Page 45 - PEN Ebook May 2021

TEST & MEASUREMENTS Test & Measurements

Figure 1: typical core circuit of a down converter.

technical base structure of Power Converter first. duty cycle of the on/off cycle, the charging and
Figure 1 shows the typical core circuit of a down discharging current and subsequently the cor-
converter. The high side and the low side semi- responding output voltage at the output capac-
conductor “switch” (here MOSFETs) are connect- itance can be controlled. This is a very general

ed in row. The control is done by a gate control explanation, but it helps explaining the general
circuit or an integrated chip. The timing diagram function.
shows that the on/off cycles of both switch-
es are inverted against each other. As a result, From here on it is possible to discuss the de-
Testing! Not Guessing! the bridge voltage toggles between zero and the sign challenges needed to fulfil the requirements

supply voltage. The resulting current through
on efficiency, size, weight, and costs. So, what
the inductivity is the charging/discharging cur- can be done to achieve higher efficiency? The
By Thomas Rottach, Sales & Marketing Manager, Siglent Technology rent through the output capacity. By varying the first option is to select the best fitting topology.
Germany

During the recent years we have witnessed a a huge amount of electrical power. One part is
strong increase in the importance of Power supplying power for all the server banks, but also
Electronics. This can be explained by looking at a huge amount is spent on cooling and air condi-
the current trends. Driven by social challenges tioning. Therefore, the more efficient the power
of global warming and environmental pollution, converters are, the lower the heat dissipation
technical subjects like green energy and alterna- is, and less cooling is needed. All the above-de-

tive drives gained much attention. Efficient and scribed developments and changes create a high
reliable power converters stand in the centre of demand for optimized power converters. The
both topics. Furthermore, the still increasing mo- main requirements are highest efficiency and
bility and the growing number of wireless IoT-de- lower costs as well as small size and low weight.
vices lead to more and more battery-powered
devices, with a consequent increased demand
for highly efficient power management. Finally, POWER CONVERTER AND TEST
the growing data traffic is the cause for a rising To answer the question on how all these require-
number of data centers. Data centers consume ments can be met, we need to talk about the

44 MAY 2021 | www.powerelectronicsnews.com MAY 2021 | www.powerelectronicsnews.com 45