PWM Control

• PWM switch mode power supply use a square

wave pulse that is normally generated by a
control circuit to drive the switching transistor
ON and OFF.
• Varying the width of the pulse, the conduction
time of the transistor is correspondingly varied,
thus regulating the output voltage.
• The major function of the control subsection of a
PWM supply is to sense any change in the DC
output voltage and adjust the duty cycle of the
power switches to correct for such changes.
 PWM Control
• An oscillator sets the basic frequency of
operation of the power supply. A stable,
temperature-compensated reference is
used to which the output voltage is
compared in a high-gain voltage error
amplifier.
• An error-voltage to pulse width converter
is used to adjust the duty cycle.
 PWM Control
• The PWM control circuit can be a single
ended for driving single-transistor
converters such as the buck or boost
topologies, or it may be double ended to
drive multiple-transistor converters such
as the push-pull or half-bridge topologies.
 PWM Control
• There are two basic modes of control used
in PWM converters:
– voltage mode
– current mode.
• Variable frequency control techniques
used mostly in resonant power supplies
are discussed in a subsequent section.
 PWM Control Techniques:
Voltage-Mode Control
• This is the traditional mode of control in
PWM switching converters.
• It is also called single-loop control as only
the output is sensed and used in the
control circuit.
• A simplified diagram of a voltage-mode
control circuit is shown in Figure 1.
FIGURE 1 Voltage-mode control

(a) Block diagram

FIGURE 1 Voltage-mode control

(b) Associated waveforms

 PWM Control Techniques:
Voltage-Mode Control
• The main components of this circuit are an
oscillator, an error amplifier, and a comparator.
• The output voltage is sensed and compared to a
reference.
• The error voltage is amplified in a high-gain
amplifier.
• This is followed by a comparator which
compares the amplified error signal with a saw-
tooth waveform generated across a timing
capacitor.
 PWM Control Techniques:
Voltage-Mode Control
• The comparator output is a pulse-width
modulated signal which serves to correct
any drift in the output voltage. As the error
signal increases in the positive direction,
the duty cycle is decreased, and as the
error signal increases in the negative
direction, the duty cycle is increased.
• The voltage mode control technique works
well when the loads are constant.
 PWM Control Techniques:
Voltage-Mode Control
• If the load or the input changes quickly, the
delayed response of the output poses a
drawback to the control circuit as it only
senses the output voltage. Also, the
control circuit cannot protect against
instantaneous over-current conditions on
the power switch. These drawbacks are
overcome in current-mode control.
 PWM Control Techniques:
Current-Mode Control
• This is a multi-loop control technique,
which has an AC current feedback loop in
addition to the voltage feedback loop. This
second loop directly controls the peak
inductor current with the error signal rather
than controlling the duty cycle of the
switching waveform. Figure 2 shows a
block diagram of a basic current-mode
control circuit.
FIGURE 2 Current mode control

(a) Block diagram

FIGURE 2 Current mode control

(b) Associated
waveforms