Morphed dual-stage system with varied switching frequency of power converters during battery discharge period

A novel practical scheme for improving the runtime of a battery-powered notebook is proposed. A typical notebook power delivery architecture is considered. The scheme identifies the battery-discharge period as critical and suggests a new power architecture that employs a morphed dual-stage approach with varied frequency converters. The architecture involves varying the switching frequency of the 5V and 3.3 V main converters and cascading lower current rails from these in order to achieve the highest efficiencies. The proposed scheme can be seamlessly incorporated with other efficiency improvement ideas. The test circuit and associated results and improvements are provided along with implementation ideas and proposals.