A Driving Scheme Using a Single Control Signal for a ZVT Voltage Driven Synchronous Buck Converter

This paper deals with the optimization of the driving techniques for the ZVT synchronous buck converter proposed in [1]. Two new gate drive circuits are proposed to allow this converter to operate by only one control signal as a 12V voltage regulator module (VRM). Voltage-driven method is applied for the synchronous rectifier. In addition, the control signal drives the main and auxiliary switches by one driving circuit. Both of the circuits are supplied by the input voltage. As a result, no supply voltage is required. This approach decreases both the complexity and cost in converter hardware implementation and is suitable for practical applications. In addition, the proposed SR driving scheme can also be used for many high frequency resonant converters and some high frequency discontinuous current mode PWM circuits. The ZVT synchronous buck converter with new gate drive circuits is analyzed and the presented experimental results confirm the theoretical analysis.