Power Supply Design

Basso, Christophe P., Switch-mode power supply SPICE cookbook, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001. xiv, 263 p. + 1 computer laser optical disc (4 3/4 in.), c 2001. ISBN: 0071375090, LC Control Number: 2001030507

Back in May Mr. Basso sent me an email about his new book and a link to the website supporting it. After reading its excellent reviews in several publications, I bought the book. My consulting work requires heavy use of Spice and this looked like an excellent book for my professional library. It was this and much more. It was the introductory book on power supply design I've sought for several years.

The book I recommend for most power supply designers is that by Erickson and Maksimovic, but it is written at too high a level for some readers. So for several years I have been looking for an introductory book on power supply design to replace the out-of-print book by Chrysiss that I used to recommend.

What is there about Basso's book that makes it a good introductory text? For almost all of the common converter topologies the description starts off with a short introduction, then explains how it works, then presents the equations for both the discontinuous-current and continuous-current mode. After this comes the discussion on how to model it in Spice along with examples. It also does a great job of explaining the various modeling methods and components, such as operational amplifiers and transformers, used in power supply design. If you were to remove all of the Spice material in the book, what is left is one of the most concise introductions to modern power supply design that I have seen.

But some day you are going to have to simulate your switching-mode power supply, probably using one of the available Spice programs. For that purpose you need a good book on modeling power supplies with Spice. This book fits the need.

If you are looking for an introductory book on power supply design, Basso's book would be near or at the top of your short list. If you are looking for a Spice book to help you model your power supplies, Basso's book would probably be at the top of your short list. If you are looking for both, its a no brainer, you want Switch-Mode Power Supply SPICE Cookbook by Christophe P. Basso.

The book comes with a CD-ROM with examples for Intusoft's IsSpice4, OrCad PSpice, uCap, and PSIM. The book is available from normal book sources and from a former sponsor, Intusoft.

Tuesday, August 21, 2001 Update

Spice update. I received an email this week from Christophe Basso, author of Switch-Mode Power Supply SPICE Simulation Cookbook, that he has posted to his Spice website new lossy models adapted from Ben-Yaakov which can let you simulate BUCK and BOOST converters including inductor, switch and diode losses. They are available in both IsSpice and PSpice, voltage-mode and current-mode. He also adapted Erickson models to IsSpice4 with a few examples. Several authors support their books by active websites that go beyond the normal book brochure. Basso's is one of these websites that continues to add value to the purchase of the book. The website is also useful to those that have not yet decided on a purchase, providing in its file descriptions and other comments many insights into Spice models and programs.

This book is one I recommend for your personal power supply design library.