Properties and synthesis of passive lossless soft-switching PWMconverters

This paper derives general topological and electrical properties common to all lossless passive soft-switching power converters with defined characteristics, and proposes a synthesis procedure for the creation of new power converters. The synthesis procedure uses the properties to determine all possible locations for the resonant inductors and capacitors added to achieve soft switching. A set of circuit cells is then used to recover the energy stored in these resonant elements. This paper also explains the operation of the circuit cells and the many new passive lossless soft-switching power converters. A family of soft-switching boost converters is given as an example of the synthesis procedure. Experimental waveforms are also shown for a new soft-switching Cuk converter     

A composite soft-switching inverter configuration with unipolarpulsewidth modulation control

This paper presents a new composite soft-switching configuration for single-phase inverters where power bridge leg modules are used. The presented configuration consists of only one inductor and one capacitor as well as two low-power-rated switches/diodes for full-bridge circuits. It can realize snubber functions and/or resonant zero-current switching at any load current for switches in power inverters with unipolar sinusoid pulse width modulation control. The idea presented here is that soft-switching processes at turn-on and turn-off for each active switch in inverters can be different. The detailed circuit operational processes, simulation waveforms, and experimental results are included     

Single phase three-level power factor correction circuit with passive lossless snubber

Multilevel conversion techniques, power factor correction (PFC) techniques and soft switching techniques are the three research hot points of power electronics. The paper proposes a single phase three-level PFC circuit with passive lossless snubbers which embodies these trends. Firstly, the three-level buck and boost topologies are derived from one bridge leg of the traditional diode clamped three-level inverters. Then, a single phase three-level PFC circuit is presented based on the three-level boost topology, and the principle and implementation approaches of the three-level PFC circuit are described. To realize the soft switching of the main switches and freewheeling diodes, two passive lossless snubber cells are added to the circuit. The operating principle and design considerations of the new circuit are discussed in detail. Finally, a 2 kW prototype of the single phase three-level PFC with the passive lossless snubber is built and tested. The simulated and experimental results indicate that the proposed circuit can realize the function of three-level PFC, increase system efficiency and have no over-voltage stresses on main power switches. Moreover, the power factor of the proposed circuit with the passive lossless snubber is higher than that of the circuit without the snubber.     

中小功率三相高频节能型谐振直流环节逆变器

为使中小功率三相逆变器实现在高开关频率下的节能运行,首次提出了一种新型三相谐振直流环节逆变器拓扑结构.设置在逆变器直流环节的辅助电路参与换流过程时,桥臂输入端的直流环节电压能周期性形成零电压状态,主开关和辅助开关都能完成零电压软切换.在高频金属氧化物半导体场效应晶体管（Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor,MOSFET）作为该逆变器的开关器件时,实现零电压软切换能消除MOSFET的容性开通损耗,有利于优化逆变器效率.文中分析了电路的工作流程.2.5kW样机上的实验结果表明开关器件都处于零电压软切换.因此,该拓扑结构对于研发高性能的中小功率三相逆变器具有参考价值.     

Engineering design of lossless passive soft switching methods forPWM converters. I. With minimum voltage stress circuit cells

This paper presents the analysis and design methodology of lossless passive soft switching converters from an engineering perspective. The circuit operation and soft switching loss analysis are detailed and an intuitive procedure is derived that enables quick and accurate design. Analysis is given for a set of soft switching circuit cells with minimum switch voltage stress used to synthesize a family of soft switching converters. The design is based on minimizing switching losses while maintaining soft switching over the desired operating range. A new simple loss model is derived to optimize the values of the resonant components for a particular design. As an example of the design procedure, a PFC boost converter is designed and tested     

Simple passive lossless snubber for high-power multilevel inverters

A passive lossless snubber circuit for multilevel inverters is proposed in this paper. The topology is simple and requires no extra control circuit. In order to reduce the high-voltage stress on power switches with this snubber circuit, an improved snubber circuit is presented by adding separate low-power direct current voltage sources into the original one. The operating principles and design considerations are described in detail in this paper. A prototype of a three-phase three-level diode-clamped inverter with the improved passive lossless snubber is built and tested. The simulation and experimental results indicate that not only can it realize the soft switching operation of the three-level inverter with low-voltage stress but also the topology and the control are simple.     

Resonant snubber-based soft-switching inverters for electricpropulsion drives

This paper summarizes recently developed soft-switching inverters and proposes two possible options for electric propulsion motor drive applications. The newly developed soft-switching inverter employs an auxiliary switch and a resonant inductor per phase to produce a zero voltage across the main switch, so that the main switch can turn-on at the zero-voltage condition. Both the auxiliary switch and the resonant inductor are operating at a fractional duty and, thus, are small in size as compared to the main inverter circuit components. Operation modes in a complete zero-voltage switching cycle for the single-phase soft-switching inverter are described in detail, with graphical explanations. The circuit operation was first verified by a computer simulation, and then further tested with a 1 kW single-phase and a 100 kW three-phase inverter. Both simulation and experimental results are presented to show the superior performance in efficiency improvement, EMI reduction and dv/dt reduction of the proposed soft-switching inverters     

Novel passive lossless turn-on snubber for voltage source inverters

A novel passive lossless turn-on snubber with a soft-clamped turn-off snubber circuit for voltage source inverters is proposed. The energy trapped in the snubber is recovered into the DC supply and load without any active devices, associated control circuitry, or resistors. The overshoot voltage on the switches is clamped, and the peak switch current is low, making this snubber suitable for use in high-power insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) inverters     

New soft switching techniques for three phase voltage source inverters

Three new composite soft switching configurations for power inverters are presented. Each configuration incorporates an inductor to limit switch di/dt and diode reverse recovery current at turn-on, and realizes zero current switching at turn-off, with minimum active devices or passive components. Different features and applications of the configurations are considered. Simulations of three different inverter configurations are performed using PSpice and circuit switching waveforms are given, and experimental results confirmed analysis and simulations.     

新型三相谐振极软开关逆变器

为提高三相逆变器的转换效率,提出了一种新型三相谐振极软开关逆变器拓扑结构,通过在每相桥臂上增加结构简单的辅助电路,实现了主开关的零电压软开通和零电流软关断.逆变器主开关采用金属氧化物半导体场效应晶体管（Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor,MOSFET）或者绝缘栅双极型晶体管（Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor,IGBT）时,都能实现无损耗切换,解决了MOSFET内部结电容造成的容性开通损耗问题和IGBT拖尾电流造成的关断损耗问题.分析了电路的工作过程,实验结果表明开关器件完成了软切换.因此,该拓扑结构对于提高逆变器的性能具有重要意义.     

辅助电路与负载并联的新型单相全桥软开关逆变器

为优化单相全桥逆变器的效率,提出了一种新型单相全桥软开关逆变器,其输出端设置了1组与负载并联的辅助电路.在辅助电路处于工作状态时,逆变器桥臂上的主开关能完成零电压软开通和零电流软关断,使该逆变器能通用于中小功率领域和大功率领域.分析了1个开关周期内的逆变器工作流程.在3kW样机上的实验结果表明开关器件实现了软切换,样机在额定功率下的效率达到99.1%.因此,该拓扑结构对于优化单相全桥逆变器的性能具有重要意义.     

Coupled-Filter-Inductor Soft-Switching Techniques: Principles and Topologies

Pulsewidth-modulation inverters and rectifiers are required in widespread applications such as energy-storage power plants, telecommunication systems, and electric-vehicle propulsion systems. Some of the stringent requirements of these applications can be achieved by high switching frequency. On the other hand, the use of high switching frequency may degrade the overall system efficiency, which can be alleviated by the utilization of soft-switching techniques. In this paper, a generic soft-switching diagram that can generate topologies for turn-on snubber, zero-voltage transition, zero-current–zero-voltage transition inverters with coupled filter inductor is proposed. This approach facilitates the understanding of these techniques by both newcomers and senior engineers, making the advantages and disadvantages of each soft-switching technique much clearer.      

Fundamental limits on energy transfer and circuit considerationsfor piezoelectric transformers

This work investigates fundamental limits on electromechanical energy conversion capacity of piezoelectric transformers by considering a work cycle analysis. Fundamental limitations in a lossless piezoelectric transformer are imposed by maximum electric field strength, maximum surface charge density, maximum stress and maximum strain. For the lossless case, the authors' analysis indicates that the mechanical stress limit is the effective constraint in typical PZT materials. For a specific PZT-5H sample considered, a mechanical stress-limited work cycle indicates that this material can handle 330 W/cm³ at 100 kHz. A second direction this work has taken has been an investigation into a soft-switching drive and control circuit, that does not require any magnetic components. The theory of operation of soft-switching resonant drive circuitry is discussed, and experimental results on a soft-switching inverter incorporating no magnetic components are reported     

Improvements to the passive lossless snubbers for power bridge legs

The paper considers three common snubber circuits used on gate turn-off thyristor and/or insulated gate bipolar transistor inverters. The three snubbers are passive lossless circuits for power bridge legs, and the improvements and modifications to these snubber circuits are presented. The comparative features and operation of the three improved energy recovery snubbers are discussed and supported by PSPICE simulations and experimental results.     

无源软开关电路拓扑的研究

提出一个研究无源软开关电路的新技术方法;其特征是对基本的单管隔离型PWM DC/DC变换器进行类比分析,由此直接导出可行的缓冲能量再生复位电路.该新方法能使DC/DC PWM硬开关变换器转变为软开关变换器.以新型Boost无源软开关变换器为例,进行了电路理论分析与中功率样机的实验测试;结果表明此新变换器具有较宽的软开关工作范围、较低的电应力、较小的缓冲元件量值等特点.由此认为,这种研究方法推导简单、物理意义清晰,还能深入地研究无源软开关的新电路拓扑.     

New Lossless Turn-On and Turn-Off (Snubber) Networks for Inverters, Including Circuits for Blocking Voltage Limitation

Transistorized pulsewidth modulated (PWM) inverters require careful dimensioning of turn-on and turn-off circuits in order to minimize switching loss in the power transistors. New lossless circuits are described. In particular the turn-off circuits show a highly reduced part count compared to circuits known from the literature. The turn-on circuits apply energy recovery. Furthermore, due to a special circuit the voltage across the power transistor is strictly limited. This is important especially due to the usually low voltage blocking capability of high-current power transistors.     

改进型无桥Boost PFC软开关技术的研究

在分析无源无损缓冲电路拓扑结构的基础上,为了降低开关损耗,进一步提高效率,提出了在改进型无桥Boost PFC(Power Factor Correction,PFC)的基础上增加非最小电压应力电路网络。在理论分析和仿真验证的基础上,研制了一台300W的实验样机。结果表明改进后的无桥PFC电路拓扑具有通态损耗低、电流采样简单,不仅能实现开关管的零电压关断和零电流导通,同时续流二极管实现零电压导通和零电流软关断。     

A passive soft-switching snubber for PWM inverters

This paper presents a regenerative passive snubber circuit for pulse-width modulation (PWM) inverters to achieve soft-switching purposes without significant cost and reliability penalties. This passive soft-switching snubber (PSSS) employs a diode/capacitor snubber circuit for each switching device in an inverter to provide low dv/dt and low switching losses to the device. The PSSS further uses a transformer-based energy regenerative circuit to recover the energy captured in the snubber capacitors. All components in the PSSS circuit are passive, thus leading to reliable and low-cost advantages over those soft-switching schemes relying on additional active switches. The snubber has been incorporated into a 150 kVA PWM inverter. Simulation and experimental results are given to demonstrate the validity and features of the snubber circuit.     

Composite soft switching configuration for inverters using bridge leg modules

The use of either lossless snubbers or resonant zero voltage switching (ZVS) and zero current switching (ZCS) techniques can increase efficiency and reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI) and noise of industrial power equipment at high switching frequencies. This paper presents an adaptive composite soft switching configuration which combines snubber functions and resonant ZCS circuits for switches in inverters using power bridge leg modules. Simulation and experimental results are included.     

Phase-controlled multilevel converters based on dual structureassociations

Multilevel converters, like neutral-point-clamped inverters or multilevel choppers, are particularly attractive in high-power applications. Nevertheless, in these structures, all switches are confronted to commutation stresses caused by their turn-on and turn-off control. Furthermore, the methods to balance the capacitor voltages or to control the neutral point voltage are complex enough. In this paper, the authors propose new multilevel converters based on series connection of zero-current-source (ZCS) inverter cells and parallel connection of zero-voltage-source (ZVS) inverters. These dual structure associations give soft-switching operation for all switches and allow the use of semiconductors, normally destined for medium-power applications, in high-power converters (up to 1 MW). The authors consider the structure design for several topologies to achieve DC-DC or DC-AC converters. The simulation results validate the simplicity of phase control techniques and give out the principal features of different topologies