High Step-down Ratio Research Articles

A new high step-down soft-switched DC–DC converter based on coupled inductor

ABSTRACT This study introduces a new non-isolated DC–DC converter capable of achieving a high step-down conversion ratio. The design reduces switching losses through soft-switching, allowing switches to operate under Zero Voltage Switching (ZVS), which enhances efficiency. The converter employs a single coupled inductor without additional inductors in the power path, achieving low voltage gain and an extended duty cycle, resulting in reduced losses, lower costs, and optimal efficiency compared to similar topologies. Voltage stress on semiconductors is minimised by recycling leakage inductance energy to the output. The proposed converter achieves a greater step-down voltage gain per component compared to similar designs. Different operational modes and design aspects are examined. A prototype was constructed, and experimental results confirmed the theoretical analysis.

A High Step-Down SiC-Based T-Type LLC Resonant Converter for Spacecraft Power Processing Unit

A spacecraft power processing unit (PPU) is utilized to convert power from solar arrays or electric batteries to the payload, including electric propulsion, communication equipment, and scientific instruments. Currently, a high-voltage converter is widely applied to the spacecraft PPU to improve power density and save launch weight. However, the high voltage level poses challenges such as high step-down ratios and high power losses. To achieve less conduction loss, a SiC-based T-type three-level (TL) LLC resonant converter is proposed. To further broaden the gain range and achieve high step-down ratios, a variable frequency and adjustable phase-shift (VFAPS) modulation scheme is proposed. Meanwhile, the steady-state time-domain model is established to elaborate the operation principles and boundary conditions for soft switching. Furthermore, the optimal resonant element design considerations have been elaborated to achieve wider gain range and facilitate easier soft switching. Furthermore, the numerical solutions for switching frequency and phase shift (PS) angle under each specific input could be figured out. Finally, the effectiveness of this theoretical analysis is demonstrated via a 500-W experimental prototype with 650∼950-V input and constant output of 48-V/11-A.

Design of a Flying-Capacitor-Based Voltage Divider LLC Resonant Converter for USB-C PD Charger in Aircraft Applications

Portable electronic devices have grown dramatically at an incredible speed and include many new and sophisticated functions. Thanks to the advent of universal serial bus (USB) power delivery (PD) specifications, power delivery is increased as is the number of applications that can be powered using a USB cable in aircraft. However, the combination of the wide-voltage-gain operation required by the USB PD specification, high step-down ratio, and the lower-pressure environment associated with aircraft puts a lot of stress on converter optimization. This paper presents the DC-DC stage of an integrated, highly compact USB type-C PD charger for aircraft. First, a flying-capacitor-based voltage divider (FCVD) switching bridge is proposed to replace the conventional switching bridge in an LLC converter to improve its efficiency. Second, a printed circuit board (PCB) winding planar transformer is adopted to increase the power density. Gallium nitride devices are used for both the FCVD and the synchronous rectifiers, further shrinking the size and reducing the loss. Critical areas of the converter prone to a high electrical field (E-field) are identified and preemptively addressed with the use of the E-field control methodology that follows the Paschen-curve-based insulation coordination. The prototype is built and tested, and it is verified that the unit successfully operates in rated conditions to achieve a power density of 73.2 W/in <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup> and an efficiency of over 90% at all nominal outputs. A high-altitude partial discharge test is also conducted, showing that the proposed prototype meets the partial discharge inception voltage (PDIV) at 10,000 ft.

Fully Soft-Switched Non-Isolated High Step-Down DC–DC Converter With Reduced Voltage Stress and Expanding Capability

In this article, a fully soft-switched expandable high step-down dc–dc converter is presented. In order to achieve a high step-down voltage conversion ratio and low component count, the synchronous buck and Cuk converters are integrated. Lower switches’ voltage stress is realized by splitting the input voltage, which can considerably decrease the switches’ conduction loss. Moreover, switching losses along with the reverse recovery problems are mitigated due to the soft-switching operation of all semiconductor devices. The switch utilized for soft-switching operation is also used to replace the output diode as a synchronous rectifier, which reduces the conduction loss. The mentioned features have considerably contributed to the converter efficiency. Furthermore, the converter shares a common ground between the input and the output, which is desirable in many applications, while the converter output current is continuous without adding current ripple cancellation methods. Finally, the number of converter cells can be expanded or reduced; therefore, the converter can be applied to a wide range of loads. The operating principles and analysis of the proposed converter are presented, and the results from the implemented prototype are provided to verify the converter operation and performance.

Current Sharing Strategy of Three-Phase Series Capacitor Buck Converter for Wide Output Voltage Range Application

Series capacitor buck (SC Buck) converters are widely used in voltage regulator modules (VRMs), electric vehicle, photovoltaic (PV) systems, and so on, for the reason that these converters have the characteristics of high step-down ratio and large output current. However, these characteristics can be realized only when the converter operates in a limited duty-cycle range. In this article, a modified pulsewidth modulation (PWM) scheme based on the principle of ampere-second balance is proposed for the three-phase SC Buck converter to solve the problem. The ampere-second balance of series capacitors is used to balance the phase currents over the entire duty-cycle range. The operating modes, voltage gain and current sharing performance of the converter, control diagram of the proposed converter, and parameter variation analysis are given. Theoretical analysis shows that with the proposed PWM scheme, the converter will have a larger output voltage, unified linear voltage gain expression, and sensorless automatic current sharing over the full duty-cycle range. Moreover, the results show that the parameter variation has nearly influence on the current sharing effect and the excellent balanced current can be achieved under steady state and transient state using the proposed PWM scheme. Finally, a 100-W experimental prototype has been fabricated to verify the performance of the proposed PWM scheme.

A Low Voltage Stress PFC Rectifier Based on Nonoverlapping Strategy Using Resonant Switched-Capacitor Converter

In order to break limited step-down ratio range and poor regulation capacity in the conventional resonant switched-capacitor converters for rectifier application, a single-stage ac/dc rectifier based on the dual-resonance switched-capacitor converter is proposed in this article. Through utilizing a dual-resonant structure and nonoverlapping strategy to realize wide continuous voltage gain of the proposed converter, high power factor (PF) and low total harmonic distortion (THD) based on the narrow dead zone are guaranteed by operating at high step-down conversion ratio in this converter topology. Moreover, the voltage gain is concentrated between resonant frequency and double resonant frequency to achieve a narrow switching frequency range for rectifier application. Furthermore, operating at flat voltage stress curves to obtain low voltage stress character. Comprehensive mode analysis, input PF and THD, and stress analysis are given, and analysis results indicate that the proposed power factor correction converter can work with soft turn <sc xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">on</small> and zero-current turn <sc xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">off</small> ; high efficiency is realized. Finally, an experimental prototype with 85–130 V <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">ac</sub> input and 47 V <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">dc</sub> /44 W output is built and tested for verifying the operation modes and PFC performance, and the comparison between different rectifiers and the proposed one is provided.

Multi-resonant DC-DC Converter Based on Switched Capacitor Pre-voltage Reduction

This paper proposes a multi-resonant DC-DC converter based on switched capacitor pre-buck. The converter can realize soft switching in the full load range and has good voltage gain characteristics. In order to effectively reduce the voltage stress on the device, the front stage of the converter adopts a stacked structure of switched capacitors. This structure realizes the function of high step-down ratio by pre-stepping the bus voltage. After reasonable parameter design and frequency matching, the third harmonic is superimposed on the high-order resonant link of the latter stage during the energy transmission process. This will significantly reduce the loss of the secondary side rectifier diode and increase the efficiency. This paper introduces the working principle of the converter, proposes a five-element parameter design scheme, and analyzes the parameter dispersion to assist the parameter design scheme to make it more reasonable, and finally conducts experimental verification. A 100 W prototype with 400 V input and 12 V output was built in the laboratory to verify the correctness of the theoretical analysis.

A Step-Down Resonant Modular Multilevel DC/DC Converter With Extendable ZVS Range Based on Asymmetric Triangular Current

In this article, a new step-down resonant modular multilevel dc/dc converter is proposed for medium-voltage applications. The proposed converter is derived from the combination of the modular multilevel converter (MMC) and resonant converter with a passive auxiliary circuit. It can achieve zero voltage switching (ZVS) over a wide input voltage range for all switches compared with the conventional dc/dc MMC. Specifically, the asymmetric triangular compensating current provided by the passive auxiliary circuit is first introduced to flow into the bridge arms. Then, the current bias caused by the MMC structure is eliminated in the lower side switches of the submodules to achieve ZVS. Moreover, asymmetrical pulsewidth modulation is applied to double the equivalent switching frequency and obtain a high step-down ratio. In this way, the resonant current is reduced, and the conversion efficiency is improved. Besides, the simulation and experimental results of the prototype are presented to demonstrate the viability of the proposed converter. The results convincingly verify the ability of the proposed converter to offer ZVS for all the switches over a wide input voltagerange.

Non-Isolated Power Factor Corrected AC/DC Converter with High Step-Down Voltage Ratio for Low-Power Applications

This paper proposes a high step-down ratio AC-DC converter employing a quadratic buck converter with power factor correction. Conventional active power factor correction topologies employ boost-based correction schemes for unity power factor operation. This will require a steeper step-down ratio and higher switch voltage stress apart from complexity in the control scheme with sensors. The structure of the proposed topology is developed by combining the power factor correction stage with a high step-down stage. The passive input filter is split up into two for the purpose of reducing the thermal heating apart from offering a higher power factor. A single switch operation reduces the complexity of the control scheme. In addition, the number of conducting devices during the current path is also the same as the conventional buck converter due to cascading and hence offers lower conduction losses. The need for the converter to operate at an extremely low duty cycle is reduced due to the quadratic stage structure. The proposed converter operates at a moderate duty cycle, offering higher step-down voltage apart from reducing filtering requirements. MATLAB R2020b is used for carrying out simulation studies. Xilinx FPGA-based controller using system generator is implemented for the generation of pulses of appropriate duty cycle. Simulation and experimental results for a 150 W prototype are presented. An investigation and comparative evaluation of the conventional bridgeless buck system with the quadratic buck converter are carried out. The proposed structure offers the benefit of a higher step-down voltage ratio incorporating an inherent power factor correction stage along with the AC/DC stage.

Asymmetrical PWM Scheme to Widen the Operating Range of the Three-Phase Series-Capacitor Buck Converter

The three-phase series-capacitor (3P-SC) buck converter is analyzed extensively in this study for high-voltage step-down applications with a wide input voltage range. This structure is attractive due to its high step-down conversion ratio and inherent current balancing. However, the inductor currents of the 3P-SC converter become unbalanced when the duty cycle exceeds 1/3. This results in significant stress and reduces the utilization of switching devices. This article proposes an asymmetrical pulsewidth modulation (PWM) scheme for the 3P-SC converter to overcome the limitations of the conventional PWM scheme. By using the proposed switching scheme, the duty cycle can be increased to one while retaining the high conversion ratio and current balancing functionality. Thereafter, the proposed asymmetrical PWM strategy is generalized for multiphase series-capacitor (nP-SC) converters. Finally, to validate the performance of the proposed PWM strategy, a 1.2-kW prototype 3P-SC converter is fabricated and tested.

An improved isolated DC–DC Buck converter with high step-down ratio

ABSTRACT Please replcae the abstract with the following text:In this paper, a new isolated high step-down dc-dc topology based on buck converter is proposed. This structure reduces the amplitude of the voltage on the primary side of the transformer (which is an ideal type), which reduces the turn-ratio and leakage impedance. The recommended structure uses active clamped strategies to return the energy of leakage impedance and to repress voltage spikes. Under this condition, the overall efficiency of the converter can be enhanced impressively. The benefits of the proposed structure are simple structure, a simple control system that needs only two signals with a 180O phase shift, reduced power circuit components, the lower standing voltage of the semiconductor components in the high-voltage side, and a high conversion ratio. The proposed converter can be applied in low voltage (5V) applications with high input current such as computer applications. The operation modes of the recommended converter, designing of utilized circuit elements, steady condition analysis, and finally some experimental results of the built prototype of the recommended structure have been provided completely. The overall efficiency of the proposed topology at 250W is equal to 92%. Also, the amplitudes of input and output voltage are 380 V and 5 V, respectively.

Design of High Step-Down Ratio Isolated Three-Level Half-Bridge DC–DC Converter With Balanced Voltage on Flying Capacitor

A high step-down ratio three-level half-bridge (TLHB) dc–dc converter with a current-doubler rectifier is presented for power conversion from a 48-to-60-V input to a 0.5-to-1-V output. The proposed TLHB topology and operation employed on the primary side improve the power-conversion efficiency by reducing the switching loss while minimizing the turn ratio of the transformer by converting the input voltage down to one quarter on the primary side. Moreover, it reduces the voltage stress on switches by half, thereby enabling the converter to be implemented with Si transistors with low breakdown voltage. The designed TLHB gate-driver IC minimizes the delay mismatches in gate drivers and mitigates the effect of the leakage inductance of the transformer, reducing the voltage imbalance on the flying capacitor without any balancing scheme in the controller. The proposed dc–dc converter implemented with 40-V Si transistors for the primary-side switches achieves 92.8% peak efficiency while supporting the maximum load current of 60 A and the maximum input voltage of 60 V. The converter with the proposed TLHB gate driver IC shows less than 0.8% voltage imbalance on the flying capacitor.

Design of hybrid SiC/Si based T‐type three‐level LLC$ LLC$ resonant converter with wide‐input range and low conduction loss for automotive auxiliary power module

The auxiliary power module (APM) in the electrical vehicle converts the high voltage of battery pack to the low voltage to supply the electric power for the internal loads, including electric power steering, electric turbo, headed windshield and cooling pumps. The increasing demands on charging time and mileage have made the battery packs with even higher voltage (e.g. 800 V) a promising option. However, it brings a new challenge for the APM, and either the 1.2-kV silicon carbide (SiC) device or the three-level (TL) topology are used conventionally. This work proposes a cost-effective hybrid SiC/Si-based T-type TL L L C $ LLC$ resonant converter for the vehicular APM application with a high step-down ratio. The 1.2-kV SiC and 650-V Si devices are used as the main and auxiliary switches, respectively. It fully utilizes the voltage rating of device, and also improves the efficiency compared with conventional TL topology. To improve the gain range and electromagnetic interference performance, a variable frequency and adjustable phase-shift modulation scheme is adopted. At the same time, the steady-state time-domain model is established to elaborate the operation principles, topology features, and boundary conditions for soft-switching. Furthermore, the precise solutions for switching frequency and phase-shift angle are figured out. Finally, the effectiveness of model is verified by the simulation as well as the experiment. A 1-kW prototype for the application in the APM is demonstrated with the input voltage of 640–840 V and a constant output of 48 V/ 21 A.

Four-Channel Buck-Type LED Driver with Automatic Current Sharing and Soft Switching

A buck-type LED driver together with automatic current sharing and high step-down voltage conversion ratio but without complex control is proposed. The proposed LED driver can not only achieve zero voltage switching (ZVS) turn-on by adding only one resonant coupled inductor, which resonates with parasitic capacitors of active switches, but also can obtain lower voltage gain and better conversion efficiency. In this paper, the operating principles and design considerations of the proposed converter are discussed in detail. In addition, the number of LED strings can be extended to more than four channels. Finally, the theoretical analysis and performance of the proposed LED driver are verified by simulations and experiments using a field-programmable logic gate array (FPGA) named EP3C5E144C8N as a circuit control kernel.

ANALYSIS, DESIGN AND SIMULATION OF ZVS BASED HIGH CONVERSION RATIO ISOLATED DC-DC BUCK CONVERTER FOR ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM

In this paper, a novel zero voltage switching (ZVS) is based high conversion ratio bidirectional DC-DC converter for the energy storage system proposed. Within the buck mode, the proposed converter is like that of a cascade consisting of an isolated buck-boost converter and a buck converter, thus achieving a high step-down ratio. Similarly, in the boost mode, the converter is analogous to the cascaded structure consisting of a boost converter and an isolated buck-boost converter, and then a high step-up ratio is achieved. Thus, a high conversion ratio has been established with the proposed converter. In addition to this ZVS eliminates switching losses and improves conversion efficiency. Furthermore, the validity and performance of the proposed converter are verified employing a prototype.

A 45-W Two-Stage Wireless Fast Charger Using Unregulated Inductive Power Transfer

Most of the existing wireless offline chargers would employ redundant power conversion and isolation stages to charge a low-voltage battery, which leads to limited overall efficiency. In order to address the redundancy issue, this article proposes a wireless fast charger by using a two-stage configuration. An unregulated inductive power transfer (IPT) stage can not only offer galvanic isolation, but also provide high step-down voltage ratio, and then, only a simple buck converter is needed for voltage regulation. This article evaluates the influence of voltage gain on efficiency and voltage stress of an LCC-C compensated IPT stage. The zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) lost mechanism is also studied and evaluated by a proposed ZVS model. Finally, a 45-W fast charger prototype is designed for 264-V/12-V conversion. The measured peak efficiency is 78%, which is much higher than the Qi-based charger.

A non‐isolated DC‐DC converter with low voltage stress and high step‐down voltage conversion ratio

This work focuses on a new non-isolated interleaved DC-DC converter with very high step-down voltage conversion ratio. By employing the switched/series capacitor concept, along with the proper component interconnection, the converter features a high step-down voltage conversion ratio where, in the private case of equal duty ratios, it is six times higher than the conventional buck converter. This high step-down voltage conversion ratio is achieved with the lowest number of components compared to other similar topologies of the same conversion ratio. Also, due to the blocking/series capacitors, the voltage stress on the switches is reduced, improving the converter efficiency. One of the key features of the proposed converter is the inherent automatic current sharing between the interleaved phases, which in the case of equal duty ratios, is uniformly distributed. To add on, due to the use of only two interleaved phases, the converter has a wide output voltage range, since the duty cycle can be extended to 0.5. To validate the proposed converter operation, a 250 W wide-input/wide-output experimental prototype was built, achieving a peak efficiency of 94%.

Performance of a coupled inductor for interleaved buck converter with improved step‐down conversion ratio

This paper proposes a dual-winding coupled inductor (DWCI) based interleaved buck converter (IBC) with improved step-down conversion ratio to improve the ripple in inductor currents and to achieve lower value of the output filter capacitor. The proposed IBC achieves a high step-down conversion ratio by using a switch-capacitor cell. In the continuous conduction mode (CCM), the systematic analysis of ripple current in the windings of DWCI shows the improvement of ripple in inductor current compared to the existing IBCs. Further, the coupling factor of the DWCI reduces the requirement of the minimum value of the output filter capacitor. The operation principle and boundary load condition of the proposed IBC with DWCI are analysed. Furthermore, the small-signal modelling of the proposed IBC with DWCI is investigated. In the voltage-mode control framework, a PI-controller is designed to investigate the sensitivity to the load parameter variation and the performance of the reference output voltage. The proposed converter with DWCI is implemented and experimental results are provided.

A Modular Resonant DC–DC Converter With High Step-Down Ratio for Tapping Power From HVDC Systems

In this article, a new circuit topology of DC-DC converter for high step-down ratio is proposed. The proposed DC-DC converter can be used to tap power from high-voltage direct current (HVDC) system to feed the local loads that are located in the vicinity of HVDC transmission corridor. The proposed DC-DC converter consists of a large number of identical submodules each having one controllable switch, two diodes, and one capacitor. The operation of DC-DC converter is based on repeated charging and discharging of capacitors through a resonant circuit. Zero-current switching is achieved for all the switches used in the converter. In case of failure of one submodule, the failed submodule could be bypassed without affecting the normal operation of the HVDC tap. Equations governing the behavior of the proposed converter and the design of the components have been included in this article. The operational performance of the line commutated converter based HVDC system along with the HVDC tapping scheme with the proposed converter is investigated using a simulation model developed in PSCAD/EMTDC. The proposed circuit topology has also been verified with a down scaled experimental prototype.

Dual PWM Control for High Step-Down DC-DC Converters

The conventional step-down dc–dc converters under the single pulsewidth modulation (PWM) control scheme may not provide enough step-down voltage conversion capabilities with considering the minimum on -time and the switching frequency of the power switch. In order to overcome this difficulty, a dual PWM control scheme for designing the high step-down dc–dc converter is proposed in this article. Both high-frequency and low-frequency PWM waveform generators are utilized in synthesizing the dual PWM control of buck converters. The resulting PWM waveform will lead to various switching cycles, and five operating modes of the buck converter, which can be defined accordingly. The operation principle of the proposed converter and its small-signal switched model are presented in detail. One salient feature of the proposed design is that if the duty cycle of the high-frequency PWM is exactly equal to that of the low-frequency PWM, by exploring the volt–second balance condition, the voltage gain can be expressed as the quadratic formula of the duty cycle of the PWM signal when power switches are operated under the continuous conduction mode. Thus, a high step-down conversion ratio and significant reductions of the inductor current ripple can be ensured simultaneously. Since no modifications of the conventional circuit topology are made, the proposed scheme is very cost-effective. Simulation studies and hardware prototype circuit implementations are conducted to validate the proposed design with satisfactory performance.