Buckboost converter

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This page describes the switched-mode power supply. For the autotransformer, see buckboost
transformer.


The basic schematic of an inverting buckboost converter.
The buckboost converter is a type of DC-to-DC converter that has an output voltage
magnitude that is either greater than or less than the input voltage magnitude.
Two different topologies are called buckboost converter. Both of them can produce a range of
output voltages, from an output voltage much larger (in absolute magnitude) than the input
voltage, down to almost zero.
The inverting topology
The output voltage is of the opposite polarity as the input. This is a switched-mode power
supply with a similar circuit topology to the boost converter and the buck converter. The
output voltage is adjustable based on the duty cycle of the switching transistor. One
possible drawback of this converter is that the switch does not have a terminal at ground;
this complicates the driving circuitry. Neither drawback is of any consequence if the
power supply is isolated from the load circuit (if, for example, the supply is a battery) as
the supply and diode polarity can simply be reversed. The switch can be on either the
ground side or the supply side.
A buck (step-down) converter followed by a boost (step-up) converter
The output voltage is of the same polarity as the input, and can be lower or higher than
the input. Such a non-inverting buck-boost converter may use a single inductor that is
used as both the buck inductor and the boost inductor.
[1]

[2]

The rest of this article describes the inverting topology.
Contents
1 Principle of operation
o 1.1 Conceptual overview
o 1.2 Continuous mode
o 1.3 Discontinuous mode
o 1.4 Limit between continuous and discontinuous modes
2 Non-ideal circuit
o 2.1 Effect of parasitic resistances
3 See also
4 References
5 Further reading
Principle of operation


Fig. 1: Schematic of a buckboost converter.


Fig. 2: The two operating states of a buckboost converter: When the switch is turned-on, the
input voltage source supplies current to the inductor, and the capacitor supplies current to the
resistor (output load). When the switch is opened, the inductor supplies current to the load via the
diode D.
The basic principle of the buckboost converter is fairly simple (see figure 2):
while in the On-state, the input voltage source is directly connected to the inductor (L).
This results in accumulating energy in L. In this stage, the capacitor supplies energy to
the output load.
while in the Off-state, the inductor is connected to the output load and capacitor, so
energy is transferred from L to C and R.
Compared to the buck and boost converters, the characteristics of the buckboost converter are
mainly:
polarity of the output voltage is opposite to that of the input;
the output voltage can vary continuously from 0 to (for an ideal converter). The
output voltage ranges for a buck and a boost converter are respectively 0 to and to
.
Conceptual overview
Like the buck and boost converters, the operation of the buck-boost is best understood in terms
of the inductor's "reluctance" to allow rapid change in current. From the initial state in which
nothing is charged and the switch is open, the current through the inductor is zero. When the
switch is first closed, the blocking diode prevents current from flowing into the right hand side of
the circuit, so it must all flow through the inductor. However, since the inductor doesn't like
rapid current change, it will initially keep the current low by dropping most of the voltage
provided by the source. Over time, the inductor will allow the current to slowly increase by
decreasing its voltage drop. Also during this time, the inductor will store energy in the form of a
magnetic field.
When the switch is then opened, the inductor will be cut off from the input voltage supply, so the
current will tend to drop to zero. Again, the inductor will fight such an abrupt change in current.
To do so, it must now act like a voltage source to the rest of the circuit, which it can do using the
energy it stored while charging. Since current was previously flowing "down" the inductor, it
will want to maintain this direction, and so the voltage that it provides will be inverted relative to
input supply. During this time, the inductor will discharge through the load and the rest of the
circuit, which will cause its voltage to decrease over time. Also during this time, the capacitor in
parallel with the load will charge up to the voltage presented by the inductor.
When the switch is once again closed, the diode is forward biased by the input supply, cutting
the load off from the left hand side of the circuit. During this time, the capacitor will discharge
into the load, providing energy and voltage to it. By cycling the switch fast enough, the inductor
can be allowed to charge and discharge only slightly in each cycle, maintaining a relatively
steady voltage to the load. Similarly, the capacitor will only need to discharge slightly while the
switch is open before it has a chance to recharge again while the switch is closed.
The voltage presented by the inductor to the load depends on how long the switch is opened and
closed. When the switch is closed and the inductor is charging, the current through the inductor
is ramping up linearly. The longer the switch is closed, the higher the current will get. When the
switch is then opened, it is the end current that the inductor will try to maintain by acting like a
voltage source. The higher this current is, the more voltage the inductor will need to provide in
order to produce it. Thus, the longer the switch is closed during the on stage, the higher the
output voltage will be.
Continuous mode


Fig 3: Waveforms of current and voltage in a buckboost converter operating in continuous
mode.
If the current through the inductor L never falls to zero during a commutation cycle, the
converter is said to operate in continuous mode. The current and voltage waveforms in an ideal
converter can be seen in Figure 3.
From to , the converter is in On-State, so the switch S is closed. The rate of change in
the inductor current (I
L
) is therefore given by

At the end of the On-state, the increase of I
L
is therefore:

D is the duty cycle. It represents the fraction of the commutation period T during which the
switch is On. Therefore D ranges between 0 (S is never on) and 1 (S is always on).
During the Off-state, the switch S is open, so the inductor current flows through the load. If we
assume zero voltage drop in the diode, and a capacitor large enough for its voltage to remain
constant, the evolution of I
L
is:

Therefore, the variation of I
L
during the Off-period is:

As we consider that the converter operates in steady-state conditions, the amount of energy
stored in each of its components has to be the same at the beginning and at the end of a
commutation cycle. As the energy in an inductor is given by:

it is obvious that the value of I
L
at the end of the Off state must be the same as the value of I
L
at
the beginning of the On-state, i.e. the sum of the variations of I
L
during the on and the off states
must be zero:

Substituting and by their expressions yields:

This can be written as:

This in return yields that:

From the above expression it can be seen that the polarity of the output voltage is always
negative (as the duty cycle goes from 0 to 1), and that its absolute value increases with D,
theoretically up to minus infinity as D approaches 1. Apart from the polarity, this converter is
either step-up (as a boost converter) or step-down (as a buck converter). This is why it is referred
to as a buckboost converter.
Discontinuous mode


Fig 4: Waveforms of current and voltage in a buckboost converter operating in discontinuous
mode.
In some cases, the amount of energy required by the load is small enough to be transferred in a
time smaller than the whole commutation period. In this case, the current through the inductor
falls to zero during part of the period. The only difference in the principle described above is that
the inductor is completely discharged at the end of the commutation cycle (see waveforms in
figure 4). Although slight, the difference has a strong effect on the output voltage equation. It can
be calculated as follows:
As the inductor current at the beginning of the cycle is zero, its maximum value (at
) is

During the off-period, I
L
falls to zero after .T:

Using the two previous equations, is:

The load current is equal to the average diode current ( ). As can be seen on figure 4, the
diode current is equal to the inductor current during the off-state. Therefore, the output current
can be written as:

Replacing and by their respective expressions yields:

Therefore, the output voltage gain can be written as:

Compared to the expression of the output voltage gain for the continuous mode, this expression
is much more complicated. Furthermore, in discontinuous operation, the output voltage not only
depends on the duty cycle, but also on the inductor value, the input voltage and the output
current.
Limit between continuous and discontinuous modes


Fig 5: Evolution of the normalized output voltage with the normalized output current in a buck
boost converter.
As told at the beginning of this section, the converter operates in discontinuous mode when low
current is drawn by the load, and in continuous mode at higher load current levels. The limit
between discontinuous and continuous modes is reached when the inductor current falls to zero
exactly at the end of the commutation cycle. with the notations of figure 4, this corresponds to :


In this case, the output current (output current at the limit between continuous and
discontinuous modes) is given by:

Replacing by the expression given in the discontinuous mode section yields:

As is the current at the limit between continuous and discontinuous modes of operations, it
satisfies the expressions of both modes. Therefore, using the expression of the output voltage in
continuous mode, the previous expression can be written as:

Let's now introduce two more notations:
the normalized voltage, defined by . It corresponds to the gain in voltage of the
converter;
the normalized current, defined by . The term is equal to the maximum
increase of the inductor current during a cycle; i.e., the increase of the inductor current
with a duty cycle D=1. So, in steady state operation of the converter, this means that
equals 0 for no output current, and 1 for the maximum current the converter can deliver.
Using these notations, we have:
in continuous mode, ;
in discontinuous mode, ;
the current at the limit between continuous and discontinuous mode is
. Therefore the locus of the limit between continuous
and discontinuous modes is given by .
These expressions have been plotted in figure 5. The difference in behaviour between the
continuous and discontinuous modes can be seen clearly.
Non-ideal circuit
Effect of parasitic resistances


Fig 6: Evolution of the output voltage of a buckboost converter with the duty cycle when the
parasitic resistance of the inductor increases.
In the analysis above, no dissipative elements (resistors) have been considered. That means that
the power is transmitted without losses from the input voltage source to the load. However,
parasitic resistances exist in all circuits, due to the resistivity of the materials they are made from.
Therefore, a fraction of the power managed by the converter is dissipated by these parasitic
resistances.
For the sake of simplicity, we consider here that the inductor is the only non-ideal component,
and that it is equivalent to an inductor and a resistor in series. This assumption is acceptable
because an inductor is made of one long wound piece of wire, so it is likely to exhibit a non-
negligible parasitic resistance (R
L
). Furthermore, current flows through the inductor both in the
on and the off states.
Using the state-space averaging method, we can write:

where and are respectively the average voltage across the inductor and the switch over the
commutation cycle. If we consider that the converter operates in steady-state, the average current
through the inductor is constant. The average voltage across the inductor is:

When the switch is in the on-state, . When it is off, the diode is forward biased (we
consider the continuous mode operation), therefore . Therefore, the average voltage
across the switch is:

The output current is the opposite of the inductor current during the off-state. the average
inductor current is therefore:

Assuming the output current and voltage have negligible ripple, the load of the converter can be
considered as purely resistive. If R is the resistance of the load, the above expression becomes:

Using the previous equations, the input voltage becomes:

This can be written as:

If the inductor resistance is zero, the equation above becomes equal to the one of the ideal case.
But as R
L
increases, the voltage gain of the converter decreases compared to the ideal case.
Furthermore, the influence of R
L
increases with the duty cycle. This is summarized in figure 6.