Peak/Valley DC-DC Power Supplies: From the Ground Up!

#dc-power-supplies #power-supplies #feedback-control

Switched-inductor power supplies are pervasive in electronics. This is because they deliver a large fraction of the power they draw from the input source with an output that is largely independent of the load. Keeping the output steady this way is ultimately the responsibility of the feedback controller . This talk uses insight and intuition to show how hysteretic, timed, and clocked peak/valley loops control their outputs and respond to sudden changes. The presentation also describes when sub-harmonic oscillations surface and how slope compensation suppresses them. It then shows how summing comparators work and how they can contract, offset, and compensate these control loops and how comparators limit their input-to-output translations in continuous conduction and output current in discontinuous conduction. With this background and understanding in hand, designing compact feedback controllers for switched-inductor IoT power supplies is not only possible but also more straightforward.