Buck converter in continuos mode

[daniel_8775]

Hello,

I don't quite understand the buck converter in continuos mode ... looking at the graph for inductor current on wikipedia, at t=0, there is a nonzero inductor current, Imin ... how is this possible when the inductor current cannot change instantaneously (assuming it starts at zero, then at t=0 when the switch is on, it must be zero as well). Perhaps I'm not thinking about this correctly, and I shouldn't be thinking about when the experiment "starts", maybe I should be thinking at some time t<0 it had current I_min through it before the switch came on?

Here is the graph I'm looking at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Buck_chronogram.png

Dan

 

[MisterX]

maybe I should be thinking at some time t<0 it had current I_min through it before the switch came on?

Yes, this is what you should think. The picture describes steady state operation. The time T is one period.