Design and Analysis of a Frontside Series/Parallel Piezoelectric Resonator-Based DC–DC Converter

Piezoelectric (PR)-based dc–dc converters present an attractive opportunity to reduce converter costs and size, while simultaneously enhancing efficiency. However, the efficiency of a conventional PR-based dc–dc converter experiences a significant decline when operating outside the nominal 2:1 conversion ratio, diminishing appeal for applications demanding low voltage conversion ratios (VCRs), specifically, VCR <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\leq$</tex-math></inline-formula> 0.2. To enable improved efficiency at low conversion ratios, this article introduces a frontside series/parallel piezoelectric resonator (FSPPR) dc–dc converter, where a series/parallel switched-capacitor network is merged with the baseline PR-based topology in a hybird arrangement for an additional 2:1 down conversion. In this article, the operation principle and behavior of the proposed FSPPR converter are mathematically analyzed, simulated, and verified, and then the FSPPR converter, along with a baseline PR-based converter prototype, is designed and built utilizing commercial off-the-shelf lead zirconate titanate PRs. Experimental measurements reveal a peak efficiency of 95.27% at a conversion ratio of 48/10V, representing a noteworthy 14% efficiency improvement in comparison to the codesigned baseline PR-based converter.