DC – DC Convertors

1. Introduction

A DC - to - DC converter is an electronic circuit or electromechanical device that

converts a source of direct current (DC) from one voltage level to another. It is a type of electric
power converter. Power levels range from very low (small batteries) to very high (high-voltage
power transmission).
Before the development of power semiconductors and allied technologies, one way to
convert the voltage of a DC supply to a higher voltage, for low-power applications, was to
convert it to AC by using a vibrator, followed by a step-up transformer and rectifier. For higher
power an electric motor was used to drive a generator of the desired voltage (sometimes
combined into a single "dynamotor" unit, a motor and generator combined into one unit, with
one winding driving the motor and the other generating the output voltage). These were
relatively inefficient and expensive procedures used only when there was no alternative, as to
power a car radio (which then used thermionic valves/tubes requiring much higher voltages than
available from a 6 or 12 V car battery). The introduction of power semiconductors and integrated
circuits made it economically viable to use techniques as described below, for example to
convert the DC power supply to high-frequency AC, use a transformer - small, light, and cheap
due to the high frequency - to change the voltage, and rectify back to DC. Although by 1976
transistor car radio receivers did not require high voltages, some amateur radio operators
continued to use vibrator supplies and dynamotors for mobile transceivers requiring high
voltages, although transistorised power supplies were available.
While it was possible to derive a lower voltage from a higher with a linear electronic
circuit, or even a resistor, these methods dissipated the excess as heat; energy - efficient
conversion only became possible with solid-state switch-mode circuits.

Figure 1. DC – DC Convertor
 2. Uses of DC - DC convertor

DC to DC converters are used in portable electronic devices such as cellular phones and
laptop computers, which are supplied with power from batteries primarily. Such electronic
devices often contain several sub-circuits, each with its own voltage level requirement different
from that supplied by the battery or an external supply (sometimes higher or lower than the
supply voltage). Additionally, the battery voltage declines as its stored energy is drained.
Switched DC to DC converters offer a method to increase voltage from a partially lowered
battery voltage thereby saving space instead of using multiple batteries to accomplish the same
thing.
Most DC to DC converter circuits also regulate the output voltage. Some exceptions
include high-efficiency LED power sources, which are a kind of DC to DC converter that
regulates the current through the LEDs, and simple charge pumps which double or triple the
output voltage.
DC to DC converters developed to maximize the energy harvest for photovoltaic systems
and for wind turbines are called power optimizers.
Transformers used for voltage conversion at mains frequencies of 50–60 Hz must be
large and heavy for powers exceeding a few watts. This makes them expensive, and they are
subject to energy losses in their windings and due to eddy currents in their cores. DC-to-DC
techniques that use transformers or inductors work at much higher frequencies, requiring only
much smaller, lighter, and cheaper wound components. Consequently these techniques are used
even where a mains transformer could be used; for example, for domestic electronic appliances it
is preferable to rectify mains voltage to DC, use switch-mode techniques to convert it to high-
frequency AC at the desired voltage, then, usually, rectify to DC. The entire complex circuit is
cheaper and more efficient than a simple mains transformer circuit of the same output.

3. Electrical conversion

Linear regulators which are used to output a stable DC independent of input voltage and
output load from a higher but less stable input by dissipating excess volt-amperes as heat, could
be described literally as DC-to-DC converters, but this is not usual usage. (The same could be
said of a simple voltage dropper resistor, whether or not stabilised by a following voltage
regulator or Zener diode.)
There are also simple capacitive voltage doubler and Dickson multiplier circuits using
diodes and capacitors to multiply a DC voltage by an integer value, typically delivering only a
small current. Practical electronic converters use switching techniques. Switched-mode DC-to-
DC converters convert one DC voltage level to another, which may be higher or lower, by
storing the input energy temporarily and then releasing that energy to the output at a different
voltage. The storage may be in either magnetic field storage components (inductors,
transformers) or electric field storage components (capacitors). This conversion method can
increase or decrease voltage. Switching conversion is more power efficient (often 75% to 98%)
than linear voltage regulation, which dissipates unwanted power as heat. Fast semiconductor
device rise and fall times are required for efficiency; however, these fast transitions combine
with layout parasitic effects to make circuit design challenging.[5] The higher efficiency of a
switched-mode converter reduces the heatsinking needed, and increases battery endurance of
portable equipment. Efficiency has improved since the late 1980s due to the use of power FETs,
which are able to switch more efficiently with lower switching losses at higher frequencies than
power bipolar transistors, and use less complex drive circuitry. Another important improvement
in DC-DC converters is replacing the flywheel diode by synchronous rectification[6] using a
power FET, whose "on resistance" is much lower, reducing switching losses. Before the wide
availability of power semiconductors, low-power DC-to-DC synchronous converters consisted of
an electro-mechanical vibrator followed by a voltage step-up transformer feeding a vacuum tube
or semiconductor rectifier, or synchronous rectifier contacts on the vibrator.
Most DC-to-DC converters are designed to move power in only one direction, from
dedicated input to output. However, all switching regulator topologies can be made bidirectional
and able to move power in either direction by replacing all diodes with independently controlled
active rectification. A bidirectional converter is useful, for example, in applications requiring
regenerative braking of vehicles, where power is supplied to the wheels while driving, but
supplied by the wheels when braking.
Switching converters are electronically complex, although this is embodied in integrated
circuits, with few components needed. They need careful design of the circuit and physical
layout to reduce switching noise (EMI / RFI) to acceptable levels[7] and, like all high-frequency
circuits, for stable operation. Cost was higher than linear regulators in voltage-dropping
applications, but this dropped with advances in chip design.
DC-to-DC converters are available as integrated circuits (ICs) requiring few additional
components. Converters are also available as complete hybrid circuit modules, ready for use
within an electronic assembly.

4. Magnetic

In these DC-to-DC converters, energy is periodically stored within and released from a
magnetic field in an inductor or a transformer, typically within a frequency range of 300 kHz to
10 MHz. By adjusting the duty cycle of the charging voltage (that is, the ratio of the on/off
times), the amount of power transferred to a load can be more easily controlled, though this
control can also be applied to the input current, the output current, or to maintain constant power.
Transformer-based converters may provide isolation between input and output. In general, the
term DC-to-DC converter refers to one of these switching converters. These circuits are the heart
of a switched-mode power supply. Many topologies exist. Table 1 shows the most common ones.
In addition, each topology may be:
 Hard switched: Transistors switch quickly while exposed to both
full voltage and full current.
 Resonant: An LC circuit shapes the voltage across the transistor
and current through it so that the transistor switches when either the voltage or the
current is zero.
 Magnetic DC-to-DC converters may be operated in two modes, according to the current
in its main magnetic component (inductor or transformer):
 Continuous: The current fluctuates but never goes down to zero.
 Discontinuous: The current fluctuates during the cycle, going
down to zero at or before the end of each cycle.
A converter may be designed to operate in continuous mode at high power, and in
discontinuous mode at low power.
The half bridge and flyback topologies are similar in that energy stored in the magnetic
core needs to be dissipated so that the core does not saturate. Power transmission in a flyback
circuit is limited by the amount of energy that can be stored in the core, while forward circuits
are usually limited by the I/V characteristics of the switches. Although MOSFET switches can
tolerate simultaneous full current and voltage (although thermal stress and electromigration can
shorten the MTBF), bipolar switches generally can't so require the use of a snubber (or two).
High-current systems often use multiphase converters, also called interleaved converters.
Multiphase regulators can have better ripple and better response times than single-phase
regulators.
Many laptop and desktop motherboards include interleaved buck regulators, sometimes
as a voltage regulator module.
Table 1
Forward (energy transfers through the Flyback (energy is stored in the magnetic
magnetic field) field)
Non-inverting: The output voltage is the
same polarity as the input.
- Step-up (boost) - The output
voltage is higher than the input
Step-down (buck) - The output voltage voltage.
is lower than the input voltage, and of - SEPIC - The output voltage can
the same polarity. be lower or higher than the input.
Inverting: the output voltage is of the
opposite polarity as the input.
No transformer - Inverting (buck-boost).
(non-isolated) - Ćuk - Output current is
continuous.

True buck-boost - The output voltage is the same polarity as the input and can be
lower or higher.
Split-pi (boost-buck) - Allows bidirectional voltage conversion with the output
voltage the same polarity as the input and can be lower or higher.
Forward - 1 or 2 transistor drive.
Push-pull (half bridge) - 2 transistors
With transformer Flyback - 1 transistor drive.
drive.
(isolatable)
Full bridge - 4 transistor drive.
 5. Capacitive

Switched capacitor converters rely on alternately connecting capacitors to the input and
output in differing topologies. For example, a switched-capacitor reducing converter might
charge two capacitors in series and then discharge them in parallel. This would produce the same
output power (less that lost to efficiency of under 100%) at, ideally, half the input voltage and
twice the current. Because they operate on discrete quantities of charge, these are also sometimes
referred to as charge pump converters. They are typically used in applications requiring
relatively small currents, as at higher currents the increased efficiency and smaller size of switch-
mode converters makes them a better choice. They are also used at extremely high voltages, as
magnetics would break down at such voltages.

6. Electromechanical conversion

A motor-generator set, mainly of historical interest, consists of an electric motor and

generator coupled together. A dynamotor combines both functions into a single unit with coils for
both the motor and the generator functions wound around a single rotor; both coils share the
same outer field coils or magnets. Typically the motor coils are driven from a commutator on one
end of the shaft, when the generator coils output to another commutator on the other end of the
shaft. The entire rotor and shaft assembly is smaller in size than a pair of machines, and may not
have any exposed drive shafts.
Motor-generators can convert between any combination of DC and AC voltage and phase
standards. Large motor-generator sets were widely used to convert industrial amounts of power
while smaller units were used to convert battery power (6, 12 or 24 V DC) to a high DC voltage,
which was required to operate vacuum tube (thermionic valve) equipment.
For lower-power requirements at voltages higher than supplied by a vehicle battery,
vibrator or "buzzer" power supplies were used. The vibrator oscillated mechanically, with
contacts that switched the polarity of the battery many times per second, effectively converting
DC to square wave AC, which could then be fed to a transformer of the required output
voltage(s). It made a characteristic buzzing noise.

7. Terminology

Step-down: A converter where output voltage is lower than the input voltage (such as a
buck converter).
Step-up: A converter that outputs a voltage higher than the input voltage (such as a boost
converter).
 Continuous current mode: Current and thus the magnetic field in the inductive energy
storage never reach zero.
Discontinuous current mode: Current and thus the magnetic field in the inductive
energy storage may reach or cross zero.
Noise: Unwanted electrical and electromagnetic signal noise, typically switching
artifacts.
RF noise: Switching converters inherently emit radio waves at the switching frequency
and its harmonics. Switching converters that produce triangular switching current, such as the
Split-Pi, forward converter, or Ćuk converter in continuous current mode, produce less harmonic
noise than other switching converters. RF noise causes electromagnetic interference (EMI).
Acceptable levels depend upon requirements, e.g. proximity to RF circuitry needs more
suppression than simply meeting regulations.
Input noise: The input voltage may have non-negligible noise. Additionally, if the
converter loads the input with sharp load edges, the converter can emit RF noise from the
supplying power lines. This should be prevented with proper filtering in the input stage of the
converter.
Output noise: The output of an ideal DC-to-DC converter is a flat, constant output
voltage. However, real converters produce a DC output upon which is superimposed some level
of electrical noise. Switching converters produce switching noise at the switching frequency and
its harmonics. Additionally, all electronic circuits have some thermal noise. Some sensitive
radio-frequency and analog circuits require a power supply with so little noise that it can only be
provided by a linear regulator. Some analog circuits which require a power supply with relatively
low noise can tolerate some of the less-noisy switching converters, e.g. using continuous
triangular waveforms rather than square waves.