Low temperature performance of a full-bridge DC-DC converter

The low temperature (25/spl deg/C to -175/spl deg/C) performance of a 120 W, 100 kHz, 42/12 V phase-shifted zero-voltage-switched full-bridge DC-DC power converter designed with commercially available components is reported. Its efficiency increased from 80.8% at 25/spl deg/C to 81.8% at -175/spl deg/C. The power MOSFET and filter inductor loss decreased whereas the diode rectifier loss increased with decreasing temperatures. Low temperature operation of the open-loop control circuit based on CMOS and BiCMOS ICs is also discussed. The switching frequency of the converter increased with decreasing temperatures with maximum deviation of less than 4% compared to the room temperature operation. The converter successfully restarted at low temperatures without any visible degradation.

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