Guest Editorial Special Section on Switched Capacitor Converters (SCCs)

Switched capacitor converters (SCCs) have been widely investigated and used in both academia and industry for many years, ranging from low power (milliwatt level) to high power (several kilowatt levels) for a myriad of applications. SCCs offer several advantages, including the elimination of inductor and related magnetic design issues and hence low electromagnetic interference (EMI), better form factor or power density, and improved dynamic response. Despite tremendous benefits, the main drawback of SCCs is their inevitable inrush current during capacitors' charging or charge sharing process by their parallel connection with the dc-link adversely impacting the stress on the power devices and thus reducing the efficiency and reliability of the system. However, there is still a huge room for performance improvement in SCCs by introducing a small resonant inductor or by integrating the best features of capacitive and inductive power conversion. Such a “hybrid” concept can simultaneously achieve high efficiency, reliability, and power density.