Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

With the exponential growth in internet / wireless applications, more and more servers (data centers, data storage, cloud storage, etc) have been built to process the ever-increasing network traffic. Non-isolated DC - DC power supplies, also known as Point of Load (POL) power supplies, are used in the motherboard to convert the bus voltage of 12V into lower level, such as 5V, 3.3V, 1.2V or even 0.6V, to provide a clean and regulated voltage to various digital integrated circuits (IC).The efficiency of the POL should be high in order to improve the system reliability and to reduce energy consumption. In order to provide more functionality to end user, small size Integrated POL has been developed to achieve high power density and high efficiency. By using integrated POL, the product development time can also be reduced.In this research project, new technologies for non-isolated DC - DC converters will be developed to achieve high efficiency and high power density that can be used for integrated POL design, as well as discrete POL design. We will analyze and design two new switching power converters that requires much smaller inductor value and therefore, can achieve much higher power density. Prototypes will be built to verify the superior performance of these new topologies. During this project, 9 Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) will be trained and they will contribute significantly in the Canadian power supply industry.With the completion of this project, technologies will be available so that Sumida's Kingston design center can develop the next generation integrated POL product lines and to keep its leading position in the world integrated POL power supply market.