A novel two-stage solution for low-power 48-V voltage regulator module (VRM) using high step-down hybrid LLC with integrated planar transformer

In this paper, a novel two-stage solution based on a 1-MHz high step-down hybrid LLC converter is proposed for low-power 48 V voltage regulator modules (VRM). Since the hybrid LLC DCX converter with high step-down ability is employed as the first-stage, lower bus voltage can be obtained with the same transformer turns, which contributes to enhancing the duty cycle and efficiency of the second-stage multi-phase buck converter. Thus, an overall efficiency improvement can be achieved in the proposed two-stage system, especially in low-power applications. To further improve efficiency and power density, a novel integrated planar transformer is adopted for the double resonant tanks of the hybrid LLC converter. To validate the analysis, a 150-W hardware prototype of the hybrid LLC converter is constructed in the laboratory. To ensure a fair comparison with existing LLC DCX designs, the output voltage is set at 6 V. The measured efficiency results of the first-stage demonstrate an efficiency advantage at low power output levels compared to the similar full bridge LLC designs, especially at an output of around 100 W. Under the nominal 48-V input, the first-stage achieves a peak efficiency of 98.5% and a full load efficiency of 94.62%. Furthermore, a 4-phase buck converter with nominal 6-V input and 1.6-V output is constructed to evaluate the efficiency performance of the overall system. When the second stage operates at 500 kHz, the proposed two-stage system achieves a peak efficiency of 93.2% at 40A load, while maintaining an efficiency of 91.2% at 65A output. The calculated efficiency of the proposed two-stage solution exhibits higher performance compared to the majority of single-stage schemes. In this paper, a novel two-stage solution based on a 1-MHz high step-down hybrid LLC converter is proposed for low-power 48-V voltage regulator modules (VRMs). Since the hybrid LLC DCX converter with high step-down ability is employed as the first-stage, lower bus voltage can be obtained with same transformer turns, which contributes to the enhancement of the duty cycle and efficiency of the second stage multi-phase buck converter. As a result, an overall efficiency improvement can be achieved in the proposed two-stage system, especially in low-power applications. In order to further improve efficiency and power density, a novel integrated planar transformer is adopted for the double resonant tanks of the hybrid LLC converter. Correspondingly, circuit features, topology analysis, and design considerations are presented in the paper. To validate the analysis, a 150-W hardware prototype of the hybrid LLC converter is constructed in the laboratory. The measured efficiency results of the first-stage demonstrate an efficiency advantage at low power output levels compared to the similar full bridge LLC designs, especially at an output of around 100 W. In addition, the calculated efficiency of the proposed two-stage solution exhibits higher performance compared to the majority of single-stage schemes.image