A single-phase fast transient converter topology with stepping inductance is proposed. The stepping inductance method is implemented by replacing the conventional inductor in a buck converter by two inductors connecting in series. One has large inductance and the other has small inductance. The inductor with small inductance will take over the output inductor during transient load change and speed up dynamic response. In steady state, the large inductance takes over and keeps a substantially small ripple current and minimizes root mean square loss. It is a low cost method applicable to converters with an output inductor. A hardware prototype of a 1.5-V dc-dc buck converter put under a 100-A transient load change has been experimented upon to demonstrate the merit of this approach. It also serves as a voltage regulator module and powers up a modern PC computer system. Index Terms-Buck converter, fast transient, voltage regulator (VR).

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A novel current-driven synchronous rectifier is presented in this paper. With the help of current sensing energy recovery circuit, the proposed current-driven synchronous rectifier can operate at high switching frequency with high efficiency. Compared with those voltage-driven synchronous rectification solutions, this current-driven synchronous rectifier has several outstanding characteristics. It can be easily applied to most switching topologies like an ideal diode. Constant gate drive voltage can be obtained regardless of line and load fluctuation. This makes it desirable in high input range application. Converters designed with this synchronous rectifier are also capable of being connected in parallel without taking the risk of reverse power sinking. Principle of operation is given in the paper. A series of experiments verify the analysis and demonstrate the merits.

A simple method to plot online B-H curve and calculate core loss of the inductor in a conventional buck-boost converter is developed. In order to obtain a reliable loss data, measurement error and phase shift error are analyzed and then quantified. A new method to minimize measurement error is given. A new core loss model in terms of switching duty cycle is presented. This model predicts variation of core loss of an inductor operating .in various conditions in a switching converter. This inductor model can be generalized to inductors in other switching converter topologies.