Self-oscillating resonant power converter

1. A resonant power converter comprising:

an input terminal for receipt of an input voltage;

a switching network comprising a first semiconductor switch controlled by a control input;

the switching network comprising a switch input operatively coupled to the input terminal for receipt of the input voltage and a switch output operatively coupled to an input of a resonant network of the resonant power converter;

the resonant network comprising a predetermined resonance frequency (f R ) and an output operatively coupled to a converter output terminal; and

a self-oscillating feedback loop coupled from the switch output to the control input of the switching network to set a switching frequency of the power converter, the self-oscillating feedback loop comprising:

a first intrinsic switch capacitance coupled between the switch output and the control input of the switching network;

a first bias voltage source configured to generate a first adjustable bias voltage,

a first inductor with substantially fixed inductance coupled in-between the first bias voltage source and the control input of the switching network; and

a regulation loop configured to control an output voltage of the resonant power converter by applying the first adjustable bias voltage to the first inductor without adjusting an inductive or a capacitive reactance of a component coupled in series with the first inductor.

2. The resonant power converter according to claim 1 , further comprising an input inductor coupled between the input terminal and the switch input, wherein a control terminal of the first semiconductor switch is coupled to the control input of the switching network and an output terminal of the first semiconductor switch is coupled to the switch input and to the switch output.

3. The resonant power converter according to claim 1 , wherein the first adjustable bias voltage is applied to the first inductor without any tuneable inductance or tuneable capacitance connected in series with the first inductor.

4. The resonant power converter according to claim 1 , wherein the self-oscillating feedback loop is configured to set a switching frequency of the power converter above 10 MHz.

5. The resonant power converter according to claim 1 , wherein the first bias voltage source comprises:

a capacitor coupled from the first adjustable bias voltage and a fixed electric potential of the resonant power converter such as ground;

a first adjustable resistor coupled between the first adjustable bias voltage and a first DC reference voltage; and

a second adjustable resistor coupled between the first adjustable bias voltage and a second DC reference voltage.

6. The resonant power converter according to claim 1 , wherein a voltage regulation loop comprises:

a reference voltage generator supplying a reference DC or AC voltage to a first input of a comparator;

a second input of the comparator being coupled to the converter output voltage; and

an output of the comparator operatively coupled to a bias voltage source control input of the first bias voltage source.

7. The resonant power converter according to claim 1 , wherein the first inductor has an inductance between 1 nH and 10 μH.

8. The resonant power converter according to claim 1 , wherein the substantially fixed inductance of the first inductor is set such that a peak voltage at the control input of the switching network exceeds a threshold voltage at the first semiconductor switch of the switching network.

9. The resonant power converter according to claim 1 , wherein the self-oscillating feedback loop further comprises a series resonant circuit coupled in between the control input of the switching network and a fixed electric potential of the power converter.

10. The resonant power converter according to claim 1 , wherein the self-oscillating feedback loop further comprises:

a first series resonant circuit coupled in between the control input of the first semiconductor switch and fixed electric potential of the converter; and

a second series resonant circuit coupled in between the control input of the first semiconductor switch and the switch output.

11. The resonant power converter according to claim 1 , wherein the self-oscillating feedback loop further comprises a parallel resonant circuit coupled in series with the first inductor in between the first adjustable bias voltage and the first inductor.

12. The resonant power converter according to claim 1 , comprising a class DE inverter based on a half-bridge switching network.

13. A DC-DC power converter comprising:

the resonant power converter according to claim 1 ; and

a rectifier coupled between the output of the resonant network and the converter output terminal to provide a rectified DC output voltage.

14. The DC-DC power converter according to claim 13 , wherein the rectifier comprises a synchronous rectifier.

15. The DC-DC power converter according to claim 14 , wherein the synchronous rectifier comprises:

a rectification semiconductor switch configured to rectify an output voltage of the resonant network in accordance with a rectifier control input of the rectification semiconductor switch; and

a first rectification inductor with a substantially fixed inductance coupled in between a fixed or adjustable rectifier bias voltage and the rectifier control input.

16. The DC-DC power converter according to claim 15 , wherein the fixed or adjustable rectifier bias voltage is coupled to a fixed DC bias voltage source or to the rectified DC output voltage through a resistive or capacitive voltage divider.

17. A resonant power converter assembly comprising:

the resonant power converter according to claim 1 ;

a carrier substrate having at least the switching network and the resonant circuit integrated thereon; and

an electrical trace pattern of the carrier substrate forming the first inductor.

18. The resonant power converter assembly according to claim 17 , wherein the carrier substrate comprises a semiconductor die.