High Voltage A-synchronous Buck Converter (100V -> 28V)

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SUMMARY

The forum discussion focuses on troubleshooting a high voltage A-synchronous buck converter designed to step down 100V to 28V. The user successfully tested the circuit on a breadboard but encountered issues when transferring it to a stripboard. Key components include the IR2117 and TC4420EPA ICs, with a unique power supply strategy involving two linear series regulators. The primary issue identified is the inability of the base voltage of the NPN transistor to reach the required 12V, which is critical for the operation of the circuit.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of DC-DC converter design principles
  • Familiarity with linear voltage regulators
  • Knowledge of NPN transistor operation and characteristics
  • Experience with using an oscilloscope for voltage measurements
NEXT STEPS
  • Investigate the layout differences between breadboard and stripboard designs
  • Learn about the effects of parasitic capacitance and inductance in stripboard circuits
  • Explore troubleshooting techniques for voltage regulation issues in DC-DC converters
  • Review the datasheets for IR2117 and TC4420EPA for detailed operational characteristics
USEFUL FOR

Electrical engineers, hobbyists designing power electronics, and anyone involved in troubleshooting DC-DC converter circuits will benefit from this discussion.

gdylp2004
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Hi guys,

I'm new in here and hope I could get some advices.

I am designing a 100V-28V DC-DC Buck converter (as per tittle) and has successfully tested on breadboard.

The problem is when I've transferred everything to the stripboard, the circuit does not work. This is confusing to me because isn't connection made on the stripboard should perform better since parasitic components are lesser?

From my schematic attached, you can see that the 12V Vcc for the 2 IC chips (IR2117 & TC4420EPA) are powered by 2 different auxillary supplies at different times. What I've done is basically construct 2 linear series reg. (one from the 100V V+ and other from the 28V Vout) as could be seen. My idea is, during start-up, Vcc is supplied via the 100V series linear reg for a very short time and once Vout achieved 28V, the supply of Vcc is then transferred and will be drawn from the 28V Vout instead. This should be easily understood by most experts here.

Weird thing is everything worked out perfectly on breadboard but not on stripboard. WHY?

Upon troubleshooting, I've found no zero short circuit between paths, all zener diodes and NPN transistors are also working fine. BUt when I do an o-scope on the base of the NPN transistor (100V linear series reg.), I've realized that the base voltage (or the zener voltage) did not have the chance to climb till 12V. In theory, as long as V+ > 12V, the 12V zener will hold at this voltage even if we ramp more than 12V to V+.

In the o-scope graph attached, (V+ = 30V), it should already have a high enough voltage to ramp Vb > 12V? But the waveform on oscope doesn't seems to be the case (see VB_30.jpg attachment).

The waveform tells me that Vb attempts to rise but dropped to zero immediately after ~3.2V like that.

WHY? This could be the very reason why my circuit can't work because the IC doesn't have a 12V Vdd to start with.

Attached are my schematic, stripboard layout and the o-scope readings.

Could anyone help? Thank you in advance.
 

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Some additional photos of the real thing.
 

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