Unified Pulse‐Width Modulation Scheme for Improved Digital‐Peak‐Voltage Control of Switching DC‐DC Converters

Contrast to conventional dependent double‐edge (DDE) pulse‐width modulation (PWM), independent double‐edge (IDE) PWM is investigated and applied to the control of switching dc‐dc converters, with improved digital‐peak‐voltage (IDPV) controlled buck converter in this paper. IDE modulation unifies all the PWM schemes reported up to now and is thus called as unified PWM. It is revealed that conventional trailing‐edge, leading‐edge, trailing‐triangle, and leading‐triangle modulations are special cases of IDE modulation. The control laws of IDPV controlled buck converter with IDE modulation are investigated and compared with those of IDPV with DDE modulation. Their stabilities and robustness are analyzed subsequently. Digital implementation of the unified PWM is also carried out. Steady‐state and transient performances of IDPV controlled buck converters with IDE modulation and DDE modulation are compared and verified by experimental results. It is concluded that steady‐state and transient performances of IDPV with IDE are better than those of IDPV with DDE modulation. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental Verification of a Front‐to‐Front (FTF) System Consisting of Two Modular Multilevel Cascade Converters Based on Double‐Star Chopper Cells

This paper presents an experimental discussion on modular multilevel cascade converters based on double‐star chopper cells (MMCC‐DSCC). Hereinafter, a single MMCC‐DSCC is referred to simply as a “DSCC”. A couple of DSCCs are used to form a front‐to‐front (FTF) system capable of dc voltage matching and galvanic isolation between two dc grids. The FTF system can be considered as a dc–ac–dc power conversion system including an ac‐link high‐power transformer. The higher the ac‐link frequency, the smaller and lighter are the ac‐link transformer and dc capacitors. When the so‐called “phase‐shifted‐carrier PWM” is applied to the DSCC, theoretical analysis and computer simulation have confirmed that a ratio of the carrier frequency with respect to the ac‐link frequency can be reduced to 5/2. This paper designs, constructs, and tests a 400‐Vdc 10‐kW downscaled FTF system with a carrier frequency of 450 Hz and an ac‐link frequency of 180 Hz, where their ratio is 5/2. Experimental waveforms obtained from the downscaled system are compared with simulated ones obtained from a software package, PSCAD/EMTDC, under the same operating and circuit conditions. They agree well each other not only under steady states but also under transient states.     

Highly Efficient dc–dc Transformer Based on Multicell Converter Topology for Next Generation dc Distribution System

A multicell dc–dc transformer (DCX) with an efficiency of 98.0% is developed for a next generation dc distribution system. Input series output parallel (ISOP) and input parallel output series (IPOS) connection topologies of highly efficient dc–dc cell converters have been applied to realize DCXs that have arbitrary I/O voltages and a high transfer factor. The behavior of a DCX based on multicell topology using nonregulated dc–dc converters is analyzed, and the voltage stress in each cell converter is discussed quantitatively considering the variation in converter circuit parameters. Further, the availability of the applied topology and the validity of the analysis are confirmed by fabricating a prototype of a 384 V to 12 V 2400 W DCX. The multicell topology contributes to realizing a low‐carbon society pushing the promotion of highly efficient, space‐saving, and low cost dc power supplies with standardized, highly efficient cell converter modules.     

Circuit theory of paralleling switching converters

This paper studies the various paralleling styles for dc–dc switching converters from a circuit theoretic viewpoint. The study begins with a systematic classification of the types of parallel‐connected dc–dc converters. In the classification, converters are modeled as current sources or voltage sources. From Kirchhoff's laws, the possible connection styles for paralleling current sources and voltage sources are derived, leading to the identification of three types of configurations for paralleling dc–dc converters. Then, control arrangements are classified according to the presence of current‐sharing and voltage‐regulation loops. Moreover, detailed operating principles with and without a current‐sharing loop for the three basic paralleling connections to obtain both current sharing and voltage regulation are given. Applying small‐signal analysis to the practical circuits, the inherent characteristics of each scheme are expounded. The roles of the current‐sharing loop and origins of current‐sharing errors are highlighted. Characteristics for all the schemes are obtained in terms of their performances in current sharing and voltage regulation. Finally, an experiment prototype is built to validate the analysis. The results clearly show the properties of the various paralleling schemes. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Active shunt current shaping scheme for multiple paralleled DC–DC converters

A new shunt current shaping scheme for multiple paralleled dc–dc converters is proposed in this paper. The current command for the shunt current shaper is indirectly obtained by forcing the source current to follow the demanded sinusoidal signal. The amplitude of the demanded sinusoidal source current that is in‐phase with the source voltage can be determined from the sensed load currents of the post‐stage dc–dc converters. Neither high‐order filters nor time‐consuming computations are required. The shunt current shaper supplies all the harmonics and the out‐of‐phase fundamental of the distorted input current and the power source only supplies the in‐phase fundamental component. Experimental results on a prototype system verify the feasibility of the presented scheme. The implemented shunt current shaper demonstrates an efficiency of 92% and a nearly unity power factor at the utility side. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analytical multi‐parametric stability boundaries of DC‐DC buck converters under V1 control concept

Two main methods for controlling switching converters exist in the literature. The direct one is the voltage mode control, which suffers from some disadvantages such as slow response to load variations and an input voltage‐dependent total loop gain. The current mode control can overcome these problems but at the expense of extra cost and more complex control design. V¹ concept is a new promising control technique for designing voltage mode control of buck‐type converters with an optimal response similar to current mode control. In this paper, the dynamics and the stability of buck converters under V¹ control are studied. In particular, subharmonic oscillation limits in the parameter space are addressed. First, a closed‐loop state‐space model is derived and then used to formulate an analytical matrix‐form expression for predicting the stability limit of the system. Using this expression, multi‐parametric stability boundaries are obtained. It is shown that the equivalent series inductance of the output capacitor can narrow the stability region. It is also demonstrated that the integral action in the feedback loop of a V¹‐controlled buck converter has a negligible effect on the subharmonic oscillation boundary. The theoretical analysis is validated through numerical simulation of the circuit‐level switched model of the system. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis and improvement of cross‐regulation effect in the primary side‐regulated multi‐output flyback converter

In the multi‐output primary side‐regulated (PSR) flyback converters, cross‐regulation effect denotes the phenomenon that change of load current in either one of the outputs would lead to the output voltage variations in other output terminals. Because the PSR flyback converters are frequently used to provide power supplies in a power system, the steady operation of the power system may be affected. Based on an improved Cantilever model, this paper proposes a thorough analysis on the cross‐regulation effect in the PSR flyback converter. It has been found that the coupling between the output windings and the topology of the output terminal would have significant influence on the cross‐regulation effect. Moreover, a mathematical expression has been derived to calculate the relationship, in the time domain, between the voltages of the output windings in the PSR flyback converter. In the mathematical expression, the leakage inductances in the improved cantilever model are lumped into a matrix R ′. Hence, the winding method and the geometry of the transformer can be optimized to improve the precision of the multi‐output voltages in the PSR flyback converter. A 10‐W PSR flyback prototype with three output terminals is built. Experimental results are given to validate the theoretical analysis. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Efficiency of magnetic coupled boost DC‐DC converters mainly dedicated to renewable energy systems: influence of the coupling factor

This paper presents a specific analysis of an individual basic magnetically coupled direct current‐to‐direct current (DC–DC) converter specially designed for integration in a distributed architecture of renewable energy generators for smart grid applications. In such distributed architecture dedicated for renewable energy, parallel high‐voltage DC presents many advantages over the classical centralized one. We show that in such setup, high voltage can be advantageously produced using a specific magnetically coupled boost converter, and we point out the influence of the coupling factor, generally considered equal to one, on the overall performance of the converter and on the global energy efficiency of the installation. In this study, the generalized concepts of system energy parameters of DC–DC converters are introduced and applied to the transient analysis. Consequently, the operation of a magnetic coupled DC–DC converter with a recovery stage is modeled. The simulation results are compared with those of the behavioral study, deduced from the model pointing out the large influence of the coupling factor value on the global behavior and mainly on the value of the recovery voltage, in all the various parts of the switching cycle. The renewable energy generator operating parameters, such as current and voltage values, can then be predicted in a more useful way to compute new similar DC–DC converter systems. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Application of Filippov method for the analysis of subharmonic instability in dc–dc converters

We propose a method of estimating the fast‐scale stability margin of dc–dc converters based on Filippov's theory—originally developed for mechanical systems with impacts and stick‐slip motion. In this method one calculates the state transition matrix over a complete clock cycle, and the eigenvalues of this matrix indicate the stability margin. Important components of this matrix are the state transition matrices across the switching events, called saltation matrices. We applied this method to estimate the stability margins of a few commonly used converter and control schemes. Finally, we show that the form of the saltation matrix suggests new control strategies to increase the stability margin, which we experimentally demonstrate using a voltage‐mode‐controlled buck converter. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Graph‐theoretical approach to 2‐switch DC–DC converters

This paper presents a graph‐theoretic approach to analyse and synthesize switch mode DC–DC converters. The result is based on the state‐space averaging equation and the fundamental graph theory. Hence our proposed method is applied to various kinds of DC–DC converters with two switches and topological conditions for two‐switch DC–DC converters are obtained systematically. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fast‐scale stability limits of a two‐stage boost power converter

There are many applications in power electronics that demand high step‐up conversion ratio between the source and the load. A simple way of achieving such a high voltage ratio is by cascading DC–DC boost converters in a few stages. The individual converters in such a cascaded system are usually designed separately applying classical design criteria. This paper investigates the stability of the overall system of a cascade connection of two boost converters under current mode control. We first demonstrate the bifurcation behavior of the system, and it is shown that the desired periodic orbit can undergo fast‐scale period doubling bifurcation leading to subharmonic oscillations and chaotic regimes under parameter variation. The value of the intermediate capacitor is taken as a design parameter, and we determine the minimum ramp slope in the first stage required to maintain stability. It is shown that smaller capacitance values give rise to wider stability range. We explain the bifurcation phenomena using a full‐order model. Then, in order to simplify the analysis and to obtain a closed‐form expression to explain the previous observation, we develop a reduced‐order model by treating the second stage as a current sink. This allows us to obtain design‐oriented stability boundaries in the parameter space by taking into account slope interactions between the state variables in the two stages. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Control and protection scheme of HVDC system with self‐commutated converter in system fault conditions

For extending self‐commutated converter application to future trunk power systems, it is important to develop a stable operation scheme as well as to realize substantial cost reduction through coordinated system and control design. Suppression controls of converter overcurrent and dc overvoltage in various system fault conditions are essential in order to ensure stable operation and cost reduction of HVDC systems with voltage source type self‐commutated converters. Converter control and protection schemes which include such suppression controls have been developed, employing CRIEPI's ac/dc Power System Simulator test and EMTP analysis. This paper first discusses the cause of converter overcurrent at ac system faults, considering the effect of PWM pulse number and converter control speed. Continued operation has been achieved by adding a new overcurrent suppression scheme to the converter control. In the case of a dc line grounding fault, the selection of the grounding circuit constant and the adoption of a high‐speed converter control practically ensure the reduction of dc overvoltage while suppressing converter overcurrent. The converter block and restart sequence after a dc fault, which is coordinated with dc circuit breaker operation, enables stable recovery of HVDC transmission as fast as the usual line‐commutated HVDC system. © 2000 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 132(2): 6–18, 2000     

Soft‐switching converter with low circulating current and wide range of ZVS turn‐on

In this paper, a new hybrid dc–dc converter with low circulating current within the freewheeling interval, wide range of zero‐voltage switching and reduced output current ripple is presented. The proposed hybrid circuit includes two three‐level pulse‐width modulation converters and a series resonant converter with the shard lagging‐leg switches. Series resonant converter is operated at fixed switching frequency (close to series resonant frequency) to extend the zero‐voltage switching range of lagging‐leg switches. The output of series resonant converter is connected to the secondary sides of three‐level converters to produce a positive rectified voltage instead of zero voltage. Hence, the output inductances can be reduced. The reflected positive voltage is used to decrease the circulating current to zero during the freewheeling interval. Therefore, the circulating current losses in three‐level converters are improved. Finally, experiments are presented for a 1.44 kW prototype circuit converting 800 V input to an output voltage 24 V/60A. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A DC voltage converter with a series resonant inverter and asymmetric control of power transistors

The interest in dc converters with a series resonant inverter (resonant converters) is due to the fact that they easily realize switching of semiconductor devices at zero current and zero voltage in a device. This makes it possible to significantly reduce power losses during switching of semiconductor devices and to realize the operation of a dc–dc converter at higher frequencies with a high efficiency. In the foreign literature, many circuits of resonant converters are described and many results of experimental studies are presented. However, the theory of such converters has not been sufficiently developed and theoretical studies are conducted using approximate methods, for example, fundamental-harmonic method. This paper describes the operating principle of the power part of a dc–dc converter with a series resonant inverter with asymmetric control in the discontinuous conduction mode (DCM), when the switching frequency is less than the resonance frequency of the LC circuit. The features of symmetric and asymmetric control of the inverter’s power transistors are described, in which bipolar current pulses are formed in half of the switching period. An algorithm for asymmetric control of transistors is proposed, and a scheme for implementing this algorithm on discrete components in the form of a virtual model in the Matlab–Simulink environment is presented. The results of modeling (transient and steady-state conditions, external characteristics, and other dependences), as well as the results of a comparison of the taken and theoretical (constructed from analytical relationships) characteristics, are presented.     

Calculation of steady‐state solution of parallel‐connected buck converters with active current sharing and its parameter sensitivity

In this paper, the effect of active current‐sharing control on the steady‐state operation of parallel‐connected buck converters is investigated. The system under study consists of N voltage‐mode‐controlled buck converters connected in parallel. Three kinds of active current‐sharing schemes are considered, namely, master–slave scheme with automatic master, master–slave scheme with dedicated master, and democratic scheme. Using the principle of charge balance, the mechanism of the operating point drift arising from active current sharing is examined. A general formulation of the steady‐state solution under active current sharing is derived. Moreover, detailed parameter sensitivity analysis is performed to evaluate the effect of parameters' variation on the operating point. The results from sensitivity analysis can be used to categorize parameters for facilitating practical design. Computer simulations are presented to verify the analytical results. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An Investigation of Size‐Reduction Effects in High Power Density Boost Converters with a Magnetic Coupling

The dc–dc converter using integrated magnetic components that may achieve high power density has gained attention in environmentally friendly cars such as electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles. This paper focused on interleaved boost converters using close‐coupled inductors (CCIs) and loose‐coupled inductors (LCIs) that are the integrated magnetic components. Following, detailed electromagnetically analysis for these circuit types were conducted in order to calculate volume of inductors and capacitors that are occupied the large part of space in the converters. The total volume of inductors and capacitors in these circuits were demonstrated clearly through comparison with conventional circuits such as an interleaved boost converter and a single‐phase boost converter. As a result, it became clear that interleaved boost converter using LCIs was effective for miniaturization of total volume. Furthermore, duty ratio of the minimum volume of CCI method is different from the duty ratio of the minimum volume of LCI method.     

Quasi‐V2 hysteretic control boost DC–DC regulator with synthetic current ripple technique

Conventionally, a high accuracy operational amplifier (OPA)‐based current sensor is used for sensing current message under a full load range, which increases the cost characteristic. Instead of a high accuracy OPA‐based current sensor, this paper describes using a switching inductor quasi‐V² hysteretic control boost dc–dc regulator with a proposed current‐sensing technique named emulated‐ramp feedback (ERF), which can improve transfer efficiency under a full load range. Two control systems are presented in this paper. The first system, a hysteretic voltage control switching boost converter with ERF, achieves the hysteretic voltage control in a boost regulator and lowers the cost characteristic without using compensator. The second system, a quasi‐V² hysteretic voltage control switching boost converter with ERF, demonstrates the compatibility of ERF technique in rippled‐based control boost converters. The regulator was implemented with TSMC 0.25‐µm HV CMOS process. Experimental results show the second system can work under the specification of 5–12 V with a 0 to 300‐mA load range. Additionally, this system attained a recovery time is 27/95 µs for step‐up/step‐down in a 100 to 300‐mA continuous conduction mode load current, and a peak efficiency of 92.1% with a chip area of only 1.014 mm². Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fast Electromagnetic Transient Simulations of Power Systems Utilizing Single‐Phase Phasor‐Based Modeling of Remote Systems

Electromagnetic transient (EMT) simulations of relatively large power systems have become quite common, for instance, in the case where simulations of HVDC converters are carried out with large ac power systems connected to the converters. Thus, the increase in computation time is a serious concern. To reduce computation time, this paper proposes a method to reduce computational demand of a remote power system which is located far from the source of a transient event to be simulated. In the proposed method, the remote power system, which is supposed to be represented by a three‐phase EMT‐based model, is reduced to a single‐phase phasor‐based model, and the size of the circuit to be simulated is thus reduced and the dynamics calculations of inductors and capacitors included in the remote power system are neglected. The calculation algorithm of generator models included in the remote power system is also simplified. The proposed method has been applied to EMT simulations of the WEST 10 benchmark power system prepared by the IEEJ, and it has been shown that the computation time is remarkably reduced without significant loss of accuracy if the portion assumed to be the remote power system is sufficiently far from the source of a transient event.     

Steady‐state stability of shaft torsional oscillation in an ac‐dc interconnected system with self‐commutated converters

Recent progress in power electronics technology makes it possible to consider applying self‐commutated converters using gate turn‐off thyristors (GTOs) to HVDC transmission systems. Since the self‐commutated converter can be operated stably without depending on ac‐side voltage, the magnitude and the phase angle of the converter output voltage can be controlled independently. Therefore, this type of converter will improve voltage stability at its ac side. On the other hand, shaft torsional oscillation of a thermal power plant caused by the interaction between the shaft‐generator system and the control system of the self‐commutated converter is still an open problem. In this paper, a linearized model for eigenvalue analysis of a power system, including HVDC interconnection with self‐commutated converters, is described to analyze the effect of the self‐commutated converter on the shaft torsional oscillation of a thermal power plant. Then, numerical results from the eigenvalue analysis of the shaft torsional oscillation are presented. Results obtained by the frequency response method are also reported. The numerical results make it clear that parameter regions of DC‐AVR and ACR control systems of self‐commutated converters exist where the shaft torsional oscillation may be caused. © 1999 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 128(4): 25–37, 1999     

Prototype Experiments on a 1/32‐Scale Model Via‐Wheel Power Transfer Electric Vehicle

Electric vehicles (EVs) are expected to play a leading role in the changeover from fossil fuels to clean energy. However, EVs are currently not very popular, owing to their short cruising distance and long charging time. Wireless power transfer from the infrastructure to running EVs is expected to be the solution to these problems. Electric vehicle and electrified roadway (EVER) has been proposed as a wireless power transfer system for EVs while in motion. Via‐wheel power transfer (V‐WPT) is expected to be a wireless power transfer scheme for EVER. We designed and prototyped a 1:32 scale model of a V‐WPT system that consists of an RF inverter, an electrified roadway, a rectifier, and an EV with a dc motor. The output power of the prototype RF inverter was 5.9 W and the dc–RF conversion efficiency was 36.6%. The LC matching circuits for the V‐WPT were designed with two‐port conjugate matching because S₁₁ of the V‐WPT was intrinsically –0.06 dB. After matching, the S₁₁ value was reduced to –21.5 dB. The power transmission efficiency of the V‐WPT system was 75%. The RF–dc conversion efficiency of the rectifier was 62%. The total efficiency of the EVER system was 24.2%.