In DC/DC converters with low output voltage and high output current, the technique of synchronous rectification is widely used for improving the output efficiency. However, SR buck converters can experience the abnormal phenomenon called “self turn-on” which will occur in the low-side switch under some circuit conditions. “Self turn-on” is a malfunction of the low-side switch, basically caused by the resonance of the parasitic inductance and the parasitic capacitance. It results in noticeable power dissipation. In this paper, the phenomenon will be clearly described and investigated. With the theoretical analysis and the experimental verification, strategies that can suppress this phenomenon are proposed.

We propose a unique synchronous rectification method in the rectification circuit of a DC-DC converter. This paper describes a novel synchronous rectification circuit that uses a saturable current transformer. We explain operations of this circuit, and analyzed them in this work. In addition, we verified operations of this method applied in boost converter and demonstrated its effectiveness when two or more converters operate in parallel through simulations and experiments.