DC-DC converter based on piezoelectric resonator

A dc-dc converter having an input, an output, and an energy storage element consisting essentially of a piezoelectric resonator (PR), the converter comprising:

• a plurality of switching elements;
• and
• a piezoelectric resonator (PR) configured for power stage energy storage, the PR having first and second terminals selectively coupled to the plurality of switching elements, wherein the plurality of switching elements are arranged to operate in accordance with one or more switching sequences that provide low-loss resonant soft charging of a capacitance of the PR, wherein at least one of the switching sequences includes at least six stages alternating between connected stages and open stages in which the connected stages each comprise a connection of the first PR terminal or the second PR terminal to one of the input or the output and a connection of the other PR terminal to a different node of the PR converter.

A two-stage dc-dc converter comprising:

• a piezoelectric-resonator (PR) converter stage having an input, an output, an energy storage element consisting essentially of a PR and a plurality of switches, the PR having first and second terminals selectively coupled to the plurality of switches, the plurality of switches arranged to operate in accordance with one or more switching sequences that utilize the PR as an energy transfer component, wherein at least one of the switching sequences includes at least six stages alternating between connected stages and open stages in which the connected stages each comprise a connection of the first PR terminal or the second PR terminal to one of the input or the output and a connection of the other PR terminal to a different node of the PR converter;
• and
• a switched capacitor (SC) converter stage coupled to the PR converter stage in a cascaded arrangement.