PAPER SESSION 5: TESTING AND EVALUATION
A Proposed Method of Characterizing Audio
Distortion Induced by Power Supply Ripple in
Audio Amplifier
Yang Boon Quek
Texas
Instruments Inc, Dallas, TX, USA
Digital input class-D amplifiers will be the predominant
amplifier technology enabling consumer audio
systems in the future. The traditional Power Supply
Rejection Ratio (PSRR) measurement method cancels
supply ripple in Bridge-Tied-Load (BTL) amplifiers,
thus is unable to measure audio distortion
induced. The proposed method employs innovative
measurement of both Intermodulation Distortion (IMD)
and Total Harmonic Distortion Plus Noise (THD+N) to
more accurately represent audio quality. A new term
known as Power Supply Ripple Distortion Factor
(PSRDF) is introduced as a figure of merit for audio
quality. Examples of how the proposed method effectively
characterizes different levels of distortion
induced by power supply ripple in closed-loop and
open-loop BTL Class-D amplifiers are also presented.
The proposed method is also applicable in characterizing
all audio power amplifiers.
|