A Design Methodology to Synthesize First Degree Single-Path Hybrid DC–DC Converters

Abstract

The hybrid dc–dc converter family has desirable features to fulfil the performance matrix requirements of point-of-load converters. However, there are no well-established methods for synthesizing single and dual-path converters addressing design specifications. The existing connection matrix-based approaches are not helpful because they give rise to nonrealizable, redundant, and degenerative solutions. Therefore, a design-oriented and low-entropy equation-based single-path hybrid converter synthesis method is proposed in this article. To this end, general structures for the single- and multi-inductor converters have been proposed. They are based on the switched-capacitor cells. Therefore, a set of guidelines have been provided in this article to decompose a voltage gain polynomial for identifying the switched-capacitor cells. Moreover, a structured method to derive and approximate a converter gain polynomial has been presented in the article. The usefulness of the proposed method is validated by synthesizing a converter for a selected application and verifying its operation using experimental results.