Simple self driven post-regulator for space applications

The secondary power system built inside the different units of a satellite typically needs several output voltages. The most common solution to achieve this is by means of a DC/DC converter with one or several outputs and linear regulators. The number of components available for European designers is relatively limited and hence, common solutions in ground applications are not so simple to implement in space applications. This paper presents the design of a switched post regulator with self driven synchronous rectification. The objective is to achieve a driving scheme for both converter switches based on a simple single output PWM IC. By replacing the linear regulators by switched converters, the efficiency improvement is very significant. A prototype has been built and tested and the results are presented in this paper.