General Control Considerations for Input-Series Connected DC/DC Converters

This paper discusses the general control problems of dc/dc converters connected in series at the input. As the input voltage is shared by a number of dc/dc converters, the resulting converter relieves the voltage stresses of individual devices and hence is suitable for high input-voltage applications. At the output side, parallel connection provides current sharing and is suitable for high output-current applications. Moreover, series connection at the output side is also possible, resulting in output voltage sharing. Theoretically, from a power balance consideration, one can show that fulfillment of input-voltage sharing implies fulfillment of output-current or of output-voltage sharing, and vice versa. However, the presence of right-half-plane poles can cause instability when the sharing is implemented at the output side. As a consequence, control should be directed to input-voltage sharing in order to ensure a stable sharing of the input voltage and of the output current (parallel connection at output) or output voltage (series connection at output). In this paper, general problems in input-series connected converter systems are addressed. Minimal control structures are then derived and some practical design considerations are discussed in detail. Illustrative examples are given for addressing these general control considerations. Finally, experimental prototypes are built to validate these considerations.      

Output plane analysis of load-sharing in multiple-module convertersystems

This paper explores the origin of the DC current-sharing problem of parallel-converter systems and the dual problem of voltage sharing in series-converter systems. Both problems may be studied by examining the output plane (output current versus output voltage) of a particular converter. It is shown that strict current source behavior is unnecessary for good current sharing in parallel-converter systems. Furthermore, a broad class of converters whose output voltage is load-dependent, i.e., those that have a moderate value of output resistance, all exhibit good voltage- and current-sharing characteristics. Such converters are often suitable for a×b arrays of converters that can meet a large range of power-conversion requirements. The output planes of discontinuous mode PWM converters as well as conventional and clamped series resonant converters are examined in detail. A simple small-signal model of the modular converter system is developed. Experimental confirmation of load sharing and the small-signal model is given for the clamped series resonant converter and the series resonant converter for various configurations of four converters     

DC/DC Conversion Systems Consisting of Multiple Converter Modules: Stability, Control, and Experimental Verifications

This paper investigates dc/dc conversion systems constructed from connecting multiple converter modules in series and/or parallel at both the input and output sides. Control strategies aiming at achieving proper sharing of the voltage and/or current at the input or output sides are studied in detail. The relationship between sharing of input voltages/currents and that of output voltages/currents is studied. In particular, the inherent stability of control operations applied at the input side and the output side is analyzed. Based on the analysis, a general control strategy for series–parallel systems, which decouples the output voltage control loop and the sharing control loop, is proposed. Furthermore, three modularization architectures are proposed for input-series–output-parallel (ISOP), input-parallel–output-series (IPOS), and input-series–output-series (ISOS) connected systems. These architectures enjoy full advantages of modularization and no external controller is needed to coordinate the sharing control for the individual modules. Experimental prototypes are built and tested to validate the general control strategy and the proposed modularization architectures.      

基于有源功率因数校正的高功率因数电源设计

构建有源功率因数校正（APFC）的高功率因数直流电源。该系统采用TI公司专用APFC整流控制芯片UCC28019作为控制核心,构成电压外环和电流内环的双环控制。其中内环电流环作用是使网侧交流输入电流跟踪电网电压的波形与相位;外环电压环为输出直流电压控制环。外环电压调节器的输出控制内环电流调节器的增益,使输出直流电压稳定。系统采用ATmega16单片机进行监控,完成输出电压的可调以及输入功率因数、输出电压、输出电流等的实时测量与显示和输出过流保护等功能。实测表明,系统性能指标完全达到或超过设计要求。     

Boost DC-AC inverter: a new control strategy

Boost dc-ac inverter naturally generates in a single stage an ac voltage whose peak value can be lower or greater than the dc input voltage. The main drawback of this structure deals with its control. Boost inverter consists of Boost dc-dc converters that have to be controlled in a variable-operation point condition. The sliding mode control has been proposed as an option. However, it does not directly control the inductance averaged-current. This paper proposes a control strategy for the Boost inverter in which each Boost is controlled by means of a double-loop regulation scheme that consists of a new inductor current control inner loop and an also new output voltage control outer loop. These loops include compensations in order to cope with the Boost variable operation point condition and to achieve a high robustness to both input voltage and output current disturbances. As shown by simulation and prototype experimental results, the proposed control strategy achieves a very high reliable performance, even in difficult transient situations such as nonlinear loads, abrupt load changes, short circuits, etc., which sliding mode control cannot cope with.     

DC characteristics and stability of push-pull and bridge-typezero-current-switched quasi-resonant converter

In the buck-derived, push-pull, and bridge-type topologies the output inductor current during the switched-off interval can free-wheel either through the shorted secondaries of the transformer or through a separate free-wheeling diode (FWD). It is shown that the former method results in highly nonlinear DC voltage-conversion-ratio characteristics for zero-current-switched quasi-resonant converters operating in the half-wave mode. As a result the incremental gain of the power stage of these converters varies with input voltage and load over an extremely wide range, so that it is not possible to achieve stable feedback control with high loop gains using conventional compensation techniques. It is shown that the addition of a FWD not only linearizes the DC characteristics but also reduces current and voltage stresses on semiconductor devices and improves efficiency     

Interleaved converters operation based on CMC

A new family of low-ripple DC-to-DC switching converters based on a parallel connection of N-identical boost converters with current-mode control (CMC) is presented. The CMC strategy ensures that all the converters operate at the same duty cycle, sharing an equal amount of input current and forcing the output voltage to be an integer multiple (N) of the input voltage. As a result, the total input current and output voltage ripples are extremely low. The generation of control signals from inductor currents feedback without using external triangular or sawtooth signals is another characteristic of the new converter family     

Analysis and Implementation of a High Efficiency, Interleaved Current-Fed Full Bridge Converter for Fuel Cell System

An interleaved current-fed full bridge (ICFFB) dc-dc converter is proposed in this paper that has low input current ripple to meet the fuel cell demands. By interleaving two isolated CFFB converters with parallel input and series output connection, both input current ripple and output voltage ripple can be reduced. In addition, the size of the magnetic components and current stress of the semiconductor devices on the input side are also reduced. Similarly, smaller voltage rating components can be used on the output side. Only one digital signal processor microcontroller is used to generate phase-shifted gate signals and to implement a cascaded digital control system. The main features of the proposed converter are high efficiency, small passive component size, and small input current ripple. Experimental results for a 1.2-kW interleaved CFFB converter are provided in the paper     

三电平PWM整流器双闭环系统的设计与仿真

三电平PWM整流器多采用电压控制外环和电流控制内环组成的双闲环控制系统。电压外环的作用是根据直流电压Udc的大小决定三电平PWM整流器输出功率的大小和方向以及三相电流的给定信号。电流内环的作用是使整流器的实际输入电流能够跟踪电流给定,实现单位功率因数或功率因数可变。文中主要研究了三电平PWM整流器的系统设计,并进行了仿真。结果表明,所设计的双闭环系统具有良好的抗扰动性能,动态响应也得到了明显的改善。     

Improved single-phase line-interactive UPS

An improved single-phase line-interactive uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is proposed for low-power applications with low cost. The proposed UPS is comprised of two push-pull converters based on a low-voltage battery for reduced cost: one in series with the input and the other in parallel with the load. In the presence of input power, the UPS acts as an output voltage regulator and at the same time as an active filter while charging the battery. In case of loss of input power, the UPS supplies a regulated sinusoidal voltage to the load, drawing power from the battery. The series converter compensates only a small percentage of the input voltage carrying the input current and, therefore, a reduced rating is made. The parallel converter always supplies a nominal voltage and makes a seamless transition to backup mode. In the voltage determination of the parallel converter, the nominal voltage is derived using the feedback linearization concept and then a perturbed voltage is determined for the reactive power control or output voltage regulation. Experimental results obtained from a 1-kVA prototype are discussed     

3C strategy for inverters in parallel operation achieving an equalcurrent distribution

A circular chain control (3C) strategy for inverters in parallel operation is presented in the paper. In the proposed inverter system, all the modules have the same circuit configuration, and each module includes an inner current loop and an outer voltage loop control. A proportional-integral controller is adopted as the inner current loop controller to expedite the dynamic response, while an H^∞ robust controller is adopted to reach the robustness of the multimodule inverter system and to reduce possible interactive effects among inverters. With the 3C strategy, the modules are in circular chain connection and each module has an inner current loop control to track the inductor current of its previous module, achieving an equal current distribution. Simulation results of two-module and a three-module inverter systems with different kinds of loads and with modular discrepancy have demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed control scheme. Hardware measurements are also presented to verify the theoretical discussion     

应用于并行直流转换电源的均流控制芯片设计

为实现并行直流转换电源系统中转换器电流的均衡分布,降低转换器承受的电、热应力,提高系统可靠性,给出一种采用自动主从控制策略的均流方案,并给出了方案实现的关键部件--均流控制芯片的设计.设计中采用电流反馈环路对输出电压进行调整,降低了PCB板级寄生效应对调整信号的影响;并提出一种启动控制电路用以改善系统的启动时序,加速了启动阶段的电流均衡过程.芯片采用1.5μm BCD(Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS)工艺设计实现,面积为3.6mm2.应用该芯片构成了一个由两个直流转换器组成,具有12V/3A输出能力的并行电源系统.测试结果表明,该并行电源系统满负载时均流误差小于1%.     

On the use of current sensors for the control of power converters

This paper describes the use of current sensors for the control of power converters. No voltage sensor is required in the whole system. The sensed current and the rate of change of the inductor current in different circuit topologies are used to determine the input and output voltages of the converters, and for current programming and maximum current protection. Apart from reducing the number of sensors, the proposed method provides inherent electrical isolation between the power conversion stage and the controller and lessens noise-coupling problems. The proposed technique is illustrated with a current-programmed DC/DC boost regulator with feedforward and feedback control. The regulator's steady state and transient responses under input source and output load disturbances are presented.     

Cascade controller with sliding-mode-voltage and current-mode for monolithic high frequency DC–DC converters

Modern control theories such as fuzzy control, sliding-mode control, optimal control, neural network control have been widely used in discrete-switching DC–DC converters, While they are seldom used in monolithic integration. Under parameter variation, large supply and load disturbance, high slew-rate current transient, high nonlinearity in today and future power management integrated circuits, linear control theories used in traditional monolithic DC–DC converters cannot satisfy required performance, which make it stringent to use modern control theories in monolithic DC–DC converters. This paper proposes cascade controller which consists of PWM based sliding-mode-voltage control and current-mode control for high frequency DC–DC converters. As long as the dynamic responses of the inner current loop are much faster than the outer sliding-mode-voltage loop, inner and outer loops operate in cascade-mode functionally. This work leads to an easy-to-follow design procedure to design control coefficients. To illustrate the feasibility of the scheme, a monolithic 100 MHz boost DC–DC converter using cascade controller with sliding-mode-voltage and current-mode is designed in SMIC 0.18 μm CMOS process. Several simulations are performed to validate the functionalities of the controller.     

Voltage and current stress reduction in single-stage power factorcorrection AC/DC converters with bulk capacitor voltage feedback

Single-stage power factor correction (PFC) AC/DC converters integrate a boost-derived input current shaper (ICS) with a flyback or forward DC/DC converter in one single stage. The ICS can be operated in either discontinuous current mode (DCM) or continuous current mode (CCM), while the flyback or forward DC/DC converter is operated in CCM. Almost all single-stage PFC AC/DC converters suffer from high bulk capacitor voltage stress and extra switch current stress. The bulk capacitor voltage feedback with a coupled winding structure is widely used to reduce both the voltage and current stresses in practical single-stage PFC AC/DC converters. This paper presents a detailed analysis of the bulk capacitor voltage feedback, including the relationship between bulk capacitor voltage, input current harmonics, voltage feedback ratio, and load condition. The maximum bulk capacitor voltage appears when the DC/DC converter operates at the boundary between CCM and DCM. This paper also reveals that only the voltage feedback ratio determines the input current harmonics under DCM ICS and CCM DC/DC operation. The theoretical prediction of the bulk capacitor voltage as well as the predicted input harmonic contents is verified experimentally on a 60 W AC/DC converter with universal-line input     

一种新的应用于开关电容DC/DC转换器的补偿电路

采用Chartered 0.35μm CMOS工艺,设计实现了输入电压范围2.7～5.5 V,负载电流高达200mA的降压式开关电容型DC/DC转换器.为了在整个输入电压和负载电流范围内稳定输出电压,并且提高输出电压精确度,在对开关电容转换器环路建模分析后,提出了一个新的应用于开关电容DC/DC转换器的频率补偿电路.该...     

Adaptive current-threshold detector for an adaptive on-time Buck converter at light load

The adaptive on-time control technique has been tremendously utilized in DC–DC converters for its fast transient response, easier design and high efficiency at light load. In some applications the output voltage ripple of DC–DC converters has to be maintained within an acceptable level to achieve superior performance, which depends largely on the load current for adaptive on-time buck converters when operating in discontinuous conduction mode. This paper proposes an adaptive current-threshold detection method for reducing the output voltage ripple. An actual detector circuit is presented to implement the method. This circuit monitors the relationship between the peak inductor current and the load current at light load. Then it outputs a logic signal which controls the turn-on time of the main power MOSFET and hence the peak inductor current. Therefore, the magnitude of the output voltage ripple is controlled. The current-threshold detection method has been verified in an adaptive on-time buck converter by simulation and experimental results. The proposed method can also be used in other constant on-time converters.     

Characteristics of load resonant converters operated in ahigh-power factor mode

The performance of the parallel resonant power converter and the combination series/parallel resonant power converter (LCC converter) when operated above resonance in a high power factor mode are determined and compared for single phase applications. When the DC voltage applied to the input of these converters is obtained from a single phase rectifier with a small DC link capacitor, a relatively high power factor inherently results, even with no active control of the input line current. This behavior is due to the pulsating nature of the DC link and the inherent capability of the converters to boost voltage during the valleys of the input AC wave. With no active control of the input line current, the power factor depends on the ratio of operating frequency to tank resonant frequency. With active control of the input line current, near-unity power factor and low-input harmonic currents can be obtained     

A new controller for boost dc–dc converters based on a novel sliding surface

ABSTRACT

In this paper, two control schemes for boost converters affected by uncertainties in input voltage and load are proposed. The boost converter dynamics is redefined in terms of new state variables to facilitate the use of a disturbance observer that can estimate matched and unmatched disturbances. A sliding surface, which is new in the context of boost converters, is proposed to enable tracking and regulation of output voltage without requiring measurement of input voltage and load current. The stability of the overall system including the disturbance observer, the sliding variable and the output is proved. The performance of the schemes is assessed for regulation of output voltage and tracking of reference voltage by simulation as well as experimentation in which various types of uncertainties and various types of reference voltages are considered.     

Master/Slave Control of Input-Series- and Output-Parallel-Connected Converters: Concept for Low-Cost High-Voltage Auxiliary Power Supplies

This paper deals with low-cost high input voltage auxiliary power supplies. The objective of the paper is to give an overview of the existing solutions, and then present a new, efficient, and cost-effective solution. The proposed solution is based on input-series- and output-parallel (ISOP)-connected converters topology and simple decoupled master/slave control strategy. The main output voltage is controlled by the master converter, while the input voltages and output currents are controlled and balanced by the slave converter. The ISOP topology has two important advantages, namely the use of two series-connected rated for lower voltage converters gives a significant reduction of the switch-mode power supply overall cost and size, and lossfree balancing of the voltages of the input serially connected filter capacitors. The proposed solution is theoretically analyzed and experimentally verified on a laboratory setup. The experimental results are presented and discussed.