Analysis of a multilevel multicell switch-mode power amplifier employing the "flying-battery" concept

This paper presents a novel switch-mode power amplifier based on a multicell multilevel circuit topology. The total output voltage of the system is formed by series connection of several switching cells having a low DC-link voltage. Therefore, the cells can be realized using modern low-voltage high-current power MOSFET devices and the DC link can easily be buffered by rechargeable batteries or "super" capacitors to achieve very high amplifier peak output power levels ("flying-battery" concept). The cells are operated in a phase-shifted interleaved pulsewidth-modulation mode, which, in connection with the low partial voltage of each cell, reduces the filtering effort at the output of the total amplifier to a large extent and, consequently, improves the dynamic system behavior. The paper describes the operating principle of the system, analyzes the fundamental relationships being relevant for the circuit design, and gives guidelines for the dimensioning of the control circuit. Furthermore, simulation results as well as results of measurements taken from a laboratory setup are presented.