This course provides the student with an in depth knowledge about the themes of systems and circuits used for powering electronic circuits and small electromechanical actuators. Students will study mainly DC-DC converters, analyzing energy efficiency, control, isolation and electromagnetic noise generation which shouldn’t inject disturbances in the mains. This class has a strong design flavor: most important methods of analysis and design both for power and control stages will be presented.

After this course, a student will have a detailed knowledge of the basic DC-DC power conversion topologies, in particular buck, boost, buck boost, their working modes. He or she will know some methods for deriving a linear small signal model of switching converters. Beside the non-isolated topologies, a student will learn the detailed behavior of the most common derived converters using an isolation transformers, including their small signal models.
By the end of this course, a student will be able to design both the power and control section of an isolated converter, choosing the best among various different topologies and control methods, and estimating the component stress and total circuit efficiency.

Circuit theory, use of op amps, solid state devices (mainly MOS and IGBTs), basics of feedback.

Basic DC/DC converters: Buck, Boost and Buck-boost. Steady state (cyclostationary) characteristics in continuous and discontinuous conduction mode, design criteria and stress evaluations (1.8 CFU)

Dynamic behavior. Averaged models, state space average, switch average, circuit average. Linearization. Power factor correctors (1.6 CFU)

Design of closed loop control, both voltage mode and current mode (0.8 CFU)

Derived configurations: Analysis and design of Buck-derived circuits (Forward, push-pull, half bridge, full bridge). Analysis and design of a flyback. Design of control section (1.8 CFU)

Elective lab experiences on basic DC to DC converter configurations, both open and closed loop. Loop gain measurement.

Instructor’s class notes or handouts both in Italian and in English.

Extra material: Erickson – Maksimovich, Fundamentals of Power Electronics, Springer; 2nd edition (January 2001)
Kassakian, Schlecht, Verghese, "Principles of Power Electronics", Addison Wesley

Written test with a theory section (closed books, 30min) and a design problem section (open books 2hrs). 45 minutes oral exam. Each section is about one third of the final grade. In case of small classes, possible homeworks instead of the written exam.