Hybrid Input Power Balancing Method of Modular Power Converters for High Efficiency, High Reliability, and Enhanced Dynamic Performance

Abstract

Input parallel output parallel (IPOP) modular power converters have been used to supply high power and high current in various applications. In general, the IPOP modular power converter uses an output power balancing method to equally distribute the amount of output power to each converter. In this article, a hybrid input power balancing method is proposed to obtain high power conversion efficiency, high reliability, and enhanced dynamic performance of the IPOP modular power converters. In the steady state, the proposed method controls input power to be balanced in each converter. A power loss distribution capability of the input power balancing method can improve the entire power conversion efficiency and can reduce the overall operating temperature of the IPOP converters, which can increase lifetime and can improve reliability. During the transient operation, the proposed method makes the IPOP converters under an interleaving mode to tightly regulate the output voltage and to obtain fast dynamic performance. Experimental results with 200-W prototype modular synchronous buck converters verify the performance improvements of the proposed method such as high power conversion efficiency, the power loss distribution capability in the steady-state operation, and the enhanced dynamic performance in the transient operation.