Wireless PWM control of a parallel DC-DC buck converter

Abstract—We demonstrate a new concept for wireless pulse-width modulation (PWM) control of a parallel dc–dc buck converter. It eliminates the need for multiple physical con-nections of gating/PWM signals among the distributed converter modules. The new scheme relies on radio-frequency (RF) based communication of the PWM control signals from a master to the slave modules. We analyze the system stability and demonstrate the experimental effectiveness of the wireless control scheme for a two-module parallel buck converter for 10-kHz and 20-kHz switching frequencies and for channel lengths of 1.5 and 15 ft, respectively. The proposed control concept may lead to easier distributed control implementation of parallel dc–dc converters and distributed power systems, and may lead to redundancy that is achievable using droop method. It may also be used as a backup for wire-based control of parallel converters to provide fault tolerance. Index Terms—Buck converter, master–slave control, parallel dc–dc converters, radio frequency, wireless. I