Design and characterization of a radio-frequency dc/dc power converter

Abstract

The use of radio-frequency (RF) amplifier topologies in dc/dc power converters allows the operating frequency to be increased by more than two orders of magnitude over the frequency of conventional converters. This enables a reduction in energy storage capacity by several orders of magnitude, and completely eliminates the need for ferromagnetic material in the converter. As a result, power converter size, weight and cost can all potentially be reduced. Moreover, converter output power and efficiency remain high because of the soft-switching capabilities of RF amplifiers. This document describes the design, implementation and measurement of a dc/dc power converter cell operating at 100MHz, with approximately 10 to 30W of output power at around 75% efficiency. The cell is designed for an input voltage range of 11 to 16V, and a user-determined output voltage on the same order of magnitude. The design of this cell also allows an unlimited number of identical cells to be used in parallel to achieve higher output power. This type of converter has applications in a broad range of industries, including automotive, telecommunications, and computing.