Figure 1: DC-DC Converter Box

DC-DC Converter Box

Located inside the box is a DC power supply which is powered by a standard 120Vac power cable and outputs a voltage of approximately 13V.

The box has a printed circuit board (PCB) mounted on top and is powered by the 13V DC power supply which it connects to via the red and black banana jacks. The PCB also has both the power diode and power mosfet switch mounted on it; It also contains the control required to switch the mosfet on and off at approximately 4kHz and also allows the user to turn the potentiometer located on the board to adjust the duty cycle of the switching somewhere between 10% and 90%. The power diode is connected between the nearer white and blue banana jacks while the mosfet is connected between the blue and black as shown on the DC-DC converter box.

Also inside the box there is both a large capacitor and large inductor mounted. Access to the terminals of these components are provided through the banana jacks. The two blue jacks for the inductor and the two white jacks for the capacitor as shown on the DC-DC converter box. There is also a current sensor (not currently used) which can be used to measure the current in the inductor.

This DC-DC Converter box can be used to carry out experiments on the 3 different converter types used in the lab. It only requires 2 banana jumper wires on the appropriate banana jacks to change the configuration between the following 3 converter types.