Realization of a switched-capacitor AC-DC converter using a new phase controller

A new phase controller for a switched-capacitor (SC) AC-DC converter is presented. The features of this circuit are as follows. (1) The efficiency of the SC AC-DC converter regulated by the proposed phase controller is high compared with that regulated by a pulse-width-modulated (PWM) controller, especially when the input voltage increases. (2) The operating ranges of the input voltage and of the output current can be wider than the converter using a PWM controller. (3) The inrush current of the SC AC-DC converter can be easily limited to a desired value by the phase controller without producing any extra loss. (4) The operating frequency of the phase controller covers almost all commercial frequency ranges, from several tens of Hz to several hundred Hz, without any adjustment. (5) Even when the number of the clocks increases, the phase controller requires only one additional D flip flop for every added clock. These features were confirmed by experiments.<>