Unfolded resonant converter with current doubler structure module for welding applications

A new multiphase resonant converter arrangement with series dual phase in the primary side and parallel dual current doubler in the secondary side, operating as a phase shift controlled current source is presented. Sharing the voltage and current stress among the active and passive components with a high DC input voltage and arc current motivates this structure, which also uses WBG devices to increase the efficiency at high switching frequency. The resulting module is intended to operate in continuous and pulsating mode and can be parallelized to extend the output arc current rate.This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and the EU through the project TEC2014-52316-R: ‘Estimation and Optimal Control for Energy Conversion with Digital Devices’ ECOTRENDD

Emerging Converter Topologies and Control for Grid Connected Photovoltaic Systems

Continuous cost reduction of photovoltaic (PV) systems and the rise of power auctions resulted in the establishment of PV power not only as a green energy source but also as a cost-effective solution to the electricity generation market. Various commercial solutions for grid-connected PV systems are available at any power level, ranging from multi-megawatt utility-scale solar farms to sub-kilowatt residential PV installations. Compared to utility-scale systems, the feasibility of small-scale residential PV installations is still limited by existing technologies that have not yet properly address issues like operation in weak grids, opaque and partial shading, etc. New market drivers such as warranty improvement to match the PV module lifespan, operation voltage range extension for application flexibility, and embedded energy storage for load shifting have again put small-scale PV systems in the spotlight. This Special Issue collects the latest developments in the field of power electronic converter topologies, control, design, and optimization for better energy yield, power conversion efficiency, reliability, and longer lifetime of the small-scale PV systems. This Special Issue will serve as a reference and update for academics, researchers, and practicing engineers to inspire new research and developments that pave the way for next-generation PV systems for residential and small commercial applications

Analysis and Design of Series LC Resonant-Pulse Assisted Soft-Switching Current-Fed DC/DC Converters

The accelerating pace of electrification via renewable energy sources is shifting focus towards de-carbonization and distributed generation with the potential to combat increasing environmental crisis and to promote sustainable development. Renewable technologies have the potential to fulfil the electricity demand locally which eliminates the unwanted conversion stages, promoting DC microgrid concept, ultimately lowering the energy costs and easy energy access. Alternative energy sources such as solar photovoltaic (PV) and fuel cell along with energy storage systems are promising for DC microgrid applications. However, the effective integration of these alternative energy sources still remains a challenge due to their low voltage output, unregulated and intermittent characteristics issuing a requirement of a dedicated power conditioning unit. To revolutionize the way these alternative sources are interfaced with a high voltage DC microgrid or to the conventional ac grid, dc/dc converters are expected to be power-dense, compact and extremely efficient. Current-fed dc/dc converters have strong application potential owing to their inherent merits. Accomplishing the abovementioned objectives together with distinct merits offered by current-fed circuits, this thesis aims to exploit the quasi-resonance concept for achieving soft-switching and smooth commutation of the semiconductor switching devices. The proposed quasi resonant approach that utilizes the leakage inductance of transformer and a high frequency series resonant capacitor for a short period also termed as ‘resonant-pulse’, has been investigated in various current-fed converter topologies. Proposed converter class emphasize on simple and efficient design, without the use of additional snubber circuits and eliminates device turn-off voltage spike, which is a historical problem with traditional current-fed converters. In this thesis, at first the proposed series resonant-pulse concept is implemented in single-phase current-fed push-pull and half-bridge configuration. The converter operation, control and performance are investigated for low voltage high current specifications. These converter configurations demonstrate good efficiency and compact structure with only two switching devices and simpler gate control requirement because devices having common ground with power supply. The idea has then been extended to modular current-fed full-bridge topology. The proposed series resonant-pulse assisted converter enables wide range ZCS and turn-off spike elimination across the semiconductor switches. Modularity of this converter allows easy scalability for high power and voltage levels with significantly lower current and voltage stress, making it suitable for relatively higher power industrial applications. Lastly, to achieve high power capability with high density, three-phase current sharing current-fed topology utilizing series resonant-pulse feature has been studied and investigated in detail. The proposed three-phase topology combines the benefits of current-sharing primary and load adaptive series resonant-pulse. As a result, these converters demonstrate promising attributes such as wide ZCS operation, reduced filtering requirement, lower component count, lower conduction losses etc

ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OF POWER CONVERTER TOPOLOGIES FOR APPLICATION IN FUTURE MORE ELECTRIC AIRCRAFT

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Analysis and Design of High Voltage Gain Three-Elements Resonant Soft-Switching Current-fed DC/DC Converters

Transportation electrification and distributed generation are proven effective strategies to counter climate change. Modern generation and transportation aim to bring down the carbon footprint by transforming the fossil fuel-driven society with alternate energy sources and electric propulsion, respectively. However, harnessing energy from renewable sources is not straight forward but demands a suitable power electronic interface. Similarly, electric transportation propulsion system demands for specific power conversion stages. These power electronic conversion systems include dc-dc converter and dc-ac inverter. Cost, efficiency, power density, and weight are the major requirements of these converters. To obtain these merits, high-frequency soft-switching converters are selected and designed. Resonant converters with a suitable resonance have been usually explored for voltage-fed switching converters to obtain soft-switching of the semiconductor devices at high-frequency. However, owing to the high voltage gain requirements of the solar/fuel cells/batteries, this thesis explores current-fed topologies with different resonant circuits with natural voltage gain. In traditional voltage-fed resonant converters, it is observed that the converter characteristics can be fine-tuned to design the requirements by proper selection of resonant tank. In addition, the resonant tank can integrate the transformer non-idealities and circuit/device parasitic in circuit operation thereby suppressing the consequent voltage spikes across the semiconductor devices. Since voltage-fed converters is fundamentally not suitable for high voltage gain and low voltage applications, this thesis attempts to improve current-fed dc/dc converter characteristics with resonant tanks. In this thesis, a current-fed load resonant DC/DC converter topology is proposed whose characteristics are tuneable with the adopted resonant tank. Further, this thesis proposes a simple technique to ease and improve accuracy of the Fundamental Harmonic Analysis (FHA), which would have been complex otherwise due to capacitive termination of proposed converter. Initially, the characteristics of the proposed converter topology with a parallel resonance derived LCC-T resonant tank is studied to implement zero voltage switching (ZVS) and zero current switching (ZCS) of the semiconductor devices. Three-phase topology of the same has been investigated and analysed. Following the study and a need to further improve the characteristics of resonant dc/dc converter, a series resonance based LCL resonant converter, a dual of the parallel resonance tank is studied and analysed. The load resonant converters are redeemed for integration of PV/fuel cells. Further, for high power applications, suitability of load resonant converters is verified by adopting resonant tank in three-phase topology. Proof-of-concept hardware prototypes are designed and developed in the laboratory to demonstrate the performance and the merits of the proposed soft-switching resonant converter topologies as well as to prove the proposed theory and the claims

ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OF IMPULSE COMMUTATED SOFT-SWITCHING CURRENT-FED CONVERTERS

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Highly Efficient SiC Based Onboard Chargers for Plug-in Electric Vehicles

Grid-enabled plug-in electrified vehicles (PEVs) are deemed as one of the most sustainable solutions to profoundly reduce both oil consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. One of the most important realities, which will facilitate the adoption of PEVs is the method by which these vehicles will be charged. This dissertation focuses on the research of highly efficient onboard charging solutions for next generation PEVs. This dissertation designs a two-stage onboard battery charger to charge a 360 V lithium-ion battery pack. An interleaved boost topology is employed in the first stage for power factor correction (PFC) and to reduce total harmonic distortion (THD). In the second stage, a full bridge inductor-inductor-capacitor (LLC) multi-resonant converter is adopted for galvanic isolation and dc/dc conversion. Design considerations focusing on reducing the charger volume, and optimizing the conversion efficiency over the wide battery pack voltage range are investigated. The designed 1 kW Silicon based charger prototype is able to charge the battery with an output voltage range of 320 V to 420 V from 110 V, 60 Hz single-phase grid. Unity power factor, low THD, and high peak conversion efficiency have been demonstrated experimentally. This dissertation proposes a new technique to track the maximum efficiency point of LLC converter over a wide battery state-of-charge range. With the proposed variable dc link control approach, dc link voltage follows the battery pack voltage. The operating point of the LLC converter is always constrained to the proximity of the primary resonant frequency, so that the circulating losses and the turning off losses are minimized. The proposed variable dc link voltage methodology, demonstrates efficiency improvement across the wide state-of-charge range. An efficiency improvement of 2.1% at the heaviest load condition and 9.1% at the lightest load condition for LLC conversion stage are demonstrated experimentally. This dissertation proposes a novel PEV charger based on single-ended primary-inductor converter (SEPIC) and the maximum efficiency point tracking technique of an LLC converter. The proposed charger architecture demonstrates attracting features such as (1) compatible with universal grid inputs; (2) able to charge the fully depleted battery pack; (3) pulse width modulation and simplified control algorithm; and (4) the advantages of Silicon Carbide MOSFETs can be fully manifested. A 3.3 kW all Silicon Carbide based PEV charger prototype is designed to validate the proposed idea

High Power Density High Efficiency Electrolytic-Free Single-Phase Led Drivers

Owing to their high efficiencies and longer lifetimes, LEDs are increasingly replacing conventional light sources in various applications. Many of these applications require high-power-density and long-life LED drivers to fully benefit from the longer-life advantage provided by the LEDs. This thesis presents high-power-density, high-efficiency and longer-life LED drivers suitable for such applications. The proposed LED drivers eliminate the use of shorter-life electrolytic capacitors used for twice-line-frequency energy buffering with film/ceramic capacitor based stacked switched capacitor (SSC) energy buffers. The utilization of the SSC energy buffer significantly reduces the passive volume of the twice-line-frequency energy buffer compared to the use of single film/ceramic capacitors. A comprehensive capacitance-ratio optimization scheme is presented that optimally selects the ratios of the capacitors utilized in the SSC energy buffer to minimize the total energy stored in the buffer. This optimization scheme is further improved by incorporating the energy density of commercially available capacitors to minimize the passive volume of the SSC energy buffer. A simplified control methodology for interfacing the SSC energy buffer with a PFC converter is also presented. The proposed optimization and control methodologies are applied to single-stage and two-stage LED driver designs utilizing SSC energy buffers. For the single-stage LED driver, a flyback based step-down PFC stage is utilized. It is demonstrated that the SSC energy buffer successfully replaces traditional electrolytic capacitors in this design while maintaining comparable efficiency and resulting in a 3x reduction in passive volume. For the two-stage LED driver, a comprehensive design methodology that co-optimizes the efficiency and volume of all the stages of the LED driver is presented. Based on the optimization results, a totem-pole bridgeless boost based PFC stage and a stacked-inverter based LLC resonant dc-dc stage are utilized with a hybrid film-ceramic based SSC energy buffer connected across the intermediate dc bus. A 600-W universal-input, 24-V output two-stage LED driver based on the optimized designs is built and tested. The front-end PFC stage of the LED driver achieves a peak efficiency of 98%, while the second-stage LLC dc-dc converter achieves a peak efficiency of 95%. The LED driver achieves a power density of 28 W/in3.</p

High-Efficiency Low-Voltage Rectifiers for Power Scavenging Systems

Abstract Rectifiers are commonly used in electrical energy conversion chains to transform the energy obtained from an AC signal source to a DC level. Conventional bridge and gate cross-coupled rectifier topologies are not sufficiently power efficient, particularly when input amplitudes are low. Depending on their rectifying element, their power efficiency is constrained by either the forward-bias voltage drop of a diode or the threshold voltage of a diode-connected MOS transistor. Advanced passive rectifiers use threshold cancellation techniques to effectively reduce the threshold voltage of MOS diodes. Active rectifiers use active circuits to control the conduction angle of low-loss MOS switches. In this thesis, an active rectifier with a gate cross-coupled topology is proposed, which replaces the diode-connected MOS transistors of a conventional rectifier with low-loss MOS switches. Using the inherent characteristics of MOS transistors as comparators, dynamic biasing of the bulks of main switches and small pull-up transistors, the proposed self-supplied active rectifier exhibits smaller voltage drop across the main switches leading to a higher power efficiency compared to conventional rectifier structures for a wide range of operating frequencies in the MHz range. Delivery of high load currents is another feature of the proposed rectifier. Using the bootstrapping technique, single- and double-reservoir based rectifiers are proposed. They present higher power and voltage conversion efficiencies compared to conventional rectifier structures. With a source amplitude of 3.3 V, when compared to the gate cross-coupled topology, the proposed active rectifier offers power and voltage conversion efficiencies improved by up to 10% and 16% respectively. The proposed rectifier using the bootstrap technique, including double- and single-reservoir schemes, are well suited for very low input amplitudes. They present power and voltage conversion efficiencies of 75% and 76% at input amplitude of 1.0 V and maintain their high efficiencies over input amplitudes greater than 1.0V. Single-reservoir bootstrap rectifier also reduces die area by 70% compared to its double-reservoir counterpart.---------Résumé Les redresseurs sont couramment utilisés dans de nombreux systèmes afin de transformer l'énergie électrique obtenue à partir d'une source alternative en une alimentation continue. Les topologies traditionnelles telles que les ponts de diodes et les redresseurs se servant de transistors à grilles croisées-couplées ne sont pas suffisamment efficaces en terme d’énergie, en particulier pour des signaux à faibles amplitudes. Dépendamment de leur élément de redressement, leur efficacité en termes de consommation d’énergie est limitée soit par la chute de tension de polarisation directe d'une diode, soit par la tension de seuil du transistor MOS. Les redresseurs passifs avancés utilisent une technique de conception pour réduire la tension de seuil des diodes MOS. Les redresseurs actifs utilisent des circuits actifs pour contrôler l'angle de conduction des commutateurs MOS à faible perte. Dans cette thèse, nous avons proposé un redresseur actif avec une topologie en grille croisée-couplée. Elle utilise des commutateurs MOS à faible perte à la place des transistors MOS connectés en diode comme redresseurs. Le circuit proposé utilise: des caractéristiques intrinsèques des transistors MOS pour les montages comparateurs et une polarisation dynamique des substrats des commutateurs principaux supportés par de petits transistors de rappel. Le redresseur proposé présente des faibles chutes de tension à travers le commutateur principal menant à une efficacité de puissance plus élevée par rapport aux structures d’un redresseur conventionnel pour une large gamme de fréquences de fonctionnement de l’ordre des MHz. La conduction des courants de charge élevée est une autre caractéristique du redresseur proposé. En utilisant la méthode de bootstrap, des redresseurs à simple et à double réservoir sont proposés. Ils présentent une efficacité de puissance et un rapport de conversion de tension élevés en comparaison avec les structures des redresseurs conventionnels. Avec une amplitude de source de 3,3 V, le redresseur proposé offre des efficacités de puissance et de conversion de tension améliorées par rapport au circuit à transistors croisés couplés. Ces améliorations atteignent 10% et 16% respectivement. Les redresseurs proposés utilisent la technique de bootstrap. Ils sont bien adaptés pour des amplitudes d'entrée très basses. À une amplitude d'entrée de 1,0 V, ces derniers redresseurs présentent des rendements de conversion de puissance et de tension de 75% et 76%. Le redresseur à simple réservoir réduit également l’aire de silicium requise de 70% par rapport à la version à double-réservoir