Design and Control of an Alternative Buck PWM DC-to-DC Converter

Abstract

The second order dc-to-dc buck converter with input LC filter is widely used in industry. An alternative 4th order converter which has advantages in terms of control design leading to better transient performance is presented. A complete DC (steady state average and ripple quantities) and AC small-signal analyses of this converter for both uncoupled and coupled inductor cases is provided. Conditions for achieving, in a lossless manner, a minimum phase control-to-output transfer function are found, which ameliorates regulator design while maximizing loop bandwidth. A closed loop regulator design procedure is presented and the performance of a design example is examined with a prototype. It is believed that this converter is a good alternative in applications where the second order buck converter augmented with an input filter has been traditionally utilized.