THE EFFECTS OF PARASITIC INDUCTANCE AND AIR- COOLING ON PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARDS (PCBS)

Abstract

There is a need to increase the speed of the power converters for many applications. Nevertheless, one of the limiting factors for power device performance is the parasitic inductances as the switching speed becomes higher. These parasitic inductances act as reaction elements that affect the switching process, and generate high voltage spikes across the PCB. In other words, the advantages of low parasitic inductances in PCB are offered best switching performance for high efficiency and minimizing conduction losses.
In this paper the effect of the parasitic inductances for a synchronous buck converter has been analyzed. MATLAB simulations have been developed to show their effects on the performance of the synchronous buck converter. Furthermore, another MATLAB simulation has been built to show the thermal consideration. This simulation could predict the air cooling budget that the PCBs might need to reduce their operating temperatures.