A new method to regulate resonant converters

A resonant frequency-modulation method is presented as an alternative to the switching frequency-modulation method to regulate resonant converters. A switch-controlled inductor and switch-controlled capacitor, in which switching losses are found to be very low due to zero-current or zero-voltage switching, are developed to do so. A new family of resonant converters that are regulated at a fixed switching frequency is proposed. A steady-state analysis of the Class E resonant converter regulated by a switch-controlled capacitor is presented. Theoretical and experimental results verify the validity of the proposed method. The efficiency measured from a breadboard of 1 MHz, 5 V, 25 W Class E regulated resonant DC-DC converter is up to 83%     

Bidirectional DC resonant converter with magnetic-coupling current balance

This paper studied a bidirectional frequency-control dc converter with magnetic-coupling to achieve 1) current balance on low voltage side, 2) low switching losses on power devices, and 3) bidirectional power transfer capability. The developed circuit is basically constructed by half-bridge circuits on input and output sides. LLC resonant tank with frequency-control is used to obtain low switching losses on power devices. Magnetic-coupling element is used to achieve current balance on low voltage side. Synchronous rectifiers are employed on low voltage and high current side to decrease power losses and increase circuit efficiency. The effectiveness of the studied circuit is verified from a 720 W laboratory prototype.     

Soft switching resonant converter with duty-cycle control in DC micro-grid system

Resonant converter has been widely used for the benefits of low switching losses and high circuit efficiency. However, the wide frequency variation is the main drawback of resonant converter. This paper studies a new modular resonant converter with duty-cycle control to overcome this problem and realise the advantages of low switching losses, no reverse recovery current loss, balance input split voltages and constant frequency operation for medium voltage direct currentgrid or system network. Series full-bridge (FB) converters are used in the studied circuit in order to reduce the voltage stresses and power rating on power semiconductors. Flying capacitor is used between two FB converters to balance input split voltages. Two circuit modules are paralleled on the secondary side to lessen the current rating of rectifier diodes and the size of magnetic components. The resonant tank is operated at inductive load circuit to help power switches to be turned on at zero voltage with wide load range. The pulse-width modulation scheme is used to regulate output voltage. Experimental verifications are provided to show the performance of the proposed circuit.     

Asymmetrical pulse-width-modulated resonant DC/DC convertertopologies

This paper presents asymmetrical pulse-width-modulated (APWM) DC/DC resonant converter topologies that exhibit near-zero switching losses while operating at constant and very high frequencies. The converters include a bridged chopper to convert the DC input voltage to a high-frequency unidirectional AC voltage, which in turn is fed to a high-frequency transformer through a resonant circuit. The bridged chopper has two switches that alternately conduct. The duty cycles of the conduction of the switches are complementary with one another and are varied to control the output voltage. Three resonant circuit configurations suitable for this type of control are presented. Frequency domain analysis of the converter is given, and performance characteristics are presented. Experimental results for a 48-5 V, 30 W converter show an efficiency of 88% at a constant operating frequency of 1 MHz     

Series resonant converter with auxiliary winding turns: analysis,design and implementation

Conventional series resonant converters have researched and applied for high-efficiency power units due to the benefit of its low switching losses. The main problems of series resonant converters are wide frequency variation and high circulating current. Thus, resonant converter is limited at narrow input voltage range and large input capacitor is normally adopted in commercial power units to provide the minimum hold-up time requirement when AC power is off. To overcome these problems, the resonant converter with auxiliary secondary windings are presented in this paper to achieve high voltage gain at low input voltage case such as hold-up time duration when utility power is off. Since the high voltage gain is used at low input voltage cased, the frequency variation of the proposed converter compared to the conventional resonant converter is reduced. Compared to conventional resonant converter, the hold-up time in the proposed converter is more than 40ms. The larger magnetising inductance of transformer is used to reduce the circulating current losses. Finally, a laboratory prototype is constructed and experiments are provided to verify the converter performance.     

Self-sustained oscillating resonant converters operating above theresonant frequency

This paper presents a new control technique for resonant converters. Unlike conventional variable frequency control which externally imposes the switching frequency, the proposed scheme is based on controlling the displacement angle between one of the resonant circuit variables, typically the current through the resonant inductor, and the voltage at the output of the inverter. As a result, zero-voltage switching (ZVS) can be ensured over a wide operating range. The proposed control technique cam be applied for series, parallel, and series-parallel resonant converters. As an example, the static characteristics and dynamic model of a series-parallel resonant converter with the proposed controller are derived and the system behaviour is investigated in detail. Experimental results are given to demonstrate the operation of resonant converters with the proposed controller and to validate the analysis     

Efficient resonant power conversion

The DC analysis of a series-resonant converter operating above resonant frequency is presented. The results are used to analyze the current form factor and its effect on the efficiency. The selection of the switching frequency to maximize the efficiency is considered. The derived expressions are generalized and can be applied to calculations in any of the switching modes for a series-resonant circuit. For switching frequencies higher than the resonant frequency, an area of more efficient operation is indicated which will aid in the design of this class of converters and power supplies. It is pointed out that (especially for power MOSFETs where ohmic losses dominate) it is more attractive to select switching frequencies that are higher than the resonant frequency because of the possibility of nondissipative snubbers. Slowing down the rise of the gate voltage and, hence, the slow decrease of ON resistance during turn-on is also not a drawback to high-frequency switching. Because of this safer operation, the standard intrinsic diode of the power MOSFET could be used at high frequencies instead of the more expensive FREDFET     

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     

An improved ZCT-PWM DC-DC converter for high-power and frequency applications

In this paper, an improved active resonant snubber cell that overcomes most of the drawbacks of the normal zero-current transition (ZCT) pulsewidth-modulation (PWM) dc-dc converter is proposed. This snubber cell is especially suitable for an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) PWM converter at high power and frequency levels. The converter with the proposed snubber cell can operate successfully with soft switching under light-load conditions and at considerably high frequencies. The operation principles, a detailed steady-state analysis, and a snubber design procedure of a ZCT-PWM buck converter implemented with the proposed snubber cell are presented. Theoretical analysis is verified with a prototype of a 5-kW and 50-kHz IGBT-PWM buck converter. Additionally, at 90% output power, the overall efficiency of the proposed soft switching converter increases to about 98% from the value of 91% in the hard-switching case.     

Analysis and implementation of a dual-output LLC resonant converter

This article analyses and presents an LLC resonant converter with a high power factor for LCD-TV applications. It integrates the advantages of power factor correction and the LLC resonant converter. It can improve not only power quality but also circuit efficiency. Since the power factor corrector is used in the first stage of the LLC resonant converter, it is suitable for wide input voltage range application. On the basis of the resonant behaviour, zero voltage switching is achieved for the power switches and ZCS is achieved for the rectifier diodes. An experimental prototype of 90–260V _rms input and 12V/10A and ?12V/10A outputs with 92.6% efficiency for 32″ LCD-TV application is built in the laboratory to verify the operation principle of the adopted converter.     

Reliability considerations in pulsed power resonant conversion

This work is about the analysis of reliability issues in pulsed power resonant converters, which feature fairly unique operational characteristics, differentiating them substantially from more common power electronics applications (e.g., inverters, dc–dc converters). First, an overview of the converter functioning is provided; then, an a priori minimisation of the electro-thermal stress levels affecting the active switches (IGBTs) is searched for: this is based on an experimental parametric study of the turn-off snubber and of the DC-link capacitance value for which the overall switching power losses can be minimised. Accurate measurements of the switching losses in the IGBT modules are performed by means of a calorimetric technique. Finally, infra-red measurements of the IGBTs surface temperature during transient operation are presented, showing that the introduction of soft-switching strongly reduces the amplitude of lower frequency thermal cycles.     

Design and analysis of switched-capacitor-based step-up resonant converters

A switched-capacitor-based step-up resonant converter is proposed. The voltage conversion of the converters is in step-up mode. By adding a different number of switched-capacitor cells, different output voltage conversion ratios can be obtained. The voltage conversion ratio from 2 to any whole number can therefore be generated by these switching-capacitor techniques. A resonant tank is used to assist in zero-current switching hence the current spike, which usually exists for classical switched-capacitor can be eliminated. Both high-frequency operations and high efficiency are possible. Generalized analysis and design method of the converters are also presented. Experimental results verified the theoretical analysis.     

Self-sustained phase-shift modulated resonant converters: modeling, design, and performance

This paper presents an improved control technique for the full bridge series, parallel, and series-parallel resonant converters. This control technique combines a self-sustained oscillation mode with a phase shift modulation technique that can significantly reduce the range of frequency variation necessary for obtaining zero voltage switching in the resonant converters. This frequency reduction provides optimized component ratings and operating frequency. A simple and accurate low order mathematical model based on the sampled data technique that fully describes the steady-state, and dynamic performance of the resonant converters, has been developed. A refinement algorithm is developed to enhance the accuracy of the modeling technique and the converter design. The improved converter performance and the feasibility of the developed dynamic model have been investigated using the series-parallel resonant converter topology with a capacitive output filter. Finally, MATLAB numerical solutions, PSIM simulation results, and experimental results are given to highlight the merits of the proposed work.     

Phase-controlled series-parallel resonant converter

A constant-frequency, phase-controlled, series-parallel resonant DC-DC converter is introduced, analyzed in the frequency domain, and experimentally verified. To obtain the DC-DC converter, two identical series-parallel resonant inverters are paralleled and the resulting phase-controlled resonant inverter is loaded by a voltage-driven rectifier. The converter can regulate the output voltage at a constant switching frequency in the range of load resistance from full-load resistance to infinity while maintaining good part-load efficiency. The efficiency of the converter is almost independent of the input voltage. For switching frequencies slightly above the resonant frequency, power switches are always inductively loaded, which is very advantageous if MOSFETs are used as switches. Experimentally results are given for a converter with a center-tapped rectifier at an output power of 52 W and a switching frequency of 127 kHz. The measured current imbalance between the two inverters was as low as 1.2:1     

An isolated bridgeless AC-DC PFC converter using a LC resonant voltage doubler rectifier

This paper proposed an isolated bridgeless AC–DC power factor correction (PFC) converter using a LC resonant voltage doubler rectifier. The proposed converter is based on isolated conventional single-ended primary inductance converter (SEPIC) PFC converter. The conduction loss of rectification is reduced than a conventional one because the proposed converter is designed to eliminate a full-bridge rectifier at an input stage. Moreover, for zero-current switching (ZCS) operation and low voltage stresses of output diodes, the secondary of the proposed converter is designed as voltage doubler with a LC resonant tank. Additionally, an input–output electrical isolation is provided for safety standard. In conclusion, high power factor is achieved and efficiency is improved. The operational principles, steady-state analysis and design equations of the proposed converter are described in detail. Experimental results from a 60 W prototype at a constant switching frequency 100 kHz are presented to verify the performance of the proposed converter.     

Super-resonant converter with switched resonant inductor withPFM-PWM control

The efficiency of the series-resonant power converters is proved to increase with the improvement of the current form factor of the resonant current. The application of “soft-switching” reduces the switching losses. The maximum value for the pulse frequency in a super-resonant converter is limited by the introduction of a method of pulse width modulation. To improve the current form factor a second inductance is placed in the output side of the converter. This inductance is alternately included in the resonant circuit. The paper offers graphical presentation of the characteristics made to select the choice of the best suitable relationship between the resonant and output inductances and to support the design. The role of the parasitic elements of a transformer is specified     

Nonresonant and resonant coupled zero voltage switching converters

Two zero-voltage switching power converters with nonresonant and resonant coupling are presented. These are high-order multiple resonant converters in which the circuit modes associated with the converter operation may have different resonant frequencies. The steady-state responses of these converters are derived in terms of state-plane diagrams by using proper state variable transformations. It is shown that the converters have all the desirable features for high-frequency applications and overcome the drawback of load-range limitation of zero-voltage switching associated with the conventional class-E converter     

Loss performance and efficiency comparison of resonant gate drivers

In an effort to reduce switching and gate-drive losses in power converters when the energy density is increased by increasing the switching frequency, various resonant gate drivers (RGDs) based on a current source have been proposed to drive metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors in low-voltage high-current power converters. The resonant gate drivers enable high efficiency owing to energy recovery and the reduction of switching losses. Recently, many studies have been performed on the design of new topologies and loss analyses. Despite numerous proposed studies on RGDs, a comparative study based on a theoretical analysis has not been carried out. In this paper, a theoretical loss analysis in terms of the conduction, switching and gate-drive losses is presented according to the operation stages. In particular, the conduction loss has been expressed in terms of a general loss model that can generally applied to all topologies. Five RGD topologies are evaluated for their efficiency performance with analytical expressions and features based on several operating conditions.     

A high efficiency, soft switching DC-DC converter with adaptive current-ripple control for portable applications

A novel control scheme for improving the power efficiency of low-voltage dc-dc converters for battery-powered, portable applications is presented. In such applications, light-load efficiency is crucial for extending battery life, since mobile devices operate in stand-by mode for most of the time. The proposed technique adaptively reduces the inductor current ripple with decreasing load current while soft switching the converter to also reduce switching losses, thereby significantly improving light-load efficiency and therefore extending the operation life of battery-powered devices. A load-dependent, mode-hopping strategy is employed to maintain high efficiency over a wide load range. Hysteretic (sliding-mode) control with user programmable hysteresis is implemented to adaptively regulate the current ripple and therefore optimize conduction and switching losses. Experimental results show that for a 1-A, 5- to 1.8-V buck regulator, the proposed technique achieved 5% power efficiency improvement (from 72% to 77%) at 100 mA of load current and a 1.5% improvement (from 84% to 85.5%) at 300 mA, which constitute light-load efficiency improvements, when compared to the best reported, state-of-the-art techniques. As a result, the battery life in a typical digital signal processing microprocessor application is improved by 7%, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed solution.     

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.