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.      

Active input-voltage and load-current sharing in input-series and output-parallel connected modular DC-DC converters using dynamic input-voltage reference scheme

This paper explores a new configuration for modular DC/DC converters, namely, series connection at the input, and parallel connection at the output, such that the converters share the input voltage and load current equally. This is an important step toward realizing a truly modular power system architecture, where low-power, low-voltage, building block modules can be connected in any series/parallel combination at input or at output, to realize any given system specifications. A three-loop control scheme, consisting of a common output voltage loop, individual inner current loops, and individual input voltage loops, is proposed to achieve input voltage and load current sharing. The output voltage loop provides the basic reference for inner current loops, which is modified by the respective input voltage loops. The average of converter input voltages, which is dynamically varying, is chosen as the reference for input voltage loops. This choice of reference eliminates interaction among different control loops. The input-series and output-parallel (ISOP) configuration is analyzed using the incremental negative resistance model of DC/DC converters. Based on the analysis, design methods for input voltage controller are developed. Analysis and proposed design methods are verified through simulation, and experimentally, on an ISOP system consisting of two forward converters.     

Analysis, Design, and Implementation of a Parallel ZVS Converter

A soft-switching converter is presented in this paper to achieve a zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) turn on for all switches. Two half-bridge converters with asymmetric pulsewidth-modulation scheme are connected in parallel to control the output voltage at the desired value and achieve load-current sharing. Based on the output capacitance of power switches and the resonant inductance, including the external inductance and the transformer leakage inductance, the resonance can be achieved at the transition interval of power switches. Therefore, the ZVS turn on of power switches can be realized. The peak voltage of the power switches is limited to input dc voltage. The center-tapped rectifier is adopted at the transformer secondary side to achieve a full-wave rectification. Operation principles, steady-state analysis, and design equations of the proposed converter are discussed in detail. Finally, experimental results based on a 240-W prototype are provided to verify the performance and the feasibility of the proposed converter.     

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     

New zero voltage switching DC converter with flying capacitors

A new soft switching converter is presented for medium power applications. Two full-bridge converters are connected in series at high voltage side in order to limit the voltage stress of power switches at V_in/2. Therefore, power metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) with 600 V voltage rating can be adopted for 1200 V input voltage applications. In order to balance two input split capacitor voltages in every switching cycle, two flying capacitors are connected on the AC side of two full-bridge converters. Phase-shift pulse-width modulation (PS-PWM) is adopted to regulate the output voltage. Based on the resonant behaviour by the output capacitance of MOSFETs and the resonant inductance, active MOSFETs can be turned on under zero voltage switching (ZVS) during the transition interval. Thus, the switching losses of power MOSFETs are reduced. Two full-bridge converters are used in the proposed circuit to share load current and reduce the current stress of passive and active components. The circuit analysis and design example of the prototype circuit are provided in detail and the performance of the proposed converter is verified by the experiments.     

Voltage-source active power filter based on multilevel converter and ultracapacitor DC link

A new topology for active power filters (APF) using an 81-level converter is analyzed. Each phase of the converter is composed of four three-state converters, all of them connected to the same capacitor dc link voltage and their output connected in series through output transformers. The main advantages of this kind of converter are the negligible harmonic distortion obtained and the very low switching frequency operation. The single-phase equivalent circuit is analyzed and their governing equations derived. The dc link voltage control, based on manipulating the converter's voltage phase, is analyzed together with the circuit's characteristics that determine the capability to draw or deliver active and reactive current. Simulation results for this application are compared with conventional pulsewidth-modulated (PWM) converters, showing that this filter can compensate load current harmonics, keeping better-quality sinusoidal currents from the source. The simulated configuration uses a 1-F ultracapacitor in the dc link, making it possible to store energy and deliver it during short voltage dips. This is achieved by applying a modulation control to maintain a stable ac voltage during dc voltage drops. A prototype of the filter was implemented and tested, and the obtained current waveforms showed to be as good as expected.     

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     

DC-DC converter: four switches V/sub pk/=V/sub in//2, capacitive turn-off snubbing, ZV turn-on

A new four-switch full-bridge dc-dc converter topology is especially well-suited for power converters operating from high input voltage: it imposes only half of the input voltage across each of the four switches. The two legs of a full-bridge converter are connected in series with each other, across the dc input source, instead of the usual topology in which each leg is connected across the dc source. The topology reduces turn-off switching losses by providing capacitive snubbing of the turn-off voltage transient, and eliminates capacitor-discharge turn-on losses by providing zero-voltage turn-on. (Switching losses are especially important in converters operating at high input voltage because turn-on losses are proportional to the square of the input voltage, and turn-off losses are proportional to the input voltage). The topology is suitable for resonant and nonresonant converters. It adds one bypass capacitor and one commutating inductor to the minimum-topology full-bridge converter (that inductor is already present in many present-day converters, to provide zero-voltage turn-on, or is associated with one or two capacitors to provide resonant operation), and contains a dc-blocking capacitor in series with the output transformer, primary winding, and some nonresonant converters (that capacitor is already present in resonant power converters). The paper gives a theoretical analysis, and experimental data on a 1.5-kW example that was built and tested: 600-Vdc input, 60-Vdc output at up to 25A, and 50-kHz switching frequency. The measured performance agreed well with the theoretical predictions. The measured efficiency was 93.6% at full load, and was a maximum of 95.15% at 44.8% load.     

独立控制组合Boost直流变换器型高频环节逆变器

组合Boost直流变换器型高频环节逆变器,是由两个相同的隔离双向Boost直流变换器输入侧并联、输出侧反向串联构成。文中主要对组合Boost直流变换器型高频环节逆变器的电压瞬时值反馈独立控制策略、稳态原理特性等方面进行了深入研究,并给出了关键电路参数设计和仿真波形。     

Performance Comparison of Single-Stage Three-Level Resonant AC/DC Converter Topologies

In this paper, the performance of different three-level resonant converters is studied for single-stage power factor correction operation. These converters are suitable for power ranges higher than that in the currently available single-stage converters, due to their high efficiency and reduced component stresses. All the converters presented here are characterized by their ability to regulate the output voltage as well as the dc bus voltage. This leads to lower voltage stresses, wider input voltage range, higher output power applications, and improved efficiencies compared to existing single-stage topologies. Due to the availability of more degrees of freedom in the presented converters, two types of control strategies can be used for this purpose: variable frequency asymmetrical pulsewidth modulation control and variable frequency phase-shift modulation control. Three resonant converters will be studied in this paper and their performances as well as the applicability of the aforementioned control methods for each converter are compared. A 2.3-kW, 48-V converter with input voltage range of 90-265 V_rms is used to study the performance of each case.     

New two-inductor boost converter with auxiliary transformer

A new, two-inductor, two-switch boost converter topology and its variations suitable for applications with a large difference between the input and output voltage are described. The output voltage regulation of the proposed converters is achieved in a wide load and input-voltage range with constant-frequency control by employing an auxiliary transformer that couples the current paths of the two boost inductors.     

Uniform Voltage Distribution Control for Series Connected DC–DC Converters

This paper investigates applications of current-mode, shared-bus commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) dc-dc converters to power system architectures configured as parallel-input, series-output (PISO) and series-input, parallel-output (SIPO). By employing a PISO (or SIPO) architecture, current-mode COTS converters can transform their system input voltage to higher (or lower) system output voltage, provide ease and flexibility of power expansion, and preserve system efficiencies equal to those of standalone converters. Nonuniform output (or input) voltages still exist within a PISO (or SIPO) power system using identical converters when the system lacks proper distribution control of the series connected output (or input) voltages-and thus, system reliability suffers from thermal overstress to the converters that contribute a greater portion of the output power. Through unified approaches of voltage distribution control for the PISO and SIPO architectures, a series-connected converter power system attains robust stability and reliability. Two effective approaches to uniform voltage distribution control-the central-limit and maximum-limit voltage distribution-will be discussed. Both computer simulation and experimental prototypes validate both of the uniform voltage distribution power converter architectures.     

A Digital Two-Switching-Cycle Compensation Algorithm for Input-Voltage Transients in DC–DC Converters

In this paper, a new control algorithm is proposed to achieve excellent dynamic performance for dc–dc converters undergoing an input-voltage change. Using the concept of capacitor charge balance, the proposed algorithm predicts the two-switching-cycle duty ratio series to drive the converter back to steady state following an input-voltage transient. The equations needed to calculate the required duty cycle series are presented. By using the proposed algorithm, good transient performance, such as small output-voltage overshoot/undershoot and short recovery time, is achieved. Simulations and experiments are performed using a synchronous buck converter to verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. Results show that the proposed method produces superior dynamic performance over that of a conventional current-mode PID controller.      

New series half-bridge converters with the balance input split capacitor voltages

This article presents a new dc/dc converter to perform the main functions of zero voltage switching (ZWS), low converter size, high switching frequency and low-voltage stress. Metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) with high switching frequency are used to reduce the converter size and increase circuit efficiency. To overcome low-voltage stress and high turn-on resistance of MOSFETs, the series half-bridge topology is adopted in the proposed converter. Hence, the low-voltage stress MOSFETs can be used for medium-input voltage applications. The asymmetric pulse-width modulation is used to generate the gating signals and achieve the ZWS. On the secondary side, the parallel connection of two diode rectifiers is adopted to reduce the current rating of passive components. On the primary side, the series connection of two transformers is used to balance two output inductor currents. Two flying capacitors are used to automatically balance the input split capacitor voltages. Finally, experiments with 1000 W rated power are performed to verify the theoretical analysis and the effectiveness of proposed converter.     

Buck-Boost隔离直流转换器设计

在Buck-Boost隔离直流转换器宽范围输入电压的条件下,分析了典型的全桥Boost转换器拓扑结构,由于存在的谐振电感包括漏电感,全桥Boost转换器只能采用双边沿调制。该转换器采用UC3895作为控制器,对全桥单元采用移相转换控制的方式,为了提高全桥Boost转换器系统的可靠性和效率,采用三模式两频率控制方式,在输入宽范围电压的情况下,最高500V输入,360V输出。在此采用Matlab软件进行仿真,实验结果表明输入电压平均效率范围是96．2％,最高效率能达到97．5％。     

Modeling of DC–DC Buck Converters for Large-Signal Frequency Response and Limit Cycles

A zeroth-order-hold equivalent discrete-time model of the buck converter for computing its large-signal frequency response is developed and experimentally verified. It is shown that, with a dc bias and a sinusoidal variation of the input duty cycle, the frequency response of the output voltage from the converter shifts from underdamped behavior to damped behavior with increasing amplitude of the input sinusoid. It is observed that, with a given dc input bias and a given input amplitude beyond the range of the state-space linearized small-signal model, the converter behavior varies from exclusively continuous inductor current mode at low frequencies to behavior with continuous and discontinuous inductor current modes at high frequencies. The use of this sinusoidal input large-signal frequency response in predicting limit cycles induced by feedback of the output voltage using proportional and integral controllers for such converters is studied. Experimental results confirming the use of this large-signal frequency response are presented.     

Analysis,design and implementation of an interleaved three-level PWM DC/DC ZVS converter

This paper presents a new parallel three-level soft switching pulse-width modulation (PWM) converter. The proposed converter has two circuit cells operated by the interleaved PWM modulation. Thus, the ripple currents at input and output sides are reduced. Each circuit cell has two three-level zero voltage switching circuits sharing the same power switches. Therefore, the current and power rating of the secondary side components are reduced. Current double rectifier topology is selected on the secondary side to decrease output ripple current. The main advantages of the proposed converter are soft switching of power switches, low ripple current on the output side and low-voltage rating of power switches for medium-power applications. Finally, the performance of the proposed converter is verified by experiments with 1 kW prototype circuit.     

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     

A Fault Tolerant Doubly Fed Induction Generator Wind Turbine Using a Parallel Grid Side Rectifier and Series Grid Side Converter

With steadily increasing wind turbine penetration, regulatory standards for grid interconnection have evolved to require that wind generation systems ride-through disturbances such as faults and support the grid during such events. Conventional modifications to the doubly fed induction generation (DFIG) architecture for providing ride-through result in compromised control of the turbine shaft and grid current during fault events. A DFIG architecture in which the grid side converter is connected in series as opposed to parallel with the grid connection has shown improved low voltage ride through but poor power processing capabilities. In this paper, a unified DFIG wind turbine architecture which employs a parallel grid side rectifier and series grid side converter is presented. The combination of these two converters enables unencumbered power processing and robust voltage disturbance ride through. A dynamic model and control structure for this architecture is developed. The operation of the system is illustrated using computer simulations.