Dissertation
Broadband circuit techniques for radio frequency power conversion
Power electronic converters are foundational to modern electrical systems, playing critical roles in transportation, medical devices, and industrial technologies. A central trend in their evolution is the push toward higher switching frequencies for greater power density and lower cost. This trend also enables new opportunities and capabilities in various radio frequency applications such as plasma generation, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and induction heating. However, conventional high-frequency converters suffer from significant efficiency loss when faced with variations in frequency or load, limiting their performance and capabilities. To overcome these challenges, this work focuses on radio frequency power inverters and develops broadband circuit techniques for efficient power conversion across wide frequency ranges and varying load conditions. A general framework is introduced for designing broadband inverters based on linear time-variant switched network analysis is introduced. Building on this foundation, impedance transformation methods are proposed to further enhance broadband inverter performance: the Resistance Regulation Network (RRN) for frequency-controlled power modulation, and the Frequency-Tuning Matching Network (FTMN) for robust power delivery to dynamic loads. Additionally, a broadband resonant gate driver is presented to reduce gate losses and enable scalable high-power operation
Contact
- yezc15@stanford.edu