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This paper presents a modeling method to accurately predict DC and ripple values of flying capacitor voltages and inductor currents in hybrid converters by recognizing a key relationship between median and average values of these state variables. The method is demonstrated for the Dual-Phase Multi-Inductor Hybrid (DP-MIH) converter and 3-Level Buck converter. Analytical details and intuitive explanations are presented for the well-known balancing problem of flying capacitor voltages and inductor current fluctuations in hybrid converters. Simulation results for the converters at different operating conditions are provided to verify the method and analytical results. 

This paper presents a new Multi-Phase Multi-Inductor Hybrid (MP-MIH) converter that features high efficiency at large conversion ratios, while operating the switches with duty cycles larger than state-of-the-art hybrid topologies. In this converter, the capacitors are soft-charged and soft- discharged through three inductors operated in three interleaving phases. An experimental six-level three-phase converter prototype achieves 94.6% peak efficiency and 425 W/in3 power density for conversions from 48V to 1V-2V at loads of up to 40A. This multi-phase multi-inductor hybrid converter architecture can be extended to any number of switched-capacitor network levels to support wide range of input and output voltages and load currents in data centers, telecommunication and other high- performance digital systems. 

This paper presents a new Multiphase Dual Inductor Hybrid (MP-DIH) Converter for application in data center and telecommunication systems. The converter is based on addition of two output filter inductors to a Dickson switched-capacitor converter. The inductors are operated in multiple phases that are non-overlapped and evenly distributed over one switching cycle, completely soft-charging all flying capacitors even in the presence of practical capacitor mismatches and voltage ripples. In this converter operation, each branch of the switched-capacitor network is activated individually in one charging phase, and two interleaved inductors are employed to softly charge and discharge the capacitors to achieve high efficiency without any complex capacitor sizing or split phase operation. To verify the topology and its soft-charging advantages, a 48V-to-1.8V 20W experimental converter prototype is constructed. The converter achieves 92.4% peak efficiency for 40V-to-1.8V conversion and 92.1% peak efficiency for 48V-to-1.8V conversion at 4A load, and with 20% capacitance variations. 

This paper summarizes the main results and contributions of the MagNet Challenge 2023, an open-source research initiative for data-driven modeling of power magnetic materials. The MagNet Challenge has (1) advanced the stateof-the-art in power magnetics modeling; (2) set up examples for fostering an open-source and transparent research community; (3) developed useful guidelines and practical rules for conducting data-driven research in power electronics; and (4) provided a fair performance benchmark leading to insights on the most promising future research directions. The competition yielded a collection of publicly disclosed software algorithms and tools designed to capture the distinct loss characteristics of power magnetic materials, which are mostly open-sourced. We have attempted to bridge power electronics domain knowledge with state-of-the-art advancements in artificial intelligence, machine learning, pattern recognition, and signal processing. The MagNet Challenge has greatly improved the accuracy and reduced the size of data-driven power magnetic material models. The models and tools created for various materials were meticulously documented and shared within the broader power electronics community.