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Soft-switching techniques of transformerless photovoltaic grid-connected inverters (TLIs) can significantly reduce switching losses, as well as soften switching processes. Conventional dc–ac soft-switching configurations proposed by Dr. Deepakraj M. Divan are invalid in TLIs because of the leakage current problem. In order to develop soft-switching techniques in TLIs, this paper proposes a new soft-switching configuration and a procedure to guide the invention of soft-switching TLIs. First, this paper proposes two basic resonance tanks related to dc bus polarities, and then, uses these basic tanks to elevate four popular full-bridge-type TLIs according to the proposed guideline. As a result, four soft-switching TLIs are gained. Second, this paper picks obtained soft-switching highly efficient and reliable inverter concept (HERIC) as example to analyze its soft-switching operation principle and performance. As a consequence, all active switches of the gained soft-switching HERIC circuit are switched under both of zero-current turn-on and turn-off conditions; the reverse recovery problem of freewheeling diodes is alleviated owing to the zero-current turn-off of diodes; meanwhile, the common-mode voltage at the switching frequency scale is still constant. Finally, some experimental results from a 3-kW universal prototype at 50-kHz switching frequency are provided to verify the effectiveness of the main contributions of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new modular and active snubber cell, easily applicable, and attractive for converters, especially have many switches proposed. This snubber cell is implemented on the single phase of a grid-connected three-phase T-type three-level inverter (T-3LI). In this new converter, the main switches turn-on under zero-voltage transition and turn-off under zero-voltage switching (ZVS). Also, auxiliary switches turn-on under zero-current switching and turn-off under ZVS. All snubber diodes operate under soft switching (SS). There are no additional current and voltage stresses on the main switches. During an SS operation, the switching energies are transferred to a dc voltage source. Then, these energies are processed to input with an independent dc–dc converter. Thus, all switching energies are recycled. In this paper, the principle operation and steady-state analysis of the modular and active snubber cell for a single-phase T-3LI are presented and experimental results, rated 1 kW and 100 kHz, are provided to verify theoretical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turbomolecular pumps with ultrahigh vacuum performances are a desired technology among modern vacuum systems, which requires the pump to synchronously possess the wide pumping speed and high vacuum. This paper describes a systematic design methodology for a magnetically levitated turbomolecular pump with consideration of multiphysics constraints, such as the mechanical strength, rotor dynamics, electromagnetic losses, and thermal characteristic. These variables will directly decide the acquisition of high vacuum performances. The design process for such high-performance pumps requires multidisciplinary and highly iterative due to the complex interaction of the many design variables involved. The structure of the bladed rotor is determined in terms of the material selection and mechanical verification. In this paper, an effective modeling method is presented to achieve accurate bending modes of the bladed rotor. An assessment on the loss level and the thermal limit is performed to ensure the temperature rise of the pump within the acceptable range. The measured results show that the pump can achieve the high vacuum performance with the pumping speed of 4370 l/s and the lowest working pressure of 10–8 magnitude. The proposed design process described in this paper provides the general guidelines for the multidisciplinary design of high-performance turbomolecular pumps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel integrated-stage light-emitting diode (LED) driver based on Flyback and resonant converters. The Flyback converter realizes power factor correction in the discontinuous conduction mode. The resonant converter is operated as a dc–dc converter to support the LED loads. Moreover, the resonant converter can clearly decrease the drain–source voltage of the active switch and exhibits zero-voltage-switch characteristics. Therefore, a cost-effective MOSFET can be chosen as the main control component that can decrease the cost of the whole system. Compared to a single-active-switch converter (such as Class-E converter), the number of passive components in the resonant converter can be limited to four. Therefore, the power density of the system can be improved drastically. In this paper, a 100-W prototype is presented under the experimental condition to validate the proposed integrated-stage LED driver. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a series-capacitor-based interleaving buck power factor correction (PFC) converter is proposed, the intermediate energy storage capacitance of which is operated at discontinuous capacitor voltage mode (DCVM), and automatic power factor (PF) correction for this converter is obtained. Moreover, the voltage across the series capacitor of the proposed PFC converter is clamped at the input voltage, and thus peak voltage stress existed in the traditional DCVM buck PFC could be relieved. By effectively regulating the charge/discharge time for the series capacitor, ultrahigh step-down conversion ratio of the proposed converter is achieved, the conversion ratio of which is independent of the duty cycle and only related to the switching frequency and circuit parameters. Therefore, high PF can be obtained due to very narrow deadtime of the input current. Meanwhile, the proposed PFC converter can realize the soft turn-on of part power switch and soft turn-off of part power diodes. In addition, comparing with the traditional discontinuous inductor current mode PFC, the input current of the proposed PFC converter is continuous so that the peak value and root-mean-square value of input current can be reduced. The operational principle, performance analysis, and parameter design principle are given in this paper. The analysis results show that the PF and total harmonic distortion are also independent of the duty cycle. Finally, a 220-Vac input, 60 W/15 V output experimental prototype is built to verify the validity of the theoretical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is about the mechanical design and analysis of a yokeless and segmented armature axial flux permanent-magnet (PM) synchronous machine, which consists of two external rotors and an inner stator. Although this new electrical machine has many advantages such as high torque density, shorter axial length, and high efficiency, its mechanical construction is yet challenging. This is mostly due to the high axial force between the stator and the two rotors, which can be further increased by the inevitable manufacturing and assembly tolerances. Based on the determined geometric dimensions of the electromagnetically relevant components, a reliable mechanical construction is developed in this paper. Subsequently, stress, deformation, thermal, and modal analyses are performed based on finite-element method (FEM). Finally, the first prototype is successfully manufactured and measured. It can be concluded that the proposed construction is reliable and the measured data match well with the results of the electromagnetic analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-stage power-factor-corrected (S2PFC) power supplies usually suffer from high voltage stress, due to lack of control on the intermediate bus capacitor voltage. In the past, analysis of such voltage stress was mostly based on steady-state condition without providing sufficient explanation during the transient circuit operation. This paper revisits the problem at circuit level and reports that the root cause is due to the inherent negative current feedback property of the output inductor or the transformer operating in continuous conduction mode (CCM). Based on the finding, this paper further proposes a new approach to reducing the voltage stress by adding an auxiliary circuit branch to existing S2PFC converters. The additional circuit branch limits the effect of negative current feedback by suppressing the change of output current slope due to change of load. This assists the pulsewidth modulation controller to track the change of load better such that the bus capacitor voltage range is reduced through duty cycle control. The auxiliary circuit branch also reduces reverse-recovery-related losses of the converter under CCM operation. A laboratory prototype using the popular boost PFC converter combined flyback dc/dc converter was built and tested to confirm the analysis and effectiveness of the approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a systematic procedure using power flow graphs for generating all possible double-input single-output (DISO) dc/dc converters. To maximize the generality of applications, the input ports can possibly be connected with voltage source(s) or current source(s), and the output port can be connected with a voltage load or current load. The control methods are described in this paper. A DISO converter with two voltage sources and one voltage load is taken as an example to analyze a few key properties of practical relevance, including input voltage range, efficiency, power distribution, and switching stress. A popular application of DISO converters involves the use of a battery as storage element, and for this specific case, possible choices for the converters, the control method, and the attainable efficiency are discussed. Finally, experimental results are presented to verify the analytical results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, two structures are proposed for the switched-inductor quasi-Z-source inverter. In the proposed structures to extend the voltage gain of inverter, two new switched-inductor structures are used. In the proposed structures, voltage across the capacitors in the Z-source network and in the switched-inductor is symmetric and small. The other advantage of proposed inverters is known as achieving higher voltage gain per smaller duty cycle ratio (of shoot-through). Compared with a conventional continuous input current switched-inductor quasi-Z-source inverter at the same gain voltage, there is less of a ripple of input current in the proposed inverters. In this paper, at first the both the conventional and the proposed switched-inductor Z-source inventers are thoroughly investigated to find out their governing relations. Then, the proposed Z-source inverters are compared with the conventional ones by simulating them to assess their performance efficiency. Next, applying the simple boost pulse width modulation the simulation is carried out with PSCAD/EMTDC software. After that, to evaluate the obtained results, the prototypes of the proposed inverters with 48 Vdc input voltage are used. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, the lifetime prediction of power device modules based on the linear damage accumulation is studied in conjunction with simple mission profiles of converters. Superimposed power cycling conditions, which are called simple mission profiles in this paper, are made based on a lifetime model in respect to junction temperature swing duration. This model has been built based on 39 power cycling test results of 600-V 30-A three-phase-molded IGBT modules. Six tests are performed under three superimposed power cycling conditions using an advanced power cycling test setup. The experimental results validate the lifetime prediction of the IGBT modules based on the linear damage accumulation by comparing the test results with the predicted lifetime from the lifetime model. Furthermore, the test results show the importance of the junction temperature swing duration effect for the lifetime prediction of IGBT modules under power converter applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phase-shifted full-bridge (PSFB) converter is widely employed in high-power applications. However, circulating current, narrow range of zero-voltage switching (ZVS), duty-cycle loss, and secondary parasitic oscillation are the main drawbacks of the traditional PSFB converter. This paper proposes an improved full-bridge converter to solve the drawbacks of the traditional PSFB converter. In the proposed converter, a coupled inductor with three windings is introduced to adjust the available ZVS energy and to transfer power to the output side during freewheeling period. Due to this structure, output filter requirement, circulating current, the required ZVS energy, and secondary voltage oscillation can be reduced. Thus, the proposed converter can obtain higher conversion efficiency than the traditional PSFB converter. In this paper, the detailed operation principles and experimental results are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates and evaluates the performance of a single-phase split-source inverter (SSI), where an alternative unidirectional dc–ac configuration is used. Such configuration is utilized in order to use two common-cathode diodes in a single device instead of using two separate diodes, resulting in minimum parasitic inductance in the commutation paths. In this paper, the analysis and modulation of the single-phase SSI using this alternative configuration is discussed, and the analysis of the low-frequency component in the dc side is introduced. Moreover, the features behind employing the triangular, the trailing-edge sawtooth, and the leading-edge sawtooth carriers with the single-phase SSI are discussed, and the differences among these carriers are highlighted. In order to highlight the performance of the proposed SSI, a comparative study is conducted with the two-stage architecture and the single-phase quasi-Z-source inverter (qZSI). The introduced analysis is enhanced with simulation results using MATLAB/PLECS models, where a 1-kVA single-phase SSI is designed and simulated. Finally, the designed 1-kVA single-phase SSI is implemented experimentally and tested at different operating points, i.e., at different voltage gains, and a maximum efficiency of $95.5\%$ is obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes a family of soft-switching bidirectional converters. In many applications, the bidirectional converters operate over a wide range of duty cycle and load variations. In the proposed converters, in order to extend the zero-voltage switching operation range, two supplemental voltage sources utilizing passive components are implemented in the auxiliary circuit. By using this method, the soft-switching features are ensured for an extensive range of the converter duty cycles. This is achieved independent of the output power value or the converter operation mode, and so, soft switching is ensured within the entire converter operating region. In these converters, all semiconductors components are soft switched, and the auxiliary circuit does not contribute to the complexity of the control circuit. Also, no extra voltage stress exists on the main switches and the voltage stress on the auxiliary switches is lower than the main switches voltage stress. In this paper, the proposed bidirectional buck/boost converter is analyzed and to confirm the feasibility of the proposed method, experimental results of a 150-W prototype converter are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes an interleaved buck converter (IBC) with continuous input current, extremely low output current ripple, low switching losses, and improved step-down conversion ratio. Unlike the conventional IBC, the proposed converter has a continuous input current, and its output current ripple is extremely low. The proposed converter has a lower voltage stress in comparison to the conventional IBC and can also provide a high step-down ratio, which makes it a proper choice for high-power applications where a nonisolated step-down converter with low output current ripple and continuous input current is required. Also, the proposed converter can provide current sharing between two interleaved modules without using additional current-sharing control method. All of these benefits are obtained without any additional stress on the circuit components. A prototype converter with 200-V input and 24-V–10-A output is implemented to verify the theoretical analysis. Operational principles and experimental results are presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a novel transformerless interleaved high step-down conversion ratio dc–dc converter with low switch voltage stress is proposed. In the proposed converter, two input capacitors are series-charged by the input voltage and parallel-discharged by a new two-phase interleaved buck converter for providing a much higher step-down conversion ratio without adopting an extreme short duty cycle. Based on the capacitive voltage division, the main objectives of the new voltage-divider circuit in the converter are for both storing energy in the blocking capacitors for increasing the step-down conversion ratio and reducing voltage stresses of active switches. As a result, the proposed converter topology possesses the low switch voltage stress characteristic. This will allow one to choose lower voltage rating MOSFETs to reduce both switching and conduction losses, and the overall efficiency is consequently improved. Moreover, due to the charge balance of the blocking capacitor, the converter features automatic uniform current sharing characteristic of the interleaved phases without adding extra circuitry or complex control methods. The operation principles and relevant analysis of the proposed converter are presented in this paper. Finally, a 400-V input voltage, 25-V output voltage, and 400-W output power prototype circuit is implemented in the laboratory to verify the performance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the design of high-speed permanent magnet machines (HSPMMs), comprehensive effects of design parameters on the various properties of electromagnetic loss, rotor stress, rotor critical speed, and temperature distribution must be analyzed to obtain the optimal design. The aim of this paper is to examine the effects of design parameters, such as the pole number, stator slots number, number of conductors per slot, permanent magnet (PM) thickness, PM pole arc coefficient, air gap length, rotor diameter, core length, and sleeve thickness, on multiphysics performance based on a high-power HSPMM. A reasonable design is determined according to the abovementioned analysis that satisfies all specified multiphysics constraints. The theoretical results are confirmed by the experimental results on a prototype in terms of electromagnetic, mechanical, and thermal characteristics such as back electromotive force, no-load loss, full-load current, overspeed experiment, and temperature distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional voltage balancers for the bipolar low-voltage dc (LVdc) distribution system have been composed of multiple power stages, which degrade their power density and cost effectiveness. To minimize the power stages, this paper presents a single-stage voltage balancer with high-frequency isolation. This voltage balancer is based on the three-level dual-active-bridge converter. Furthermore, for the proposed voltage balancer, an enhanced switching modulation, using the two switching patterns $\alpha$ and $\beta$ , is proposed to fully balance the bipolar voltage level under unbalanced load condition and even for when one of the dc poles has no load. Besides, a closed-loop control system can be implemented by using output voltage information and proportional-integral controllers. Finally, experimental results using a 3-kW laboratory prototype converter verify the effectiveness of the proposed voltage balancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Satellite dc–dc power converters are required to have electromagnetic interference (EMI) compatibility as well as high reliability. The requirement of high reliability limits the complexity of the structure as well as the number of low-reliability components. In this paper, a conventional active-clamp-forward (ACF) topology is examined for a satellite converter owing to its relatively simple structure, small number of components, and good clamping capability regarding its switch voltage stress. However, it has a pulsating input current shape, a high di/dt level, and high switch voltage stress, which are disadvantageous with regard to the EMI filter size and high-input-voltage converter applications. To overcome these drawbacks, a new ACF topology with a continuous input current waveform is proposed. In the proposed waveform, the voltage stresses on the main switches are relieved, which is crucial to ensure the reliability of satellite FET switches, by utilizing a two-series connected structure. These features allow the proposed converter to serve as a high-input-voltage, high power-density satellite converter. In this paper, 100 W prototype converters with 50 V inputs operating at 300 kHz are built with a high power density of 47.9 W/in3. Experiments on these prototype converters are carried out to verify the features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a unified second-stage LC filter applied in the three-state switching cell buck–boost converter, which provides current and voltage with low ripple and low noise. The unified second-stage filter promotes a reduction in the number of devices while maintaining the filtering performance of the converter, with second-stage LC filters at the input and at the output. Moreover, the unified filter, when associated with a three-state switching cell buck–boost converter, allows a size reduction of filter devices, especially for designs with duty cycle range around 1/2. Furthermore, the unified filter arrangement provides nondissipative clamping of switching devices and reduce the system order when compared to the converter with second-stage LC filters. In this paper, the static and dynamic characteristics of the proposed converter in continuous conduction mode (CCM) are reported. Experimental data were obtained from a laboratory prototype with an input range of 32 $\sim$ 72 V, constant output of 48 V, a load of 150 W, and switching frequency of 45 kHz. The measured efficiency for the rated load was 97% for maximum input voltage. A comparison of the size and performance of the proposed filter with the topology that uses second-stage LC filters at the input and at the output is also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, many impedance-source inverters with coupled inductors have been investigated to obtain a high step-up boost ratio. However, the leakage inductors in these topologies induce great voltage spikes at the dc link, which will increase the voltage stress of switches. Thus, the power level of inverters is limited. Furthermore, the efficiency of the inverters can be degraded by the losses associated with leakage inductors. To address abovementioned issues, this paper proposes a family of low-spike high-efficiency Y-source inverters. The proposed inverters have the ability of eliminating voltage spikes at the dc link and recycling the leakage energy via the additional diode and capacitor. In order to show the excellent characteristics of the proposed topologies, this paper compares the performances of the proposed inverters and the improved-Y-source inverter in many aspects. Simulation and experimental results have verified the abilities of the proposed inverters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high-speed squirrel-cage induction machine requires a totally different design compared to the traditional squirrel-cage industrial motor because of the mechanical limitations caused by the high speed. This results in a more complicated rotor construction and expensive material selection, and sets higher standards for the manufacturing precision. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the design aspects, material selection, and manufacturing of a squirrel-cage rotor for high-speed applications. In this paper, the rotor dimensioning approach based on equations and data analysis is presented. Rotor material selection and construction topology influence on the electrical machine design are discussed. The results are illustrated with the design of a 6-kW, 120 000-r/min induction machine for a turbo circulator. The influence of rotor parameters on the electromagnetic performance of the designed machine is demonstrated. Mechanical stresses for different topologies are studied with finite-element method analysis. Several manufacturing methods for producing a high-precision rotor are described and compared. The presented rotor design approach, which enables high electromagnetic performance and robust construction, is verified by the testing of a prototype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a cooperative triple-phase-shift (CTPS) control for the isolated dual active bridge dc–dc converter is proposed first to eliminate the dual-dc side flow back currents. Furthermore, the current characteristics of the proposed CTPS control with the main variable (the primary side inner phase shift) tuned in two different regions are derived in detail and compared with each other. The tuning region of the main variable with the optimal current characteristics is finally determined based on the comparison results. As a result, the current stress is reduced and the efficiency is enhanced. The detailed experimental results of CTPS control verify its validity and practicability. The advantages of CTPS control are also highlighted by comparing it with some conventional phase shift controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a design method is proposed for finding the equivalent inductance and capacitance of the single-ended primary-inductor converter (SEPIC). The relations of the output voltage ripple (OVR) of the SEPIC converter are obtained in complete inductor supply mode–continuous conduction mode (CISM-CCM), incomplete inductor supply mode-CCM (IISM-CCM), and IISM-discontinuous conduction mode (IISM-DCM). The maximum of OVR (MOVR) is investigated for a specified range of the input voltage and load resistance. This value of the MOVR is obtained for the minimum values of input voltage and load resistance. In this paper, the minimum values of the equivalent inductance and capacitance are calculated in obtaining the minimum value of the MOVR. One of the other performed studies in this paper is calculation of the switch peak current in CCM and DCM. In addition, the converter is designed based on the minimum values of the MOVR and stress of the switching current. Experimental and simulation results are used to prove the validity of the presented theoretical subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Three-port converters with high voltage gain are desirable solutions for integrating renewable energy and energy storage devices into high voltage dc bus. A high gain three-port converter with soft switching is proposed in this paper, which can realize zero voltage switching for all switches and zero current switching for all diodes in various operating modes. Single coupled inductor is used to achieve high voltage gain and to reduce the voltage stress of switches so that switches with low on-resistance can be selected to reduce the conduction loss. In addition, the advantages of fewer components, higher voltage gain, and very low switch voltage stresses make the proposed converter more suitable for application in renewable energy systems than similar solutions. Various operating modes, performance analysis, design considerations, efficiency analysis, and control method of the proposed converter are discussed. A laboratory prototype with 30 V renewable energy source, 48 V energy storage device and 400 V output is designed to verify the performance of the proposed three-port converter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the goal to decrease weight and increase overall efficiency, power electronics is proliferating in the aircraft applications. The conventional mechanical, pneumatic, and hydraulic systems are substituted with on-board electrical distribution systems. The new power electronics based distribution architectures should comply with the airworthiness standards by providing adequate redundancy to operate even under multiple failures. However, each redundant system adds to more weight and cost, and hence optimizing redundancy without compromising safety still remains a challenge. In this scenario, modular power converters offer a promising solution for obtaining reliable operation. Apart from ensuring availability and operation of the system, the modular converters enable controlling the stress for the individual converter cell and therefore their wear-out. This paper considers the failure mechanisms of the most sensitive devices in the system, the power semiconductors, and predicts their remaining useful lifetime (RUL). Based on this RUL, an optimization of the system loading is performed in order to delay the wear-out based failures in the system without reducing the mean lifetime of the building blocks. A study case is shown in order to demonstrate the lifetime extension of the system with the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interleaved bidirectional buck–boost converter dual active half-bridge (IBBC-DAHB) dc–dc converter consists of two converters IBBC and DAHB and a coupled inductor. The IBBC-DAHB converter has significant features such as low ripple current at the low-voltage side, low current stress on the input inductors, voltage stress across the switches less than the high-voltage side, high voltage gain, and zero-voltage soft switching. The converter offers high efficiency using phase-shift modulation when it operates at a nominal design operating point. However, the efficiency decreases due to high circulating current, high current stress, and limited soft-switching range when the source and load voltages deviate from their nominal values. This paper employs both duty cycle and phase-shift modulation methods to improve the above mentioned shortcomings using voltage matching for the DAHB converter. The proposed converter is analyzed and a 500-W experimental prototype with 40–60 V input voltage and 400 V output voltage under 100 kHz switching frequency is implemented to verify the theoretical results. The maximum efficiency of 97.15% is achieved at 60 V and 400 W. A flat efficiency characteristic for the converter is derived by the proposed control method, where the efficiency at 20% of nominal load is 91% and much higher than the phase-shift control, which is 70.8%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comprehensive and generalized analysis of the bidirectional dual active bridge (DAB) dc–dc converter using triple phase shift (TPS) control to enable closed-loop power regulation while minimizing current stress. The key new achievements are a generic analysis in terms of possible conversion ratios/converter voltage gains (i.e., Buck/Boost/Unity), per unit based equations regardless of DAB ratings, and a new simple closed-loop controller implementable in real time to meet desired power transfer regulation at minimum current stress. Per unit based analytical expressions are derived for converter ac rms current as well as power transferred. An offline particle swarm optimization (PSO) method is used to obtain an extensive set of TPS ratios for minimizing the rms current in the entire bidirectional power range of –1 to 1 per unit. The extensive set of results achieved from PSO presents a generic data pool, which is carefully analyzed to derive simple useful relations. Such relations enable a generic closed-loop controller design that can be implemented in real time avoiding the extensive computational capacity that iterative optimization techniques require. A detailed Simulink DAB switching model is used to validate the precision of the proposed closed-loop controller under various operating conditions. An experimental prototype also substantiates the results achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 1-MHz-modified single-ended primary-inductor converter (SEPIC) circuit is presented in this paper as an LED driver for automotive headlights. On the basis of traditional SEPIC, only a diode and two capacitors are added; therefore, the circuit structure is relatively simple and the volume is relatively small. High step-up capability is obtained with moderate duty cycle. Compared with traditional step-up circuit such as boost, low-voltage stress is gained which is beneficial to device selection. Zero-voltage switching is achieved at the same time to reduce switching loss. Planar inductors are used with the advantages of low profile and good thermal characteristic. Operational principle and parameters design process are introduced in detail. A 36-W prototype has been designed to demonstrate theoretical analysis. Obtained efficiency was up to 90.91% at full load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soft-switching inverters can achieve high efficiencies and low switchdv/dtanddi/dt, but often impose additional stress on the switches due to their resonant behavior. Multicell converters, on the other hand, can process high voltages by arranging the switches to share the stress. This paper proposes a buck–boost multicell soft-switching inverter with inherent cell voltage balancing. Both the current and voltage stresses are shared by the cells. Soft-switching conditions are achieved for all switching transitions without any need for auxiliary circuitry or clamps. A multiple-winding transformer transfers energy between the terminals and provides galvanic isolation. An analytical study and experimental results on a 1200-W prototype verify the operation of the inverter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel buck–boost converter with low electric stress on components and negative output voltage is proposed. The operational principle, steady-state analysis, and small-signal modeling of the proposed buck–boost converter in continuous conduction mode are presented. Comparisons among another five buck–boost converters and the proposed buck–boost converter are presented. It is found that the proposed converter's voltage gain is smaller than the other converters’ in step-down mode. Also, based upon the comparisons among the same kind and same number of components, the voltage and current stresses on the power switch of the proposed buck–boost converter are less than or equal to those of the comparative converters, and the voltage stress on the charge pump capacitor and the switching device power rating of the proposed buck–boost converter are always lower than those of other comparative converters. The efficiency of the proposed buck–boost converter is highest among those converters having the same number of elements. These advantages make component selection for the proposed converter much easier, and it can be used directly in applications needing a negative voltage source. Finally, simulation results and circuit experiments are given for validating the effectiveness of the proposed buck–boost converter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the future challenges in modular multilevel converters (MMCs) is how to size key components with compromised costs and design margins, while fulfilling specific reliability targets. It demands better thermal modeling compared to the state-of-the-arts in terms of both accuracy and simplicity. Different from two-level power converters, MMCs have inherent dc-bias in arm currents and the power device conduction time is affected by operational parameters. A time-wise thermal modeling for the power devices in MMCs is, therefore, an iteration process and time-consuming. This paper, thus, proposes a simple analytical thermal modeling method, which adopts equivalent periodic power loss profiles. More importantly, time-domain simulations are not required in the proposed method. Benchmarking of the proposed methods with the prior-art solutions is performed in terms of parameter sensitivity and model accuracy with a case study on a 30-MW MMC system. Experiments are carried out on a specifically designed scaled-down system to verify the electrothermal aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an experimental study on the ageing of insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) power modules. The aim is to identify the effects of power cycling on these devices with high baseplate temperatures (60 ^\circ\C to 90 ^ \circ\C) and wide temperature swings (60 ^\circ \C to 100 ^\circ\C). These values for thermal stresses have been defined according to automotive applications. The test conditions are provided by two types of test benches that will be described in this paper. The changes in electrical and thermal indicators are observed regularly by a monitoring system. At the end of the test (reaching damage criterion or failure), different analyses are performed (acoustic scanning and SEM imaging), and the damage is listed systematically. Nineteen samples of 600-V 200-A IGBT modules were thus aged using five different power-cycling protocols. The final summary of results shows that ageing mechanisms mainly concern wire bonds and emitter metallization, with gradual impact depending on protocol severity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new nonisolated high step-up dc–dc converter is proposed. Active–passive inductor cells (APICs) are used to extend the topology. The ability to achieve high gains is the main merit of the proposed topology. The proposed converter operates based on parallel charging and series discharging of the inductors. The converter also achieves high step-up voltage gain with appropriate duty cycle and low voltage and current stress on the power switches and diodes. The proposed converter is analyzed in operation modes. The main parameters of the converter such as voltage gain, voltage stress of semiconductor devices are calculated to compare with other structures. Considering the output voltage ripple and filter size, the proposed converter is designed. Moreover, the losses and efficiency of the converter are calculated. The performance of the proposed converter is validated by experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a nonisolated bidirectional dc–dc converter is presented. The proposed converter consists of two boost converters to enhance the voltage gain. Four power switches with their body diodes are employed in the proposed converter. Also, two inductors and a capacitor are used as passive components. The input current is divided to the inductors which causes the efficiency to be high. The voltage gain of the proposed converter is higher than the conventional cascaded bidirectional buck/boost converter (CCBC) in step-up mode. Besides, the voltage gain in step-down mode is lower than CCBC. Besides, the efficiency of the proposed converter more than CCBC while the total stress on active switches are same. The simple structure of the proposed converter causes its control to be easy. The steady-state analysis of the proposed converter is discussed in this paper thoroughly. The stress on converters’ devices and the efficiency of the proposed converter and CCBC are compared in this paper. Finally, the proposed converter prototype circuit is implemented to justify the validity of the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the current-stress optimization and soft-switching operation of the isolated bidirectional dual active bridge (DAB) dc–dc converter with the unified triple-phase-shift (UTPS) control. On this basis, the current-stress-optimized modulation scheme is proposed for DAB, which leads to the minimum current stress with the required transmission power and voltage conversion ratio in the whole load range. Moreover, the full soft-switching operation is achieved for the converter simultaneously. Distinct from the previous modulation schemes, the proposed optimized modulation scheme is deduced from a unified analysis of TPS where all effective switching modes are investigated. A novel algorithm based on the Karush–Kuhn–Tucker (KKT) conditions is originally proposed to derive closed-form solutions for the global optimal control parameters. This paper also presents a typical closed-loop control strategy for DAB with TPS control and detailed descriptions about the closed-loop operation. A laboratory prototype is applied, and the experimental results validate that the current-stress optimization and efficiency improvement are realized by applying the optimized modulation scheme. The experimental results also verify the effectiveness of the closed-loop control strategy for DAB with TPS control. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An electrical and mechanical design process for a traction motor in a hybrid bus application is studied. Usually, the design process of an electric machine calls for close cooperation between various engineering disciplines. Compromises may be required to satisfy the boundary conditions of electrical, thermal, and mechanical performances. From the mechanical point of view, the stress values and the safety factors should be at a reasonable level and the construction lifetime predicted by a fatigue analysis. In a vehicle application, the motor has to be capable of generating high torque when accelerating, and in normal operation, the losses of the machine should be low to be able to cool the machine. Minimization of the no-load iron losses becomes a very important electrical design requirement if the traction motor and the generator are mechanically connected with an internal combustion engine when it is operating as the only source of torque. The manufacturing costs of the motor are also taken into account in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In applications where the high voltage gain is required, such as photovoltaic grid-connected system, fuel-cell and high-intensity discharge lamps for automobile, high step-up dc-dc converters have been introduced to boost the low voltage to a high bus voltage. The voltage gain of traditional boost converter is limited, considering the issues such as the system efficiency and current ripple. This paper proposes a class of hybrid switched-inductor converters (H-SLCs) for high step-up voltage gain conversion. First, the topological derivation of H-SLCs is deduced by combining the passive and active switched-inductor unit; second, this paper illustrates the operation modes of the proposed asymmetrical and symmetrical converters; third, the performance of the proposed converters is analyzed in detail and compared with existing converters; finally, a prototype is established in the laboratory, and the experimental results are given to verify the correctness of the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

If there is no reactive power exchange between a doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) and a grid, the various characteristics of the power converters in a DFIG wind turbine system cause the lifetime expectancy of a rotor-side converter (RSC) to be significantly less than that of a grid-side converter (GSC). In order to fulfill modern grid codes, over-excited reactive power injection will further reduce the lifetime of the RSC. In this paper, the additional stress of a power semiconductor due to the reactive power injection is first evaluated in terms of a modulation index and the current loading. Then, an optimized reactive power flow is proposed in the case where an over-excited reactive power support is applied with the joint compensation from both the RSC and the GSC. Finally, some experimental validations are performed at a downscale DFIG prototype. It is concluded that, among the different combined reactive power support strategies, the best scheme will tradeoff the lifetime between the GSC and the RSC. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reviews recent advances of key components in isolated bidirectional dc–dc converter (IBDC) and discusses potential of IBDC based on advanced components. The concept of safe operation area of IBDC is proposed and clearly defined, which is determined by the intersection of the effective operation areas of transmission power, current stress, and current root mean square. By analyzing efficiency and power density characteristic, this paper points out that the efficiency optimization of IBDC needs to give way to the power density optimization. On this basis, a novel synthetic discrete optimization design methodology of IBDC based on advanced components for battery energy storage system (BESS) is proposed. Finally, an experimental prototype is implemented, and some design suggestions for hardware optimization are provided. The experimental results verify the effectiveness of the designed BESS and show that the practical applications of next-generation high-frequency conversion system are expected with the appearance and application of advanced components. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Three-phase impedance source inverters can be modulated using many modulation schemes, which are basically classified into two categories: three-phase-leg shoot-through-based (3P) and single-phase-leg shoot-through-based (1P) modulation schemes. These different modulation schemes have been comprehensively reviewed in Part I. Hence, in this paper, a comparative assessment among these different modulation schemes is introduced using the conventional Z-source inverter (ZSI). In this comparison, the ZSI voltage gain and stresses, current stresses, effective switching frequency of its different parts, spectrum of its output voltage, and switching losses are considered for each modulation scheme. Such comparative assessment introduces an effective benchmark for the researchers in order to determine the differences among these various modulation schemes, and easily select the appropriate one for their application. Finally, the state-of-the-art modulation schemes are experimentally assessed using a 3-kVA three-phase ZSI, where the shown results are consistent with the presented discussions and comparisons. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a new interleaved coupled-inductor nonisolated bidirectional dc–dc converter that provides high voltage gain ratio (VGR), low ripple current at the low-voltage side (LVS), and soft switching. The high VGR is obtained by connecting in series the outputs of an interleaved bidirectional buck–boost converter and a dual-active half-bridge converter, using the turns ratio of a coupled inductor. Since the voltage of the high-voltage side is shared between the converters outputs, the voltage stress across the active switches decrease. The active switches turn ON under zero-voltage switching condition in both directions. Moreover, the low current ripple at the LVS is achieved due to the applied interleaved technique. By employing the phase-shift angle modulation, the output voltage is regulated. The proposed converter is analyzed in details and a 900-W experimental prototype with 48-V input voltage and 400-V output voltage under 100-kHz switching frequency is implemented to verify the theoretical results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A comprehensive analysis for a family of two-level pulsewidth modulation plus phase-shift (PPS)-modulated-isolated-bidirectional dc–dc converters is presented in this paper. Compared with the traditional phase-shift control, the PPS control features reduced current stresses, reduced conduction losses, guaranteed zero-voltage switching (ZVS) operation, and wide conversion-ratio variation range. In this paper, all eight operation modes are revealed, and then the unified solution of the power transmission capability for each mode is proposed, applicable for any two-level PPS converters. Based on the unified solution, component stresses and ZVS operation are analyzed to assist component selection. Most importantly, the control maps for three different combinations of the two-level PPS converters are proposed, to assist converter operation and design in the low-circulating-current region. In the control map, a circuit parameter k is proposed and its upper limit is found, providing a design limit to select switching frequency, leakage inductance, turns ratio, and power level. A 29–67 V/380 V prototype—the combination of group C plus group A—rated at 100–1000 W was built. The analysis is verified by both simulation and experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A new isolated single-stage soft-switching power-factor-correction (S4 PFC) driver for supplying light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is introduced in this paper. In the proposed LED driver, the switches voltage stress and also the dc-bus voltage is limited to the peak of the line voltage. Hence, low voltage rated mosfets and diodes can be used. The efficiency is improved because the switches are turned on under zero current switching (ZCS) condition and turned off under zero voltage zero current switching (ZVZCS) condition. Also, no current feedback is required since the converter provides an output current independent of output voltage. In this paper, operating principle of the proposed LED driver is presented and design considerations are discussed. To verify the theoretical analysis, a laboratory prototype of the proposed converter for supplying a 50 W/70 V LED module from 220 Vrms/50 Hz ac mains is implemented, and the experimental results are presented. Since current feedback is not used, dimming property and operation for universal voltage range is not achievable. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes a family of novel flying capacitor transformerless inverters for single-phase photovoltaic (PV) systems. Each of the new topologies proposed is based on a flying capacitor principle and requires only four power switches and/or diodes, one capacitor, and a small filter at the output stage. A simple unipolar sinusoidal pulse width modulation technique is used to modulate the inverter to minimize the switching loss, output current ripple, and the filter requirements. In general, the main advantages of the new inverter topologies are: 1) the negative polarity of the PV is directly connected to the grid, and therefore, no leakage current; 2) reactive power compensation capability; and 3) the output ac voltage peak is equal to the input dc voltage (unlike neutral-point-clamped and derivative topologies, which requires twice the magnitude of the peak ac voltage). A complete description of the operating principle with modulation techniques, design guidelines, and comprehensive comparisons is presented to reveal the properties and limitations of each topology in detail. Finally, experimental results of 1-kVA prototypes are presented to prove the concept and theoretical analysis of the proposed inverter family for practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a new nonisolated high-voltage-gain boost converter is proposed. The proposed converter is constructed by adding an additional inductor to a conventional three-level-boost (TLB) converter. When compared with the conventional boost and TLB converters, the proposed converter can achieve higher voltage conversion ratio with reduced voltage and current stresses in the switches. In particular, the proposed converter can reduce the losses of active devices by reducing the current of the switch compared to conventional converters, thus, can achieve high efficiency. In addition, the proposed converter automatically balances the output voltages for an unbalanced load without the need for any additional control strategy or auxiliary circuit. A 2-kW prototype converter was built and tested to verify performances of the proposed converter. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a nonisolated dc–dc converter with high voltage gain is presented. Three diodes, three capacitors, an inductor, and a coupled inductor are employed in the presented converter. Since the inductor is connected to the input, the low input current ripple is achieved, which is important for tracking maximum power point of photovoltaic panels. The voltage stress across switch S is clamped by diode D 1 and capacitor C1. Therefore, a main switch with low on-resistance RDS (on) can be employed to reduce the conduction loss. Besides, the main switch is turned on under zero current. This reduces the switching loss. The steady-state analysis of the proposed converter is discussed in this paper. Finally, the proposed converter prototype circuit is implemented to justify the validity of the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a single-phase multilevel ac/ac converter with reduced number of power semiconductor devices is proposed. For the simple case of a three-level converter, only three bidirectional switches and two capacitors are required. The proposed converter provides a highly sinusoidal and regulated output voltage with a simple topology. The efficiency is high because in each state of operation only one semiconductor conducts. The converter can be easily extended to any desired levels in the output voltage to even more reduce the output total harmonics distortion. Another advantage of the proposed converter is that by increasing the voltage levels, the stress on the switches will decrease. The proper performance of the proposed converter is confirmed through extensive simulation and experimental tests. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents three unidirectional step-up ac–dc converter topologies with voltage multiplication on their outputs. The first topology is the hybrid boost rectifier and the other two are novel bridgeless structures, all based on the integration of boost rectifier and the ladder switched-capacitor (SC) cell. The new hybrid structures provide high voltage gain with low voltage stress across the switches, high-power factor, and output voltage regulation. This paper presents the principle of operation, steady-state and dynamic analysis, design methodology, and experimental verification. A different approach is also presented for the design methodology of the SC cell and for the analysis of its influence on the dynamic model. Three 1000-W prototypes with a 220-V input voltage, 800-V output voltage, and 100-kHz switching frequency were designed to corroborate the theoretical study. The best efficiency was 97.1$\%$ in the proposed bridgeless versions and the voltage stress across the switches stands around 400 V. Furthermore, a comparison between the proposed structures and previous topologies is also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

By establishing the mathematical model of the current stress of the isolated bidirectional dc–dc converter (IBDC), this paper comparatively analyzes the performances of IBDC under traditional single-phase-shift control and dual-phase-shift (DPS) control. On this basis, this paper proposes a current-stress-optimized switching strategy for IBDC with DPS control, and the corresponding control scheme is designed and implemented. The current-stress-optimized switching strategy can minimize the current stress, improve the system efficiency, and increase system power capability, and these performances are particularly effective for operation conditions with high voltage conversion ratio and light load. At last, experimental results verify the excellent performance of the current-stress-optimized switching strategy and correctness of the theoretical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In order to reduce the cost and volume of small-medium power ac–dc light-emitting diode (LED) lighting systems, single-stage LED drivers are often used to drive LEDs with constant current. In this paper, a single-stage isolated high-power factor ac–dc LED driver is proposed and analyzed in detail, which is composed of a buck–boost power factor correction unit operating in discontinuous conduction mode and an isolated dc/dc unit with a voltage doubler rectifier, and the two units are integrated together by sharing the same power switch. Very high input power factor is achieved since the PFC unit operates with almost fixed duty ratio during half period of the utility line voltage. Since a voltage doubler rectifier is included in the isolated dc/dc unit, magnetic core size of the transformer and voltage stress of the secondary side diodes are reduced remarkably. First, the operating principle and performance of the LED driver are analyzed. Then, the main parameters are quantitatively calculated out in detail. Finally, a comparative analysis is presented and a 120 W experimental prototype with 1 A output current is built according to the calculated parameters and the experimental results are presented to verify the correctness of the theoretical analysis and parameter design. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]