A soft‐switching high step‐up DC‐DC converter with a single magnetic component

A soft‐switching high step‐up DC‐DC converter with a single magnetic component is presented in this paper. The proposed converter can provide high voltage gain with a relatively low turn ratio of a transformer. Voltage doubler structure is selected for the output stage. Due to this structure, the voltage gain can be increased, and the voltage stresses of output diodes are clamped as the output voltage. Moreover, the output diode currents are controlled by a leakage inductance of a transformer, and the reverse‐recovery loss of the output diodes is significantly reduced. Two power switches in the proposed converter can operate with soft‐switching due to the reflected secondary current. The voltages across the power switches are confined to the clamping capacitor voltage. Steady‐state analysis, simulation, and experimental results for the proposed converter are presented to validate the feasibility and the performance of the proposed converter. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An interleaved high step‐up DC‐DC converter with double boost paths

This paper proposed a novel high step‐up converter with double boost paths. The circuit uses two switches and one double‐path voltage multiplier cell to own the double boost and interleaved effects simultaneously. The voltage gain ratio of the proposed DC‐DC converter can be three times the ratio of the conventional boost converter such that the voltage stress of the switch can be lower. The high step‐up performance is in accordance with only one double‐path voltage multiplier cell. Therefore, the number of diodes and capacitors in the proposed converter can be reduced. Furthermore, the interleaved property of the proposed circuit can reduce the losses in the rectifier diode and capacitor. The prototype circuit with 24‐V input voltage, 250‐V output voltage, and 150‐W output power is experimentally realized to verify the validity and effectiveness of the proposed converter. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance analysis and calculation of critical inductance and output voltage ripple of a simple non‐isolated multi‐input bidirectional DC‐DC converter

In this paper, a simple non‐isolated multiple input (MI) bidirectional DC‐DC topology is proposed which can operate in buck, boost, or buck‐boost modes. The proposed topology utilizes a battery pack to realize the bidirectional power flow operation especially when the input sources are non‐storable ones. The excess energy of input sources can be stored in the battery and be injected to the load, when required. Simultaneous or independent power transfer of input sources is also provided. For better evaluation, the proposed topology has been compared with several recently presented novel topologies, from view point of number of inductors, capacitors, switches, and diodes. Comparison results show that the proposed topology utilizes less number of components (switches, inductors, capacitors, and current sensors) which can reduce the size, cost, and complexity of converter. Different operational modes of the proposed topology (unidirectional buck, boost, buck‐boost modes, and bidirectional mode) have been presented. Also, boost mode of the proposed topology has been investigated in detail, from design point of view, and generalized relationships have been proposed for calculation of critical inductance (CI) and output voltage ripple (OVR) of proposed n‐input boost topology. To validate proposed theoretical concepts, the proposed topology has been modeled and simulated in PSCAD/EMTDC software, and the 3‐input boost version has been experimentally implemented. Simulation and experimental results confirm appropriate performance of the proposed topology.     

A ZVS‐ZCS phase shift full bridge DC‐DC converter with secondary‐side control for battery charging applications

The output power requirement of battery charging circuits can vary in a wide range, hence making the use of conventional phase shift full bridge DC‐DC converters infeasible because of poor light load efficiency. In this paper, a new ZVS‐ZCS phase shift full bridge topology with secondary‐side active control has been presented for battery charging applications. The proposed circuit uses 2 extra switches in series with the secondary‐side rectifier diodes, operating with phase shift PWM. With the assistance of transformer's magnetizing inductance, the proposed converter maintains zero voltage switching (ZVS) of the primary‐side switches over the entire load range. The secondary‐side switches regulate the output voltage/current and perform zero current switching (ZCS) independent of the amount of load current. The proposed converter exhibits a significantly better light load efficiency as compared with the conventional phase shift full bridge DC‐DC converter. The performance of the proposed converter has been analyzed on a 1‐kW hardware prototype, and experimental results have been included.     

Analysis and implementation of a high‐efficiency zero‐voltage‐zero‐current‐switching DC–DC converter

A high‐efficiency zero‐voltage‐zero‐current‐switching DC–DC converter with ripple‐free input current is presented. In the presented converter, the ripple‐free boost cell provides ripple‐free input current and zero‐voltage switching of power switches. The resonant flyback cell provides zero‐voltage switching of power switches and zero‐current switching of the output diode. Also, it has a simple output stage. The proposed converter achieves high efficiency because of the reduction of the switching losses of the power switches and the output diode. Detailed analysis and design of the proposed converter are carried out. A prototype of the proposed converter is developed and its experimental results are presented for validation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Novel high step-up DC–DC converter with increased voltage gain per devices and continuous input current suitable for DC microgrid applications

This paper suggests a nonisolated noncoupled inductor-based topology for direct current (DC)–DC converters for DC microgrids. The proposed configuration profits from advantages like high step-up capability, continuous input current, simple structure, reduced normalized standing voltage (NSV) on switches/diodes, large gain per devices, common ground point between source-load, and maximum power point tracking (MPPT) capability. Both the switches (T₁, T₂) are turned on/off simultaneously, which minimizes the number of operational modes and simplifies the control strategy. These properties lead to a more compact, less expensive, and lighter topology. The operational modes and steady-state analysis as well as design considerations have been presented in detail. According to comparative analysis, the voltage conversion ratio per number of devices in suggested topology is higher than that of other similar topologies addressed in literature. The simulation results extracted from PSCAD/EMTDC software and the experimental outcomes obtained from laboratory-scale prototype confirm the effectiveness and correct performance of proposed topology.     

Series resonant high‐voltage DC–DC converter with reduced component count

This paper proposes a novel zero‐current‐switching series resonant high‐voltage DC–DC converter with reduced component count. The series resonant inverter in the proposed topology has two power switches (insulated‐gate bipolar transistors, IGBTs), two resonant capacitors, and only one high‐voltage transformer (HVT) with center‐tapped primary windings. The power switches are connected in the form of a half‐bridge network. The leakage inductances of the transformer's primary windings together with the resonant capacitors form two series resonant circuits. The series resonant circuits are fed alternately by operating the power switches with interleaved half switching cycle. The secondary winding of the HVT is connected to a bridge rectifier circuit to rectify the secondary voltage. The converter operates in the discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) and its output voltage is regulated by pulse frequency modulation. Therefore, all the power switches turn on and off at the zero‐current switching condition. The main features of the proposed converter are its lower core loss, lower cost, and smaller size compared to previously proposed double series resonant high voltage DC–DC converters. The experimental results of a 130‐W prototype of the proposed converter are presented. The results confirm the excellent operation and performance of the converter. © 2016 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Analysis and implementation of a high step‐up converter for fuel cell power‐generation systems

This paper presents a high step‐up converter, which utilizes a three‐winding coupled inductor and a rectified voltage‐doubler circuit to obtain high step‐up gain for fuel cells. The proposed converter functions as an active‐clamp circuit, which relieves large voltage spikes across the power switches. Thus, power switches with low‐voltage‐rated can be utilized to reduce conduction losses and circuit cost. Energy stored in leakage inductances of the coupled inductor is recycled to the output terminal, resulting in efficiency improvements. In addition, the coupled inductor in the presented converter can also have extra windings in order to achieve higher voltage gain. Finally, a prototype circuit with an input voltage of 60 V and an output voltage of 380 V is developed for a 1000 W‐rated fuel cell power‐generation system to validate its performance, and experimental waveforms and measured efficiency under different input voltages and output power level are demonstrated. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis and design of an active‐clamping zero‐voltage‐switching isolated inverse‐SEPIC converter

This paper presents an active‐clamping zero‐voltage‐switching (ZVS) isolated inverse‐SEPIC converter. The high voltage spikes when turning off the switches are eliminated. The energies stored in the parasitic elements can be recycled to achieve the ZVS of switches. Therefore, the conversion efficiency increases substantially, yet with a reduced circuit cost. Detailed analysis and design of the proposed topology are described. Experimental results are recorded for a prototype converter with a DC input voltage ranging from 130 to 180 V, an output voltage of 12 V and a rated output power of 120 W, operating at a switching frequency of 65 kHz. The average active‐mode efficiency is above 88%. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A high step‐up half‐bridge DC/DC converter with a special coupled inductor for input current ripple cancelation and extended voltage doubler circuit for power conditioning of fuel cell systems

This paper presents a high step‐up soft switched dc–dc converter having the feature of current ripple cancelation in the input stage that is specialized for power conditioning of fuel cell systems. The converter comprises a special half‐bridge converter and a rectifier stage based upon the voltage‐doubler circuit, in which the coupled‐inductor technology is amalgamated with switched‐capacitor circuit. The input current with no ripple is the principal characteristics of this topology that is achieved by utilizing a small coupled inductor. In addition, the low clamped voltage stress across both power switches and output diodes is another advantage of the proposed converter, which allows employing the metal–oxide–semiconductor field‐effect transistors with minuscule on‐state resistance and diodes with lower forward voltage‐drop, and thereby, the semiconductors' conduction losses diminish considerably. The inherent nature of this topology handles the switching scheme based on the asymmetrical pulse width modulation in order for switches to establish the zero voltage switching, leading to lower switching losses. Besides, because of the absence of the reverse‐recovery phenomenon, all diodes turn off with zero current switching. At last, a 250‐W laboratory prototype with the input voltage 24 V and output voltage 380 V is implemented to verify the especial features of the proposed converter. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pulse current regenerative resonant snubber‐assisted two‐switch flyback‐type ZVS PWM DC‐DC converter

In this paper, a two‐switch high‐frequency flyback transformer‐type zero voltage soft‐switching PWM DC‐DC converter using IGBTs is proposed. Effective applications for this power converter can be found in auxiliary power supplies of rolling stock transportation and electric vehicles. This power converter is basically composed of two active power switches and a flyback high‐frequency transformer. In addition to these, two passive lossless snubbers with power regeneration loops for energy recovery, consisting of a three‐winding auxiliary high‐frequency transformer, auxiliary capacitors and diodes are introduced to achieve zero voltage soft switching from light to full load conditions. Furthermore, this power converter has some advantages such as low cost circuit configuration, simple control scheme, and high efficiency. Its operating principle is described and to determine circuit parameters, some practical design considerations are discussed. The effectiveness of the proposed power converter is evaluated and compared with the hard switching PWM DC‐DC converter from an experimental point of view, and the comparative electromagnetic conduction and radiation noise characteristics of both DC‐DC power converter circuits are also depicted. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 152(3): 74–81, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20081     

High‐power‐factor single‐switch AC to DC converter for LED lighting

In this paper, we report a novel single‐switch AC to DC step‐down converter suitable for light emitting diodes. The proposed topology has a buck and a buck–boost converter. The circuit is designed to operate in the discontinuous conduction mode in order to improve the power factor. In this topology, a part of the input power is connected to the load directly. This feature of the proposed topology increases the efficiency of power conversion, improves the input power factor, produces less voltage stress on intermediate stages, and reduces the output voltage in the absence of a step‐down transformer. The theoretical analysis, design procedure, and performance of the proposed converter are verified by simulation and experiment. A 36 V, 60 W prototype has been built to demonstrate the merits of this circuit. © 2017 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Two‐switch flyback PWM DC‐DC converter in continuous‐conduction mode

The two‐switch flyback DC‐DC converter is an extended version of the conventional single‐switch flyback converter. An additional switch and two clamping diodes serve as a simple, but an effective way to limit the switch overvoltages, which occur in the conventional single‐switch flyback converter due to the ringing of the resonant circuit formed by the transformer leakage inductance and the transistor output capacitance. The clamping diodes in the two‐switch flyback topology clamp the maximum voltage across each switch equal to the DC input voltage. This paper presents a detailed steady‐state analysis and design procedure of the diode‐clamped two‐switch flyback converter operated in continuous‐conduction mode (CCM). The power loss in each component of the two‐switch flyback converter is compared with those of the single‐switch flyback converters with and without RCD clamp, and is presented in a tabular form. The two‐switch flyback converter was bread‐boarded to validate the theoretical analysis. Experimental results from a 10 V/30 W, 100 kHz laboratory prototype verified that the maximum switch voltage is limited to the DC input voltage. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

一种适用于高压输入的零电压开关双管推挽直流变压器

提出了一种适用于高压输入的零电压开关双管推挽直流变压器。该拓扑用两只开关管串联代替传统推挽电路中的单只开关管，并引入了2只箝位二极管，将开关管的电压应力箝位在输入电压，利用变压器漏感和开关管的结电容实现了开关管的零电压开关。同时副边采用带箝位电容的全波整流电路，消除了采用传统全波整流时副边整流管反向恢复引起的电压尖峰和电压振荡，有效地降低了电磁干扰。该文详细分析了变换器的工作原理，讨论了变换器的输出特性、零电压开通条件和箝位电容的选取，最后在一台2kW的原理样机上进行验证，满载时效率高达95.8%。     

A new single‐phase multilevel converter topology with reduced power electronic devices,voltage rating on switches,and power losses

In this paper, a new extended single‐phase structure for multilevel converter is presented which consists of several bidirectional and unidirectional switches along with dc voltage sources. To generate all possible levels at output voltage waveform, 2 methods are presented for determination of the amplitudes of dc voltage sources. The proposed structure is compared with traditional cascade H‐bridge multilevel converter and other recently proposed structures in terms of the number of power electronic components, voltage rating on switches, and power losses. Based on the comparison results, it is demonstrated that the proposed structure needs minimum number of IGBTs, gate drivers, and anti‐parallel diodes. Moreover, the voltage rating on bidirectional and unidirectional switches in the proposed structure is less than other similar topologies. Also, power losses analysis on the proposed topology is investigated. It is shown that the power loss of proposed topology is less than H‐bridge multilevel converter topology. The number of on‐state switches in the current path of proposed topology is much lower than other topologies which lead to the reduction of voltage drop on the switches and power losses. Both experimental and simulation works are provided to verify the performance of the presented structure.     

一种输入低压大电流/输出高电压高频组合式直流变换器

针对飞机航空电源高可靠性和高功率密度的要求,提出并采用了一种输入低压大电流/输出高电压的组合式变换器.该组合式变换器以双管正激变换器为基本构成单元,输入端同时采用电路模块并联和功率开关管并联方式来提高输入导电电流能力,输出端采用电路串联的方式来提高输出电压能力.由于采用交错并联(interleaving)控制技术、以及利用功率MOSFET导通电阻的正温度系数特性,组合式变换器除具有双管正激变换器的内部桥臂抗直通能力强的优点外,还具有所有功率开关管自然均流、输入输出电压增益高、输出端二极管电压应力低、以及输入和输出滤波器体积小重量轻等特点.本文对该组合式变换器拓扑进行了详细的分析和仿真,并应用于某型号航空电源.     

Hybrid DC–DC converter with high efficiency,wide ZVS range,and less output inductance

In this paper, a new soft switching direct current (DC)–DC converter with low circulating current, wide zero voltage switching range, and reduced output inductor is presented for electric vehicle or plug‐in hybrid electric vehicle battery charger application. The proposed high‐frequency link DC–DC converter includes two resonant circuits and one full‐bridge phase‐shift pulse‐width modulation circuit with shared power switches in leading and lagging legs. Series resonant converters are operated at fixed switching frequency to extend the zero voltage switching range of power switches. Passive snubber circuit using one clamp capacitor and two rectifier diodes at the secondary side is adopted to reduce the primary current of full‐bridge converter to zero during the freewheeling interval. Hence, the circulating current on the primary side is eliminated in the proposed converter. In the same time, the voltage across the output inductor is also decreased so that the output inductance can be reduced compared with the output inductance in conventional full‐bridge converter. Finally, experiments are presented for a 1.33‐kW prototype circuit converting 380 V input to an output voltage of 300–420 V/3.5 A for battery charger applications. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Design of a ZVS PWM DC–DC converter for high gain applications

In this paper, a pulse width modulation DC‐DC converter with high step‐up voltage gain is proposed. The proposed converter achieves high step‐up voltage gain with appropriate duty ratio, coupled inductor, and voltage multiplier technique. The energy stored in the leakage inductor of the coupled inductor can be recycled in the proposed converter. Moreover, because both main and auxiliary switches can be turned on with zero‐voltage switching, switching loss can be reduced by soft‐switching technique. So the overall conversion efficiency is improved significantly. The theoretical steady‐state analyses and the operating principles of the proposed converter are discussed in detail for both continuous conduction mode and discontinuous conduction mode. Finally, a laboratory prototype circuit of the proposed converter is implemented to verify the performance of the proposed converter. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A single‐stage LED streetlight driver with PFC and digital PWM dimming capability

This paper proposes a single‐stage light‐emitting diode (LED) driver that offers power‐factor correction and digital pulse–width modulation (PWM) dimming capability for streetlight applications. The presented LED streetlight driver integrates an alternating current–direct current (AC–DC) converter with coupled inductors and a half‐bridge‐type LLC DC–DC resonant converter into a single‐stage circuit topology. The sub‐circuit of the AC–DC converter with coupled inductors is designed to be operated in discontinuous‐conduction mode for achieving input‐current shaping. Zero‐voltage switching of two active power switches and zero‐current switching of two output‐rectifier diodes in the presented LED driver decrease the switching losses; thus, the circuit efficiency is increased. A prototype driver for powering a 144‐W‐rated LED streetlight module with input utility‐line voltages ranging from 100 to 120 V is implemented and tested. The proposed streetlight driver features cost‐effectiveness, high circuit efficiency, high power factor, low levels of input‐current harmonics, and a digital PWM dimming capability ranging from 20% to 100% output rated LED power, which is fulfilled by a micro‐controller. Satisfying experimental results, including dimming tests, verify the feasibility of the proposed LED streetlight driver. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An extensible two‐phase high voltage‐boosting converter with automatic current balance

In this study, an extensible 2‐phase interleaved high step‐up converter with automatic current balance is presented. This converter uses coupled inductors and energy‐transferring capacitors to improve the voltage gain of the traditional 2‐phase interleaved boost converter as well as employs these energy transferring capacitors to do automatic current balance. Furthermore, the voltage gain can be enhanced not only by adjusting the turns ratio but also by increasing the numbers of phases, diodes, and energy‐transferring capacitors. Therefore, it can be used in high input current and high step‐up voltage applications. In this paper, the basic operating principles of the proposed converter are described and analyzed, and finally, its effectiveness is demonstrated by experiment. In addition, the field‐programmable gate array, named EP13T100C8N and manufactured by Altera Co, is used as a control kernel, and an experimental prototype, with input voltage of 12 V, output voltage of 200 V, and rated output power of 200 W, is given to provide the effectiveness of the proposed converter.