Multiphase power converters having shared magnetic core sections
View Patent ↗A multiphase power converter includes a plurality of subconverters and a control circuit. Each subconverter has an input circuit, an output circuit, and a magnetic core coupling the input circuit to the output circuit. The magnetic core of at least one of the plurality of subconverters has a core section that is shared by the magnetic core of another one of the plurality of subconverters. The control circuit is configured to operate the input circuits of the plurality of subconverters with different phases. The magnetic cores may be cores of a transformer, a coupled inductor, etc.
1. A multiphase power converter comprising:
a plurality of subconverters, each subconverter having an input circuit, an output circuit, and a magnetic core coupling the input circuit to the output circuit, the magnetic core of at least one of the plurality of subconverters having a core section that is shared by the magnetic core of another one of the plurality of subconverters; and
a control circuit configured to operate the input circuits of the plurality of subconverters with different phases.
2. The multiphase power converter of claim 1 wherein the magnetic cores of the plurality of subconverters form an integrated core.
3. The multiphase power converter of claim 2 wherein the plurality of subconverters include N converters, and wherein the magnetic cores of the plurality of subconverters include N−1 shared core sections, where N is an integer greater than or equal to two.
4. The multiphase power converter of claim 3 wherein the plurality of magnetic cores include a first magnetic core having an EI core configuration and a second magnetic core having an E core configuration.
5. The multiphase power converter of claim 3 wherein each output circuit includes at least one rectifier.
6. The multiphase power converter of claim 3 wherein each input circuit includes one or more windings extending about its magnetic core.
7. The multiphase power converter of claim 6 wherein the one or more windings of each input circuit extend about an interior leg of its magnetic core.
8. The multiphase power converter of claim 6 wherein there are no windings on the shared core section.
9. The multiphase power converter of claim 3 wherein the output circuits are each coupled to a common terminal.
10. The multiphase power converter of claim 9 further comprising an output terminal coupled to the common terminal.
11. The multiphase power converter of claim 10 further comprising an inductor and/or capacitor coupled between the common terminal and the output terminal.
12. The multiphase power converter of claim 3 wherein the input circuits each employ a forward converter topology.
13. The multiphase power converter of claim 3 wherein each magnetic core is a core of a transformer having a primary side and a secondary side, each input circuit is a primary side circuit and each output circuit is a secondary side circuit.
14. The multiphase power converter of claim 3 wherein each magnetic core is a core of a coupled inductor.
15. The multiphase power converter of claim 3 wherein the different phases are nonoverlapping phases.
16. The multiphase power converter of claim 3 wherein the different phases are overlapping phases.