A low-profile low-power converter with coreless PCB isolationtransformer

Very small manually wound transformers for sub-watt DC-DC converters are notorious for their relatively high cost and low reliability. In this paper, an isolated low-profile low-power 8 MHz soft-switching power converter using a coreless printed circuit board (PCB) transformer is described. Coreless PCB transformers eliminate several problems of their core-based counterparts in low-power applications. The diameter of the coreless PCB transformer is merely 0.46 cm. The converter's power output is about 0.5 W with a typical transformer efficiency of 63%. The high-frequency capability, high reliability and the low-profile structure make coreless PCB transformers a viable and attractive option for reliable mega-hertz switching converters and micro-circuits     

A low-profile wide-band three-port isolation amplifier withcoreless printed-circuit-board (PCB) transformers

Galvanic isolations are essential in many electrical patient-monitoring devices and industrial applications. In this paper, a low-profile wideband three-port isolation amplifier using coreless printed-circuit-board (PCB) transformers for isolation is studied. The PCB thickness used in the isolation amplifier is 0.4 mm. The diameters of the two coreless PCB transformers are 9.75 and 5.856 mm, respectively. Operating conditions of the transformers and a design guideline of the isolation amplifier are detailed in this paper. Experimental results show that the isolation amplifier under investigation can transmit an analog signal from 20 mHz to 1.1 MHz with good linearity. Comparison of the prototype with an industrial isolation amplifier is also included     

A self-driven active clamp forward converter using the auxiliary winding of the power transformer

This study proposes a new self-driven active clamp forward converter eliminating the extra drive circuit for the active clamp switch. The converter used the auxiliary winding of the power transformer to drive the active clamp switch and a simple RC circuit to get the dead time between the two switches. The operation principle was presented and experimental results were used to verify theoretical predictions. A 100-W (5 V/20 A) prototype converter that only exhibited 1.5-turn winding number in the auxiliary winding was sufficient to drive the active clamp switch on the input of 50 V. Finally, the measured efficiency of the converter was presented and the maximum efficiency of 91% was obtained.     

Coreless printed circuit board (PCB) transformers with high power density and high efficiency

The authors report the use of a coreless printed circuit board transformer for power conversion with very high power density and efficiency. A coreless PCB transformer with an outermost radius of /spl sim/1 cm and 19 turns for both the primary and secondary windings can transfer 19 W at an efficiency of 90%, resulting in a record power density of 24 W/cm/sup 2/. The power density and energy efficiency of a coreless PCB transformer are higher than those of core-based microtransformers. Coreless transformers are simpler in structure, easier to implement in silicon wafer and cheaper than core-based planar transformers.     

A conductance-controlled variable transformer turns ratio regulatorfor a zero-voltage-zero-current power switching converter

This paper describes the application of the conductance control to a very high-efficiency parallel-regulated converter. Conductance control is one of the best ways of providing simplicity of design while preserving fast dynamic response and high reliability in power converters. The parallel regulator was conceived for space applications, to regulate a zero-voltage and zero-current power switching topology that works at constant frequency and constant duty cycle, but its range of applicability can be extended to any kind of power converter or inverter that utilizes a transformer to produce an isolated output. By using the concept of addition or subtraction of AC voltages, a fully regulated output voltage is achieved. The resultant effect of this regulation scheme is that the main transformer of the converter or inverter appears to have a variable turns ratio. This turns constant can be changed dynamically by means of a conductance control scheme and in almost a lossless way to maintain the converter (or inverter) outputs     

Electronic step down (220/110 V) transformer using a new quantumseries resonant converter

A novel quantum series resonant converter (QSRC) topology for a pure sinewave 60 Hz AC chopper is proposed. It has three bidirectional switches and operates at high switching frequency with low switching loss. Bidirectional power flow is possible, and the switches can operate in either zero current switching (ZCS) mode or zero voltage switching (ZVS) mode by slight modification. The QSRC is thought to be suitable for such a system with fixed voltage conversion ratio. The proposed converter is applied to an electronic 220/110 V transformer. Detailed analyses and experimental results for 1 kVA are presented     

A unity power factor converter using half-bridge boost topology

A single-phase high-efficiency near-unity power-factor (PF) half-bridge boost converter circuit, which has been proposed earlier by other researchers, is presented with detailed analysis. This converter is capable of operating under variable PF. However, the focus of this paper is in achieving unity PF operation only. The efficiency of this circuit is high because there is only one series semiconductor on-state voltage drop at any instant. The existence of an imbalance in the voltages of the two DC-link capacitors, which was noted before, is confirmed here. The cause for the imbalance is analyzed using appropriate models, and a control method to eliminate it is discussed in detail. Analysis and design considerations for the power circuit using the fixed-band hysteresis current control (HCC) technique are provided. The analytical results are verified through simulation using switched and averaged circuit models of the scheme and also through experimental work. At 90-V AC input and 300-W 300-V output, the experimental prototype demonstrates an efficiency of 96.23% and a PF of 0.998. This converter, with its relatively high DC-output voltage, is well suited for the 110-V utility supply system. A circuit modification for universal input voltage range operation is also suggested     

A bidirectional AC-DC power converter with power factor correction

This paper presents new operation and performance of a thyristor-based AC-DC current-controlled boost-type converter that allows bidirectional power handling capability and provides input power factor correction and a near-sinusoidal input current waveform. The new converter can reduce harmonic pollution and disturbance on the supply mains. The feature of bidirectional power flow allows the stored energy in loads, such as motors, to regenerate back to the supply source, leading to an increase in overall energy efficiency and possibly a reduction in the size of the DC link capacitor. The operation is confirmed with the successful implementation of an experimental prototype     

A single-switch AC-DC converter with power factor correction

A new single-stage, single-switch power factor correction converter with output electrical isolation is proposed in this paper. The topology of this converter is derived by combining a boost circuit and a forward circuit in one power stage. To improve the performance of the AC-DC converter (i.e., good power factor correction, low total harmonic distortion (THD) and low DC bus voltage), two bulk storage capacitors are adopted. Its excellent line regulation capability makes the converter suitable for universal input application. Due to its simplified power stage and control circuit, this converter presents a better efficiency, lower cost and higher reliability. Detailed steady state analysis and design procedure are presented. To verify the performance of the proposed converter, a design example along with P-simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis (PSPICE) simulation and experimental implementation are given. The measured power factor and efficiency are 99% and 87% at low line (i.e. 110 VAC) operation, and 95% and 81% at high line (i.e. 220 VAC) operation, respectively     

A forward converter topology employing a resonant auxiliary circuit to achieve soft switching and power transformer resetting

This paper presents a forward converter topology that employs a small resonant auxiliary circuit. The advantages of the proposed topology include soft switching in both the main and auxiliary switches, recovery of the leakage inductance energy, simplified power transformer achieving self-reset without using the conventional reset winding, simple gate drive and control circuit, etc. Steady-state analysis is performed herein, and a design procedure is presented for general applications. A 35-75-Vdc to 5 Vdc 100-W prototype converter switched at a frequency of 200 kHz is built to verify the design, and 90% overall efficiency has been obtained experimentally at full load.     

Coreless printed circuit board (PCB) transformers with multiplesecondary windings for complementary gate drive circuits

This paper describes the modeling and implementation of a coreless printed circuit board (PCB)-based transformer with “multiple” secondary outputs. This new PCB transformer has been successfully applied in complementary gate drive circuits in a novel low-profile power converter with high-power density and a converter bridge. The PCB-based transformers do not require the manual winding procedure and thus simplify the manufacturing process of transformer-isolated gate drive circuits. The use of the multiple secondary outputs can in principle simplify the complementary gate drive circuits that are often required in many power electronics applications     

A novel soft-switching high-frequency transformer isolated three-phase AC-to-DC converter with low harmonic distortion

A high-frequency transformer isolated, fixed-frequency, 3-/spl phi/ single-stage ac-to-dc converter using a boost-integrated bridge converter that employs a new gating scheme is proposed. This converter enjoys natural power factor correction with low line current harmonic distortion and symmetric high frequency voltage and current waveforms while ensuring zero-voltage switching for all the switches for a wide variation in load and line voltage. Various operating modes of the converter are presented and analyzed. Based on the analysis, design curves are obtained and an optimum design is given. A design example is presented. Results obtained from SPICE simulation and a 500 W output experimental prototype are given to verify the performance of the proposed converter for varying load as well as line voltage.     

Design of fluorescent lamp ballast with PFC using a power piezoelectric transformer

An investigation of a high-power piezoelectric transformer (PT) as a potential component for a fluorescent lamp (FL) ballast with power factor correction (PFC) is discussed. The attractiveness of the PT is primarily the simplicity of the resulting circuit, and it is easy to be produced in mass with a low cost. A single-stage charge-pump PFC ballast using a PT is proposed. The proposed ballast circuit improved the drawbacks of the conventional voltage-source charge-pump PFC (VS-CPPFC) scheme. Empirical PT modeling based on power level excitation is performed to design the proposed circuit, and the experimental and simulation results are provided to verify theoretical analysis.     

A wide-angle X-junction in polymer using truncated-structuralbranches (TSB)

We present a detailed design and characterization for a compact X-junction we proposed recently. Even at a wide full-branching angle of 1.4°, simulation predicts the crosstalk and insertion loss to be -20.1 and 0.2 dB, respectively; the wavelength bandwidth is 230 nm (1390-1620 nm). Devices made in polymer realize -16.1-dB crosstalk and 0.3-dB loss     

Coreless printed circuit board (PCB) transformers for powerMOSFET/IGBT gate drive circuits

Gate drive circuits for modern power electronic switches, such as MOSFET and insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), often require electrical isolation. This paper describes the modeling and experimental results of some coreless printed circuit board (PCB)-based transformers that can be used for MOSFET and IGBT devices at high-frequency (500 kHz to 2 MHz) operation. PCB-based transformers do not require the manual winding procedure and thus simplify the manufacturing process of transformer-isolated gate drive circuits. With no core loss, coreless transformers are found to have favorable characteristics at high-frequency operations. This project demonstrates an important point that the size of the magnetic core can approach zero and become zero when the frequency is sufficiently high     

A novel power converter with voltage-boosting capacitors for afour-phase SRM drive

This paper presents a method of enhancing the performance of a four-phase switched reluctance motor by using capacitors to produce additional supply voltage during the rise and fall periods of motor phase current. The voltage rating of the inverter components increases and extra capacitor/diode combinations are needed. The operation and analysis of a series voltage boost circuit are detailed for different modes of operation with a study of the effect of the boost capacitor voltage on the current waveform. Different voltage boost circuit configurations are compared. The predicted and measured results show that the boost circuit increases both torque and output power and improves the efficiency of the machine, especially at high speeds     

A new power converter for fuel cells with high system efficiency

This paper presents a new high-efficiency grid-connected single-phase converter for fuel cells. It consists of a two-stage power conversion topology. Since the fuel cell operates with a low voltage in a wide voltage range (25?V–45?V) this voltage must be transformed to around 350–400?V in order to be able to invert this dc power into ac power to the grid. The proposed converter consists of an isolated dc–dc converter cascaded with a single-phase H-bridge inverter. The dc–dc converter is a current-fed push-pull converter. The inverter is controlled as a standard single-phase power factor controller with resistor emulation at the output. Experimental results of converter efficiency, grid performance and fuel cell dynamic response are shown for a 1?kW prototype. The proposed converter exhibits a high efficiency in a wide power range (higher than 92%) and the inverter operates with a near-unity power factor and a low current THD.     

A high-density 1 kW resonant power converter with a transient boostfunction

A series/parallel resonant DC-DC converter with secondary-side resonance and a novel input boosting feature is described. In order to greatly reduce the conduction loss (factor of four) due to circulating currents in the resonant components, the boost circuit, which requires no additional active switches, operates only when needed during transient input voltage dips. This reduces the effective input voltage range over which the converter must operate and allows optimization at the steady-state input voltage. The converter employs highly efficient resonant inductors and novel Z-folded thin flex circuit transformer windings to meet a density of greater than 50 W/in³ with an efficiency approaching 95%. The DC-DC converter was developed for use as a 270 to 50 V line converter for distributed power applications     

A soft-switching mode rectifier with power factor correction andhigh frequency transformer link

This paper presents a soft-switching mode rectifier (SSMR) consisting of a power factor correction zero-voltage-transition-pulse-width-modulated (PFC ZVT-PWM) converter and a high-frequency transformer-coupled DC/DC zero voltage switching clamped voltage (ZVS-CV) converter. An easily implemented ZVT soft-switching mechanism is developed to reduce the switching losses and stresses of the power switches in the PFC ZVT-PWM converter. The operations of the proposed SSMR in various modes are analyzed in detail and the associated governed equations are derived. Then accordingly, a quantitative design procedure is developed to find the values of soft-switching circuit components. In the control aspect, the dynamic model of the SSMR is derived and a current waveform controller is designed, such that sinusoidal line current with low harmonics and near unity power factor is obtained. Under this condition, a voltage controller is also designed for yielding good DC output voltage control characteristics. Validity of the designed SSMR is verified experimentally     

A single-stage power-factor-correction converter with simple linkvoltage suppressing circuit (LVSC)

A single-stage power-factor-correction AC/DC converter with a simple link voltage suppressing circuit (LVSC) for the universal line application is proposed. A portion of the energy charged in a boost inductor is directly transferred to a load via LVSC without passing the link capacitor. Using simple circuitry, a low link voltage can be realized without input current deadbands at line zero crossings. The proposed converter is analyzed and design guidelines for the proper operation of a converter are given. A universal input (90-265-V_rms ) prototype converter with 5-V 12-A output is implemented to verify performance. The experimental results show that the maximum link voltage stress and efficiency are about 447 V and 81%, respectively. The power factor is above 0.96 under the universal line condition when the load is higher than 30%