Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers (전자공학회논문지)

The Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers (대한전자공학회)
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Improving the Light-Load Efficiency of a LDO-Embedded DC-DC Buck Converter Using a Size Control Method of the Power-Transistor

파워 트랜지스터 사이즈 조절 기법을 이용한 LDO 내장형 DC-DC 벅 컨버터의 저부하 효율 개선

  • Kim, Hyojoong (Department of Electronic Engineering, Soongsil University) ;
  • Wee, Jaekyung (Department of Electronic Engineering, Soongsil University) ;
  • Song, Inchae (Department of Electronic Engineering, Soongsil University)
  • Received : 2014.12.12
  • Accepted : 2015.03.02
  • Published : 2015.03.25
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Abstract

In this paper, we propose a method of improving the light-load efficiency of DC-DC buck converter using 4bit SAR-ADC (Successive Approximation ADC) for a LDO or a power transistor size selection technique. The proposed circuit selects power transistor sizes depending on load current so that improves the light-load efficiency of the DC-DC buck converter. For this, we select the power transistor size with a cross point of the switching loss and the conduction loss. Also, when the IC operates in standby mode or sleep mode, a LDO mode is selected for improving the efficiency. The proposed circuit selects power transistor sizes(X1, X2, X4, X8) with 4 bits and its efficiency is higher about the maximum of 25% at the light-load than that of a single transistor size. Input voltage and output voltage are 5V and 3.3V for maximum load currents of 500mA.

본 논문에서는 4bit SAR-ADC(Successive Approximation ADC) 기반의 LDO(Low Drop-Out Regulator)와 파워 트랜지스터의 사이즈 선택을 통하여 DC-DC 벅 컨버터의 효율을 개선하는 방법을 제안한다. 제안하는 회로는 부하 전류에 따라서 파워 트랜지스터 사이즈를 선택하여 DC-DC 벅 컨버터의 효율을 개선한다. 이를 위해, 우리는 스위칭 손실과 전도 손실이 교차하는 지점을 파워 트랜지스터의 적절한 사이즈로 선택하였다. 또한, standby mode 또는 sleep mode로 동작 시에는 효율을 개선하기 위해 LDO로 동작하도록 하였다. 제안하는 회로는 4bit로 파워 트랜지스터 사이즈(X1, X2, X4, X8)를 선택하였고, 저부하에서 단일 사이즈를 이용한 기존의 방식보다 최대 25%의 효율 개선을 얻을 수 있었다. 입력 전압은 5V, 출력 전압은 3.3V, 최대 부하 전류는 500mA이다.

Keywords

References

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