Voltage Regulator Buck Converter with a Tapped Inductor for Fast Transient Response Application

In this letter, a novel voltage regulator buck converter with a tapped inductor for fast transient response applications is proposed. The output inductor of the conventional buck converter is replaced by a tapped inductor and an auxiliary switch to achieve fast transient response. Usually, the proposed converter works as a conventional buck converter with very large output inductance during the steady state to reduce the output current ripple. Once the transient load change appears, the auxiliary switch is turned ON in order to speed up the dynamic process by reducing the equivalent output inductance. A 10-V output voltage buck converter with maximum 30-A output current has been built and tested. The experimental results demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed converter, which also means that the proposed method shows great potential for fast transient response voltage regulator applications.