random thoughts of an engineer

 As we've seen last time the biggest power loss is due to diode's forward voltage. In this post, I'll try to substantially reduce it.  Synchronous converter Let's look for a second at a bit different converter topology. If I substitute another switch (n channel mosfet for eg.) instead of diode, and switch it "just the right way", we can reduce power loss significantly. Power loss will be given by RI^2 and will be dependent only on the resistance of switch which, with modern MOSFETs, can be remarkably small. The only minor problem is driving this switch "just the right way". We need to make sure we don't turn both MOSFETs on at the same time, as this would be equivalent to shorting a battery. We also need to sense when the current drops to zero and turn off because otherwise it will reverse and will start pulling the power from load capacitor back to inductor and upon turning off the switch send it back to the battery via internal an diode of p ch