Digital Pulsewidth Modulation Technique for a Synchronous Buck DC/DC Converter to Reduce Switching Frequency

Abstract

It has been shown that the resolution of a digital pulsewidth modulator (DPWM) can be dramatically increased by either constant on-time modulation control or constant off-time modulation control as compared to that for constant frequency modulation. However, the switching frequency increases dramatically for the constant on/off-time modulation method under heavy/light load conditions, respectively. The increase of switching frequency results in more switching losses and requires a higher performance controller. The objective of this paper is to propose a new digital pulsewidth modulation (PWM) technique with constant on/off-time control for a synchronous buck dc/dc converter in order to reduce the switching frequency and switching losses. Moreover, the switching frequency can be limited to a certain range. Experimental results of the proposed new digital PWM technique are presented for confirmation. It will be shown that the proposed technique can significantly reduce the switching frequency of the converter, thereby improving DPWM resolution and the efficiency.