Leveraging tapped-inductor architectures to increase power density of single and dual-polarity-output buck-boost converters

Compact, efficient, non-isolated DC-DC converters where the output voltage falls within the input voltage range are needed in numerous commercial applications, including industrial, automotive and low voltage battery systems. Traditional approaches such as SEPIC, four-switches buck boost or transformer-based topologies can solve the application requirement, however they also bring some compromises depending on the topology selected, whether that is increased size, complexity or losses. This paper analyses a tap-to-ground tapped-inductor buck boost architecture that introduces a different approach to solve this application requirement. It´s compact, uncomplicated and flexible enough to be used in single output applications as well as to generate dual complementary rails, very common requirement when powering analog electronics.