Performance Limits of Resonant Switched-Capacitor Converter with Voltage Regulation

A DC modeling method for resonant switched-capacitor converters (RSCCs) is proposed to figure out the best possible limits of converter efficiency with respect to regulation methods. The existing single-parameter DC model is extended to a load-dependent multi-parameter DC model for power loss estimation of wide-range regulated RSCCs. For instance, four regulation methods and their corresponding modulation maps are studied to find the optimal operation range for efficient and wide-range voltage regulation. In addition, an implementation of GaN FET synchronous rectification is presented to replace the diode in RSCC, while the switching loss is incorporated into the DC model. Furthermore, an optimal design method is presented to maximize the regulation efficiency within the load range. A 300 W prototype was built to verify the feasibility of the proposed DC model. The proposed load-dependent multi-parameter DC model demonstrates accurate voltage conversion ratio and power loss estimation.