Keyue Smedley, Ph.D. of University of California Irvine

PWM converters have been the workhorse for most power conversion applications today. However, their bulky magnetics limit further power density improvement. Researchers in the community have been searching for new solutions with better efficiency, regulation, and power density at the confluence of PWM, resonant, and switching-capacitor converters. The UCI (UC Irvine) Power Electronics Laboratory has dedicated its effort to this search for the last eight years. We have discovered several new switched-capacitor converters and resonant switched-capacitor converters. Recently, we made a breakthrough to realize full-range voltage regulation of resonant switched capacitor converters with a small inductor. In this speech, Dr. Smedley will present a general “PWM-like” control method for resonant switched-capacitor converters with only a 2X frequency swing and only one small inductor (nano-henry scale without DC bias). This new generation of power converters can replace a wide array of conventional PWM converters, dramatically reduce magnetic components, and eventually eliminate the bulky magnetics in fully integrated power chips.

Biography:

Dr. Keyue Smedley, Caltech Ph.D. is currently a Professor in the Department of EECS at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), the Director of the UCI Power Electronics Laboratory, and a co-founder of One-Cycle Control, Inc.  Her work has resulted in more than 200 technical publications, numerous U.S. and international patents, and wide industrial applications. Dr. Smedley is a recipient of the UCI Innovation Award 2005. She was elevated as IEEE Fellow in 2008 for her contribution to high-performance switching power conversion. Her work with One-Cycle Control, Inc. won the Department of Army Achievement Award in Pentagon in 2010. Dr. Smedley is an IEEE PEL Distinguished Lecturer since 2021

Address:Power Electronics Laboratory, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, United States