Switched Tank Converters

This paper presents a new class of Switched Tank Converters (abbreviated as STCs) for high efficiency high density non-isolated DC-DC applications where large voltage step down (up) ratios are required. Distinguished from switched capacitor converters, the STCs uniquely employ LC resonant tanks to partially replace the flying capacitors for energy transfer. Full soft charging, soft switching and minimal device voltage stresses are achieved under all operating conditions. The STCs feature very high efficiency, power density and robustness against component non-idealities over a wide range of operating conditions. Furthermore, thanks to the full resonant operation, multiple STCs can operate in parallel with inherent droop current sharing, offering the best scalability and control simplicity. These attributes make STC a disruptive and robust technology viable for industry’s high volume adoption. A novel equivalent DCX building block principle is introduced to simplify the analysis of STC. A 98.9% efficiency STC product evaluation board (4-to-1, 650W) has been developed and demonstrated for the next-generation of 48V bus conversion for data center servers.

• Hardware and Architecture