Haifeng Fan
Power supply designers often use isolated DC/DC converters to realize galvanic isolation, meet safety requirements and enhance noise immunity. When designing an isolated DC/DC converter, output voltage regulation accuracy is one of many design objectives to consider and the required level can vary from one application to the next. Better than ±5% overall voltage regulation is adequate in some while ±10% might be necessary for others.
The many power management topologies and regulating schemes for isolated DC/DC converters differ widely in voltage regulation accuracy. For example, the feedback and control of a closed-loop isolated DC/DC converter is shown in Figure 1.
In this example, a transformer is used to electrically isolate the output from the input of the power stage. In a closed-loop isolated DC/DC converter, the feedback circuitry senses the output voltage and generates an error by comparing the sensed voltage with a voltage reference. The error is then used to adjust the control variable, for example duty cycle, to compensate the output deviation. Galvanic isolation between control circuitry on the primary side and secondary side is also essential. Such isolation can be achieved by utilizing either a transformer or an optocoupler. Assuming the reference voltage is precise and stable over temperature changes, regulation accuracy mainly depends on output voltage sensing accuracy. In other words, how well VSENSE resembles VOUT.
In terms of output voltage regulation accuracy, isolated DC/DC solutions fall into one of three categories: regulated, unregulated and semi-regulated.
To dig deeper into the design aspects of isolated DC/DC converter topologies and their voltage regulation schemes, read the article “Understanding isolated DC/DC converter voltage regulation” in EDN Magazine.
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