Isolated Double Step-Down DC–DC Converter With Improved ZVS Range and No Transformer Saturation Problem

Abstract

In this paper, an isolated double step-down dc–dc converter with high efficiency and high step-down function is proposed. The proposed converter employs an additional capacitor in the primary side. Compared to the conventional full-bridge converters, the proposed converter has a double step-down feature with reduced voltage stress at the primary side of the transformer. Moreover, voltage stress of three primary-side switches reduces to half of the input voltage and zero voltage switching (ZVS) is naturally achieved for all switches with lower output capacitor energy of the switches. Therefore, the proposed converter requires smaller leakage inductance than the conventional full-bridge converter. Without adding complexity to the hardware and control, the proposed converter inherently prevents transformer saturation problem caused by the dc component of the transformer. A 3-kW experimental prototype is constructed to verify the performance of the proposed converter.