain
optimum class-E amplifier operation, efficiency (η=1) and
power output capability (PMAX =0.0981), that means, zero Figure 1: Class-E PA a) Ideal model, b) High Q model.
voltage switching and zero voltage slope switching (ξ=0)
must be fulfilled simultaneously, and the amplifier must be Considering the circuit of the Figure 1a. and the charac-
operated with 50% duty cycle (D=0.5). His results are often teristics assumed above, the Class E-PA can be modeled as
used as a starting point for practical implementation. This shown in the Figure 1b. Its analysis will be divided into two
paper presents a mathematical analysis using the mathematical moments: when the switch is ON and when the switch is OFF.
software MAPLE that is simpler than previous analyses and The currents and voltages were developed and presented in [3].
provides design data. Additionally, the waveforms acquired The current on the load and the quality factor of the resonant
with the data supplied by MAPLE are presented using the output network are characterized by equations (3) and (4):
electronic circuit simulator software OrCad, in which, a pa- r
rameterization is developed to the user has the freedom to 2Pout
iR (t) = sin(2πf t + ϕ); ϕ = f2 (D, q); (3)
modify variables without compromising the efficiency of the RL
circuit. ωLo
QL = ; (4)
II. CLASS-E PA DESIGN RL
When the switch is in ON state, the voltage across the switch
The following design solution is based on a mathematical
and the current by CSH are equal to zero. The expressions
analysis of the ideal Class-E PA with finite DC feed
that defines the current by LSH and by the switch are shown
inductance [3]. For the analysis, it is assumed i) 50% duty
in (5) y (6).
cycle; ii) the resonant output network has high Q that allows
a sinusoidal current on the load; and iii) zero losses due to Vcc
iLSHon (t) = t − Ip sin(ϕ); (5)
switching. LSH
Vcc
It is necessary establish the relationship between the tuning iSon (t) = t − Ip sin(ϕ) + Ip sin(ωt + ϕ); (6)
LSH
 On the other hand, when the switch is in the OFF state, the A value is defined for the variable q and for the duty cycle
current by the switch is equal to zero. The constants C1 and D. The functions mentioned between the equations (16) and
C2 are analytic functions of p, q, ϕ and Vcc, and they were (20) are simplified. With these values, the circuit element
found in [3]. gains are replaced. The circuit element gains were described
Z t between the (10) and (15) equations. The extraction of the
Vcc 1
iCSHof f (t) = t+Ip (sin(ωt+ϕ)−sin(ϕ))− VCSHresults
dτ ; of the electrical components of Class-E PA of Figure
LSH LSH 2πD ω 1 is summarized in Table 1.
(7)
Component Value
2
Z t Vcc
Vcc 1 Ropt ηPin P
K (D, q)
iLSHof f (t) = t − Ip sin(ϕ) − VCSH dτ ; (8) Ropt
LSH LSH 2πD LSH ω
KL (D, q)
ω KC (D,q)·ηPin
CSH KP (D,q)·ωVcc2
2
Qo Vcc
Lo · ηP · KP (D, q)
VCSHof f (t) = Vcc + C1cos(qωt) + C2sin(qωt) ωo
1
in
Co ωo L o
1
Ce V2
q2 1
Co
−ωKX (D,q)KP (D,q) ηPcc
− pVcc cos(ωt + ϕ); (9) in
1 − q2 Table I: Circuit components.
From the solution of the previous equations that depends on p,
q, ϕ and D, the constants K that relate the previous variables to
the design input parameters are obtained from [3]. The circuit It is important to highlight that the value of q can take
components of Figure 1 are calculated, replacing the values any real positive number except for a singular point at 1.
of the input variables η, Vcc , Pin and Qo . According to [5], The properties such as high load resistance, low supply
K = {KL , KC , KP , KX }, and each one is understood as: voltage operation and high frequency operation occur in the
range 0< q <1.9 [5]. Moreover, the design set that allows
p(D, q) ωL maximize Gain-Power product (q=1.442) and that which
KL = = (10)
2gx (D, q) R allows maximize Output-Power (q=1.412) are summarized in
2gx (D, q) Tables II and III, respectively.
KC = = ωCR (11)
q 2 p(D, q)
Pout R
KP = 2(gx (D, q))2 = (12) KL (D, q) = KL (0.5, 1.442) = 0.6891331864
Vcc2 KC (D, q) = KC (0.5, 1.442) = 0.6978567995
Z 2π KP (D, q) = KP (0.5, 1.442) = 1.355039931
1 ω
KX (D, q) = KX (0.5, 1.442) = -0.082383568
VR = (VC (t)sin(ωt + ϕ))dt (13)
π 0
Table II: Design Set for Maximum Gain-Power Product.
Z 2π
1 ω
VX = (VC (t)cos(ωt + ϕ))dt (14)
π 0
KL (D, q) = KL (0.5, 1.412) = 0.7331560105
KX can be obtained by dividing equation (14) and (13). KC (D, q) = KC (0.5, 1.412) = 0.6841230247
VX KP (D, q) = KP (0.5, 1.412) = 1.363243774
KX (D, q) = (15) KX (D, q) = KX (0.5, 1.412) = -0.00017162645
VR
Table III: Design Set for Maximum Output-Power.
III. MAPLE IMPLEMENTATION
To implementing the model in MAPLE the first step is
define the variables of interest. The equations that govern On the other hand, if there is no certainty of the relation of
the system are the equations that describe the variables p, ϕ, frequencies that are related to the choice of the variable q, it
C1/VCC, C2/VCC, and gx are found in annexes, these must is possible to graph the different values of the components
be copied and pasted directly into the mathematical software according to the variable q. For the above, it is necessary to
MAPLE. establish the design parameters, such as: duty cycle, input
voltage, input power, efficiency, quality factor Qo and working
ϕ = f1 (D, q) (16) frequency. In order to verify the MAPLE implementation,
a Class-E PA was simulated following the specifications
p = f2 (D, q). (17) summarized in Table IV.
C1/V CC = f3 (D, q) (18) q D (%) f (kHz) Vcc (V) Lo (µH) Pin (W) η (%)
1.412 50 100 5 24.92 2 100
C2/V CC = f4 (D, q) (19)
Table IV: Specifications for the Class-E PA.
gx = Idc/Iac = f5 (D, q) (20)
 Parameter Value Pin (W) Pout (W) η (%)
The components values extracted were the following:
20 1.8919 1.8705 98.86
23 1.6790 1.6708 99.51
RL (Ω)
component Value 26 1.5163 1.5083 99.47
29 0.6899 0.6872 99.60
Ce 101.17 nF 56.048 0.9620 0.9587 99.58
Co 101.19 nF Csh 63.048 0.8459 0.8432 99.58
Lsh 19.88 uH (nF) 70.048 0.7627 0.7570 99.68
Csh 63.89 nF 77.048 0.7143 0.6959 97.42
Ropt 17.04 80 0.7225 0.7149 98.94
Cbypass 1.57 uF 93.33 0.7672 0.7626 99.40
Ce (nF)
106.66 0.7977 0.7927 99.37
Table V: Calculated circuit values. 120 0.8174 0.8123 99.37
15.904 0.8120 0.7869 96.90
Lsh 17.904 0.7510 0.7358 97.97
(µH) 19.904 0.6985 0.6879 98.48
21.904 0.6513 0.6443 98.92

Table VI: Parameterization results.

IV. SIMULATION AND PARAMETERIZATION
Waveform setting Rl to 20% Waveform setting Csh to 20%
18 20 ohms 56.048 nF
23 ohms 20 63.048 nF
16
26 ohms 70.048 nF

Once we obtain the values from MAPLE, an approximation 14

12
29 ohms
15
77.048 nF

Voltage [V]

Voltage [V]
10

to values available in the market was made. The circuit is 8

6
10

implemented in OrCad software. To visualize its waveform 4

2
5

with respect to time, all circuit components were ideally 0

9.75 9.76 9.77 9.78 9.79 9.8
Time[s]
9.81 9.82 9.83 9.84 9.85
# 10-3
9.985 9.986 9.987 9.988 9.989 9.99
Time[s]
9.991 9.992 9.993 9.994 9.995
# 10-3

simulated, with the exception of the transistor for which the (a) Waveform setting RL to 20% (b) Waveform setting Csh to 20%
IRF2807 model was used. The transistor used has an ON- 18
Waveform setting Ce to 20%
80 nF
93.33 nF

resistance RDS = 13mΩ, a rise time of 64 ns and a fall 16

14

12
106.66 nF
120 nF
Voltage [V]

time of 48 ns. The transistor gate was driven with a square 10

wave signal of frequency equal to 100kHz, duty cycle of 6

50% and fall and rise times equal to 0. In order to find 0

9.985 9.986 9.987 9.988 9.989 9.99
Time[s]
9.991 9.992 9.993 9.994 9.995
# 10-3

an optimal point that meets the condition of zero voltage

(c) Waveform setting Ce to 20% (d) Waveform setting Lsh to 20%
switching (ZVS), parameterized simulations were performed
that allow understanding the behavior of the circuit with Figure 3: Waveforms resulting from parameterization.
respect to controlled changes of components. For the above,
we used the optimization of the Class-E PA design developed
V. C ONCLUSION
in [6], which states the changes in the waveform by varying
Ropt, Csh, Ce and Lsh, such as shown in Figure 2. In this paper the results of the simulation of a class E am-
plifier with ZVS was presented. Likewise, the behavior of the
circuit was described by varying some important components
providing the user with infinite degrees of freedom without
compromising design efficiency. The technique of extracting
parameters was checked through MAPLE software, obtaining
results according to the design specifications.

R EFERENCES

[1] V. Mury, T; Fusco, “Exploring figures of merit associated with the

suboptimum operation of class-E power amplifiers,” no. June, pp.
401–407.
Figure 2: Effects in VDG waveform by adjusting the compo- [2] F. H. Raab, “Idealized Operation of the Class E Tuned Power Amplifier,”
nent values [6]. IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst., vol. 24, no. 12, pp. 725–735, 1977.

[3] R. M. May and M. M. PROUBET, “Analytical Design Equations for

From the commercial values found above, a 20% sweep
was performed on each component and the results were
recorded in Table VI.
The waveforms that describe the results in Table VI
are shown in Figure 3a, 3b, 3c and 3d.
Class-E Power Amplifier.,” Arch Sci Physiol, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 91–105,
1954.
[4] A. F. Jaimes and F. R. De Sousa, “Simple expression for estimating
the switch peak voltage on the class-E amplifier with finite DC-feed
inductance,” LASCAS 2016 - 7th IEEE Lat. Am. Symp. Circuits Syst.
R9 IEEE CASS Flagsh. Conf., pp. 183–186, 2016.
[5] M. Acar, A. J. Annema, and B. Nauta, “Generalized Design Equations
for Class-E Power Amplifiers with Finite DC Feed Inductance,” 2006
Eur. Microw. Conf., no. September, pp. 1308–1311, 2006.

[6] N. O. Sokal, “CLASS-E HIGH-EFFICIENCY RF/MICROWAVE

POWER AMPLIFIERS: PRINCIPLES OF OPERATION, DESIGN PRO-
CEDURES, AND EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION,” IEEE Life Fel-
low Des. Autom. Inc.