Switching capacitor—PWM power converter

Abstract

A power converter topology operates as a switching capacitor (capacitive voltage divider) converter during a first, preferably short portion of a switching cycle to provide excellent dynamic transient response and as a pulse width modulated converter during a second portion of a switching cycle to provide flexibility of voltage regulation and generality of application. This topology can be made self-driven and is capable of zero voltage switching. Therefore the power converter can be used as one of a plurality of branches of a multi-phase converter to enhance transient response. The respective branches can also be independently optimized for particular load levels and can be operated independently in a phase shedding manner to improve efficiency at low load. Further, the power converter or respective branches of a multi-phase power converter are compatible with non-linear control to further improve dynamic response.