A 95%-Efficient 48V-to-1V/10A VRM Hybrid Converter Using Interleaved Dual Inductors

Abstract

This paper presents a new 48 V-to-1 V hybrid converter. The converter utilizes two interleaved inductors to achieve complete soft-charging of flying capacitors to efficiently support high output currents. This dual inductor hybrid converter (DIHC) features fewer number of switches and more effective switch utilization than a recently reported hybrid Dickson converter, leading to substantially less conduction losses presented by a smaller equivalent output impedance. Experimental results verify the converter's operation principles and advantages in a 300-kHz 20-W prototype achieving 95.02% peak efficiency and 225 W/in3 power density. Its advantages and performance promise a good candidate converter architecture for applications that require large conversion ratios and high output currents, such as data centers and high-performance digital systems.