DIODE EFFECTS ON EFFICIENCY OF POWER CONVERTER

Ebimobowei T. Yabefa

ABSTRACT

The choice of diode technology is dependent on the power losses incurred by the diode in the design of a power converter. The conduction and the reverse power losses in the diode influences the degradation of efficiency of the power converter, especially in low voltage electronic applications.  This paper presents the conduction and reverse power losses associated with the two diode technologies; the Ultra-Fast, and the Schottky diode technologies, for a given application. The paper also highlights the effect of the power losses on the efficiency of the converter using both circuit and datasheet parameters. 

Keywords: Conduction Loss, Converter, ON-time, OFF-time, Reverse Power Loss, Schottky Diode