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.     

Series-parallel resonant UPS with capacitive output DC bus filter for powering HFC networks

This paper presents a single high-frequency transformer full isolated uninterruptible power supply based on series-parallel resonant converters for powering hybrid fiber-coaxial networks. The proposed UPS provides galvanic isolation for the load and the battery, and operates with high input power factor while producing a trapezoidal output voltage waveform either at 60 Hz or at 1 Hz. Small size and light weight are achieved without penalizing the overall efficiency by operating at high frequency and by ensuring zero voltage switching (ZVS) under the different operating conditions. In addition, it is demonstrated that by using a capacitive output DC bus filter it is possible to reduce the current stresses during the backup mode by the appropriate selection of the transformer turns ratio. A design procedure for the selection of the key resonant circuit parameters is developed and exemplified. Experimental results obtained from a laboratory prototype demonstrate the overall performance of the system.     

A new family of ZVS-PWM active-clamping DC-to-DC boost converters:analysis, design, and experimentation

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new family of zero-voltage switching (ZVS) pulse-width modulation (PWM) active-clamping DC-to-DC boost power converters. This technique presents ZVS commutation without additional voltage stress and a significant increase in the circulating reactive energy throughout the power converters. So, the efficiency and the power density become advantages when compared to the hard-switching boost power converter. Thus, these power converters may become very attractive in power factor correction applications. In this paper, the complete family of boost power converters is shown, and one particular circuit, taken as an example, is analyzed, simulated and experimented. Experimental results are presented, taken from a laboratory prototype rated at 1600 W, input voltage of 300 V, output voltage of 400 V, and operating at 100 kHz. The measured efficiency at full load was 98%, and the power converter kept an efficiency up to 95% from 17% to 100% of full load, without additional voltage and current stresses     

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     

New Architectures for Radio-Frequency DC–DC Power Conversion

This document proposes two new architectures for switched-mode dc–dc power conversion. The proposed architectures enable dramatic increases in switching frequency to be realized while preserving features critical in practice, including regulation of the output across a wide load range and high light-load efficiency. This is achieved in part by how the energy conversion and regulation functions are partitioned. The structure and control approach of the new architectures are described, along with representative implementation methods. The design and experimental evaluation of prototype systems with cells operating at 100MHz are also described. It is anticipated that the proposed approaches and ones like them will allow substantial improvements in the size of switching power converters and, in some cases, will permit their integrated fabrication.     

Novel high-power-factor ZCS-PWM preregulators

This paper introduces novel zero-current-switching (ZCS) pulsewidth-modulated (PWM) preregulators based on a new soft-commutation cell, suitable for insulated gate bipolar transistor applications. The active switches in these proposed rectifiers turn on in zero current and turn off in zero current-zero voltage. In addition, the diodes turn on in zero voltage and their reverse-recovery effects over the active switches are negligible. Moreover, based on the proposed cell, an entire family of DC-to-DC ZCS-PWM converters can be generated, providing conditions to obtain naturally isolated converters, for example, derived buck-boost, Sepic and Zeta converters. The novel AC-to-DC ZCS-PWM boost and Zeta preregulators are presented in order to verify the operation of this soft-commutation cell. In order to minimize the harmonic contents of the input current, increasing the AC power factor the average-current-mode control is used, obtaining preregulators with AC power factor near unity and high efficiency at wide load range. The principle of operation, theoretical analysis, design example, and experimental results from test units for the novel preregulators are presented. The new boost preregulator was designed to nominal values of 1.6 kW output power, 220 V_rms input voltage, 400 V_dc output voltage, and operating at 20 kHz. The measured efficiency and power factor of the new ZCS-PWM boost preregulator were 96.7% and 0.99, respectively, with an input current total harmonic distortion (THD) equal to 3.42% for an input voltage with THD equal to 1.61%, at rated load     

A pseudo-CCM/DCM SIMO switching converter with freewheel switching

This paper presents a single-inductor multiple-output (SIMO) converter operating in pseudo-continuous conduction mode (PCCM) and/or discontinuous conduction mode (DCM). With the proposed freewheel switching control, this converter can handle large load currents with a much smaller current ripple, while retaining low cross regulation. It can also work in DCM for high efficiency at light loads. A prototype of a single-inductor dual-output (SIDO) boost converter was fabricated with a standard 0.5-/spl mu/m CMOS n-well process. The two outputs are regulated at 2.5 and 3.0 V, respectively. At an oscillator frequency of 1 MHz, the efficiency reaches 89.4% at a total output power of 320 mW. Compared with prior designs, both current and voltage ripples are reduced. This design can be extended to have multiple outputs and for different types of dc-dc conversions, or be applied to single-output converters for fast transient response.     

Switched-capacitor DC/DC converters with resonant gate drive

In this paper, we examine how switched-capacitor (SC) converters can be used in low-voltage low-power DC/DC applications with power management. Analysis of losses is presented to facilitate SC converter design and optimization. A resonant gate drive is proposed to reduce switching losses and simplify control of switches in SC converters. A closed-loop controller is designed to enable and disable oscillations of the resonant gate drive so that the output DC voltage is well regulated down to zero load and so that high efficiency is maintained for a very wide range of loads. Results are experimentally verified on two low-power (0.2 and 5 W) five-one step-down converters with regulated 3 Vdc output and efficiency greater than 80% in a 100-1 load range     

A family of converters for UPS production burn-in energy recovery

This paper introduces a family of power converters for power recycling during the burn-in test of synchronized uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) with sinusoidal output voltage. The use of the power recycler to replace the resistor load bank in the UPSs burn-in test causes great energy savings, and the optimized use of electrical energy contributes in reducing the final cost of the product. The main feature of the new circuits is their ability to draw from the UPS and to inject into the utility-grid currents with low total harmonic distortion (THD) and high power factor (PF). The new circuits operate at constant frequency and are regulated by conventional pulse width modulation (PWM) using dedicated PWM and PF controller integrated circuits developed for power supplies. Circuit operation, mathematical analysis, design example, and experimental results for discontinuous current mode (DCM) and continuous current mode (CCM) operation are provided in this paper     

Analysis and design of a parallel resonant converter including theeffect of a high-frequency transformer

A high-frequency (HF)-link DC-DC parallel resonant converter (PRC) operating above resonance is analyzed using the state-space approach. The analysis includes the effect of the leakage and magnetizing inductances of the high-frequency transformer. Steady-state solutions are derived and used to obtain the design curves. A method of obtaining an optimum operating point under certain constraints is developed and used as the basis of a simple design procedure. The analysis shows that including an HF transformer introduces a new mode of operation in between the two general steady-state modes. Experimental results obtained with a MOSFET-based PRC for three different transformer turns ratios are presented to support the theory. Efficiencies of about 89% were obtained for 985 W, 115 V, and 230 V output converters, whereas an efficiency of about 86% was obtained for a 15 V, 63 A converter. It was observed that the introduction of the transformer considerably affected the performance, especially in the case of low output voltage and large load current converters     

Integrated Buck-Flyback Converter as a High-Power-Factor Off-Line Power Supply

This paper investigates the integrated buck-flyback converter (IBFC) as a good solution for implementing low-cost high-power-factor ac-dc converters with fast output regulation. It will be shown that, when both buck and flyback semistages are operated in discontinuous conduction mode, the voltage across the bulk capacitor, which is used to store energy at low frequency, is independent of the output power. This makes it possible to maintain the bulk capacitor voltage at a low value within the whole line voltage range. The off-line operating modes of the IBFC are also investigated to demonstrate that the control switch of the proposed converter handles lower root-mean-square currents than those in similar integrated converters. The off-line operation of the IBFC is analyzed to obtain the design characteristics of the bulk capacitor voltage. Finally, the design and experimental results of a universal input 48 V-output 100 W ac-dc converter operating at 100 kHz is presented. Experiments show that the IEC-61000-3-2 input current harmonic limits are well satisfied and efficiency can be as high as 82%.     

Lossless average inductor current sensor for CMOS integrated DC–DC converters operating at high frequencies

A novel average inductor current sensing circuit integrable in CMOS technologies is presented. It is designed for DC–DC converters using buck, boost, or buck-boost topologies and operating in continuous conduction mode at high switching frequencies. The average inductor current value is used by the DC–DC controllers to increase the light load power conversion efficiency (e.g., selection of the modulation mode, selection of the dynamic width of the transistors). It can also be used to perform the constant current charging phase when charging lithium-ion batteries, or to simply detect overcurrent faults. The proposed average inductor current sensing method is based on the lossless sensing MOSFET principle widely used in monolithic CMOS integrated DC–DC converters for measuring the current flowing through the power switches. It consists of taking a sample of the current flowing through the power switches at a specific point in time during each energizing and de-energizing cycle of the inductor. By controlling precisely the point in time at which this sample is taken, the average inductor current value can be sensed directly. The circuit simulations were done with the Cadence Spectre simulator. The improvements compared to the basic sensing MOSFET principle are a lower power consumption because no high bandwidth amplifier is required, and less noise emission because the sensing MOSFET is no more switched. Additionally, the novel average inductor current sensing circuit overcomes the low bandwidth limitation previously associated with the sensing MOSFET principle, thus enabling it to be used in DC–DC converters operating at switching frequencies up to 10 MHz and above.     

A constant-frequency method for improving light-load efficiency in synchronous buck converters

The low-voltage synchronous rectifier buck topology suffers from low efficiency at light loads due to dissipation that does not scale with load current. In this paper we present a method for improving light-load efficiency in synchronous buck converters by reducing gate drive losses. We propose a new gate drive technique whereby the gate voltage swing dynamically scales with load current such that gate drive loss is traded for conduction loss. Since conduction losses scale with the square of load current, an optimal gate swing exists that, at light loads, is shown to be less than the supply voltage. Using this method we obtain a 6.25% increase in converter efficiency at a load current of 10 mA and operating at a constant switching frequency of 2 MHz.     

Improved light-load efficiency for synchronous rectifier voltageregulator module

DC/DC converter with high efficiency over a wide load range is necessary for many low voltage applications, such as battery supplied systems and micro-processor power supplies-voltage regulator module (VRM). In order to improve the efficiency of low voltage converters, synchronous rectifier technology is widely used. The disadvantage of this technology is low efficiency at light load. This paper proposes a new technology, which utilizes the duty cycle signal, to improve light load efficiency with simple implementation. Since current sensors are not required, high density and high efficiency can be achieved that makes the whole circuit suitable for integration. In the paper, two application examples are given. Experimental results verified that the proposed control schemes significantly improve the efficiency of synchronous rectifier buck converters at light load     

Robust controller design for a parallel resonant converter usingμ-synthesis

DC-to-DC resonant power converters have been the subject of much attention recently. These power converters have the potential to provide high-performance conversion without some of the problems associated with classical pulse-width modulation (PWM)-based converters, thus allowing for smaller, lighter power supplies. However, in order to achieve this, a suitable control circuit, capable of maintaining the desired output voltage under different operating conditions, is required. In the past, small-signal models obtained around the nominal operating points were used to design controllers that attempted to keep the output voltage constant in the presence of input perturbations. However, these controllers did not take into account either load or components variations, and thus could lead to instability in the face of component or load changes. Moreover, the prediction of the frequency range for stability was done a posteriori, either experimentally or by a trial-and-error approach. In this paper, the authors use μ-synthesis to design a robust controller for a conventional parallel resonant power converter. In addition to guaranteeing stability for a wide range of load conditions, the proposed controller rejects disturbances at the power converter input while keeping the control input and the settling time within values compatible with a practical implementation. These results are validated by means of detailed nonlinear circuit simulations obtained using PSpice     

基于协同节能理念的电网能效管理系统研究

针对当前电力能效管理方面遇到的问题,该文提出了电力公司与用户侧之间协同节能的理念,基于该理念设计出电网能效管理系统,并对海量数据挖掘与分析、能效管理模型、负荷分类和负荷短期预测、信息互动与共享等关键技术进行了研究。该系统为提升电力公司对用户侧用电行为与能效过程的分析能力、管理能力与控制能力打下坚实的基础,促进电网与用户侧协同节能,实现电网能效的最大化。     

Flyboost power factor correction cell and a new family of single-stage AC/DC converters

A novel power factor correction (PFC) cell, called flyboost, is presented. The proposed PFC cell combines power conversion characteristics of conventional flyback and boost converters. Based on the flyboost PFC cell, a new family of single-stage (S/sup 2/) ac/dc converters can be derived. Prominent features of newly derived S/sup 2/ converters include: three power conversions, i.e., boost, flyback, and another isolated dc/dc power conversions are simultaneously realized that typically uses only one power switch and one simple controller; part of the power delivered to the load is processed only once; bulk capacitor voltage can be clamped to the desired level; and capable of operating under continuous current mode. Experimental results on example converters verify that while still achieving high power factor and tight output regulation, the flyboost PFC cell substantially improve the efficiency of the converter.     

AC-DC converter with parametric reactive power compensation

Resonant converters of 50 (60) Hz AC-DC are described, where each half cycle of network voltage the capacitor and inductor of an oscillatory circuit are switched from series into parallel and vice versa. The duration of series and parallel connection and also the transformer ratio are parametrically dependent on load. In the case of short circuit, only the parallel oscillating circuit operates. This restricts sharply the output current. The reactive power of the capacitor and the inductor compensate each other, both in the cases of series and parallel connection. Therefore, the power factor is very high from no load to short circuit. This converter fits very well for supplying arc furnaces, and there is no need for the costly and fast reactive power compensator and filter circuits. The operating principle of the converter, design principles, and a real operating converter rated 5.4 MW supplying a steel-melting arc furnace are described     

Active voltage clamp in flyback converters operating in CCM mode under wide load variation

Active clamp topologies of low power dissipation have become a very attractive solution in order to limit overvoltages in flyback converters. Although many suitable topologies have been introduced for the case of discontinuous conduction mode (DCM), where the duty cycle value depends on the load level, in continuous conduction mode (CCM) it is more difficult to appropriately design such topologies so as to "sense" load changes-due to the small duty cycle divergence under wide load variation. Taking for granted that in order to achieve high power-factor correction in these converters, CCM is a more attractive mode of operation, a drastic solution for this case that will manage to eliminate voltage stresses under wide load changes has become very essential. For this purpose, this paper presents an active clamp topology with small power dissipation, suitable for flyback converters operating in CCM mode. Its main idea is the use of a load-dependent current source, consisting of an auxiliary converter operating in DCM mode. Experimental results highlight the effectiveness of the proposed topology under wide load changes, establishing it as an appropriate solution in order to develop flyback converters, even at the power range of 500 W.     

Analysis and design of clamped-mode resonant converters withvariable load

In this paper, a design procedure for clamped-mode resonant converters working with variable load is proposed and analyzed. The operation of these converters with general parallel or series loads is reviewed first. The operation of the transistors as zero-voltage switches is identified and characterized as mode A. Mode A is preferred to simplify the implementation of the power switches and to increment the converter efficiency. As a case study, the design of an RF power amplifier is presented. The amplifier is connected to a variable load with reactive characteristics, through a low-pass filter of three elements. The validity of the proposed design approach is verified with an experimental setup