Power Electronics Handbook 2020

Page 22

POWER ELECTRONICS HANDBOOK

Tethered drones are an example of a situation where power cables must be as light as possible. High-voltage converters can help reduce the size and weight of the tethering.

Where fixed-ratio converters fit in high-power delivery systems Fixed-ratio converters are often the best way of minimizing the electrical current sent over significant distances in the interest of better power efficiency.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF electromechanical or

PHIL DAVIES

VICOR CORP.

and regulation requirements.

Many power system designers consider regulated dc-dc converters as essential to their overall systems design. However, PDN regulation is not always necessary for providing the right level of voltage to the PoL regulators nor imperative to an intermediate distribution-bus voltage. With this in mind, power system engineers should consider implementing fixed-ratio dc-dc converters, which can offer significant advantages to the overall performance of the PDN. PDN performance is commonly measured in terms of power loss, transient response, physical size, weight and cost. One major design challenge impacting PDN performance is the number of times the network needs voltage conversion and tight line/load regulation. Engineers spend a great deal of time optimizing bulk power voltage conversion, dynamic regulation and distribution qualities to deliver high performance and reliability. If system load power is in the multi-kilowatt range, designing the bulk PDN to handle a high voltage reduces the current the system must distribute (P= V×I). Consequently the PDN size, weight, and cost (cables, bus bars, motherboard

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semiconductor loads require stable dc-dc voltage conversion and tight regulation to operate reliably. The dc-dc converters that perform this function are commonly called point-of-load (PoL) regulators and are designed with a maximum and minimum input voltage specification defining their stable operating range. The power delivery network (PDN) to these regulators can vary in complexity based on the number and type of loads, overall system architecture, load power levels, voltage levels (conversion stages), as well as isolation

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