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With the rapid development of photovoltaic and fuel cell stacks, high voltage gain converters are urgently demanded. Conventional boost is limited by the exaggerated duty cycle, it is impossible to obtain a high voltage gain while ensuring efficiency. Therefore, a zero-voltage switching (ZVS)-modified SEPIC converter that combines a voltage multiplier cell with traditional SEPIC is proposed in this paper. With detailed parameters design process, this presented converter works at zero voltage switching (ZVS), while obtaining high voltage gain without extremely high duty cycle. Besides, voltage stress is also reduced and low-voltage component with lower parasitic parameters can be used, thus efficiency is maintained. In order to further improve the power density, an integrated inductor scheme is adopted in this paper without changing intrinsic working states of the two inductors. A 36-W prototype is built, and experiments are conducted to verify the advantages of the proposed converter. The efficiency is up to 91.5% at full load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a dc–dc input-parallel output-parallel (IPOP) converter configuration for renewable energy integration with medium-voltage dc grids. A full-bridge zero-current-switching (FB-ZCS) converter with voltage-doubler output is proposed as the fundamental module. To achieve smooth current commutation and ZCS, the leakage inductance of transformer and a resonant capacitor across its secondary are utilized. This resonant capacitor is always charged to its full-rated capacity irrespective of converter loading and requires a dedicated charging interval resulting in duty-cycle loss. For a given leakage inductance, a large resonant capacitor is required for higher current ratings. With a single-centralized converter, these operational and design constraints result in significant duty-cycle loss, restricting the operation range. This paper proposes an IPOP configuration for high-power applications. Phase shedding at reduced loading ensures that individual modules are operated optimally. Input inductance requirement in modules is reduced due to interleaving of the input current. Additionally, voltage stress across converter components and input current ripple are reduced by 50% in the proposed converter modules. Steady-state operation, modeling, current-sharing control, start-up, and shutdown of modules in the IPOP configuration are demonstrated using simulations. Experimental results on a scaled-down prototype are presented to validate its operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonlinear inductors have wide applications in dc/dc converters. The multiwindow multipermeability nonlinear inductor based on low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) technology has been proven to have a gradually changing wide-range inductance value curve while requiring no extra dc bias, which makes them suitable in various high-efficiency dc/dc converters. This paper focuses on the design of such a multiwindow multipermeability inductor based on an innovative module. Currently, the design of the LTCC inductors requires complicated simulation when coupling matrices among all the windows are taken into consideration. A simplified model for calculating the inductance value is proposed in this paper to reduce complexity. In the proposed model, the complicated inductance simulation is simplified to calculating inductance of three basic units in a nine-window inductor. By simulating the nine-window inductor, inductance of a rectangle-shaped inductor with any number of evenly distributed windows on it can be calculated. Based on the proposed model, the design guideline of the nonlinear inductor is also summarized. A 16-window two-permeability prototype is presented to demonstrate the design process according to the new model. The complete simulation and the test results are also provided to verify the model. The proposed model correlates with the simulation results very well. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents the design and development of a transformer isolated high-power dc-dc converter. There are several design issues and challenges. In this paper, we focus on three major issues in high-power dc-dc converters. 1) An energy recovery passive snubber circuit and the selection of pulsewidth modulation control methods are first introduced to reduce the voltage spike and power loss across switching devices. 2) Interleaved winding method is then employed to reduce proximity effect in the transformer winding. 3) The voltage oscillation problem in the secondary rectifier diode is addressed, and solutions are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bidirectional dc–dc converters, which make possible the bidirectional transmission of power, have become indispensable in recent years due to the diversification of the power supply network, including the use of batteries. Of these, the dual active bridge (DAB) dc–dc converter features a simple mechanism and symmetric circuit architecture, making possible the equal transmission of power in both directions. Because of these advantageous characteristics, DAB dc–dc converters are in wide use. However, this circuit has the intrinsic problems that, during light-load conditions, switching surges occur and power efficiency decreases. This paper proposes digitally controlled operation as a new method to resolve these problems and reports on an experiment that was carried out using a 1-kW system. In addition, for both buck and boost modes, output power characteristic equations were derived through application of the extended state-space averaging method, and a loss-included circuit analysis was carried out for the circuit used in the experiment. It was thereby demonstrated that circuit loss was smaller for the proposed operation than that for conventional operation. In the loss-included circuit analysis, for both proposed and conventional operations, equivalent circuits that approximated circuit loss as a single resistance were used. As a result, it was confirmed that, with the operation proposed in this paper, without the use of a snubber circuit, switching surges could be reduced significantly and also that, during light load, there was a power efficiency improvement of up to 16%. In addition, a loss-included circuit analysis with a single equivalent resistance has been done. The resistance value is assigned with the averaged circuit total resistance. By the analysis, a relation between phase difference and output power is obtained. The results were confirmed with the experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High penetration of renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaic (PV), promotes the clean and sustainable energy spread. Subject to the environmental conditions, intermittency in irradiation change poses the challenge in terms of variable power input to the electrical system. Conventional interfacing power converters such as a boost converter integrating photovoltaic source to the dc utility microgrid in order to push the requisite power to the microgrid suffer from increased stress, resulting in a drop of the system efficiency and possible shutdown of the system. This paper proposes a continuous input current, modular T-impedance boost converter for photovoltaic applications. The boosting capabilities of the converter during both normal boost and shoot-through conditions ensure efficient operation over wide input voltages with reduced stress on the switches. The proposed half-bridge floating ground structure restricts the flow of the common-mode current through the converter. The converter response under intermittent irradiation changes and partial shading conditions are simulated under MATLAB Simulink environment and also are experimentally validated to affirm the capability of the converter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main challenges of the solid-state transformer (SST) lies in the implementation of the dc–dc stage. In this paper, a quadruple-active-bridge (QAB) dc–dc converter is investigated to be used as a basic module of a modular three-stage SST. Besides the feature of high power density and soft-switching operation (also found in others converters), the QAB converter provides a solution with reduced number of high-frequency transformers, since more bridges are connected to the same multiwinding transformer. To ensure soft switching for the entire operation range of the QAB converter, the triangular current-mode modulation strategy, previously adopted for the dual-active-bridge converter, is extended to the QAB converter. The theoretical analysis is developed considering balanced (equal power processed by the medium-voltage (MV) cells) and unbalanced (unequal power processed by the MV cells) conditions. In order to validate the theoretical analysis developed in the paper, a 2-kW prototype is built and experimented. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The implementation of a non-isolated dual input bridge-type dc–dc converter for hybrid energy source integration is discussed in this paper. The proposed converter accommodates two sources using an inductor, a capacitor, two insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) without the anti-parallel diode and two IGBTs with the anti-parallel diode. The different modes of operation of the converter are explained with detailed analytical waveforms and equivalent circuits. From the analysis, the steady-state output equation of the converter is derived. The boundary condition between the continuous conduction mode and discontinuous conduction mode operations is also derived. The dynamics of the converter is analyzed in detail with the help of a small signal model. The step response of different transfer functions is discussed. The computer simulations of the proposed converter topology have been carried out using MATLAB/Simulink. An experimental prototype of the proposed converter is also built and tested successfully in the laboratory environment. Performance comparison of the proposed converter is carried out with the conventional converter topologies in terms of component counts, efficiency, loss breakdown, and power density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Six-step modulated drive systems have been shown to have higher power density and lower switching loss than pulsewidth modulation drive systems. It has also been shown that by manipulating the dc bus voltage, six-step mode can drive permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSMs) over a wide speed range, and maintain the machine operating point on the maximum torque per ampere curve below the base speed to reduce the machine copper loss. However, high torque ripple exists while in this type of six-step mode. This paper develops the control design methodologies to leverage the variable and fast dc bus manipulation, provided by two-step finite-settling-step dc-to-dc converter control, to minimize torque ripple in six-step PMSM drives. Two torque control algorithms: existing voltage angle based torque control and deadbeat-direct torque and flux control are used to evaluate torque ripple reduction capability and energy savings potential of six-step PMSM drive systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a high-frequency isolated dc/dc converter, whose switching frequency is 20 MHz. Meanwhile, the switch voltage stress is reduced based on optimal switch impedance. In the proposed converter, the switch can operate in ZVS condition, which can help to reduce the switching loss. A mathematical model of the proposed high frequency converter is built, which provides an effective design method for the system parameters. Meanwhile, the design method for PCB air-core transformer has been proposed and depicted. To verify the feasibility of the proposed converter and mathematic model, a 10 W prototype is built. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel 3 $\phi$ stand-alone solar photovoltaic (PV) system configuration that uses high-gain high-efficiency $(\approx\! 96\%)$ dc–dc converters both in the forward power stage and the bidirectional battery interface. The high-voltage-gain converters enable the use of low-voltage PV and battery sources. This results in minimization of partial shading and parasitic capacitance effects on the PV source. Series connection of a large number of battery modules is obviated, preventing the overcharging and deep discharging issues that reduce the battery life. In addition, the proposed configuration facilitates “required power tracking (RPT)” of the PV source as per the load requirements, eliminating the use of expensive and “difficult to manage” dump loads. High-performance inverter operation is achieved through $abc$ to $dq$ reference frame transformation, which helps in generating precise information about the load's active power component for RPT, regulation of ac output voltage, and minimization of control complexity. Inverter output voltage is regulated by controlling the modulation index of sinusoidal pulsewidth modulation, resulting in a stable and reliable system operation. The active power demand is controlled by regulating the dc link voltage. All the analytical, simulation, and experimental results of this work are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a novel dc–dc converter configuration, which successfully integrates two technologies, including a switched capacitor and a switched coupled inductor, into one converter. By adopting a coupled inductor to charge a switched capacitor, the voltage gain can be effectively increased, and the turns ratio of the coupled inductor can be also reduced. Not only lower conduction losses but also higher power conversion efficiency is benefited from a lower part count and lower turns ratios. The proposed converter is simply composed of six components, which can be further derived to varied converters for different purposes, such as a bidirectional converter. The operating principle and steady-state analysis are discussed in this paper. A 250-W laboratory hardware prototype is completed and verified. The voltage gain is up to 11. The highest efficiency is 97.2%, and the full-load efficiency is kept at 93.6%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a soft-switching current-fed full-bridge front-end-converter-based bidirectional inverter for residential photovoltaic (PV) applications. The proposed converter is an intrinsic isolated boost converter with a high-step-up voltage conversion ratio. The device voltage is naturally clamped owing to proposed secondary modulation. Zero-current commutation of current-fed devices is novel and makes the converter snubberless and fully soft-switched with natural clamping of the devices' voltage. Zero-current switching of primary devices and zero-voltage switching of secondary devices are achieved. Soft switching is inherent and is maintained during wide variation of input voltage and load independent. Steady-state operation, analysis, and design have been explained. A 200-W laboratory prototype of the inverter is developed and tested to demonstrate the performance over wide variations in input voltage and output power for PV applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a high-power-density high-power-factor GaN-based two-stage electrolytic-free offline LED driver. The LED driver achieves high power density through the use of a hybrid film–ceramic stacked switched capacitor (SSC) energy buffer, and a comprehensive optimization methodology that evaluates various converter topologies and designs and minimizes overall system volume while maintaining high efficiency. Based on this optimization approach, a totem-pole bridgeless boost power factor correction (PFC) converter is selected for the first stage, while a stacked-input isolated LLC dc–dc converter is selected for the second stage. The optimization procedure also minimizes the passive volume of the SSC energy buffer incorporating the volumetric energy density of commercially available capacitors. The optimized SSC energy buffer utilized in the proposed LED driver has 50% less passive volume than a capacitor-only solution. A 600-W prototype LED driver designed using the proposed approach for universal input voltage ${{(90}}-{ 305 \ \text{V}}_{{\text{rms}}})$ and 24-V output voltage is built and tested. The PFC stage achieves a peak efficiency of 98% while the LLC stage achieves a peak efficiency of 95%. The prototyped LED driver achieves a power density of 28 W/in3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The series-resonant dc–dc converter (SRC) is widely applied in a large range of voltage and power. In most applications, fault tolerance is a highly desired feature and it is obtained through redundancy. This paper proposes a fault-tolerance solution for the SRC, which could drastically reduce the need of redundancy. Using the proposed scheme, the full-bridge-based SRC or multilevel-based SRC can be reconfigured in a half-bridge topology, in order to keep the converter operational even with the failure (open circuit or short circuit) of one switch. Since the proposed scheme can be applied to the full-bridge-SRC and multilevel SRC, a family of fault-tolerant converter is proposed in this work. The advantages of the proposed approach are minimum of additional hardware and no deterioration of the converter efficiency. The proposed fault-tolerance solution was experimentally tested in a 10 kW SRC prototype with input voltage of 700–600 V. A short-circuit fault in a semiconductor is tested and the results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents an improved efficiency impedance control network (ICN) resonant dc–dc converter that maintains zero-voltage switching (ZVS) and near-zero-current switching (ZCS) across wide ranges in input and output voltages and output power. The improvement in efficiency in this burst mode operated converter is achieved through an optimized startup control that minimizes its startup transient and helps the converter maintain ZVS and near-ZCS operation, even during the startup for each burst cycle. This optimization of startup is made possible by a new accurate time domain model for the ICN converter waveforms that helps reduce the number of non-ZVS transitions by 75%. A prototype 200 W, 500 kHz ICN resonant converter designed to operate over an input voltage range of 25–40 V and output voltage range of 250–400 V is built and tested. The prototype ICN converter achieves a peak efficiency of 97.2% and maintains greater than 96.2% full power efficiency at 250 V output voltage across the nearly 2:1 input voltage range, and maintains full power efficiency above 94.6% across its full input and output voltage range. The converter also maintains efficiency above 93.6% over a 10:1 output power range across its full input and output voltage range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the design, implementation, and experimental validation of a method for fault prognosis for power electronics systems using an adaptive parameter identification approach. The adaptive parameter identifier uses a generalized gradient descent algorithm to compute real-time estimates of system parameters (e.g., capacitance, inductance, parasitic resistance) in arbitrary switching power electronics systems. These estimates can be used to monitor the overall health of a power electronics system and to predict when faults are more likely to occur. Moreover, the estimates can be used to tune control loops that rely on the system parameter values. The parameter identification algorithm is general in that it can be applied to a broad class of systems based on switching power converters. We present a real-time experimental validation of the proposed fault prognosis method on a 3 kW solar photovoltaic interleaved boost dc-dc converter system for tracking changes in passive component values. The proposed fault prognosis method enables a flexible and scalable solution for condition monitoring and fault prediction in power electronics systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Usually, the high-gain high-efficiency dc–dc converters consist of many passive components, which increases the order of the system. As the order increases, system modeling and control become more complex. Thus, there is a need for the simplification of the small signal modeling process of such converters. This paper presents a generalized small signal model and equivalent circuit for an $n$ th-order coupled-inductor-based high-voltage gain converters (CIHVGC) that can be conveniently used for the control design. The state variable representation of a generalized coupled inductor with p windings is included. A simplified step by step procedure to obtain small signal model using visual inspection is presented. Analysis is included and verified using simulations and experiments for the output voltage regulation of high-voltage gain converters. The usefulness and versatility of the proposed model is verified with three examples of high gain converters belonging to the CIHVGC family. All the analytical, simulation, and experimental details of this paper are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) power transmission system of offshore wind power, dc/dc converters are the potential solution to collect the power generated by off-shore wind farms to HVDC terminals. The converters operate with high-voltage gain, high efficiency, and fault tolerance over a wide range of operating conditions. In this paper, an isolated ultrahigh step-up dc/dc converter with a scalable modular structure is proposed for HVDC offshore wind power collection. A flyback-forward converter is employed as the power cell to form the expandable electrically isolated modular dc/dc converter. The duty ratio and phase-shift angle control are also developed for the proposed converter. Fault-tolerant characteristics of the converter are illustrated through the redundancy operation and fault-ride-through tests. Redundancy operation is designed to maintain high operation efficiency of the converters and fault-ride-through operation improves the converter reliability under harsh operating conditions. Analytical studies are carried out, and a 750-W prototype with three modular cells is built and experimentally tested to verify the performance of the proposed modular dc/dc converter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With low loss, fast switching speed, and high-temperature capabilities, silicon carbide (SiC)-based devices are beneficial to automotive power converters in terms of efficiency increase and size reduction. Nevertheless, as a result of fast switching transitions and low on-state resistance of SiC devices, SiC-based converters are prone to overshoots and oscillations on switching waveforms, with the presence of parasitic inductances in the circuit. The overshoots and oscillations further contribute to increased converter loss and EMI emissions. This paper aims to study the influence of parasitic inductances on the performance of SiC MOSFETs for automotive dc–dc converters from the loss and electromagnetic interference perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the development of a bilateral dc/dc converter rated at 1500 V with a peak power of 500 kW for battery energy storage systems supporting railway dc feeder systems. The dc/dc converter converts regenerated power from a braking train and charges the batteries. The dc/dc converter discharges the stored energy to feed the train during powering. The converter main circuit and the control system are described, and successful test results obtained at the factory are reported. For the main circuit test, a special test method was applied. For the control system test, a real-time digital simulator was used for hardware-in-loop tests. In addition to the converter tests, the results from dc feeder system tests with an actual rectifier and battery bank are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents an alternative way for the current regulation of single-phase voltage-source dc–ac converters in direct–quadrature (dq) synchronous reference frames. In a dq reference frame, ac (time varying) quantities appear as dc (time invariant) ones, allowing the controller to be designed the same as dc–dc converters, presenting infinite control gain at the steady-state operating point to achieve zero steady-state error. The common approach is to create a set of imaginary quantities orthogonal to those of the real single-phase system so as to obtain dc quantities by means of a stationary-frame to rotating-frame transformation. The orthogonal imaginary quantities in common approaches are obtained by phase shifting the real components by a quarter of the fundamental period. The introduction of such delay in the system deteriorates the dynamic response, which becomes slower and oscillatory. In the proposed approach of this paper, the orthogonal quantities are generated by an imaginary system called fictive axis, which runs concurrently with the real one. The proposed approach, which is referred to as fictive-axis emulation, effectively improves the poor dynamics of the conventional approaches while not adding excessive complexity to the controller structure. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A new stationary frame control scheme for three-phase pulsewidth-modulation (PWM) rectifiers operating under unbalanced voltage dips conditions is proposed in this paper. The proposed control scheme regulates the instantaneous active power at the converter poles to minimize the harmonics of the input currents and the output voltage ripple. This paper's novelty is the development of a new current-reference generator implemented directly in stationary reference frame. This allows using proportional sinusoidal signal integrator (P-SSI) controllers for simultaneous compensation of both positive and negative current sequence components. No phase-locked loop (PLL) strategies and coordinate transformations are needed for the proposed current-reference generator. Experimental results are presented for a 20-kVA alternative current (ac)/direct current (dc) converter prototype to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme. A comparison with two other existing control techniques is also performed. Fast dynamic performance with small dc-link voltage ripple and input sinusoidal currents are obtained with this control scheme, even under severe voltage dips operating conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new isolated dc-dc zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) converter, which is composed of two half-bridge converters associated in series operating at constant frequency. The converter can be seen as an alternative to the ZVS-phase-shift full-bridge dc-dc converter for high-voltage applications. The paper proposes a new command strategy, named interleaved phase shift, which allows equalization of the input capacitor voltage, where each capacitor shares one-quarter of the total input voltage. Due to phase-shift modulation, the current is equally shared among main switches, reducing the converter conduction losses, when compared with conventional pulsewidth modulation. Furthermore, the input capacitors voltage oscillations are reduced due to load variations, as well as due to input dc-bus 120-Hz ripple. Just as with a ZVS-phase-shift full-bridge converter, the proposed converter achieves ZVS in a wide load range, as a function of the transformer leakage inductance. The paper describes the analysis, operating principles, and design procedure for the proposed converter. Experimental results from a 1.5-kW prototype converter operating at 100 kHz with isolated 60-V/25-A output are presented to validate the theoretical analysis and to demonstrate the performance of the proposed converter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes three dynamic voltage restorer (DVR) topologies. Such configurations are able to compensate voltage sags/swells in three-phase four-wire (3P4W) systems under balanced and unbalanced conditions. The proposed systems use two independent dc links. Proposed configurations present advantages in terms of switch blocking voltages and consequently lower dc-link voltage rating. The complete control system, including the pulsewidth modulation (PWM) technique, is developed, and comparisons between the proposed configurations and a conventional one are performed. Simulation and experimental results are provided to validate the theoretical approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the development, analysis, and performance evaluation of a new topology for an isolated dc power electronic converter (PEC). The proposed topology (called the reverse flyback dc PEC) is developed to process a discontinuous input voltage and produce a continuous output voltage. The reverse flyback dc PEC is operated based on charging the inductive element in the high-frequency transformer, while discharging the energy to the output side through on–off actions of the switching element, which is located on the secondary side of the high-frequency transformer. A prototype for the proposed reverse flyback dc PEC is constructed to evaluate its performance under different operating conditions. Performance results show that the reverse flyback dc PEC is capable of processing discontinuous input voltages with different duty ratios and maintaining continuous output voltages with a minor sensitivity to the load type of ratings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A switching-capacitor-based buck–boost converter (with common ground) for point of load applications is proposed in this paper. It is capable of operating in stand-alone buck or boost mode in addition to its primary operation of performing the buck–boost conversion. The striking feature of the proposed converter is low source current ripple content irrespective of its mode of operation (buck–boost, buck, or boost). First, feasible pulsewidth modulation schemes for the proposed converter are identified and thereafter the corresponding circuit performance analysis, steady-state analysis, and state-space modelling is established. Through steady-state analysis, voltage gain expressions are formulated and equations defining L-C components are derived in terms of their ripple quantities. The state-space models are used to formulate small-signal analysis and to obtain the relevant transfer functions required in the controller design. A voltage-mode/current-mode controller is designed, with a tradeoff in bandwidth, to control the proposed converter and transit it from buck to boost mode or vice versa seamlessly. A 30–55 W, 100 kHz, prototype point of load converter with 36-V input dc source is built to supply power at constant load voltage of either 48 or 28 V. The proposed converters’ effectiveness is demonstrated experimentally in terms of reduced source current ripple along with seamless transition from buck to boost mode and vice versa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wireless power and data transmission (WPDT) is required in many scenarios. This paper proposes a novel WPDT scheme based on capacitive coupling. The power transfer is analyzed, and the power circuit is equivalent to a double-sided LCC compensated wireless power transfer system. The modulation, injection, extraction, and demodulation circuits for data transfer are introduced. The function of each element in the proposed system is explained in detail. In order to facilitate the design of a practical WPDT system, the specific steps are summarized. Theoretical analysis on the interferences between the power transfer and data transfer indicates that the interferences can be significantly diminished by proper design. A 100-W WPDT prototype is built. The measured power transfer efficiency, from dc input to dc output, is 90.5%. The transferred data are correctly recovered in the receiver side at a data rate of 119 kb/s. The data circuit works well even though the coupling coefficient is decreased by 60.2%. The practically measured interferences between the power transfer and data transfer are quite small. The power transfer and data transfer are not affected by these interferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comparison of two magnetic component topologies for use in a high-power high-current dc–dc boost preregulator for renewable applications. The industry-standard two-phase (2L) interleaved dc–dc boost converter consisting of two discrete toroid magnetic components is considered as the baseline design. A 3C92 CCTT-core split-winding integrated magnetic (CCTT IM) is developed and compared for similar conditions. The topologies are compared for the same worst case phase-current ripple conditions. First, the baseline industry-standard 2L design is presented, which consists of a toroidal magnetic component along with stranded copper conductors, which are used to reduce the effects of ac copper loss. The CCTT IM component is designed for the same worst case phase-current ripple as this allows for a size saving with respect to the baseline design. The CCTT IM boxed volume is investigated as the number of turns is varied, but for a like-for-like comparison, the final CCTT IM design has the same number of turns and copper cross-sectional area as the 2L baseline design. A 2D finite element analysis (FEA) is used in order to validate and optimize the designs. The 8-kW experimental results are presented that indicate that the CCTT IM option allows for an approximate reduction of 50% in both magnetic mass and boxed volume with respect to the 2L toroid inductors. Critically, this size saving does not come at the expense of reduced efficiency, and the CCTT IM exhibits greater efficiency than the 2L baseline design. The IM does require additional input capacitance compared to the 2L design. The overall $LC$ filter of the IM design, comprising the boost magnetics and input capacitance, is reduced by approximately 20% in volume and 44% in mass compared to the 2L design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new nonisolated buck/boost-type multilevel dc–dc converter suitable for high-power and medium/high-voltage application. The main features of the proposed topology are as follows: low voltage across the semiconductors, low switching losses, and reduced volume of the output filter. The theoretical analysis is carried out for a five-level bidirectional structure of the proposed converter, operating in Buck mode. The proposed topology presents some capacitors, and their voltage must be balanced for proper operation of the converter. Thus, a capacitor voltage balancing active control using a feedforward technique is proposed and analyzed in detail. In order to validate the theoretical analysis, a prototype with 10 kW output power capability, 1.3 kV to 800 V input-to-output voltage, and 20 kHz of switching frequency was built and experimented. The results attest the advantages of the new dc–dc topology, as well as the new capacitor voltage control technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As key component for the flexible dc distributed power system, the dual active bridge (DAB)-converter-based solid-state transformer (SST) with high efficiency for a wide operating range is essential. However, with the traditional phase-shift control, high backflow power and current stress will significantly affect the conversion efficiency. In this paper, the backflow power characteristics in both sides of DAB-based SST converters are comprehensively analyzed. On this basis, complete transmission power, backflow power, and peak current mathematical models are established. Then, a minimum-backflow-power-based extended-phase-shift control strategy is proposed with the determination of optimal phase-shift pairs by using the Karush–Kuhn–Tucker function for various scenarios. The backflow power and current stress curves with different algorithms are compared. It shows the proposed control can improve the output power regulation flexibility, minimize the backflow power, and improve the efficiency in wide operating range. Finally, a DAB-based SST prototype was developed and the experimental results verified the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new high-gain soft-switching dc–dc topology based on a switched inductor boost converter (SIBC). A conventional SIBC as a high gain boost topology has the issues of high conduction loss in switching diodes and high switching loss in the main switches. Also, it has severe electromagnetic interference (EMI) issue due to high-frequency ringing formed by parasitic inductance and diode junction capacitors. The new topology is derived with the objective of achieving zero voltage switching (ZVS) turn on of the main switch. Instead of adding extra active clamp zero voltage transition (ZVT) path at the switching node, the proposed topology augments the auxiliary ZVT path to the switching diode path. This is achieved by replacing the switching diodes with synchronous switches. The new topology can achieve soft switching for all the switches and alleviate the EMI issue. All the diodes achieve zero current switching (ZCS) turn off without reverse recovery. Auxiliary switches have ZCS turn on and ZVS turn off, and the main switches have ZVS turn on. The soft-switching SIBC also reduces the conduction loss in the switching diodes. A numerical simulation in PLECS and a prototype hardware are built corresponding to a micro-inverter application with 100 kHz switching frequency. Peak power conversion efficiency of 94.76% is achieved in the hardware prototype with Si devices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes a fault diagnosis and identification method for nonisolated dc–dc converters. The method can detect the fault, and identify the faulty switch and the switch fault type in less than one switching cycle. The main idea is to apply the derivative of the inductor current based on the modulation of the particular dc–dc converter to provide a predictive current emulator model. The measured inductor current and its corresponding predicted current are used to diagnose the switch fault. The method, implemented in a digital signal processor, is robust to common converter asymmetry such as load variations, input disturbances, etc. The proposed fault diagnosis method has been analyzed, tested, and validated for a boost converter. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Energy storage devices are essential to provide voltage and frequency stability in renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind. Due to operational requirements of distributed generation systems, energy storage devices like batteries and supercapacitors need bidirectional dc–dc converters to allow charge or discharge exchange according with the necessary conditions. In this paper, a new nonisolated bidirectional quadratic converter characterized by high voltage gain in both step-down (Buck) and step-up (Boost) operation modes is proposed. In addition to the wide conversion range, it presents continuous input and output current and reduced charging/discharging ripple. All these features allow an optimized operation between the dc bus and storage devices. The operation principle of the proposed converter in both condition modes (step-down and step-up), the converter design, as well as the theoretical analysis in different conditions will be discussed. Finally, the performance of the proposed converter is confirmed through simulation and experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a new control strategy for a modified cascade multilevel inverter used in drivetrain operations. The proposed inverter is a three-phase bridge with its dc link fed by a dc source (battery), and each phase series-connected to an H-bridge fed with a floating dc source (ultracapacitor). To exploit the potentials of the inverter for enhanced drivetrain performance, a sophisticated yet efficient modulation method is proposed to optimize energy transfer between the dc sources and with the load (induction motor) during typical operations, and to minimize switching losses and harmonics distortion. Detailed analysis of the proposed control method is presented, which is supported by experimental verifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the design and the implementation of an isolated gate driver system using a CMOS integrated circuit for interleaved dc/dc converters. It is based on a novel gate driver topology for power switches like MOSFETs and insulated-gate bipolar transistors. Composed of two legs of a CMOS inverter, a high-frequency pulse transformer, and two Zener diodes connected in antiseries configuration with the gate of the power switch, this driver topology provides an optimal bipolar gate driver waveform with greater positive and negative gate biases to fasten the switch on and off. It represents a simple ultracompact isolated gate driver simple to integrate in CMOS technology. Power consumption, system size, and robustness of the gate driver are therefore optimized. This integrated driver circuit can be used for any multitransistor applications. We detail the operation principle of the proposed driver topology in this paper. We implemented the gate driver to control a three-phase interleaved boost converter; the results show the effectiveness of the proposed driver system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an average switch model approach to the power stage modeling, feedback compensation network design, and dynamic analysis of power factor correction (PFC) boost converters with ripple steering is presented. The model is expressed by the derivation of power stage transfer functions for a conventional boost converter and then followed by the derivation of the power stage transfer functions for a boost converter with ripple steering. A detailed design procedure and comparison of both voltage and current feedback loops are given in a conventional PFC boost converter and boost converter with ripple steering. Experimental and simulation results of a prototype boost converter converting universal ac input voltage to 400 V dc at 1.6 kW are given to verify the proof of concept and analytical work reported. The experimental results demonstrate that the model can correctly predict the steady-state behavior of a continuous conduction mode PFC boost converter with ripple steering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a high-efficiency zero-current-switching (ZCS) switched-capacitor (SC) dc–dc converter for high-current high-voltage-gain TEG application. Compared with the traditional hard switching SC circuits, the proposed circuit achieves ZCS for all the switches, thus minimizing the switching loss and electromagnetic interference noise. The huge electrolytic capacitor bank existing in the hard switching SC circuit, which is used to reduce the voltage ripple and achieve high efficiency, is eliminated. The low-capacitance ceramic capacitor is utilized instead. Different from other ZCS SC circuits that insert a magnetic core, the proposed circuit utilizes stray inductance that is present in the circuit to achieve ZCS, thus leading to small-size, low-cost, and high-reliability features. The proposed circuit also owns continuous input current and low-output-voltage ripple features. Therefore, the power loss related to the input capacitor can be minimized. By using the proposed topology, high-efficiency and high-power-density SC dc–dc converters could be made for high-current and high-voltage-gain application. Simulation and experimental results are given to demonstrate the validity and features of the proposed topology. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Current sensing is one of the important functions in a dc-dc converter. It may be used for overcurrent protection, current control, or load sharing among paralleled converters. Current sharing (CS) can be achieved by sensing the output currents of individual converters, but it requires N current sensors. In this paper, a current-sensing and CS scheme that uses a single sensor to sense the individual currents is presented. The scheme is independent of the number of converters in the paralleled system. The proposed scheme can be implemented easily on a digital platform and provides various functionalities of a voltage-regulating module. The analysis and implementation issues for such a scheme are presented and experimentally verified on a 1-V/ 25-A two-phase interleaved buck converter with digital control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comprehensive study of a current-fed full-bridge boost dc-dc converter with zero-current switching (ZCS), based on the constant on-time control for high-voltage applications. The current-fed full-bridge boost converter can achieve ZCS by utilizing the leakage inductance and parasitic capacitance as the resonant tank. In order to achieve ZCS under a wide load range and with various input voltages, the turn-on time of the boost converter is kept constant, and the output voltage is regulated via frequency modulation. The steady-state analysis and the ZCS operation conditions under various load and input-voltage conditions are discussed. Finally, a laboratory prototype converter with a 22-27-V input voltage and 1-kV/1-kW output is implemented to verify the performance. The experimental results show that the converter can achieve high output voltage gains, and the highest efficiency of the converter is 92% at full-load condition with an input voltage of 27 V. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel topology of a multilevel modular capacitor- clamped dc-dc converter will be presented in this paper. In contrast to the conventional flying capacitor multilevel dc-dc converter, this new topology is completely modular and requires a simpler gate drive circuit. Moreover, the new topology has many advantageous features such as high frequency operation capability, low input/output current ripple, low ON-state voltage drop, and bidirectional power flow management. This paper discusses the construction and operation of the new converter along with a comparison to a conventional converter. Finally, simulation and experimental results are used to validate the concept of this new topology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a simple control method to achieve active sharing of input voltage and load current among modular converters that are connected in series at the input and in parallel at the output. The input-series connection enables a fully modular power-system architecture, where low voltage and low power modules can be connected in any combination at the input and/or at the output, to realize any given specifications. Further, the input-series connection enables the use of low-voltage MOSFETs that are optimized for very low RDSON, thus, resulting in lower conduction losses. In the proposed scheme, the duty ratio to all the converter modules connected in input-series and output-parallel (ISOP) configuration is made common. This scheme does not require a dedicated input-voltage or load-current-share controller. It relies on the inherent self-correcting characteristic of the ISOP connection when the duty ratio of all the converters is the same. The proposed scheme is analyzed using the average model of a forward converter. The stability and performance of the scheme are verified through numerical simulation, both in frequency domain and in time domain. The proposed control method is also validated on an experimental prototype ISOP system comprising of two forward converters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, passive integrated power electronic modules (IPEMs), which have been implemented as resonant tanks in resonant dc-dc converters, have gained interest because of their merits for possibly reducing the total volume and improving manufacturability of the resonant converter system. However, the integration process for the passive IPEM increases the complexity of the thermal and mechanical behavior of the structure due to interactive heating of the module layers and mechanical inter-layer stresses. It is therefore essential to investigate the thermo-mechanical behavior of a passive IPEM to ensure reliable operation. In this paper, the methodology for thermo-mechanical analysis for a series resonant LC passive IPEM is developed. Especially, a three-dimensional thermo-mechanical model based on finite-element modeling is presented. The thermal analysis results were verified by an experimental prototype LC passive IPEM and temperature distribution measurement using an infrared camera and thermocouples. Results of the thermal analysis and the associated thermo-mechanical stress analysis are also discussed, illustrating the viability of the methodology developed for thermally induced mechanical stresses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With reference to a 48 V belt-driven starter-generator used in micro/mild hybrid vehicles, this paper shows the design and measurement of an integrated H-bridge and of a compact dc/dc converter, both fabricated in low-cost high voltage-metal oxide semiconductor (HV-MOS) technology. The H-bridge is in charge of rotor excitation and, thanks to a direct copper bonding of the HV-MOS devices on a ceramic substrate, it ensures a full-integrated solution with low on-resistance values. The compact dc/dc converter interfaces the 48 V power domain with the lower voltage domain of sensing and control electronics, such as 5 and 1.65 V in this case study, without using cumbersome inductors and transformers. The latter are difficult to integrate into silicon technology. The converter has a multistage architecture where each stage implements a switched capacitor regulation. Multiple voltage outputs are supported with a configurable regulation factor sustaining an input voltage variation from 6 V (in case of cranking) up to 60 V. Specific design techniques have been implemented to reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI), typical of switching converters. Experimental measurements on fabricated prototype chipsets confirm the suitability of the presented designs for low-EMI 48 V applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-inductor multiple-output (SIMO) switching dc–dc power converter architecture is a cost-effective alternative to multiple individual switching power converters solution in many power distribution system applications where multiple voltage rails are required at reduced cost. However, with multiple output voltage rails coupled to the same switching node, the SIMO power converters suffer from cross regulation between the multiple outputs, which complicates the closed-loop controller design of the SIMO converter and degrades regulation performance. In this paper, a power-multiplexed (PM) control scheme is proposed aiming to completely decouple the operations of multiple outputs from one another. The proposed PM control scheme results in eliminating the cross regulation among the multiple outputs while maintaining desired voltage regulation performance for each output under both steady-state and dynamic operations. Low-cost microcontroller or analog circuitries can be used to implement the proposed controller. Experimental proof of concept prototype results verify the feasibility and advantages of the proposed controller. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes a bidirectional switched-capacitor dc–dc converter for applications that require high voltage gain. Some of conventional switched-capacitor dc–dc converters have diverse voltage or current stresses for the switching devices in the circuit, not suitable for modular configuration or for high efficiency demand; some suffer from relatively high power loss or large device count for high voltage gain, even if the device voltage stress could be low. By contrast, the proposed dc–dc converter features low component (switching device and capacitor) power rating, small switching device count, and low output capacitance requirement. In addition to its low current stress, the combination of two short symmetric paths of charge pumps further lowers power loss. Therefore, a small and light converter with high voltage gain and high efficiency can be achieved. Simulation and experimental results of a 450-W prototype with a voltage conversion ratio of six validate the principle and features of this topology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a multiphysical proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stack model. The stack model is divided into three submodels describing the different physical domains, namely, electrical, fluidic, and thermal. The stacking method has been used to model the fuel cell stack from a single-cell model. The proposed model has been validated against a 1.2-kW commercial PEMFC stack with excellent agreement between simulation and experimentation. Based on the simulation results, a novel model reduction method is proposed. The reduced model is suitable for real-time simulation purpose. Moreover, a real-time-model-based fuel cell emulator is introduced. The emulator has three real-time computation cores with different rates. The three computation cores are interconnected with a digital communication bus. A dc/dc buck converter is designed in order to receive the model-predicted stack power conditions and emulate the real fuel cell stack power output. The experimental test results show that such an emulator is suitable for fuel cell system hardware-in-the-loop applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This manuscript details a design method for a 500 kW solar power based microgrid system for space applications. The design method utilizes multiobjective optimization with the genetic algorithm considering four parameters that characterize solar power based microgrids (battery voltage, photovoltaic (PV) maximum power, PV maximum power point voltage, and number of panels per string). The final optimization metric is the ratio of daily average deliverable power to total system mass (W/kg) metric. The microgrid system is composed of a number of modular dc–dc microconverters, of which four topologies (buck, boost, buck–boost, and non-inverting buck–boost) are evaluated and compared. The non-inverting buck–boost converter is determined to be the best candidate, and the optimal system characteristics are provided and analyzed. The final system design achieves a specific power of 35.56 W/kg, with optimized result of 743.7 V battery voltage, 439.5 W PV maximum power, 182.7 V PV maximum voltage, and three panels per string. Based on the optimizations results, a prototype is designed, tested, and analyzed in terms of efficiency and low-temperature reliability. The converter achieved a peak efficiency of 98.4%, a power density of 3.54 W/cm3, a specific power of 3.76 W/g, and operated for over 267 h of 11-min low-temperature cycles from 0 to −140 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the design and the realization of an integrated isolated HF dc-to-dc converter for low-voltage and low-power conditioning applications (3.3 V and 1 W) including galvanic isolation. It is based on the 3-D integration of several elementary silicon dies in which essential components such as the inverter, the rectifier, the HF transformer, the input and output capacitors, and the output inductor have been integrated. The paper deals with the silicon integration of all these elements, with the presentation of our work being related with the state of the art. Then, it focuses on an estimate of the whole converter functional performance at 1-MHz switching frequency. Practical but partial implementation was carried out. The inverter and the rectifier are designed in CMOS technology (Austria Micro Systems 0.35 \mu\m) and have been optimized to operate at HF (1 MHz) to reduce the size of passive devices. We have monolithically integrated all that is necessary for this function. The transformer, as well as the inductor and the capacitors, is also integrated on separate silicon dies. Their integration is discussed, as well as their design and practical characterization. Based on a distributed construction, the overall converter efficiency is estimated in simulation based on practical characterizations. It appears that correct efficiency with a reasonable silicon surface and volume can be reached. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a simulator of a photovoltaic (PV) field where the current–voltage characteristic is obtained either with a fully analytical model or with a numerical model based on a growing neural gas (GNG) network. The power stage is obtained with a dc–dc buck converter driven by the current–voltage–irradiance–temperature relation of the PV array. The improvements introduced here, with respect to previous works, are the following: 1) the mathematical model is given as a continuous surface in the irradiance domain; 2) a relation between temperature and irradiance is obtained by least square regression method; 3) the thermal constant of the PV field is introduced; and 4) an experimental prototype of higher rating has been devised and constructed. For both approaches, a more performing control technique of the converter has been used. Finally, a PV simulator prototype is experimentally tested. Some criteria for a suitable choice between the proposed approaches and the benefits obtainable by the use of the GNG are put into evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]