Practical Selection

of Topology

INTRODUCTION: THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF TOPOLOGIES!

Before you can begin any sort of design work on a converter, you have to select a topology.
This is a really important task, as all other design selections depend on it: component
selection, magnetics design, loop compensation, and so on; if the topology changes, these
must change as well. So before getting started, it’s always a good idea to spend some time
carehlly looking at the power supply’s requirements and specifications to ensure that a
proper topology is selected.
But how to choose? Some books on power supplies are nothing but compendiums of
dozens of topologies, each with a few paragraphs descnbing the general idea of how the
topology works, but little or nothing about the pros and cons of each, and certainly without
guidance as to how to select one out of the many. Indeed, it has been shown in recent
classification papers (see, e.g., Ref. 1) that resonant topologies alone number in the
hundreds!
In this chapter, we’re going to do it more practically. We’re going to mention only the
half-dozen or so topologies that are most commonly used in the low to medium power
range, and clearly spell out their pros and cons. This book can’t give absolute guidelines
about which topology to use, because in fact you can make almost any of them work for a
given application; but it will give strong opinions about which topologies not to use when,
and the reasons why. In the first section on general considerations, we list the various
criteria you need to consider when selecting a topology. The remainder of the chapter
discusses the common topologies and some of their aspects vis-&vis the criteria.

17
18 Chap. 2 Practical Selection of Topology

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

Step-up or Step-Down

One of the very first things you need to think about to select a topology is whether the
output voltage or voltages is (are) higher or lower than the input voltage, and whether this
is true over the whole range of input voltages. For example, the buck converter can only
step down the voltage; so the output voltage has to be less than the input at all times.
(Details about the various types of converter mentioned in this section can be found in the
sections of the chapter below.) If you have a 24V input that you want to step down to ISV,
that’s fine for a buck; but if the 24V actually has a range from 8V to 80V (as in MIL-STD-
704A) then you can’t use a buck, because you can’t have 8V in and 15V out.

Practical Limits on Duty Cycle

Furthermore, there is a practical limit to how large or small a conversion ratio (output
voltage divided by input voltage) can be achieved with a switching converter. First, the
achievable duty cycle (definition: duty cycle =on time/switching period of a switch) for a
converter has both a maximum and a minimum limit. In some topologies, you can’t go
above 50% duty cycle. In any case, commonly available PWM ICs often don’t guarantee
that they can reach duty cycles above about 85%. And in any case, many of them also
don’t hnction properly below about 5% duty cycle; which at reasonable switching
frequencies is just as well, for you can’t drive the gates of MOSFETs fast enough to get
reasonable losses.

EXAMPLE
If your switching frequency is 250kHz, the period is 4 p . At a duty cycle of IO%, the on-time of the
MOSFET is only 400ns, and if it takes 1 OOns to turn on the MOSFET and another lOOns to turn it
off, almost all the period is eaten up in transitions, making for a lossy converter.

Practical Note Don’t plan on running duty cycles outside the limits of approximately
10% minimum or 80% maximum (45% maximum for converters with a theoretical
maximum of 50%), without taking special precautions (type of IC used, high current
gate drives, etc.).

There is a way around the limitation in duty cycle just illustrated: by using a
topology that has a transformer, you can achieve a greater conversion ratio by a factor of
the turns ratio. However, there are limits even to this. If the turns ratio becomes extremely
large, the gross mismatch in wire gauge between the primary and secondary makes the
transformer difficult to wind.

Practical Note In general, transformers should have a maximum primary to second-

ary turns ratio of 10 : 1 or a minimum of 1 : 10. If you need to get really high voltages
from a low voltage, or vice versa, you should think about either a two-stage converter
or a voltage multiplier on the secondary.
General Considerations 19

How Many Outputs?

Closely connected with the question of duty cycle is the need to determine how many
output voltages are to be generated. For example, if the answer is anything other than
“one,’’ a buck isn’t suitable. Other practical limitations with some types of converter
(concerning how many outputs should be planned on) are discussed below.
In the general sort of case, you may find that there are ways around such limits. For
example, it may be possible to postregulate an output to generate another voltage. A
+
common example might be a buck converter which produces a 5V output, and then uses
a linear regulator (or even another switcher) with the + W a s input to generate +3.3V. The
losses associated with this may be justifiable due, for example, to transient or noise
requirements on the additional line.
In the worst case, it may make sense to design two separate converters, rather than
trying to design and produce extremely complex magnetic pieces with large numbers of
windings. Indeed, some of the worst converters the author has ever had to deal with (from
the standpoint of producability and maintenance) have been multiwinding units, whose
designer thought a few pennies could be saved by using a single PWM IC instead of two,
and instead ended up spending dollars trying to make a very complicated transformer. The
cost of magnetics should be considered up front, before any design is done, to avoid
getting trapped with this problem.

Isolation

Another question that should be asked up front is whether primary to secondary isolation
is required. There are all sorts of safety rules in the commercial world (as well as EM1
questions, considered below) that may make isolation necessary. A typical example might
be that the input has SOOVAC applied to it relative to the output. But as soon as you know
you need isolation, a number of topologies are immediately ruled out, that is, anything
without a transformer (buck, nonisolated flyback, etc.).

Hopefdly you’ve been lectured often enough, “Think about EM1 from the start of the
design, don’t wait till the converter’s already designed to start looking for Bandaids.”
Topology can have a lot to do with success in EMI. To start with the most basic aspect, if
you have a nonisolated system, you have no common mode noise, since there is no third
wire involved in the system! (EM1 has a special chapter, Chapter 9, that explains these
concepts in detail.) This makes filtering easier on you, the designer, if not easier overall.
Furthermore, some topologies are inherently more noisy than others. A distinction is
to be made between topologies that disconnect the input from the converter during some
portion of the period (and thus necessarily have discontinuous input current), and those
that don’t; the latter are easier to filter because the current has “less sharp edges.” Among
the latter, we distinguish those that operate in discontinuous mode from those that operate
in continuous mode (this concept is discussed below), since the discontinuous operation
also results in some portion of the period when the input current goes to zero; by the same
reasoning, continuous mode will be easier to filter.
An example of a converter that disconnects the input is a buck, since when the
switch is open, input current is zero. A nonisolated flyback always has the inductor
20 Chap. 2 Practical Selection of Topology

connected to the input, but whether the input current is continuous depends on whether the
flyback is being operated in continuous or discontinuous mode.
I recommend against using any of the topologies that claim they have no input
ripple. Experience shows that they generally have very expensive magnetics.

Bipolar versus MOSFET versus ?

This question of what switch to use isn’t directly related to topology selection, but should
be considered up front also. The reason is that different types of devices have very different
types of drive requirement; driving a bipolar transistor can be so hard that you will want to
limit yourself to a single-switch topology. As of the date of writing, in the low to medium
power range covered by this book, MOSFETs are used at least 90% of the time, both in
commercial and military work. Indeed, except for special reasons, you should simply plan
on using MOSFETs.
One of the special reasons is cost. For really high production quantities, a bipolar
may still at times be cheaper than a MOSFET. However, a bipolar usually means a lower
switching frequency than a MOSFET, and so the magnetics will be larger. Where does the
cost advantage lie? You will have to do a detailed cost study to find this out.
You may also weigh the possibilities of a bipolar design for high input voltages, such
as in 277V off-line conversion, or in a converter such as a push-pull, where you get double
the input voltage, plus transients. You can get a 15OOV bipolar, but the maximum
MOSFET voltage is IOOOV. Of course, for this you might consider an IGBT, which is
industry standard for off-line these days. Unfortunately, although these transistors are
driven like a MOSFET, you are then back to bipolar switching speeds again.

Continuous and Discontinuous

Continuous or discontinuous refers to the current in the inductor: in a discontinuous mode

converter, the inductor current goes to zero at some time during the period. Stated
differently, the difference between continuous and discontinuous mode is that to have
continuous mode, you have to have enough inductance that at minimum load (including
any preloading) there is still inductor current flowing at all times. In equations:
VO”tT(1 - D)
Iloadmin 2 L
where Tis the period and D the duty cycle, and we have assumed that the forward voltage
drop of the rectifier is small compared with the output voltage. Of course, if minimum load
current is zero, you necessarily have discontinuous mode (except see below).

Practical Note The key thing is to choose either continuous or discontinuous;,don’t

allow the converter to be sometimes one and sometimes the other depending on the
load. This can make it difficult to stabilize the loop.
I I

An exception to this general rule occurs with synchronous rectification. A converter

using synchronous rectification is always in continuous mode. Thus, no minimum
inductance is required.
General Considerations 21

Synchronous Rectification

In many applications nowadays, converter efficiency is (almost!) more important than cost.
Indeed, looked at from the consumer’s viewpoint, a more efficient but more expensive up-
front converter actually is cheaper, because the cost of downtime can be so high: an extra
half-hour of compute time on a laptop computer, for example, would certainly be worth an
extra dollar in the power supply.
When efficiency is important, it certainly pays to consider the use of a synchronous
rectifier, that is, a system in which the hnction of the output rectifier is accomplished by a
switch, invariably a MOSFET. Many ICs available today will h v e both a main switching
FET and a synchronous rectifier as well, so this can be far less painhl than it was just a few
years ago, when a second drive had to be developed using discrete components.
A further reason to consider using synchronous rectification is that as noted above, it
converts a (potentially) discontinuous mode operation converter into a continuous mode
[Link] is because even at no load, the current can flow in either direction in the inductor
(because an “on” MOSFET can conduct in both directions). Using a synchronous rectifier,
then, relieves you of having to worry about changing modes (which can be bad for converter
stability, see Chapter 6), or about minimum inductance to ensure continuous operation.
One small downside to synchronous rectification deserves mention here. The main
switching MOSFET has to be off before the synchronous rectifier is turned on, and vice
versa. If this detail is neglected, there will be shoot-through: the input (or output) voltage
will have a direct path to ground, engendering very high losses and potential failure.
During the interval of time when both MOSFETs are off, the current in the inductor has to
flow somewhere. Generally, the body diode of the MOSFET should not be used to carry
this current, because this diode has a very long reverse recovery time. Suppose the body
diode is intended carry the current while the MOSFETs are off. While the body diode is
recovering, it acts like a short, so there is once again a path from input (or output) to
ground, giving rise to shoot-through. To get an idea of the potential for trouble here,
consider Figure 2.1 B.
The bottom line is that it is necessary to have a Schottky diode in parallel with the
MOSFET’s body diode, to carry the current during the time when both FETs are off. (The
Schottky has a much lower Vf than the body diode, and so carries essentially all the current;
the reverse recovery time of the body diode depends on its previous forward conduction
current, which is therefore negligible.)

+V

Figure 2.1 (a) Nonsynchronous converter uses a diode, whereas (b) a synchronous
converter uses a MOSFET.
22 Chap. 2 Practical Selection of Topology

Voltage Mode versus Current Mode

You might observe that the distinction between current mode control and voltage mode
control has not been mentioned in this list of things to consider up front. This is because
this is really a control issue; most every topology can have either type of control. There is
one point, though, on which there can be significant effects of selecting one or the other: if
currents are high, current mode is going to require sensing the current with either a resistor
(which will dissipate a lot of power) or a current transformer (which costs money). As a
mitigating factor, though, this sensing makes overcurrent limiting straightforward. So for
higher power outputs, it’s worth thinking about this choice as well.

Conclusions

The more you know about the system in which your power supply is going to be operating,
the better you can make design choices up front. And making proper choices at the
beginning is vastly less costly and time-consuming than trying to make fixes later.

Practical Note Make yourself a checklist from the specification sheet for the
converter, and go through each of the items above. You’ll often find that you come
down to only one or two possibilites for a topology based on these constraints, and
then topology selection may be easy, based on cost or size. For convenience, Table
2.1 summarizes the various choices talked about in this section.
I I

TABLE 2.1 Topology Selection Checklist

1. Srep-up or step-down. Is the input voltage always higher or always lower than the output? If not, you can’t use
a buck or non-isolated flyback.
2. Duly cycle. Is the output voltage different by more than a factor of 5 from the input voltage? If so, you
probably will need a transformer. Calculate duty cycle to ensure that it doesn’t have to get too small or too
large.
3. How many ourpur voltages are required? If more than one, a transformer may be required, unless you can
postregulate. Large numbers of outputs suggest more than one converter may be a good choice.
4. Is isolation required? How much voltage? Isolation necessitates a transformer.
5 . What are rhe EMI requirements? Tight requirements suggest staying away from topologies with discontinuous
input current, such as a buck, and choosing continuous mode operation.
6 . Is cosr so pammounr that a BJT might be a choice? Or if off-line, an IGBT? Otherwise, plan on MOSFETs.
7. Is rhe supply required to opemte with no load? If so, choose discontinuous mode-unless the answer to
question 8 is yes:
8 . Can synchronous rectification be afforded? This makes the converter continuous regardless of load.
9. Is the ourpur current very high? Then it might be good to use voltage mode rather than current mode.

THEBUCKTOPOLOGY

Turning from generalities to specific converters now, it is assumed that you know what a
buck converter looks like. A sample is shown later (Figure 6.17). Instead of being yet
another compendium of topologies, this section, and those following it on the other
The Buck Topology 23

topologies, concentrates on practical difficulties with each topology, and some possibilities
for circumventing them. Concentrating on the problems up front will enable you to make a
better selection of topology, by highlighting areas that will consume much of your time in
the design and debugging phases.

Limitations

As mentioned under General Considerations, there are a number of limitations to the buck
topology that need to be addressed at the start.

1. Although a buck converter is conceptually clean in having only an inductor and

no transformer, this means in turn that it’s not possible to have input-to-output
isolation.
2. The buck can only step down the input voltage: if the input is ever less than the
desired outputsconverter won’t work. (However, see the section below on the
buck-boost.) You use a buck to generate a negative voltage. Figure 2.2 shows
such a configuration. When the transistor turns on, current in the inductor ramps
up. When the transistor turns off, the inductor current is pulled from the output
capacitor, pulling it negative.

Positive Neaative-
voltage t i- - U
n
- -0-

voltage
input T =fi OUtDUt

Figure 2.2 Using a buck to convert a positive input voltage to a negative output voltage.

3. The buck only has one output. This is fine if you’re looking for a 5V-to-3.3V
converter, but unless you’re willing to contemplate a second stage of regulation,
such as a linear postregulator, the many applications in which you’re looking for
multiple outputs are ruled out.
4. Although the buck can be either continuous or discontinuous, its input current is
always discontinuous, meaning that during the portion of the cycle when the
transistor is off, the input current goes to zero. This makes the EM1 filter larger
than it might need to be with other topologies.

Gate Drive Difficulties

Driving the gate of a buck can get to be quite a nuisance, not to say a problem. The trouble
is that to turn on an n-channel MOSFET, the gate voltage has to be at least 5V and more
likely 1OV above the input voltage (respectively 1V and 5V for logic-level FETs). But how
do you generate a voltage higher than the input? The easiest way around this problem is no
24 Chap. 2 H Practical Selection of Topology

doubt to use a p-channel FET, so it can be turned on just by pulling the gate to ground.
Unfortunately, p-channel FETs usually have substantially higher RDs,on than n-channels
do, and cost rather more, Besides, the input voltage would have to be less than 20V to
avoid blowing out the gate, ruling it out in a number of applications. The reality of using
p-channel MOSFETs is this: with a pull-down resistor, you usually can't get enough
switching speed on the gate for the efficiency you want, and you end up going back to an
n-channel after a few frustrating days of lab work.

I I
Practical Note Except for very low input voltage converters, build your buck
converter with an n-channel MOSFET.

One common way to drive the gate is to use a gate drive transformer that isolates the
driver from the gate (Figure 2.3).

F
T
To gate drive

Figure 2.3 Use of a transformer to drive a buck transistor.

The capacitor on the drive side of the isolation transformer prevents DC current from
flowing through the primary while the gate drive output is high. The capacitor and diode
on the other side restore the voltage to unidirectionality-otherwise a 12V drive on the
primary becomes a f6V drive on the secondary. The gate resistor is always necessary (see
the discussion in Chapter 3 on components), and finally, the gate-source resistor is just a
bleed: if the gate drive stops switching for some reason, the gate eventually turns OK

Practical Note Choose the two capacitors in this gate drive circuit to be at least 10
times bigger than the gate capacitance-remember that they form a divider with this
capacitance, and so this way you'll get at least 90% of the drive voltage on the gate.
The Flyback 25

Although this system is relatively cheap and works well, it is limited in maximum
duty cycle because the transformer has to have time to reset.
A method that allows extremely fast gate drives utilizes a separate push-pull
housekeeping converter to generate a DC secondary voltage referenced to the source of
the MOSFET (Fground in Figure 2.4). It's not necessary for this second converter to be in
a closed loop; if it comes from a regulated source, a fixed duty cycle converter works well.
You can then have a gate driver IC referenced to the source, and really drive the MOSFET
fast. Although I have used this circuit many times, it is somewhat expensive because of all
the extra parts needed. (You could use a 555 timer for generating the 50% duty cycle.)

I
15V with

Drive signal

...

L' 'I -I50% Duty cycle

Figure 2.4 Generating a floating supply to drive a buck transistor.

You also need a way of signaling the floating system to control the gate driver. The
signal of course can't tolerate excessive propagation delay, ruling out slow optocouplers
such as the 4N48. To avoid having yet another transformer, I have found the HCPL2601
family of optocouplers to be excellent even for very high input voltages, because of their
excellent dV/dt rating.

THE FLYBACK

Two Kinds

There are two kinds of flyback, the nonisolated flyback (Figure 2.5) and the isolated
flyback (Figure 2.6),
26 Chap. 2 W Practical Selection of Topology

Figure 2.5 Basic nonisolated flyback Figure 2.6 Basic isolated flyback
topology. topology.

which we explicitly show to avoid name confusion (see below). To be absolutely sure, let’s
briefly describe their operation.
The nonisolated flyback turns on its switch for a fraction D of the switching period,
which, since it produces a voltage across the inductor, causes current to ramp up, storing
energy in the inductance. (More explicit details are given in Chapter 5 on magnetics
design.) When the switch turns off, the inductor current goes through the diode and into
the output capacitor and load.
The isolated flyback works entirely analogously. During the on-time of the switch.
energy is stored in the inductance of the primary. Looking at the dots on the transformer,
we see that when the switch turns off, the drain voltage rises above the input voltage,
which causes the secondary voltage to rise above ground; this turns on the diode, again
providing output current to the capacitor and load.
The nonisolated flyback has a single output (there’s no way to make more than one).
That output is not isolated from the input, and the output can’t be made less than the input
voltage+ven if you turn the transistor completely off, the output will equal the input
(minus a diode drop). On the other hand, if all you’re looking for is a single nonisolated
output, this flyback has only a single-winding inductor to deal with.
The isolated flyback can have multiple outputs if multiple secondaries are put on the
transformer, and all those outputs can be isolated from the primary, and potentially from
each other. Further, the outputs can be made to have any value whatsoever, simply by
adjusting the primary to secondary turns ratio. The downside is that the magnetics is now a
multiwinding transformer (see below).

Name Confusion with Boost

Frequently people call the nonisolated flyback a “boost” converter. The term “boost” does
not appear again in this book. The terms “nonisolated flyback” and “isolated flyback” are
consistently used to refer to the topologies shown in Figures 2.5 and 2.6. As discussed in
Chapter 6, the distinguishing feature of a flyback topology is that the magnetic structure
stores energy during a portion of the switching cycle; this is why we use the same name for
these two topologies.
The Flyback 27

Practical Note Whenever you’re reading something that refers to a “flyback” or

“boost,” look carefully at the schematic to see what topology is actually being talked
about. The literature is inconsistent, resulting in endless confusion.

Continuous versus Discontinuous

Both types of flyback can be run in either continuous or discontinuous mode. In a general
sort of way, though, a flyback is usually used to enable the converter to go to no-load
current without needing any preload. (At no load, the switch is simply turned off until the
charge on the output capacitor bleeds off, and then turns on again for a single pulse. This is
known variously as “pulse-skipping mode” and other similar terms.) For this no-load
operation to work, you need to operate in discontinuous mode, and as indicated before, it’s
best not to change modes because of difficulties in controlling the converter’s loop. The
most common operation of a flyback is thus in discontinuous mode.

Capacitor Limitations

When the flyback transistor turns off (see the discussion in the magnetics chapter, Chapter
5 , for more on this), the energy stored in the primary inductance comes out on the
secondary winding(s). Since there is no inductor on the secondary, the full peak current
goes straight into the capacitor. At higher power levels, it can become quite hard to find a
capacitor with sufficient ripple current rating to handle this: remember that you have to
calculate the RMS current to know whether the capacitor can handle it. Suppose for
example that we are running a 5V output at 10A (this is about the limit for a flyback, see
below), and the duty cycle is 50% at this power level. The transformer has to deliver the
50W for the full period in just half the period (since the duty cycle is 50%), so the current
it delivers during the conduction time of the diode is double, 20A. So the RMS current is

Ims = Ji(2OA)’ = 14A

This extremely high current will require paralleling many aluminum or tantalum
capacitors, or else the use of a high-priced MLC cap. Failure to get adequate capacitance
on the output of a flyback is a major cause of capacitor failure.

Power Limits

There is a maximum power that can usefully be used with a flyback, on the order of 50W
for low voltage inputs. (You sometimes hear stories fiom people who say they built one at
500W, but they don’t tell you that it could never be made to work on the production line.)
In any event the power output is inversely proportional to the inductance; to get a large
power requires a tiny inductance (the math is detailed in the chapter on magnetics). By the
time you get up to 50W at a reasonable switching frequency, the inductance is very small
(the same order of magnitude as strays); this makes the design almost impossible to
produce consistently in production. For example, a slight change in the lay of the wires by
the magnetics vendor will affect the inductance enough to prevent you from getting
maximum power out.
20 Chap. 2 W Practical Selection of Topology

Tip For low voltage inputs, limit flybacks to designs requiring less than 50W, some-
what more for high voltage inputs.
I I
Practical Limits on Number of Outputs

Of course, for all converters, the transformer becomes more difficult to wind as you add
more windings to it. For an isolated flyback, however, this difficulty is crucial. The
regulation of each output depends on the leakage inductance of the winding, because the
leakage inductance subtracts from the voltage delivered to the output. So to get good
tolerance on the outputs, the leakages must be either negligibly small (almost impossible)
or the same from unit to unit, so that they can be compensated for. If you have multiple
windings, however, controlling (and even measuring and specifying) the leakage on each
winding is almost impossible. The author once saw an isolated flyback design with
(believe it or not!) 13 outputs. According to the designer, a flyback “was cheaper than a
forward because it didn’t need an inductor.” Unfortunately, after this was in production, the
vendor’s winding person (there was only one vendor, no one else wanted to touch it) left
the magnetics company, and thereafter no one else was ever able to wind the transformer in
a way that made the circuit work!

Practical Note If you need more than three or four outputs, don’t use a flyback. It will
be cheaper in the long run to go to a forward.

THE BUCK-BOOST

“Buck-boost” is the standard name for what might be better called, in line with the
terminology used in this book, a “buck-flyback.” It’s not a very common topology yet, but
it has some advantages that suggest it will become increasingly used.
The buck-boost converter, as its name suggests, works as either a buck or a flyback,
depending on whether the input voltage is, respectively, higher or lower than the output
voltage. The great thing about this topology (Figure 2.7) is that this transition is
accomplished automatically, there are no discrete changes involved.
In the buck-boost, both switches are on at the same time, and both are off at the same
time. Consider first the case of the input voltage higher than the output. The top transistor

r=p I-
output

Figure 2.7 A nonisolated buck-boost.

The Forward 29

(see Figure 2.7) acts as a buck switch, with the grounded-anode diode as the freewheeling
rectifier. Since the bottom switch is on at the same time as the top switch, the full input
voltage is applied across the inductor, ramping up the current. When both switches turn
off, the grounded-anode diode cames the current, and the other diode simply forward
conducts. This is thus a buck converter.
Next, suppose the input voltage is lower than the output. The ground-referenced
transistor now acts as a flyback switch, and the second diode acts as the freewheeling
rectifier. Once again, since both switches are on at the same time, the full voltage is applied
across the inductor during the on-time.
Observe what the description has said: in both cases, whether acting as a buck or
acting as a flyback, the full input voltage is applied across the inductor. But this means that
the same control circuit works for both “modes” and consequently the converter does not
switch between modes; therefore, stabilization of the loop is straightforward!

Limitations of the Buck-Boost

As we would expect, the problems with the buck-boost are a combination of the problems
with the buck and the flyback. Acting as a buck converter, it has no input-output isolation,
and there is only a single output. Acting as a (nonisolated) flyback, there’s a maximum
practical output power. And finally, unless you can replace the (Schottky) diodes with two
more MOSFETs to make the converter synchronous, there can be relatively poor
efficiency; but a driver with four outputs (perhaps a fill-bridge PWM IC?) would be
required to achieve synchronous rectification. Still, the ability to work over a large range of
input voltages, and the appearance of ICs for controlling this topology, may make the
buck-boost an attractive choice.

THE FORWARD

Again, to avoid confusion with the term “boost,” when this book refers to a forward
converter, the topology illustrated in Figure 2.8 is always meant.
The forward works entirely differently from the similar appearing flyback. The key
point is noticing that the dots on the transformer now mean that the output diode is
forward-biased when the voltage across the primary is positive, that is, when the transistor
is on; a flyback’s diode is on when the switching transistor is off. Energy is thus not
(intentionally) stored in the primary inductance, as it was for the flyback; the transformer

Figure 2.8 Basic fonvard topology. *

30 Chap. 2 Practical Selection of Topology

acts strictly as a transformer. When the transistor is turned off, the only energy stored is
that in the leakage inductance of the transformer; this is what causes the drain voltage to
rise above the input voltage, resetting the core.

Minimum Load

The forward is one of those converters mentioned at the beginning of the chapter that
requires a minimum load. The inductor has to be big enough to ensure that its peak ripple
current is less than the minimum load current. Otherwise it will go discontinuous, and the
output voltage will rise, peak detecting. This means that a forward converter cannot
operate with no load, because you cannot have an infinite inductance.

Practical Note A swinging choke, such as that produced with an MPP core, is an
excellent choice here. A swinging choke is one whose inductance decreases
gradually as the current through it increases. At minimum load, you get a lot of
inductance, keeping the core continuous, and at maximum load you still have some
inductance, but not as much; you allow the ripple to increase as the load current
increases, so that the inductor doesn’t have to be designed as physically big as would
be needed to maintain the full inductance at maximum load.

One commonly used way around a minimum load is to attach a small load resistor (a
“preload”) permanently at the output terminals, as a part of the converter itself. Then, even
when the external load is zero, the converter can remain continuous because it is still
supplying some minimum power to this resistor. Of course this eats up a certain amount of
power when the external load is above minimum.

Practical Note Schemes abound for turning off this preload as external load
increases. Very frequently, the result is oscillations: the preload turns off, then the
converter goes discontinuous, which causes the preload to turn on, and the converter
is continuous, causing the preload to turn off, etc. Just bite the bullet and accept the
small efficiency hit compared with the cost (and efficiency hit) of a much larger
inductor.
I

Leakage Inductance

Unlike the flyback, which uses its primary inductance to store energy, the forward really
has parasitic leakage inductance. When current is flowing through the primary, there is
energy stored in the leakage inductance, $LleakageI*. This energy has to go someplace. In
the simplest case, you just throw it away, either into an RC snubber, or into the transistor
itself, letting it avalanche. More sophisticated schemes recover more or less of the energy,
using an additional winding on the transformer (though this doesn’t work perfectly either
because of leakage!) or some form of switched reactance, often using another FET.
Regardless of what is done with the energy, it is a nuisance and to some degree an
efficiency hit; the best approach is to wind the magnetics in a way that minimizes the
leakage inductance.
The Push - Pull 31

Summary

Because the forward doesn’t store energy in the transformer, it doesn’t have the limitation
that hinders the flyback in terms of power level; it also has an inductor, which smoothes the
current seen by the output capacitors,.Forwards can be straightforwardly constructed at a
level of 500W or more. The main limitation of the topology eventually comes about, rather,
from the available size of MOSFETs. Increased power translates into increased currents,
and eventually losses in the MOSFETs become unacceptable. When this is the case, a
topology with more than one transistor to share the burden is desirable.

THE PUSH-PULL

There are two basic styles of push-pull converter, current-fed and voltage-fed. The
difference between them boils down to much nicer waveforms and operations in the
current-fed push-pull, but at the price of having a (sometimes rather large) extra inductor.
The push-pull is treated here, while the half-bridge isn’t, because the push-pull has
both its transistors ground-referenced. Although it was noted above that there are ICs
available that will drive high-side transistors for synchronous rectifiers, they tend to have
rather low maximum voltages. Since the push-pull and half-bridge use two transistors,
presumably they have been selected because the power level is higher than in single-
transistor topologies, which often means that the input voltage is higher. Driving a half-
bridge may thus get back into discrete parts to generate the floating gate drive; the push-
pull definitely has an advantage here.

Voltage-Fed

The voltage-fed push-pull converter works by having two transistors across a center-
tapped transformer (see Figure 2.9). They are operated 180” out of phase. This doesn ’t
mean that each one is on 50% of the time, just that they have the same duty cycle, with one
going on half a switching period later than the other. If the left transistor in Figure 2.9 is
on, the right transistor is off. Looking at the dots on the transformer, this means that Kn is
applied across half the transformer, and so 2 x V,, is applied on the drain of the off
transistor. Continuing with the left transistor on, there is a positive voltage applied to the
bottom diode, which is on, and the top diode is reverse-biased. Everything is then mirror-
32 Chap. 2 W Practical Selection of Topology

imaged when the right transistor is on; since the two transistors are on for the same amount
of time, if Vi, is constant during a switching period, the volt-seconds across the transformer
ideally sum up to zero, and the core operates symmetrically around zero gauss.
The biggest problem with this converter is the voltage rating needed by the
transistors, which is at least double the maximum vin. Operating from a rectified 120V
line means that the transistors will see at least 2 x 12OV = 240V In practice, the line can
be a very nasty place, as noted in Chapter I , and so a 400V transistor might be a common
choice here. This high voltage rating in turn means that the RDS,,,, is high, and so losses
may be higher than desired. And in any case, the vi,, need only surge above 200V for one
switching period to blow out the transistors!
The other potential problem is that there must be a time (the dead time) between
turning off one transistor and turning on the other. If both transistors were on at the same
time, the transformer would be effectively shorted, and so the current would rapidly
increase, limited only by the leakage inductance-this is a common cause of failure. The
transistors must also be on equal amounts of time to avoid saturating the transformer; in
practice this is accomplished by using current mode control (see Chapter 5 for the concept
of saturation, and Chapter 6 for current mode control).

Current-Fed

The sensitivity to line voltage exhibited by the voltage-fed push-pull is obviated in the
current-fed push-pull because it has an inductor between vi, and the transformer. Now
when the transistor turns on, it gets a current set by the inductor current, as shown in
Figure 2.10. This arrangement also gets rid of the problem of having to turn off one
transistor before the other turns on, since even if both transistors are on simultaneously,the
current is still limited by the inductor.
The downside of this converter is the addition of an extra inductor. Since this device
must both carry the DC current of the converter and provide sufficient inductance to act
like a current source during a switching period, it can easily grow to rather large (read
expensive) size for moderate power level converters.

L-0t-J
Figure 2.10 A current-fed push-pull.
Resonant Converters and Soft-Switching Converters 33

Transformer Utilization

It should be observed that all the topologies discussed up till this section (the flyback, the
forward, and the buck-boost) utilize only half the magnetics’ cores: the flux density is
ramped up to a maximum value and then back down to zero, never going negative. The
push-pull utilizes the magnetics better, because the core’s flux density goes both positive
and negative, thus reducing the size of the magnetics for a given power level compared to
the single transistor topologies.

RESONANT CONVERTERS AND SOFT-SWITCHING CONVERTERS

For quite a few years now, everywhere you turn there have been articles about resonant
converters, how great they are, and how everyone ought to be using them. (The author
feels, however, that this fad is finally passing.) If you are one of the braver souls, perhaps
you’ve actually been in the lab, and spent several weeks or months trying to make a go of a
resonant converter.
By way of contrast, there seems to be very little heard about soft-switching
converters, and yet they seem much more practical; many of the converters in production
that are called resonant are actually soft-switching. Another name for soft-switching is
“quasi-resonant.’’
As noted at the start of this chapter, there are hundreds of different topologies that
are resonant or soft-switching; for this reason, this section merely points to the sorts of
feature it might benefit you to investigate.

The Difference Between Resonant and Soft-Switching

Converters

A resonant converter is one in which the power waveforms (current and voltage) are
sinusoidal. This is accomplished by letting inductances form a resonant tank with
capacitances, the latter often (though not always) being parasitics. Switching occurs
when the voltage and/or current goes through zero, ensuring an almost lossless switch
transition. Resonant converters thus have had their main claim for usefulness in high
frequency converters, where switching losses can dominate on-state losses of the switches.
However, since switch transitions depend on the frequencies of resonant tanks, the actual
switching frequency of the converter varies, sometimes quite dramatically, usually as a
function of load and line.
A soft-switching converter is intermediate between a resonant converter and a PWM
converter. Any of the topologies described in the sections above can be made soft-
switching by suitable addition of components. A soft-switching converter always switches
at the same constant frequency, like a PWM,but it creates a tank circuit for a portion of the
switching period so that switch transitions still occur nearly losslessly.
34 Chap. 2 Practical Selection of Topology

Why You Should Not Use Resonant Converters

Resonant converters have quite a number of problems. Not least among these is the
variation of switching frequency with load. In fact, for a common class of these converters,
minimum switching frequency occurs at maximum load, so that EM1 filtering has to be
designed for the worst combination, minimum frequency and maximum current. The gain
in size from operating at a high switching frequency may be lost when a realistic converter
is designed including the EM1 filter. The next time you are told about a resonant converter
that does 100W/in3, ask what the power density is when a noise filter is included!
An even more serious problem arises because of the common use of capacitive strays
as one of the elements of the resonant tank. This strategy almost can ’t be made to work on
a production line, although it’s great in the lab. The trouble is that these strays are not
consistent from device to device; they can even differ between two identical devices from
different manufacturers! This variation directly affects the operational frequency, which
affects the output caps, the EM1 filter, etc. The only way around it is to parallel some
external capacitance with the parasitic, so variation of the parasitic is relatively unim-
portant. Unfortunately, this modification increases the tank period, and so the original
motivation, operating at a high frequency, is destroyed.

Why You Should Use Soft-Switching Converters

In contrast with resonant converters, soft-switching converters operate at a fixed frequency,

making their filtering requirements straightforward. They also typically use discrete
capacitors, and so have quite reproducible characteristics from unit to unit. Figure 2.1 1
shows a fairly standard implementation of a soft-switching forward converter, with a
sketch of a drain waveform.
Initially, the transistor is on, and the drain voltage is zero. When the transistor turns
off, the primary inductance of the transformer forms a resonant tank with the external
capacitor (in parallel with the drain-source capacitance of the MOSFET, but the external
capacitor is designed to be larger than the MOSFET’s capacitor). After completing a half-
cycle of the ring, the core is reset: the L and C values set the ring frequency, and the volt-
seconds required to reset the core determine then how high the voltage rings up. After the
half-cycle ring is completed, the drain voltage remains at the input voltage, since there is
now no energy stored in the transformer. It remains in this state until the transistor turns on
again.

Drain waveform Figure 2.11 A quasi-resonant or soft-switching

forward converter.
Compound Converters 35

What distinguishes this converter from a resonant converter is that it is still pulse
width modulated: the transistor has a constant switching frequency. Of course, the
capacitance and the inductance still have to be chosen carefully. If they are too big, the
(half) period will exceed the switching period, and the core won’t reset; if they are too
small, the drain voltage will go excessively high, to get the necessary volt-seconds in a
very short time. Even so, there is wide room for variation of the stray components within
which the converter will work normally.
It may be noted that when the transistor turns on, the capacitor energy is dissipated
into the MOSFET. If the capacitor is sufficiently small, however, this may not be too
terrible. For example, if the capacitor is 1OOpF, the input voltage is SOY and the switching
frequency is SOOkHz, the power lost because of the capacitor is only P = x 1OOpF x (i)
(5OVI2 x 500kHz= 63mW.
Indeed, the only bad thing about soft-switching converters is the apparent dearth of
ICs designed to operate them, although something can be rigged from a PWM designed to
operate a synchronous rectifier. Perhaps as the word gets out (and certain potential patent
issues become clarified) ICs implementing soft-switching will become common-at that
time, they will make an excellent choice.

COMPOUND CONVERTERS

A compound converter is any converter that has two (or in theory more) stages in series. It
is distinguished from merely two series converters in that there is usually only one control
loop for the whole system. For example, one possible compound converter consists of a
front-end buck operating from I60VDC followed by a push-pull (see Figure 2.12). The
buck operates closed loop to produce an approximately fixed output voltage (say 50V); the
push-pull operates at a fixed duty cycle to step down the voltage (say to SV). The loop is
closed by sensing the 5V output, and using its error signal to control the duty cycle of the
buck. Thus, although the push-pull is seemingly operated open loop (since it switches at a

-5OV
160V

f
-50% Duty cycle-
each
1 9 L
Figure 2.12 A compound converter consisting of a buck followed by a voltage-fed push-
pull; the buck’s output capacitor serves as the push-pull’s input capacitor.
36 Chap. 2 Practical Selection of Topology

fixed duty cycle) it is actually just a gain block inside the control loop, which is closed
around it (in the example shown in Figure 2.12, it has a gain of 1/ I O = - 20dB).
In some cases, the two converter stages may share components; in the example just
given, the output capacitor of the buck is also used as the input capacitor of the push-pull.
It is easy to imagine other combinations in which an inductor could be shared instead. As
with the resonant and soft-switching converters, there are a large number of possible
combinations for compound converters; instead of attempting an enumeration, I’ll
comment about when they might be usehl.

When to Use Them

As the example given shows, having a compound converter is useful when you want to get
a lot of step-down or step-up. It’s already been mentioned that there are practical limits to
the duty cycle you can get from a PWM,and to the size of the turns ratio you should try for
on a transformer. If you need to make a voltage conversion beyond what’s feasible within
these limits, a compound converter offers a way to considerably extend the transformation
range available.
A compound converter might be desirable, as well, when you need to get a fairly
large conversion ratio (of input to output voltage) in a situation that also calls for input-to-
output isolation. The two requirements together can make for a very challenging design,
but by segregating the functions, you can make it much easier: For example, let the front-
end converter do the voltage transformation, and then let the second converter do the
isolation, perhaps with a 1 :I transformer. Since the second converter would always operate
with the same input voltage and the same output voltage, its components could be
optimized for this operation, and it could be very efficient. Indeed, this compound
convertor may well be more efficient than a single-stage converter, because of the
difficulties in the magnetics involved with simultaneous design of both large conversion
ratio and isolation.

REFERENCES

I . Issa Batarseh, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, PE-9(1), 6 (1994).