SMPS Topology In SMPS Design | SMPS Power Supply

The selection of the magnetic components to be used in a Switch Mode Power Supply (SMPS) design is the most important element of that process. During this, understanding the topologies of SMPS’ is crucial as the designer must consider the trade-offs between them. This article will give you an overview of these tradeoffs.

	Flyback	Forward	Push-pull
Recommended power rating	Low to medium power up to 200W max. with wide output voltage range	Medium to high power up to 500W max. in the low output voltage range	High power >>100W at the high voltage range
Advantages	Simple circuit (low cost)· Lowest component count Low leakage losses Several easily regulated output voltages	Higher power range than flyback converter· Mid component count High efficiency	Power capacity up to the kW range· Small choke High efficiency Low EMI complexity
Disadvantages	High eddy current losses in air gap area· Large transformer core with air gap required Average EMI performance Exacting requirements on the components	Two magnetic components required· Large choke needed Demagnetization winding required	Two magnetic components needed· Complex winding required High component count
Core/material requirements	Low losses at high temperatures· High saturation with low dependence on the temperature Gapped core with high accuracy on “AL”	Low losses at high temperatures and at high frequencies (low eddy current losses)· Generally, ungapped cores	Low losses at high temperatures· low eddy current losses as the operation “F” is up to 500kHz and above Generally, ungapped cores

There are numerous circuits which convert AC or DC input to the required DC output, and here I will only address the most common and popular. Three broad basic topologies can be identified, they are: Flyback, Forward, and Push-pull THE FOLLOWING TABLE SUMMARIZES ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THESE THREE TOPOLOGIES:

THE CORE SIZE—-E, EF, EFD, ETD, P, RM, U, TOROID

The following table shows which core types for your transformer could be considered suitable for the different converter topologies

Core type	Flyback	Forward	Push-pull
E cores	+	+	0
ETD cores	0	+	+
EC cores	–	0	+
U cores	+	0	0
RM cores	0	+	0
EP cores	–	+	0
P cores	–	+	0
Ring cores (toroid)	–	+	+

+ Favorable, 0 Average, – Unfavorable.

THE CORE SIZE—-E, EF, EFD, ETD, P, RM, U, TOROID

Related Resources

Choosing Transformer Cores for different SMPS topologies

Using core VA ratings to determine transformer dimensions