Trans‐admittance control for eliminating the temperature effect of piezoelectric transformer in the CCFL backlight module

A half‐bridge (HB) resonant inverter for driving a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) backlight module with a piezoelectric transformer (PT) is analyzed in this paper. The resonant inductance of the HB inverter is expressed as a function of the load current, the load resistance and the PT circuit parameters. Also, the trans‐admittance of the PT‐CCFL combination network is measured to track the operating frequency for the HB resonant inverter, which may be varied due to the temperature rise of PT. The lamp driving current and power can thus remain almost constant in a wide temperature range. Experiments show that the observed results match the theoretical analyses. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

ZVS DC/DC converter with series half‐bridge legs for high voltage application

This paper presents a new DC/DC converter with series half‐bridge legs for high voltage application. Two half‐bridge legs connected in series and two split capacitors are used in the proposed circuit to limit the voltage stress of each active switch at one‐half of input voltage. Thus, active switches with low voltage stress can be used at high DC bus application. In the proposed converter, two circuit modules are operated with an interleaved pulse‐width modulation scheme to reduce the input and output ripple currents and to achieve load current sharing. In each circuit module, two resonant tanks are operated with phase‐shift one‐half of switching cycle such that the frequency of the input current is twice the frequency of the resonant inductor current. Based on the resonant behavior, all MOSFETs are turned on at zero voltage switching with the wide ranges of input voltage and load conditions. The rectifier diodes can be turned off at zero current switching if the switching frequency is less than the series resonant frequency. Thus, the switching losses on power semiconductors are reduced. The proposed converter can be applied for high input voltage applications such as three‐phase 380‐V utility system. Finally, experiments based on a laboratory prototype with 960‐W rated power are provided to demonstrate the performance of proposed converter. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Double resonant tank LLC‐DCX based two‐stage power supply for magnetic levitation control system applications

Magnetic levitation train power supply systems, or Maglev, are most commonly powered by 330‐V high‐voltage direct current power systems. The power supply for maglev control system is used to provide a stable voltage to the suspension control circuit, which is the key part of Maglev trains. The suspension control power supply is typically a DC–DC converter with a high voltage input and multiple low voltage outputs. The traditional solutions typically lead to the following issues, such as uncontrolled duty ratio, poor cross‐regulation capability, and low reliability. In order to solve these problems, a novel two‐stage solution employing a double resonant tank LLC DC transformer (LLC‐DCX) is proposed and developed in this paper. The proposed solution not only increases the overall conversion efficiency significantly because of the achieved soft‐switching over the entire operation range, but also realizes the low input current ripple and high reliability owing to a uniform thermal distribution. A 210‐W, 220–380‐V input laboratory prototype with four outputs is fabricated and tested, and the experimental results are presented in this paper. The declared features of the proposed solution are well demonstrated by the experimental results. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A phase synchronization control scheme for LCL‐T type high‐frequency current source in parallel connection

Considering the applications of high voltage gate driving system and contactless power transmission, a current‐based power distribution is adopted as a kind of replacement of voltage based high‐frequency Alternating Current (AC) power distribution system. In order to implement high‐frequency current source, an LCL‐T resonant inverter is examined with constant current characteristic and high conversion efficiency. First, the resonant topology is studied as a high‐frequency power source, including circuit principle, operational cycle analysis, and AC analysis. The effective control and high conversion efficiency are both achieved by LCL‐T resonant inverter. Second, the phase angle control scheme is explored to improve the synchronization performance in parallel system formed by multiple of LCL‐T resonant inverters. Lastly, a prototype of parallel system is evaluated by simulation and experiment results, both of which are constructed by two resonant inverters with rated peak current of 2 A, rated output frequency of 30 kHz, and rated output power of 100 W. The experimental results in accordance with simulation prove that the better phase synchronization of output currents is achieved by the phase angle control. Hence, the high‐frequency resonant topology and phase control scheme are a feasible realization of current source that can be used to feed current‐based high‐frequency power distribution system. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Index Terms—high‐frequency AC (HFAC), power distribution system (PDS), LCL‐T resonant inverter, current source, phase angle control.     

Series resonant high‐voltage DC–DC converter with reduced component count

This paper proposes a novel zero‐current‐switching series resonant high‐voltage DC–DC converter with reduced component count. The series resonant inverter in the proposed topology has two power switches (insulated‐gate bipolar transistors, IGBTs), two resonant capacitors, and only one high‐voltage transformer (HVT) with center‐tapped primary windings. The power switches are connected in the form of a half‐bridge network. The leakage inductances of the transformer's primary windings together with the resonant capacitors form two series resonant circuits. The series resonant circuits are fed alternately by operating the power switches with interleaved half switching cycle. The secondary winding of the HVT is connected to a bridge rectifier circuit to rectify the secondary voltage. The converter operates in the discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) and its output voltage is regulated by pulse frequency modulation. Therefore, all the power switches turn on and off at the zero‐current switching condition. The main features of the proposed converter are its lower core loss, lower cost, and smaller size compared to previously proposed double series resonant high voltage DC–DC converters. The experimental results of a 130‐W prototype of the proposed converter are presented. The results confirm the excellent operation and performance of the converter. © 2016 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A novel prototype of auxiliary edge resonant bridge leg link snubber‐assisted soft‐switching sine‐wave PWM inverter

This paper proposes a new circuit topology of the three‐phase soft‐switching PWM inverter and PFC converter using IGBT power modules, which has the improved active auxiliary switch and edge resonant bridge leg‐commutation‐link soft‐switching snubber circuit with pulse current regenerative feedback loop as compared with the typical auxiliary resonant pole snubber discussed previously. This three‐phase soft‐switching PWM double converter is more suitable and acceptable for a large‐capacity uninterruptible power supply, PFC converter, utility‐interactive bidirectional converter, and so forth. In this paper, the soft‐switching operation and optimum circuit design of the novel type active auxiliary edge resonant bridge leg commutation link snubber treated here are described for high‐power applications. Both the main active power switches and the auxiliary active power switches achieve soft switching under the principles of ZVS or ZCS in this three‐phase inverter switching. This three‐phase soft‐switching commutation scheme can effectively minimize the switching surge‐related electromagnetic noise and the switching power losses of the power semiconductor devices; IGBTs and modules used here. This three‐phase inverter and rectifier coupled double converter system does not need any sensing circuit and its peripheral logic control circuits to detect the voltage or the current and does not require any unwanted chemical electrolytic capacitor to make the neutral point of the DC power supply voltage source. The performances of this power conditioner are proved on the basis of the experimental and simulation results. Because the power semiconductor switches (IGBT module packages) have a trade‐off relation in the switching fall time and tail current interval characteristics as well as the conductive saturation voltage characteristics, this three‐phase soft‐switching PWM double converter can improve actual efficiency in the output power ranges with a trench gate controlled MOS power semiconductor device which is much improved regarding low saturation voltage. The effectiveness of this is verified from a practical point of view. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 155(4): 64–76, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20207     

Filter‐based perturbation control of low‐frequency oscillation in voltage‐mode H‐bridge DC–AC inverter

This paper presents a new additional perturbation control method for suppressing low‐frequency oscillation in voltage‐mode H‐bridge DC–AC inverter. The stability boundary of the H‐bridge inverter is investigated from its small‐signal averaged model. High input voltage and light load would cause low‐frequency oscillation in this system. To this end, a filter‐based perturbation control (FBPC) is proposed for eliminating this oscillation, by using an analog filter to extract the unexpected signal and applying it to the control loop. Theoretical results show a larger stability range of the controlled system with the proposed FBPC. The simulation and experiment results show that the proposed controller can control the low‐frequency oscillation in H‐bridge DC–AC inverter well. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis,design and implementation of a high‐voltage gain DC‐DC converter

An interleaved DC‐DC converter with soft switching technique is presented. There are two converter modules in the adopted circuit to share the load power. Since the interleaved pulse‐width modulation (PWM) is adopted to control two circuit modules, the ripple currents at input and output sides are naturally reduced. Therefore the input and output capacitances can be reduced. In each circuit module, a conventional boost converter and a voltage doubler configuration with a coupled inductor are connected in series at the output side to achieve high step‐up voltage conversion ratio. Active snubber connected in parallel with boost inductor is adopted to limit voltage stress on active switch and to release the energy stored in the leakage and magnetizing inductances. Since asymmetrical PWM is used to control active switches, the leakage inductance and output capacitance of active switches are resonant in the transition interval. Thus, both active switches can be turned on at zero voltage switching. The resonant inductance and output capacitances at the secondary side of transformer are resonant to achieve zero current switching turn‐off for rectifier diodes. Therefore, the reverse recovery losses of fast recovery diodes are reduced. Finally, experiments based on a laboratory prototype rated at 400 W are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed converter. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Power factor improvement of single‐phase diode rectifier circuit by field‐weakening of inverter‐driven IPM motor

This paper proposes a novel inverter drive system to improve the input power factor of single‐phase diode rectifier. Conventional rectifiers need a high‐frequency switching device and a reactor to improve the input power factor. However, the proposed power converter does not need the switching device, electrolytic capacitor, or reactor. By making many ripples across the DC‐bus voltage, the input power factor can be improved. The proposed system consists of only a single‐phase diode rectifier, small film capacitor, three‐phase inverter, and motor. The proposed system adopts an interior permanent magnet (IPM) synchronous motor. The IPM motor is well known as a high‐efficiency motor and can realize field weakening. The basic ideas of the inverter control method are based on the following operations: the inverter's controlled synchronous with the DC‐bus ripple voltage by field‐weakening method, and direct active power feeding from the source side to the motor without smoothing the DC‐bus voltage. This paper describes that the proposed method can obtain an input power factor of 97.3% by experimental tests, and realizes the goals of small size and long life of the system. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 152(2): 66–73, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20047     

Analysis and implementation of a high‐efficiency zero‐voltage‐zero‐current‐switching DC–DC converter

A high‐efficiency zero‐voltage‐zero‐current‐switching DC–DC converter with ripple‐free input current is presented. In the presented converter, the ripple‐free boost cell provides ripple‐free input current and zero‐voltage switching of power switches. The resonant flyback cell provides zero‐voltage switching of power switches and zero‐current switching of the output diode. Also, it has a simple output stage. The proposed converter achieves high efficiency because of the reduction of the switching losses of the power switches and the output diode. Detailed analysis and design of the proposed converter are carried out. A prototype of the proposed converter is developed and its experimental results are presented for validation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development of a low‐noise IGBT module

High‐frequency leakage current that may cause serious conducted EMI problems flows through an inverter system. The paths of the leakage current are stray capacitances that are formed inside of motors, cables, and IGBT modules. This paper proposes a new IGBT module that realizes low conducted emission noise by flipping the IGBT chip of the lower‐voltage side to decrease its stray capacitance. The leakage current flowing through the low‐noise IGBT module becomes small, since the stray capacitance is a main path of the current. Through an experiment, it is clarified that the conducted emission level is reduced by 13 dB at a maximum when the low‐noise IGBT module is applied to a resonant‐type inverter. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 171(4): 45–52, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20971     

A universal‐input high‐power‐factor power supply without electrolytic capacitor for multiple lighting LED lamps

The AC–DC power supply for LED lighting application requires a long lifetime while maintaining high‐efficiency, high power factor and low cost. However, a typical design uses electrolytic capacitor as storage capacitor, which is not only bulky but also with short life span, thus hampering performance improvement of the entire LED lighting system. In this article, a SEPIC‐derived power factor correction topology is proposed as the first stage for driving multiple lighting LED lamps. Along with a relatively large voltage ripple allowable in a two‐stage design, the proposal of LED lamp driver is able to eliminate the electrolytic capacitor while maintaining high power factor and high efficiency. To further increase the efficiency of LED driver, we introduced and used the twin‐bus buck converter as the second‐stage current regulator with Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) dimming function. The basic operating principle and the deign consideration are discussed in detail. A 50‐W prototype has been built and tested to verify the proposal. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A single‐stage LED streetlight driver with PFC and digital PWM dimming capability

This paper proposes a single‐stage light‐emitting diode (LED) driver that offers power‐factor correction and digital pulse–width modulation (PWM) dimming capability for streetlight applications. The presented LED streetlight driver integrates an alternating current–direct current (AC–DC) converter with coupled inductors and a half‐bridge‐type LLC DC–DC resonant converter into a single‐stage circuit topology. The sub‐circuit of the AC–DC converter with coupled inductors is designed to be operated in discontinuous‐conduction mode for achieving input‐current shaping. Zero‐voltage switching of two active power switches and zero‐current switching of two output‐rectifier diodes in the presented LED driver decrease the switching losses; thus, the circuit efficiency is increased. A prototype driver for powering a 144‐W‐rated LED streetlight module with input utility‐line voltages ranging from 100 to 120 V is implemented and tested. The proposed streetlight driver features cost‐effectiveness, high circuit efficiency, high power factor, low levels of input‐current harmonics, and a digital PWM dimming capability ranging from 20% to 100% output rated LED power, which is fulfilled by a micro‐controller. Satisfying experimental results, including dimming tests, verify the feasibility of the proposed LED streetlight driver. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dynamic modeling of DC–DC converters with peak current control in double‐stage photovoltaic grid‐connected inverters

In photovoltaic (PV) double‐stage grid‐connected inverters a high‐frequency DC–DC isolation and voltage step‐up stage is commonly used between the panel and the grid‐connected inverter. This paper is focused on the modeling and control design of DC–DC converters with Peak Current mode Control (PCC) and an external control loop of the PV panel voltage, which works following a voltage reference provided by a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm. In the proposed overall control structure the output voltage of the DC–DC converter is regulated by the grid‐connected inverter. Therefore, the inverter may be considered as a constant voltage load for the development of the small‐signal model of the DC–DC converter, whereas the PV panel is considered as a negative resistance. The sensitivity of the control loops to variations of the power extracted from the PV panel and of its voltage is studied. The theoretical analysis is corroborated by frequency response measurements on a 230 W experimental inverter working from a single PV panel. The inverter is based on a Flyback DC–DC converter operating in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) followed by a PWM full‐bridge single‐phase inverter. The time response of the whole system (DC–DC + inverter) is also shown to validate the concept. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Frequency domain analysis of beatless control method for converter‐inverter driving systems applied to AC electric cars

In inverter‐converter driving systems for AC electric cars, the DC input voltage of an inverter contains a ripple component with a frequency that is twice the line voltage frequency, due to the use of a single‐phase converter. The ripple component of the inverter input voltage causes pulsations in the torque and current of driving motors. To decrease the pulsations, a beatless control method, which modifies the slip frequency depending on the ripple component, is applied to the inverter control. In the present paper, the beatless control method is analyzed in the frequency domain. In the first step of the analysis, transfer functions which revealed the relationship among the ripple component of the inverter input voltage, the slip frequency, the motor torque pulsation, and the current pulsation were derived with a synchronous rotating model of induction motors. An analytical model of the beatless control method was then constructed using the transfer functions. The optimal setting of the control method was obtained according to the analytical model. The transfer functions and the analytical model were verified by simulations. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 174(4): 51–57, 2011; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.21050     

Modular-structured resonant converter for multilevel converters in micro grids

In this work, an isolated modular resonant circuit with effective voltage regulation is presented as front-end for multilevel inverter system to interface renewable sources of energy with micro grid. Inputs of each module of the converter are connected to low-voltage DC sources. Modular-structured module outputs may be linked in sequence or parallel to attain the desired DC link capacitor voltage for multilevel inverter. The proposed converter overcomes imbalance in the capacitor voltage of diode-clamped inverter structure. Interleaved phase shift of 90° is supplied among the gate pulses of all four modules that minimizes the input-side current ripples. An effective zero voltage switching (ZVS) is achieved over wide load range using duty cycle and frequency-duty cycle double control method to improve system performance at light load condition. Adopting powder core magnetics and low forward voltage insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) reduces magnetic and conduction loss. A 12-kW prototype of the designed modular resonant converter was verified by experimentation with a different-level diode-clamped inverter structures.     

Design and implementation of a digital control IC for driving multiple cold cathode fluorescent lamps

This study designs and develops a digital control integrated circuit (IC) for driving circuits operating multiple cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs). The control IC adopts an external crystal oscillator for the IC's external frequency to provide the driving circuits a fixed frequency. Inside the IC, two control loops are designed, under synchronized operation frequencies, for a boost regulator and an inverter. The main function of the boost regulator control loop is to supply a steady DC voltage for the inverter. In designing the inverter's control circuit, an adjustable‐frequency adjustable‐voltage soft‐start technique is used to start the lamps. We also use burst mode digital dimming technique to achieve synchronized dimming for the parallel‐connected lamp‐ignition circuits. The feedback voltage from the CCFLs can determine if any lamp is abnormal via a proposed lamp abnormality detection circuit. To deal with the equivalent‐circuit's component parameter differences among various manufacturers' and brands' piezoelectric transformers (PTs), the inverter's operation frequency is designed fine‐tunable in this study. Finally, the proposed design concept was implemented with an actual control IC and a driving circuit for CCFLs. The measured data and waveforms from our test circuitry are presented, which verifies the validity of the miniaturized controller proposed in this study. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Feasible enhancement of a three‐phase soft‐switching inverter with an auxiliary resonant DC link snubber

The purpose of this paper is to improve power conversion efficiency of a three‐phase voltage source type soft‐switching inverter with a single auxiliary resonant DC link (ARDCL) snubber. First, the operating principle of an ARDCL snubber discussed here is described. Second, this paper proposes an effective pulse pattern generation method of the zero voltage space vector of the three‐phase soft‐switching inverter using IGBTs or power modules that can reduce power losses in the ARDCL snubber treated here. In particular, a zero voltage holding interval in the DC rail busline of this three‐phase soft‐switching inverter is to be regulated according to the generation method of the zero voltage space vector. Third, the maximum modulation depth M_max under the condition of correction of the instantaneous voltage space vector can be improved by using a new zero voltage space vector generation method. Finally, the feasible experimental results of this inverter are obtained confirming the operating characteristics such as power conversion actual efficiency, as well as conventional efficiency THD and RMS value of the balanced three‐phase output voltage for an experimentally built three‐phase voltage source type soft‐switching pulse modulated inverter using the latest IGBT modules and evaluated from the standpoint of practical applications in industry UPS and new energy systems. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 146(1): 89–99, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.10234     

A High‐Efficiency Single‐Phase Utility Interactive Inverter with an Active Power Decoupling Function and its Control Method

The present paper introduces a single‐phase utility interactive inverter with a power decoupling function. In a conventional single‐phase inverter, power pulsation at twice the grid frequency appears in the input power. Hence, electrolytic capacitors having large capacitances have been connected to the DC input terminal to stabilize the input DC‐bus voltage. Because the lifetime of the electrolytic capacitor is relatively shorter than that of another component, the lifetime of the inverter is affected by the capacitor. In order to prevent such a problem, a novel single‐phase inverter circuit with an active power decoupling function is introduced. The pulsating power on the input DC‐bus line and the pulsated energy on the input DC capacitor is transferred to the energy in a small film capacitor. Hence, the extension of the inverter lifetime can be expected by substituting a small film capacitor for the large electrolytic capacitors. In addition, the loss in the power decoupling circuit is very small; hence, the reduction in the overall conversion efficiency of the inverter can be minimized. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified using a 300 W experimental setup.