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In order to lower the system cost and reduce the form factor, single-inductor multiple-output (SIMO) converters are intensely developed for on-chip dc–dc converters and offline light emitting diode (LED) drivers. However, existing single-stage power factor correction (PFC) SIMO LED drivers are usually designed with electrolytic capacitors, leading to a short-life span and limited range of operation temperature. In this paper, based on a single dual-winding coupled inductor, a SIMO LED driver with PFC function is proposed without the requirement of electrolytic capacitors, where a small storage capacitance is used to actively decouple the ac and dc input powers. Compared with previous works, the proposed PFC SIMO LED driver has some additional benefits, including a smaller line filter, multiple output currents without double line frequency ripple, and a faster output regulation. With appropriate control strategy, an independent output regulation can be achieved for each output channel. Meanwhile, to improve the converter efficiency, the energy flow of the converter is optimized with an inductor current programming technique. Finally, the proposed electrolytic capacitorless PFC SIMO LED driver is developed, designed, tested, and compared with a single-stage SIMO design without active power decoupling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Charging electric vehicles (EVs) from photovoltaic panels (PV) provides a sustainable future for transportation. This paper presents the development of a 10 kW EV charger that can be powered from both a PV array and the three-phase ac grid. The goal is to realize a high power density and high-efficiency three-port power converter that integrates the EV, PV, and grid and meets the Chademo and combined charging standard/Combo EV charging standards. The EV port is designed to be isolated and bidirectional, so that both charging and vehicle-to-grid can be implemented. As PV and EV are both dc by nature, the converter uses a central dc link to exchange power between the EV and PV, thereby increasing efficiency. The use of silicon carbide devices and powdered alloy core inductors enables high switching frequency and power density. The closed-loop control allows four different power flows: ${\text{PV}\rightarrow \text{EV}, \text{EV}\rightarrow }$ grid, grid ${\rightarrow \text{EV}}$ , and ${\text{PV}\rightarrow }$ grid. Hence, the converter operates as a PV inverter, a bidirectional EV charger, and a combination of both. A 10 kW prototype has been successfully tested, and its experimental waveforms and measured efficiency are presented. It has three times the power density and higher partial and peak load efficiency when compared to existing solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photovoltaic (PV) systems containing a rechargeable battery as an energy buffer require multiple dc–dc converters for PV panel control and battery regulation, and hence, they are prone to be complex and costly. To simplify the system by reducing the number of converters, this paper proposes the nonisolated switched capacitor converter (SCC)-based multiport converter (SC-MPC) for standalone PV systems. The proposed SC-MPC can be derived by integrating a bidirectional pulsewidth modulation (PWM) converter, series-resonant converter (SRC), and an SCC with sharing switches. PWM and pulse frequency modulation (PFM) controls are employed for the PWM converter and SRC, respectively, to regulate either a battery voltage, output voltage, or input power from a PV panel, depending on power balance among the input, battery, and load. The 150-W prototype was built for an experimental verification, and the results demonstrated the output voltage could be regulated independently on the battery voltage or input port of PV panels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High step-down voltage conversion is necessary to bridge the voltage gap between main power converters and low-voltage auxiliary electronics in power conversion systems. Switched capacitor converters (SCCs) are an attractive candidate as a high step-down converter, but their poor voltage regulation capability may limit their applications. Pulsewidth modulation (PWM) SCCs with adjustable high step-down voltage conversion are proposed in this paper. The proposed PWM SCCs can be derived from traditional SCCs by replacing an energy transfer capacitor with a switched-capacitor-inductor (SCL) cell that comprises inductors, capacitors, and diodes to realize PWM-controllable voltage conversion. The voltage step-down ratio of the proposed PWM SCCs is not only PWM controllable but also adjustable with structures of SCCs and SCL cells. Two representative PWM SCCs were taken as examples to perform the operational analysis. The prototypes of both representative PWM SCCs were built and tested to demonstrate the proposed concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a Class-DEMtuned power amplifier. The proposed amplifier achieves zero-voltage switching (ZVS), zero-voltage derivative switching (ZVDS), and zero-current switching (ZCS) at turning-on, and ZVS, ZVDS, ZCS, and zero-current derivative switching at turning-off. Therefore, the switching losses are extremely low, which is suitable for high-frequency operation. Moreover, the switch voltage stress is low, which is no more than its input voltage. A proposed amplifier was designed, built, and tested. The measured power conversion efficiency was 93.2% under the condition of the main input voltage of 46.8 V, the operating frequency of 1 MHz, and the output power of 4.87 W. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The three-phase four-wire inverter with split dc-link capacitors can supply unbalanced loads. For the purpose of reducing the filter inductors, a neutral inductor could be introduced into the neutral line. This paper analyzes the operation principle of the three-phase four-wire inverter with split dc-link capacitors when a neutral inductor is introduced. It is illustrated that the neutral inductor can reduce the zero-sequence switching harmonics in the voltages between the phase-leg midpoints and the output neutral point, thus the filter inductors can be reduced. The optimized design of the neutral inductor and filter inductors is proposed with the considerations of the inductor current ripple, the ability of supplying unbalanced loads, and the total energy stored in the inductors. The equivalent circuits of the three-phase four-wire inverter with split dc-link capacitors and neutral inductor is derived in the α–β–0 frame, and the zero-axis voltage regulator is modified to suppress the third-order harmonic in the zero-sequence current caused by the deadtime of the drive signals for the power switches. Finally, the experimental results from a 9-kW prototype are provided to prove the effectiveness of the proposed optimized design of the neutral inductor and filter inductors and the control strategy of the inverter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a family of step-up resonant switched-capacitor converters (RSCs) with a continuously adjustable conversion ratio is proposed based on the Cuk dual-resonance core (DRC) featuring two resonant paths. By adopting the on-time fixed frequency modulation, the two resonant paths can conduct simultaneously and satisfy the charge balance of the flying capacitor during the overlapping period. As a result, the conversion ratio—upper bounded by two determined by the circuit configuration—can vary continuously and efficiently even at the light load condition (1/10 of the rated power). A comprehensive analysis—the operation principle, voltage-gain curve, and voltage/current stresses—about the DRC is given. In addition, the Cuk DRC was extended to the series–parallel switched-capacitor converter (SCC), Fibonacci SCC, and voltage doubler to form a family of step-up RSCs, whose voltage-gain curves of different topologies are derived. Moreover, a characteristic comparison between the Cuk DRC and the traditional “direct” and “indirect” resonant core is given. Then, a 48 to 62–94.6 V resonant core with peak efficiency 97.8% and maximum power 120 W under the open loop condition was built. The analyses were verified by both experimental and simulation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a circuit structure of bidirectional dc–dc converter. This structure uses two switches, two capacitors, a 1:1 transformer, and a control circuit for pulse-frequency modulation. The windings of the transformer are connected in a series-aiding configuration to reduce current ripples and to increase power conversion efficiency $\eta _{e}$. The capacitors and the leakage inductance of the transformer provide soft-switching conditions. When the proposed converter was designed to operate at a switching frequency of 110–240 kHz, input/output voltages of 100–400 V, and output power $P_{o}$ of 30–300 W, $\eta _{e}$ was ≥97% for $P_{o}\,\geq \,{\text{90}}\,{\text{W}}$ and 93.5% at $P_{o}\,= \,{\text{30}}\,{\text{W}}$. Experimental results show that the proposed converter is suitable for use in photovoltaic power conversion systems and energy storage systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an overview of resonant and hybrid switched-capacitor converters with a particular focus on multimode operation. The multimode approach is discussed as a tool to affect high efficiency and power density across a wide load range, provide variable regulation, and, as a general framework, to conceptualize the advantages and opportunities of the approach compared to more traditional dc–dc converters. A general analysis is provided to quantify the advantage of hybrid and resonant converters that factors in the tradeoffs between size and loss in the magnetic component and voltage stress on the active devices. A broader set of operating modes is presented that spans continuous and discontinuous conduction and includes resonant, quasi-resonant, and more traditional buck- or boost-like operation. A prototype flying-capacitor multilevel converter is presented to demonstrate the variety of operating modes and motivate important considerations such as voltage balance on the flying capacitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trend toward higher switching frequencies and higher power densities in dc–dc conversion led the designers to rediscover resonant topologies. However, the analysis of these converters is often limited to a particular operating mode and/or topology. This paper wants to fill the gap by presenting a state-space-based analysis for a broad class of series-resonant converters including voltage-fed as well as current-fed topologies, either unidirectional or bidirectional. The proposed solution consists of a mathematical framework that solves the trajectory of state variables in the resonant tank, as well as the main characteristic functions such as voltage conversion ratio and transferred power. The matrix approach permits a flexible and compact formulation and easy implementation in computational tools such as MATLAB. The theoretical framework is applied to both voltage-fed and current-fed resonant topologies: the first is used to show the advantages of the proposed model respect to the first harmonic approximation, while a detailed analysis in terms of operating mode boundaries, delivered power, and voltage gain is provided for the second. Simulations and measurements on a 300-W prototype of the current-fed topology are used to validate the correctness of the proposed solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel direct ac–ac converter based on the coupled inductor Z-source networks is proposed that offers a wide range of buck–boost operation. A total of two Z-source networks, called the coupled switched inductor and the modified switched coupled inductor, are employed that enable the ac–ac converter to deliver a wide voltage range. The proposed converter with both networks provides free-wheeling current paths for the inductors currents during the state transitions, which results in solving the commutation problems and the need for snubber circuits. A simple switching strategy is then proposed that helps to share a common magnetic core between the coupled inductors. For any particular voltage gain, the proposed structures require a smaller duty cycle compared to the conventional ones; therefore, a smaller inductance is required. Simulation and experimental results are provided to confirm the theoretical achievements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a dynamic power flow management system for a solar photovoltaic (PV) system employing a single-stage single-inductor-based dual-input/output dc–dc converter feeding standalone dc loads backed up by a rechargeable battery. A time-sharing voltage-mode control scheme has been proposed for power flow management between solar PV, a battery, and a standalone dc load, and it also maintains a constant dc load voltage and performs maximum power point tracking operation of solar PV. The implementation of the control scheme has been described in detail. The steady-state performance of the single-stage converter has been explained with the relevant analytical expressions derived along with the characteristics. A state-space average model was developed for simulating the transient behavior and validating the working of the system for step changes in the input solar PV power and the dc loads. A hardware prototype of the proposed system has been fabricated, and the proposed controller has been implemented using the dSPACE DS1103 real-time interface board. The working of the proposed scheme for different levels of input solar insolation and dc load power demand has been satisfactorily demonstrated, and the corresponding results are also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel buck–boost dc–dc converter with continuous input current is proposed. The voltage gain of the presented converter is higher than conventional converters, such as buck–boost, single-ended primary-inductance converter, Cuk, and Zeta converters. This converter works only by one switch and voltage stress across the switch is low. Input current of the proposed converter is continuous so a large filter at the input is not needed. Furthermore, continuous input current has made this converter suitable for renewable energy and fuel cell applications. In this converter, noninverting output voltage is obtained and high gain of voltage is achieved as well. So it can operate at wide output voltage range only by changing the duty cycle of the power switch pulse. The presented converter can easily controlled in continuous conduction mode operation, because of using only one power switch. In the following, the principle of operation and the mathematical analyses of the proposed converter are explained, finally, validity of the proposed dc–dc converter is verified by the experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a half-bridge (HB) converter, additionally employing a diode compared with the conventional modified duty-cycle-shifted (MDCS) HB converter, is proposed to achieve a high efficiency in wide-input-voltage and low-output-current applications. Since the proposed converter has symmetrical operation, it maintains the advantages such as no transformer dc-offset current, and identical and low-voltage stresses on the secondary diodes. Moreover, due to one additional switch connected in series, the zero-voltage-switching capability of the upper switch is improved. As a result, small resonant inductances are required, which reduces the duty cycle loss, thus the primary conduction losses decrease. In addition, since additional clamping diodes separate external resonant inductor from the resonance path, additional voltage stresses on the secondary diodes can be decreased. Therefore, its snubber loss can be reduced, and it can achieve higher efficiency than that of the MDCS HB converter. To confirm the operation, features, and validity of the proposed converter, a 310–400 V input and 50-V/250-W output laboratory prototype is built and tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent power systems, such as renewable energy systems consisting of solar panels and rechargeable batteries, contain multiple power sources and need multiple converters in proportion to the number of power sources, resulting in increased system complexity and cost. This paper proposes a multiport converter (MPC) integrating a bidirectional PWM converter and series-resonant converter. Not only is the switch count halved with the proposed MPC, but also magnetic components can be integrated, reducing the circuit complexity and volume. A 150-W prototype of the proposed MPC was built for the experimental verification. The measured voltage conversion characteristics and transient responses demonstrated that the proposed MPC could control load and battery voltages independently by pulse width modulation and pulse frequency modulation controls, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current source converter (CSC) has been popular in high-power medium-voltage applications. To increase the system power capacity and reduce the output harmonics, parallel connection of CSCs with multilevel current output is a practical approach. There are mainly two types of parallel based configurations. The structure with an independent dc link for each paralleled CSC can be regarded as the first configuration, where the dc current flowing into each CSC can be controlled from the rectifier side independently. The second type is constructed with only one current source rectifier (CSR) on the grid side and paralleled current source inverters (CSIs) on the load side, which could potentially reduce the cost and size of the system. However, with a common dc source, the dc current for each CSC should be carefully controlled with proper modulation design. At the same time, the common-mode voltage (CMV), which increases the motor line-to-ground voltage and causes additional stress to the insulation system, should also be suppressed. In this paper, with a focus on the shared dc-link structure, we thoroughly analyze the dc-link current flow and common-mode loop circuit. We propose a multilevel modulation strategy of the parallel CSI system considering the requirement of dc current balancing and CMV reduction to improve the overall system performance. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by both simulation and experiment in a transformerless parallel CSC system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To develop thermoelectric power conditioning systems that are highly efficient over a wide range of input voltages and support medium-rated power, this paper introduces a hybrid resonant dc/dc converter using an active voltage-doubler rectifier. When the input voltage is higher than the preset nominal input voltage, the converter operates in the phase-shift full-bridge series-resonant converter mode, in which it achieves high efficiency by softly switching the primary-side switches and reducing the conduction loss. When the input voltage is lower than the nominal one, it operates in the resonant boost mode that boosts the resonant inductor current. By using the active voltage-doubler rectifier on the secondary side of the converter, we can build the converter with less number of active components. As a result, the proposed converter achieves, at low cost, high boost-ratio and high efficiency over a wide range of input voltages. A detailed analysis of the converter operation is presented along with the design procedure. At 35–55 V, a 600-W/360-V prototype of the proposed converter has been built and tested to demonstrate its effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A single-inductor multiple-output (SIMO) dc–dc converter with output-voltage-aware charge control (OVACC) is presented in this paper. The OVACC scheme reduces the cross regulation by computing the total energy required by all outputs to extract exactly the same amount of energy from the input. Moreover, the proposed design also extends the load capability range of the SIMO converter by supporting the operation in both continuous conduction mode and discontinuous conduction mode while boosting the overall power efficiency. The proposed SIMO (five outputs) dc–dc converter has been implemented in a 0.18 μm 1P6M CMOS process. Measurement results show that the best cross regulation is 0.016 mV/mA when the output current of 250 mA abruptly changes. And no cross regulation is observed when the first output current changes 150 mA, the second output current changes 160 mA, the third and fourth output currents change 180 mA, and the last output current changes 250 mA. Also, the measured peak power efficiency is 86%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of multistep direct model predictive control (MPC) for dc–dc boost converters overcomes the well-known issue of nonminimum phase behavior. However, it can lead to a high computational burden depending on the prediction horizon length. In this paper, a simple and computationally efficient MPC method for dc–dc boost converters is proposed. The key novelty of the presented control strategy lies in the way dynamic references are handled. The control strategy is capable of providing suitable references for the inductor current and the output voltage, without requiring additional control loops. Moreover, this reference design allows the predictive controller to be implemented with a single-step prediction horizon. Thus, a significant reduction in the required real-time calculations executed in the control hardware is achieved. To obtain constant switching frequency, the power switch commutation instants within a sampling period are considered as control inputs. Therefore, the predictive controller is formulated as a continuous control set MPC. Additionally, the proposed formulation is able to deal with different operation modes of the converter without changing the controller structure. Finally, an observer is used to dynamically modify the reference to provide robustness to system parameter uncertainties. Simulation and experimental results show an accurate tracking of dynamic inductor current and output voltage references, while respecting the restrictions on maximum inductor current levels of the converter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new predictive power-factor-correction (PFC) controller for series-interleaved three-level boost (TLB) converters. Compared to the state-of-the-art TLB PFC controllers, where a two-cycle prediction and a detection of an operating region are necessary, the proposed controller achieves a low total harmonic distortion of the input current by using a single equation to predict the input current in all operating regions of the converter, in just one operating cycle. The average current control is achieved by sampling at the peak of the triangular carrier. The proposed PFC controller significantly reduces the distortion of the input ac current near the zero-crossing points, resulting in a low total harmonic distortion of the input current. The operation of the proposed controller was evaluated, and its stability and robustness to parameter changes was confirmed analytically. The controller operating principles were verified in simulations and validated by experiments on a medium-voltage 50-kW converter prototype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-frequency (HF) switching and ac-side unbalanced loads challenge smart transformer (ST)-fed hybrid grids (both ac and dc), causing common-mode (CM) voltage variations and dc-link oscillation. The HF switching introduces an HF CM voltage and the ac grid unbalanced loads introduce a fundamental frequency CM voltage in hybrid grids. The CM voltage in ST-fed distributed grids degrades the power quality, threatens the safety of the connected devices, and potentially constitutes a health risk for the operators of such devices. Therefore, this paper systematically analyzes the root causes of the ST CM voltage variations and the impacts on hybrid grids. Based on the two typical configurations (three- and four-leg converters), the performance and requirements of CM inductor filter and bypass CM filter on HF CM voltage suppression are studied in detail. By considering the CM voltage suppression and dc capacitor lifetime, a four-leg converter with improved modulation strategy and small dc bypass film capacitor is proposed. The simulation and experimental results clearly verify the feasibility and correctness of the proposed strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a dual-mode Cuk inverter for photovoltaic/thermoelectric power applications. A dual-mode Cuk inverter operates in both discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) and continuous conduction mode (CCM), and has the advantages of low ripples of voltage and current at the input and output, medium power density, and step-up/step-down ability, but is difficult to control because DCM and CCM have distinct system dynamics. To overcome this control problem, we propose to use a repetitive controller (RC) with a multiple phase-lead compensator for the dual-mode Cuk inverter. If the RC is applied by itself, the distinct system dynamics may severely degrade its system performance. Thus, in the proposed RC, we mainly use a multiple phase-lead compensator to compensate for the different phase lags of the dual-mode Cuk inverter. To reduce the burden from the RC, we use the dual-mode nominal duty ratio as feedforward control input. We also analyze the boundary of operation modes in the dual-mode Cuk inverter, then provide detailed and practical guidelines to design the control parameters. Experimental results obtained on a 500-W digitally controlled module integrated converter prototype confirmed the effectiveness of the control approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an interleaved current-driven phase-shift full-bridge converter for plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) applications. In the proposed converter, soft switching of the active switches can be realized for a wide range of operating conditions by using a simple auxiliary circuit. Due to the current-driven nature of secondary rectifiers, the proposed converter is able to eliminate the voltage spikes across the output diodes and provides smooth commutations for the secondary rectifiers. Thus, diodes with lower breakdown voltage rate and lower forward voltage drop can be used to further improve the efficiency. All the passive magnetic components are integrated into the main transformer. The numbers of the output diodes are minimized because of the voltage doubler rectifier configuration. The input filtering requirements, as well as the current stresses of the switch devices, are also significantly reduced owing to the interleaving approach. Therefore, the proposed converter would be a good candidate for PHEV applications. The steady-state operation and relevant analysis results of the proposed converter are presented. Experimental results obtained from a 2-kW prototype with a peak efficiency of 97.4% validate feasibility of the proposed converter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The powder-core-based inductor has a wide inductance variation due to the soft-saturation nature when subjected to varying load current. Under such a condition, the current ripple is influenced, and the conventional inductor design principle may be inaccurate. Besides, the voltage of the inductor is distorted. Also, the bandwidth of the controller is hard to determine. In this paper, the current ripple under the condition of wide inductance variation is analyzed, and its change rule is revealed; then, a new inductance design principle is proposed. The harmonic components for the three-phase converter with the powder core inductor are investigated, and the harmonic characteristic of the input current is analyzed. According to the current harmonic characteristic, the resonance controllers are introduced to eliminate harmonics, and the quality of the current is improved. Besides, the bandwidth of the controller is found to vary with the output power. Then, a compensation method is proposed to eliminate the influence of inductance variation on the bandwidth. The experimental results verify the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A family of high-voltage-gain dc–dc converters derived from a generalized structure with two stages is introduced in this paper. On the input side, a two-phase interleaved boost stage boosts the dc input voltage to output a modified square-wave voltage that feeds the second stage. This output of the interleaved boost stage is rectified and further boosted using a voltage multiplier stage. As a result, a high voltage gain is achieved using the proposed converters. The two-phase interleaved boost stage on the input side makes it possible for the converters to be operated using a single source or two independent sources. If a single source is used, the input current drawn is continuous with a very small ripple. Owing to its generalized structure, the proposed family of converters includes both nonisolated and isolated converters with high voltage gains. The high voltage gain and low-ripple continuous input current make these converters appealing in applications like the integration of renewable sources such as solar, fuel cells, etc., on to a 400-V dc bus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to incorporate the advantage of the $V^{2}$ control scheme and the benefits of digital implementation, this paper proposes a digital $V^{2}$ control with hybrid capacitor current ramp compensation, which includes the estimated output capacitor current ramp and the external ramp. Since capacitor current responds to the load change immediately, the proposed method has faster transient response than either digital inductor current compensation or external ramp compensation. The proposed estimator does not require high sampling rate and avoids the current ramp distortion due to the parasitic resistance and inductance. The small-signal model is derived by describing function to understand the dynamic characteristics of the proposed control scheme. The model provides design criteria of the current feedback gain and the external ramp slope. The effectiveness of the proposed control architecture and the current ramp estimator is verified by simulation and experimental results. Compared with the benchmark, the proposed control has 70% reduction on settling time and 20% reduction on undershoot deviation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel six-switch dual-output inverter is proposed. The three-switch leg in the proposed inverter is implemented with the dual-buck structure. Hence, it retains all the benefits of the conventional dual-buck inverter such as improved reliability owing to the absence of short-circuit problems and higher efficiency with the use of power metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (mosfet) without reverse recovery issues on its body diode. In addition, the passive components can be reduced with the high switching frequency operation. A 3.5-kW, 400-V dc input mosfet-based hardware prototype was built and tested to verify the performance of the proposed inverter and a maximum efficiency of 97% was achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an adaptive look-up-table (LUT)-based variable on-time (VOT) control for CRM boost PFC converters, which combines advantages of conventional LUT method and real-time calculation method. By the numerical fitting method, the approximate functional form of the on-time is derived, which is related to both the input voltage and load. The mapping relationships of VOT tables under different load and input RMS voltage are investigated. Based on the mapping relationships, only one VOT table is required to be preloaded in LUT. The adaptability of the proposed control is conveniently realized within the universal ac input and entire load range through the inherent voltage loop and a simple linear calculation. With the proposed control, the required memory space for VOT tables is effectively reduced and the computation time is significantly shortened, leading to a low system cost. Moreover, compared with the constant on-time control and other VOT controls, the proposed control can further suppress the input current distortion. The experimental results of an 160-W universal ac input prototype are built to verify the effectiveness and advantage of the proposed control. With the proposed control, the input current THD is only 0.97% at 110 Vac input with full load and is limited within 2.9% at 220 Vac input with full load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wide-range soft-switching high-efficiency cycloconverter-type high-frequency-link inverter with dual-phase-shift modulation strategy is proposed in this paper. By adding an auxiliary inductor in primary-side full bridge circuit and adopting center-tapped four-winding transformer structure, the soft-switching range for primary-side switches has been extended. The secondary-side active clamper network is designed to recycle leakage inductor energy, and suppress voltage spikes caused by the resonance of the leakage inductor and the parasitic capacitance of switches. One feature of the proposed inverter is that both the primary-side full-bridge and active clamper network employ phase-shift modulation technique where all switches are driven with nearly 50% duty cycle square signals, hence a simple and reliable transformer-isolated gate drive circuit with small transmission delay is presented. Moreover, all switches in the proposed inverter achieve zero voltage switching, which contributes to higher conversion efficiency as well as higher switching frequency. Analysis, design, and implementation of the proposed inverter are discussed in detail. A 200-kHz laboratory prototype for the high-voltage audio amplifier application is developed and the experimental results are presented to validate the analysis and performance of the proposed inverter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A coupled-inductor dc–dc converter has several modes of operation in continuous-conduction mode (CCM) and discontinuous-conduction mode (DCM), and is quite complex. This paper presents the derivation of the complete small-signal model of a two-phase interleaved dc–dc boost converter utilizing a single-core coupled-inductor operating in both CCM and DCM. Several small-signal models are required to fully model the converter due to the complexity of the converter operating in DCM. The transfer functions are then derived from these small-signal models. The theoretical analysis is validated experimentally using frequency sweeps from a 1-kW prototype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a current-mode Class-DE (CMCDE) power amplifier is presented. The CMCDE with linear shunt capacitance under zero-current switching (ZCS) and zero current-derivative switching (ZCDS) conditions at any active time is analyzed, simulated, and fabricated. An analytical theory along with the design simulation and verification by experimental results at active time \tau d= \pi / 2 are given. It was shown that the peak switch voltage can be adjusted with active time \tau d. The proposed amplifier offers several desirable features, such as simple structure and possibility to include the parasitic inductance and shunt capacitance of the mosfet into a load network, so that ZCS condition is maintained. The results show that the switch voltage and current obtained in CMCDE amplifier are inversed in comparison to the voltage-mode Class-DE (VMCDE) amplifier by using a simple output matching network and series inductance. Also, we could control the harmonics in one resonator in comparison to multiple resonators used in some high-efficiency power amplifiers. The measured maximum drain efficiency of 88% and power gain of 22 dB at 42-dBm output power was obtained at 4 MHz for CMCDE amplifier at active time \tau d= \pi / 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a circuit structure that can improve the power-conversion efficiency \eta e of an AC–DC boost converter. The circuit uses a 1:1 transformer and a voltage boost circuit composed of an inductor, a capacitor, and a diode. The transformer forces the converter to operate in continuous conduction mode for input current, and thereby reduces input ripple. The voltage boost circuit enables the switch to operate in critical conduction mode, so the power loss due to turn-on of switch and reverse recovery of diode is minimized. The proposed converter has high \eta e over a wide range of AC input voltage $V_{{\rm{ac}}}:\,\eta _{e}= 92.9\% $ at $V_{{\rm{ac}}}= {\text{85}}\,{\text{V}} and \eta e= 97.4\% at V{\rm{ac}}= {\text{265}}\,{\text{V}}, when the converter was operated at DC output voltage of 400 V and output power of 500 W. The temperature of the switch stabilized at ∼84 °C for $V_{{\rm{ac}}}= {\text{85}}\,{\text{V}}$ , at ∼70 °C for $V_{{\rm{ac}}}= {\text{110}}\,{\text{V}}$, and at ∼42 °C for $V_{{\rm{ac}}}= {\text{220}}\,{\text{V}}$, whereas that in other AC–DC converters either failed or stabilized at much higher levels. The proposed converter is well suited to systems that require an input voltage range of 85–265 V in root-mean-square value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critical conduction mode (CRM) boost power factor (PF) correction converter features zero-current turn-on for the switch and no reverse recovery in diode, which is suitable for low-to-medium power applications. However, the switching frequency varies in a line cycle, and the wide variation range of the switching frequency is different under different input voltage and load conditions. This makes the conducted electromagnetic interference (EMI) spectra appearing great differences and complicates the design of EMI filter. In this paper, based on the expression of the switching frequency for traditional CRM control strategy, a variable on-time control strategy is proposed, and the implementation circuit is designed to realize a fixed switching frequency in a half-line cycle. The proposed strategy also achieves a lower output voltage ripple and a lower peak current for the power components. In spite of the PF decrease, the input current harmonic values are much lower than the IEC 61000-3-2 Class D limits. A 120 W prototype has been fabricated and tested in the laboratory and the experimental results are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a practical solution of high-frequency-link dc transformer based on switched capacitor (SCDCT) for medium-voltage dc (MVDC) power distribution application. Compared to the traditional dc transformer scheme, the proposed SCDCT can disconnect from MVDC distribution grid effectively as a dc breaker when a short fault occurs in the distribution, can enhance power transfer capacity, and always ensures high-frequency-link voltage match to improve current impact and efficiency performances, and the redundancy design can be achieved when some submodules fail to improve the reliability. In the paper, the topology, voltage and power characterization, control strategy, startup, and fault solution of SCDCT are presented and analyzed comprehensively. At last, an SCDCT prototype is built and the experimental results verify the correctness and effectively of the proposed solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel high step-up converter, which is suitable for a renewable energy system, is proposed in this paper. The proposed converter is composed of the dual switches structure, three-winding coupled inductor, and two voltage multiplier cells in order to achieve the high step-up voltage gain. The dual switches structure is beneficial to reduce the voltage stress and current stress of the switch. In addition, two multiplier capacitors are, respectively, charged during the switch-on period and switch-off period, which increases the voltage conversion gain. Meanwhile, the energy stored in the leakage inductor is recycled with the use of clamped capacitors. Thus, two main power switches with low on-resistance and low current stress are available. As the leakage inductor, diode reverse-recovery problem is also alleviated. Therefore, the efficiency is improved. This paper illustrates the operation principle of the proposed converter; discusses the effect of the leakage inductor; analyzes the influence of parasitic parameters on the voltage gain and efficiency, the voltage stresses and current stresses of power devices are shown; and a comparison between the performance of the proposed converter and the previous high step-up converters is performed. Finally, the prototype circuit with input voltage 20 V, output voltage 200 V, and rated power 200 W is operated to verify its performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I2 average current mode control is a promising control technique featuring fast dynamic response, cycle-by-cycle current limiting and accurate current control. It can be treated as peak current mode control with no peak-to-average error. By combining direct current feedback and average current feedback, I 2 average current mode control is a three-loop control system. Since it is a new control technique proposed in 2013, few papers exist which discuss the small-signal model for this control method. In this paper, a small-signal model for constant frequency I2 average current mode control is proposed which successfully predicts the subharmonics oscillation when the duty cycle is close to or greater than 0.5. The characteristics of I2 average current mode control are also compared with average current mode control and peak current mode control to show its advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a high-gain single-stage boosting inverter (SSBI) for alternative energy generation. As compared to the traditional two-stage approach, the SSBI has a simpler topology and a lower component count. One cycle control was employed to generate ac voltage output. This paper presents theoretical analysis, simulation and experimental results obtained from a 200 W prototype. The experimental results reveal that the proposed SSBI can achieve high dc input voltage boosting, good dc–ac power decoupling, good quality of ac output waveform, and good conversion efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impedance-source converters, an emerging technology in electric energy conversion, overcome limitations of conventional solutions by the use of specific impedance-source networks. Focus of this paper is on the topologies of galvanically isolated impedance-source dc–dc converters. These converters are particularly appropriate for distributed generation systems with renewable or alternative energy sources, which require input voltage and load regulation in a wide range. We review here the basic topologies for researchers and engineers, and classify all the topologies of the impedance-source galvanically isolated dc–dc converters according to the element that transfers energy from the input to the output: a transformer, a coupled inductor, or their combination. This classification reveals advantages and disadvantages, as well as a wide space for further research. This paper also outlines the most promising research directions in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates a control approach for achieving reliable zero-voltage switching transitions within the entire operating range of a conventional nonisolated bidirectional dc–dc converter that utilizes synchronous rectification. The approach is based on operation in the discontinuous conduction mode with a constant reversed current of sufficient amplitude, which is achieved by load-dependent variation of the switching frequency. This paper focuses on the obtained resonant voltage transitions and provides analytical models for determining the reversed current and timing parameters that would ensure safe, reliable, and highly efficient operation of the converter. In addition, the proposed approach solves the synchronous transistor's spurious turn-on and body diode reverse recovery induced issues, does not require any additional components or circuitry for its realization, and can be entirely implemented within a digital signal controller. The effectiveness and performance of the presented control approach was confirmed in a 1-kW experimental bidirectional dc–dc converter that achieved 97% efficiency over a wide range of output powers at switching frequencies above 100 kHz. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes a line current distortion compensation method, which is a fusion of the conventional variable on-time (VOT) control and the average current mode (ACM) control, for DCM/CRM boost PFC converter with zero current switching (ZCS)/zero voltage switching (ZVS)/valley switching (VS)/switching frequency limitation (SFL) functions. In this paper, the mathematical analyses of the line current distortion for the DCM/CRM boost PFC converter with ZCS/ZVS/VS/SFL functions are also derived to explain the causes of the line current distortion. In order to increase efficiency, the ZVS/VS/SFL functions are needed but the line current will be further distorted. To compensate the distorted line current, the ACM-based VOT (ABVOT) control for the DCM/CRM boost PFC converter is proposed. In addition, the constant-on-time-based noise-immunity S/H method is proposed to replace the multiplier, which is always needed for the conventional ACM-based control. The performance of the proposed ABVOT control with S/H method will be demonstrated by simulation and experiment results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes a new bidirectional three-phase push–pull converter that has a simple structure and achieves zero-voltage switching turn-on of switches. Also, due to use of a single inductor, an imbalance among phase currents on the low-voltage high-current side is trivial in the proposed converter although no current sharing control is employed. In this paper, a new dual asymmetrical pulse width modulation (PWM) switching method is proposed for bidirectional power flow control with seamless mode change. The proposed switching method offers reduced circulating current and makes the converter easier to implement compared to the PWM plus phase shift-based control method since it is a general PWM method having two independent duty cycle controls on each side. Experimental results from a 3-kW prototype are provided to validate the proposed concept. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In order to balance the light-emitting-diode (LED) current in each channel, many active and passive methods have been investigated. Among the various methods, the passive method using the LLC converter with a blocking capacitor or flyback converter with a current-sharing transformer (CST) in the secondary side is one of the simplest methods because it does not use any active component. However, the LLC driver requires two main switches and external resonant inductor to obtain a wide output voltage range. Also, flyback with a CST requires an additional magnetic component for CST and high-voltage rated diodes, resulting in the limitation of the cost and system volume. In this paper, a single-switch forward-flyback driver for a two-channel LED is proposed. The most powerful advantage of the proposed driver is the cost effectiveness, since it eliminates additional magnetic component. Furthermore, due to the reduced-voltage stress on rectifier diodes compared to the flyback driver, the proposed driver achieves a higher efficiency. The prototype of the 150–100-V/0.3-A two-channel LED verifies the effectiveness of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A hybrid boosting converter (HBC) with collective advantages of regulation capability from its boost structure and gain enhancement from its voltage multiplier structure is proposed in this paper. The new converter incorporates a bipolar voltage multiplier, featuring symmetrical configuration, single inductor and single switch, high gain capability with wide regulation range, low component stress, small output ripple and flexible extension, which make it suitable for front-end PV system and some other renewable energy applications. The operation principal, component stress, and voltage ripple are analyzed in this paper. Performance comparison and evaluation with a number of previous single-switch single-inductor converters are provided. A 200-W 35 to 380 V second-order HBC prototype was built with peak efficiency at 95.44%. The experimental results confirms the feasibility of the proposed converter. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In order to obtain a high step-up voltage gain, high-efficiency converter, this paper proposed a dual switches dc/dc converter with three-winding-coupled inductor and charge pump. The proposed converter composed of dual switches structure, three-winding-coupled inductor, and charge pump. This combination facilitates realization of high step-up voltage gain with a low voltage/current stress on the power switches. Meanwhile, the voltage across the diodes is low and the diode reverse-recovery problem is alleviated by the leakage inductance of the three-winding-coupled inductor. Taking all these into consideration, the efficiency can be high. This paper illustrated the operation principle of the proposed converter; discussed the effect of leakage inductance on voltage gain; the conditions of zero current shutting off of the diodes are illustrated; the voltage and current stress of the power devices are shown; a comparison between the performance of the proposed converter and previous high step-up converters was conducted. Finally, a prototype rated at 500 W has been established, and the experimental results verify the correctness of the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a SEPIC-derived bidirectional dc–dc converter. The proposed converter utilizes tapped inductor and charge pump techniques to achieve steep voltage conversion ratio and an active lossless regenerative snubber to attain lossless switching and high efficiency. The paper presents the principle of operation, steady-state analyses, and experimental results obtained from a 400-W, 48-V/380-V prototype. The efficiency of the proposed topology is demonstrated to peak at 96.4% for boost mode and 95.0% for buck mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A hybrid three-level (TL) and half-bridge (HB) dc–dc converter is proposed in this paper. The TL dc–dc converter and HB converter have their own transformers, respectively. Compared with conventional TL dc–dc converters, the proposed one has no additional switch at the primary side of the transformer, where the TL converter shares the lagging switches with the HB converter. In order to reduce the circulating current in the primary side, a blocking capacitor is used to reset the primary winding current of the TL converter. Moreover, the rectifier stage is composed of four diodes in the center-tap rectification, forcing the circulating current at the primary side to stay zero during the freewheeling period. The magnetizing inductor of the HB transformer can extend the zero voltage switching operation range of the lagging switches even at light loads. Furthermore, the proposed converter can reduce the output filter inductance. Due to the advantages mentioned above, the efficiency of the converter is improved dramatically. The features and design guidelines of the proposed converter are given in the paper. Finally, the performance of the converter is verified by a 1-kW experimental prototype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a SEPIC-derived converter suited for alternative energy generation applications. The proposed converter utilizes tapped inductor and charge pump techniques to achieve high step-up gain and a passive regenerative snubber to attain high efficiency. Compared with earlier counterparts, the proposed converter has the advantage of continuous input current, which can be helpful in attaining accurate tracking of maximum power point of solar panels. The paper presents principle of operation, theoretical analysis, and design guidelines. Theoretical expectations were confirmed by simulation and experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a loss-free resistor based on a semi-bridgeless rectifier is proposed for power factor correction applications. This particular bridgeless rectifier type is composed of two different boost cells which operate complementarily during each half-line cycle. In case of two unbalanced inductors, many control techniques can produce different inductor current ripples during each half-line cycle that can result in the addition of a dc component to the line current. This paper demonstrates that the application of sliding-mode control by means of hysteretic controllers results in a first-order stable system that can mitigate these harmful consequences due to its capability to ensure the symmetry of the line input current waveform for both positive and negative half-line cycles. Thus, the system does not absorb any dc component from the grid and it is also capable of reducing dramatically the amplitude of the third harmonic. The theoretical predictions have been validated by means of PSIM simulations and experimentally on a prototype of 1 kW which has been controlled using only one sliding control surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One limitation of many battery charge equalizers is their slow equalization speed, especially when there are a large number of batteries in the series-string in high-voltage and high-power applications. This paper presents a new architecture for battery charge equalization. In this architecture, independent equalizers are placed in different layers and all the layers can equalize the corresponding batteries simultaneously, thus reducing equalization time by 50%. We explore the operation, performance characteristics, and the design of the architecture. Both simulation and experimental results are presented to validate the analysis in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The four-switch three-phase (FSTP) inverter has been proposed as an innovative inverter design to reduce the cost, complexity, size, and switching losses of the dc–ac conversion system. Traditional FSTP inverter usually operates at half the dc input voltage; hence, the output line voltage cannot exceed this value. This paper proposes a novel design for the FSTP inverter based on the topology of the single-ended primary-inductance converter (SEPIC). The proposed topology provides pure sinusoidal output voltages with no need for output filter. Compared to traditional FSTP inverter, the proposed FSTP SEPIC inverter improves the voltage utilization factor of the input dc supply, where the proposed topology provides higher output line voltage which can be extended up to the full value of the dc input voltage. The integral sliding-mode control is used with the proposed topology to optimize its dynamics and to ensure robustness of the system during different operating conditions. Derivation of the equations describing the parameters design, components ratings, and the operation of the proposed SEPIC inverter is presented in this paper. Simulation model and experimental setup are used to validate the proposed concept. Simulations and experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed inverter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]