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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]

This paper investigates a multilevel inverter composed of series/parallel-connected H-bridges. The presented structure can be used for applications in which the use of semiconductor switches with low-voltage and low-current ratings is intended. A comprehensive system model, an overall control strategy to adjust the output voltage with constant magnitude and frequency, and a level-shifted PWM (LS-PWM) strategy based on a voltage vectors unidimensional analysis and a plane analysis are presented. The LS-PWM is capable of mitigating the low-frequency circulating current, thus generating multilevel voltage signals with low harmonic distortion, maximum number of levels, and low dv/dt. In addition, considering a wide range of values of voltages and currents and various power levels, the total converter losses are reduced compared with the conventional multilevel converters. Two multilevel conventional inverters with the same number of semiconductor switches are used for comparison. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of the studied converter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional zero-voltage and zero-current-switching (ZVZCS) full-bridge converters are widely used because they can realize zero-voltage switching (ZVS) for the leading leg and zero-current switching (ZCS) for the lagging leg. However, the large turn-off loss of the leading leg is still unacceptable in high-voltage high-power applications where insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) with current tailing are employed. Hence, it is preferable to achieve ZCS for all IGBTs of full-bridge converters. This paper analyzes the ZCS conditions for pulsewidth modulated (PWM) full-bridge converters and proposes a general strategy for achieving ZCS for main switches, including the control strategy and design method of the topology. Based on this theory, a novel ZCS PWM full-bridge converter with simple auxiliary circuit is derived and tested. It can achieve ZCS not only for the main switches of full-bridge converter, but for the auxiliary switch as well, and obtain high efficiency. The operation principle of the proposed ZCS PWM full-bridge converter and the design procedure are presented. The experimental results of a 600 V/2.5 kW prototype are also included to verify the theoretical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To prevent partial-shading issues in photovoltaic (PV) systems, various kinds of voltage equalizers that virtually unify characteristics of shaded and unshaded modules have been proposed. Although PV string utilization can be dramatically improved, PV systems tend to be complex and costly because, in addition to the main converter for string control, voltage equalizers are separately necessary. This paper proposes the single-switch single-magnetic pulse width modulation (PWM) converter integrating the voltage equalizer using the series-resonant voltage multiplier (SRVM) for standalone PV systems. By utilizing a square wave voltage generated across a filter inductor in a PWM buck converter for driving the SRVM, the main PWM converter and voltage equalizer can be integrated into a single unit with reducing the total switch and magnetic component counts, achieving not only system-level but also circuit-level simplifications. The experimental test using the prototype for three PV modules connected in series was performed emulating a partial-shading condition. The integrated converter effectively precluded the partial-shading issues and significantly improved the power available at a load, demonstrating its efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Z-source inverter (ZSI) employs an LC impedance network between the main inverter bridge and the power source. The unique feature of the ZSI is that it can operate either in buck or boost mode with a wide range of obtainable output voltages from a given input voltage. This topology also exhibits better electromagnetic-interference noise immunity when compared to a traditional voltage-source inverter (VSI). However, the LC impedance network of ZSI significantly increases the size and cost of the power converter and can make it unsuitable for low-power applications. This paper proposes a novel topology called switched boost inverter (SBI) which exhibits similar advantages of ZSI with lower number of passive components and more active components compared to ZSI. The steady-state and small-signal analyses of SBI, along with its pulsewidth modulation (PWM) control strategies, have been discussed in this paper. This paper also presents a comparison of SBI and ZSI with the same input and output parameters. The theoretical analysis given in this paper has been validated using a laboratory prototype of SBI, and the experimental results are presented for verification. The experimental harmonic spectrum of the inverter's output voltage with the proposed PWM technique is also plotted and compared with that of a traditional VSI. All the experimental results show good correlation between theory and experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a single-phase power factor corrector based on a tapped-inductor buck–boost converter. This paper suggests simplified models of the power stage under current-mode control and derives small-signal transfer functions of both the current and voltage control loops. Design rules for implementation of the proposed power factor corrector (PFC) are also suggested. The proposed PFC features low dc bus voltage, arbitrary lower than the peak line voltage. The proposed PFC is suitable for applications in computers and communications, where dc isolation can be provided by the downstream dc/dc converters. Simulation and experimental results are also reported and stand in good agreement with theoretical expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The propagation delay of a comparator and dead time causes the duty-discontinuity region near the boundary of the step-down and step-up regions in a non-inverting buck–boost (NIBB) converter. The duty-discontinuity region leads to an unstable output voltage and an unpredictable output voltage ripple, which might cause the entire power system to shut down. In this paper, a mode-transition technique called duty-lock control is proposed for a digitally controlled NIBB converter. It locks the duty cycle and eliminates the error between the output voltage and the reference signal by using a proposed fixed reference scheme that ensures the stability of the digital controller and output voltage. The experimental results that were applied to a field-programmable gate array-based platform revealed that the output voltage of the NIBB converter is stable throughout the entire transition region, without any efficiency tradeoffs. The input voltage of the converter that was provided by a Li-ion battery was 2.7–4.2 V, and the output voltage was 1.0–3.6 V, which is suitable for radio-frequency power amplifiers. The switching frequency was 500 kHz, and the maximum load current was 450 mA. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents the ac small-signal modeling of the power stage of pulsewidth-modulated Z-source converter in continuous conduction mode by the circuit-averaging technique. The small-signal models used to derive the open-loop power-stage input voltage-to-capacitor voltage, input voltage-to-inductor current, control-to-capacitor voltage, and control-to-inductor current transfer functions are derived. Open-loop power-stage transfer functions corresponding to the capacitor voltage loop and inductor current loop are derived. The transfer functions derived take into account the equivalent series resistances of the inductors and capacitors. Experimental validation of the derived small-signal models is presented for a laboratory prototype. The theoretical predictions are in good agreement with the experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a multimode digitally controlled boost converter with PID autotuning and constant frequency/constant off-time hybrid pulsewidth modulation (PWM) control. Constant off-time PWM control is introduced in this converter for avoiding the limit cycle oscillation and maintaining a constant dc gain of the control-output transfer function for a high conversion ratio. Discrete-time modeling of constant off-time PWM is given and verified. An autotuning PID compensator based on frequency-response measurement is adopted to compensate the output stage with variable gain and variable corner frequency. PFM is also included in this controller to improve light load efficiency. A new method of automatic PWM/PFM mode switching without current sensing is proposed. Sufficient loop stability margin and optimal efficiency are obtained by using these techniques for a boost converter operating over wide ranges of output voltages, load currents, and external components. Experimental results are shown for an asynchronous boost converter with 2.5-V input voltage, 3–12 V, and 1–400 mA output. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is the evaluation of the interleaved buck converter as a high-brightness (HB) LEDs electronic driver, comparing its performance with the standard buck converter. The main drawbacks of the standard converter come from the high inductor value necessary to guarantee low output current ripple, which result in high inductor losses and rough switching waveforms at the semiconductors. Additionally, when the application demands pulsewidth modulation (PWM) dimming, this high inductance value yields to a relatively low dimming frequency that can result in audible noise problems due to several phenomena as magnetostrictive effects at the inductors or piezoelectric effects at the capacitors. The proposed interleaved converter obtains low output current ripple with much smaller inductances, thus allowing PWM dimming at higher frequencies (20 kHz and beyond), avoiding audible noise. Moreover, such low inductances, along with the triangular waveforms obtained with the proposed control method, yield to a higher efficiency than in the standard converter. After reviewing the main operation concept of the interleaved converter, a full design process is particularized for driving HB LEDs. A full-dimming range experimental setup has been built and tested, and experimental results are shown and discussed, compared with those obtained for the standard converter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a set of novel soft-switching techniques to increase the power conversion efficiency in fuel cell (FC) systems using a full-bridge topology. For this purpose, a special right-aligned modulation sequence is developed to minimize conduction losses while maintaining soft-switching characteristics in the MOSFETs. Traditional auxiliary elements in the primary, such as series inductors that are impractical for realizing due to the extreme input current, are avoided and reflected to the output of the rectifier to minimize circulating current and generate soft transitions in the output diodes. As a result, the proposed combined techniques successfully reduce conduction losses, minimize reverse-recovery losses in the output rectifiers, minimize transformer ringing, and ensure low stress in all the switches. The high efficiency is maintained in the entire range of loading conditions (0%–100%) while taking into consideration remarkable challenges associated with FC power conversion: high input current, low voltage and poor regulation, and wide range of loading conditions. A detailed analysis of the techniques for efficiency gains are presented and a phase-shift zero-voltage switching topology is employed as a reference topology to highlight the mechanisms for performance enhancement and the advantages in the use of the special modulation. Experimental results of a 1-kW power converter are presented to validate the efficiency gains, illustrate the benefits of the special modulation, and demonstrate the soft-switching transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The focus of this paper is the study of direct alternating-current (ac)–ac converters, beginning by buck, half-bridge, full-bridge, and push–pull converters. From the basic converters, we apply a simple methodology to make the use of switches in commercial configurations possible. Following that, eight voltage restorers supplied either on the line side or on the load side are proposed. A comparative evaluation of these topologies concerning implementation, complexity, and component effort is presented. It is notable that some of the studied topologies are known in the literature and others are new. For one of the presented topologies, the design of a 3-kVA voltage restorer is developed, and experimental results are shown, certifying the correct operation of the drive strategy used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]