Electronic Design

  
Reprints     Printer-Friendly    Email this Article    RSS        Font Size     What's This?


[Leapfrog: Industry First]
Inside The VTM

Don Tuite  |   ED Online ID #9091  |   November 15, 2004


A VTM employs a zero-voltage switching and zero-current switching (ZVS/ZCS) topology called a sine amplitude converter (SAC) (see the figure). The power train is a low-Q, high-frequency, controlled oscillator, with high spectral purity and common-mode symmetry, so it generates very little noise.

The VTM control architecture locks the operating frequency to the power-train resonant frequency. The reactive components of loss are cancelled out. Remaining losses can be treated as a lumped resistance RO. So, the SAC-based VTM is a linear voltage/current converter with a flat output impedance up to about 1 MHz. Characterization data shows RO can be as low as 0.8 mW. If that's not low enough, or if more power is needed, VTMs can be paralleled with accurate current sharing.

A SAC VTM's secondary current is a pure sinusoid. The very low, non-inductive RO allows an almost instantaneous response to a 100% step change in load current. There is no internal regulation circuitry in a VTM and none of the attendant loop delays and stability issues, so no internal control action is required to respond to the change in load. The internal ASIC controller continues controlling and synchronizing the operation of the switches to maintain operation at resonance.


Reprints   Printer-Friendly  Email this Article  RSS    Font Size   What's This?



POST YOUR COMMENTS HERE
Name:

Email:
Your Comments:

Enter the text from the image below


Please refresh the page if you have trouble reading this text.

Search Electronic Design
     
  
 
Email Newsletter
Sponsored By:
The Find Power Products monthly newsletter brings you the most important new developments within the world of power design. The newsletter includes exerpts from industry leader Sam Davis's exclusive blog, as well as overviews of the latest new products.

Enter Email to Subscribe
  
Web Seminar
Sponsored By:
Title: Exploring How Good GUIs Drive Adoption in the Digital Power Management Space
Speakers: Don Tuite Deepak Savadaatt
Date: 10/24/07
Register: 

Electronic Design Europe Electronic Design China EEPN Power Electronics Auto Electronics Microwaves & RF
Mobile Dev & Design Schematics Find Power Products Military Electronics EE Events Related Resources