Design and implementation of a 800W step down converter with optimized F-L-N parameters

With the increasing pressure on modern power converters towards higher efficiency and smaller volume, power electronic specialists are now even more obliged to power converter optimization. In this study, the optimal design of an 800W, hard switched step down converter is targeted. Switching frequency (f) and inductance (L) are selected as parameters for optimization. Interleaving, a technique widely utilized due to the benefits it introduces to the converter that it is applied to, is also taken into consideration; phase number (N) is an optimization parameter for the analysis to utilize interleaving with the optimal phase number. A laboratory prototype of the targeted 800W converter is implemented in view of the efficiency and volume analyses. Comparison of analytical and practical results is provided.