Lossless multi-way power combining and outphasing for high-frequency resonant inverters

Abstract

A lossless multi-way power combining and outphasing system has recently been proposed for high-frequency inverters and power amplifiers which offers major performance advantages over traditional approaches. This paper presents a new outphasing control strategy for the proposed system that enables output power control through effective load modulation of the inverters while minimizing loading admittance phase. Moreover, we present the first-ever experimental demonstration of the proposed outphasing system. The design of a 27.12 MHz, four-way power combining and outphasing system is described, and used to experimentally verify the power combiner's characteristics and evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed outphasing law to control output power over a 10:1 range.