A Comparative Study of DC-DC Flyback Converters for Telecom Applications

Flyback converters are widely used in telecom applications with two of the most popular being in point-of-use power supplies and as part of two-stage AC-DC converters. They can be implemented with either passive snubbers or active snubbers for the main converter switch. Active snubbers are generally thought to be more efficient but more expensive than passive snubbers, but recent developments in passive snubber technology has resulted in increased efficiency. The performance of an example passive snubber is compared to that of the popular active clamp snubber in the paper. In the paper, the operation and features of the two converters is discussed, along with the design of the example passive snubber. The efficiency of the two converters is compared with results obtained from prototype converters and conclusions as to which converter is better are made.