Zero average current error controlled power flow for AC-DC powerconverters

Unity and controlled power factor AC-DC power converters require a current control technique with zero average current error (ZACE) in each switching period. Acting on the current error signal alone, a ZACE controlled converter offers complete real and reactive power flow control with negligible low order current harmonics, a narrow switching frequency band, and relative immunity to DC link or AC line voltage harmonics. Slope-generated hysteresis, a new ZACE current control method is introduced. Simulation and experimental results in a three phase converter are presented     

新型单相软开关AC-DC-AC变换器

为改善单相AC-DC-AC变换器的性能,提出了一种单相谐振直流环节零电压开关AC-DC-AC功率变换器拓扑结构,由图腾柱式单相整流器,位于直流环节的辅助谐振电路和单相全桥逆变器组成.利用同一组辅助电路能分别将整流器输出端电压和逆变器输入端电压变化到零,使整流器和逆变器桥臂上的开关器件分别实现零电压切换.分析了电路的工作流程,在1.2kW样机上的实验结果表明开关器件完成了软切换.该拓扑结构对于研发节能型单相AC-DC-AC变换器具有借鉴意义.     

Single-stage three-phase buck-boost type AC-DC converter with highpower factor

A new control process for single-stage three-phase buck-boost type AC-DC power converters with high power factor, sinusoidal input currents and adjustable output voltage is proposed. This converter allows variable power factor operation, but this work focus on achieving unity power factor. The proposed control method includes a fast and robust input current controller based on a vectorial sliding mode approach. The active nonlinear control strategy applied to this power converter, allows high quality input currents. Given the comparatively slow dynamics of the DC output voltage, a proportional integral (PI) controller is adopted to regulate the converter output voltage. The voltage controller modulates the amplitudes of the current references, which are sinusoidal and synchronous with the input source voltages. Experimental results from a laboratory prototype show the high power factor and the low harmonic distortion characteristics of the circuit     

Link voltage peak control of parallel resonant converter by controlof the converter switching instant

This paper describes a new control strategy of the parallel resonant DC link converter called voltage peak control (VPC). VPC limits the link voltage to twice the DC link voltage. The strategy eliminates the need of additional power electronic components that clamp the link voltage. The operation of the resonant link is described highlighting the factors that influence on the link voltage peak. The paper describes how control of the link voltage peak is possible by appropriate timing of the converter switching. The VPC strategy is implemented in a parallel resonant DC link converter, and simulations with the VPC strategy turned on and turned off are compared. Experimental verification of the VPC strategy is done in a three-phase parallel resonant DC link converter and measurements of switching losses are present. It is concluded that the switching losses are low and the link voltage peak can be controlled without any additional clamp circuits using VPC     

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.     

Voltage and current stress reduction in single-stage power factorcorrection AC/DC converters with bulk capacitor voltage feedback

Single-stage power factor correction (PFC) AC/DC converters integrate a boost-derived input current shaper (ICS) with a flyback or forward DC/DC converter in one single stage. The ICS can be operated in either discontinuous current mode (DCM) or continuous current mode (CCM), while the flyback or forward DC/DC converter is operated in CCM. Almost all single-stage PFC AC/DC converters suffer from high bulk capacitor voltage stress and extra switch current stress. The bulk capacitor voltage feedback with a coupled winding structure is widely used to reduce both the voltage and current stresses in practical single-stage PFC AC/DC converters. This paper presents a detailed analysis of the bulk capacitor voltage feedback, including the relationship between bulk capacitor voltage, input current harmonics, voltage feedback ratio, and load condition. The maximum bulk capacitor voltage appears when the DC/DC converter operates at the boundary between CCM and DCM. This paper also reveals that only the voltage feedback ratio determines the input current harmonics under DCM ICS and CCM DC/DC operation. The theoretical prediction of the bulk capacitor voltage as well as the predicted input harmonic contents is verified experimentally on a 60 W AC/DC converter with universal-line input     

Novel Current-Mode AC/AC Converters With High-Frequency AC Link

A novel circuit-topology family of the current-mode AC/AC converter with high-frequency AC link, based on a Flyback converter, is proposed. These circuit topologies, which can transfer one unregulated sinusoidal voltage with high total harmonic distortion (THD) into another regulated constant-frequency sinusoidal voltage with low THD, are composed of input cycloconverter, high-frequency storage transformer, and output cycloconverter. The circuit-topology family includes single four-quadrant power switch mode, push-pull mode, half-bridge mode, and full-bridge mode circuits. The single four-quadrant power switch mode and push-pull mode converters are suitable for low input voltage fields, but the half-bridge mode and full-bridge mode converters are suitable for high input voltage fields. The operational mode, steady principle, and transient voltage feedback control strategy of the kind of converter are investigated. The output characteristic curve, its relation to internal resistance, and the design criteria for the key circuit parameters are given. The theoretical analysis and the test result of the 500 VA 220 V 15% 50 HzAC/220 V 50 HzAC prototype have shown that the converters have advantages such as high-frequency galvanic isolation, simple topology, two-stage power conversion [low frequency alternating current (LFAC)/high frequency alternating current (HFAC)/LFAC], bidirectional power flow, high efficiency, high power density, low THD of the output voltage, strong adaptability to various loads, higher line power factor, low audio noise, etc.     

An active power factor correction technique for three-phase dioderectifiers

A novel active power factor correction method for power supplies with three-phase front-end diode rectifiers is proposed and analyzed. The implementation of this method requires the use of an additional single switch boost chopper. The combined front-end converter draws sinusoidal AC currents from the AC source with nearly unity input power factor while operating at a fixed switching frequency. It is shown that when the active input power factor correction stage is also used to regulate the converter DC bus voltage, the converter performance can improve substantially in comparison with the conventional three-phase AC-to-DC converters. These improvements include component count reduction, simplified input synchronization logic requirements, and smaller filter refractive components. Theoretical results are verified experimentally. The proposed method has the disadvantage of substantially increasing the current stresses of the switching devices and the high-frequency ripple content of the prefiltered AC input currents     

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.     

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.     

A new modulation strategy for a buck-boost input AC/DC converter

This paper presents a novel modulation strategy for a power factor corrected (PFC), isolated AC/DC converter derived from the integration of a nonisolated, two switch buck-boost AC/DC converter with an isolated dual active bridge DC/DC converter (2SBBDAB). This strategy, termed discontinuous leading/trailing edge (DLTE) modulation, serves to maximize the duty cycle of the input switch while keeping the current in the buck-boost inductor discontinuous. Hence, the crest factors of the currents in the switching devices are minimized, the input switch is turned on at zero current and the zero-voltage switching ranges of the bridge switches are unaffected by the integration. A conventional isolated, PFC AC/DC converter typically consists of a boost converter cascaded with a forward converter. The ratings required of the power switching devices of the 2SBBDAB employing the DLTE modulation strategy are similar to those required of the conventional design for wide line voltage operation. However, the 2SBBDAB converter has higher line voltage surge immunity than that of the conventional design and, unlike the conventional design, it has inherent inrush current limiting. The DLTE modulation strategy may be applied to the family of converters composed of the two switch buck-boost integrated with half and full-bridge forward converters     

Operation of the LCC-type parallel resonant converter as a lowharmonic rectifier

A single-phase high-frequency transformer isolated single-stage AC-to-DC controlled rectifier with low line current harmonic distortion using a variable-frequency controlled LCC-type (or series-parallel) resonant power converter (SPRC) is presented. A simple analysis and design procedure is used for designing the converter for low line current harmonic distortion and high power factor operation. The converter performance characteristics have been verified with SPICE3 simulations (without active control) and experimental prototype SPRC (rated at 150 W, with and without active control) for variation in load as well as line voltage. When operated with active current shaping, this converter operates in zero-voltage-switching mode for the complete range, maintaining power factor close to unity with low line current distortion and low peak current compared to the parallel resonant converter     

Operation of high-frequency resonant converters on the utility linewith improved characteristics

Operation and characteristics of Class-D-type resonant converters on the utility line are presented. Two types of resonant converters (LCC- and LCL-type) operating with variable frequency control as well as variable pulse width (fixed frequency) are considered. Analysis and simple design procedures (with design examples) are given. SPICE simulation and experimental results obtained for the designed converters (rated at 250 W) are presented to verify the theory. It is shown that high-line power factor (PF) (>0.95) and line-current total harmonic distortion (THD) of <25% are obtained for the LCC-type converter (with a capacitor ratio of one) for a wide-load range (from full load to 10% rated load) without any active control, and the switch-peak current decreases with the load current. Although the LCL-type converter gives about 20% THD at full load, it increases to about 29% at lighter loads. However, the LCL-type resonant converter can operate in lagging PF mode for the entire line cycle and for a wide-load variation     

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.     

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     

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.     

A unity power factor resonant AC/DC converter for high-frequencyspace power distribution system

This paper presents analysis and design of a resonant AC/DC converter topology, suitable for use in an advanced single-phase, sine-wave voltage, high-frequency power distribution system of the type that was proposed for a 20 kHz space station primary electrical power distribution system. The converter comprises a transformer, a double-tuned resonant network comprising of series- and parallel-tuned branches, a controlled rectifier, and an output filter. Symmetrical phase control technique that generates fundamental AC current in phase with the input voltage is employed. Steady-state analysis of the converter in continuous current mode of operation is provided, and the performance characteristics presented. The proposed converter has close-to-unity rated power factor (greater than 0.98), a wide range of output voltage control (0%-100%), low total harmonic distortion in input current (less than 8%), and high conversion efficiency. Finally, selected experimental results of a bread-board converter are presented     

DC voltage sensorless single-phase PFC converter

We propose a simple DC voltage sensorless single phase PFC converter by detecting an AC line voltage waveform. Both DC voltage and AC current sensors used in the conventional PFC converter are not required to construct the control system. The conventional converter circuit with a boost chopper circuit in the DC side from a rectifier circuit is used as the main PFC converter circuit. In the control system, the circuit parameters such as a series inductance L and equivalent load resistance value R/sub d/ are used to generate the sinusoidal current waveform. The DC voltage is directly controlled by the command input signal k/sub d/(=E/sub d//E/sub a/) for the boost chopper circuit. The DC voltage regulation is small because of the feed forward control for the AC line voltage E/sub a/ and no dependence of the circuit parameters. The sinusoidal current waveform in phase with the AC line voltage can be obtained. The feasibility of the proposed control system is verified by some simulation and experimental results.     

Input power factor control of AC-DC series resonant DC linkconverter using PID operation

This paper proposes a method of power factor control for the three-phase input current of AC-DC series resonant DC link power converter systems. The proposed system has fast response, using high frequency resonance, soft switching (zero current switching), and natural commutation of thyristor switches. By implementing the PID operation strategy for switching control, the system performs reliable operation in the input power factor control, and the elimination of higher harmonic components can be achieved dramatically. The numerical and experimental results are presented in this paper     

Three phase bridge current controller with single sensor

Control of phase currents in a three-phase voltage source inverter bridge is important for electric drives and unity power factor converters. To reduce equipment costs and overcome unequal sensor errors, the use of a single DC link current sensor is important. A new technique is described which uses redundant bridge switching states to allow current control with a DC link current sensor