This page is a curriculum outline. Detailed lessons are still being developed.
Prerequisites: Steady-state converters
Purpose
This stage explains how converters move from “they convert power” to “they regulate power predictably.”
It is where learners connect circuits, dynamics, feedback, and design-oriented analysis.
Core Topics
- averaged models and small-signal thinking
- operating point, perturbation, and linearization
- transfer functions and Bode plots
- control-to-output, input-to-output, and output impedance
- feedback loops, compensation, crossover frequency, phase margin, and gain margin
- voltage-mode control, current-mode control, and digital control awareness
- transient response, load steps, startup, and saturation
- simulation workflows for control design
Must-Know Ideas
- A converter has steady-state behavior and dynamic behavior.
- Feedback improves regulation but can create oscillation if designed poorly.
- A transfer function is a compact way to describe how one signal affects another.
- Stability margins are practical design tools, not just math exercises.
- Digital control adds sampling, delay, quantization, and firmware behavior.
Practice Projects
- Plot a first-order and second-order Bode response in Python.
- Simulate a converter open-loop and closed-loop.
- Tune a simple compensator and observe load-step response.
- Ask an AI tutor to explain phase margin using a non-math analogy, then verify with equations.
Exit Criteria
Before moving on, the learner should be able to:
- explain why feedback is needed
- read a Bode plot at a beginner level
- describe gain crossover and phase margin
- connect compensation changes to transient response
- understand the basic purpose of averaged modeling
Continue: Magnetics and practical design