Snubber Circuit Research Articles

A Study on Series-Parallel Winding Changeover Circuit and Control Method for Expanding the High-Efficiency Operating Range of IPMSM for xEV Drive Systems

The motor characteristics control method using the winding changeover technique can improve the matching ratio between the most frequent operating point of electric vehicle (EV) and the motor’s high-efficiency operating point, thereby enhancing the overall average efficiency of the drive system. This technology reduces back electromotive force and winding resistance by adjusting the effective number of motor winding turns according to the EV’s operating speed, ultimately improving the average efficiency. In this paper, we propose a winding changeover circuit and control method that maximizes the average efficiency in the main driving regions to extend the driving range per charge and improve the fuel efficiency of EVs. The proposed circuit is constructed using thyristor switching devices, offering the advantage of relatively lower overall system losses compared to conventional circuits. Due to the characteristics of the thyristor switching devices used in the proposed circuit, seamless winding changeover is possible during motor operation. Additionally, no extra snubber circuits are required, and the relatively low switch losses suggest the potential for improved efficiency and lightweight design in EV drive systems. To verify the proposed winding changeover circuit and control scheme, experiments were conducted using a dynamometer with an 80 kW permanent magnet motor, inverter, and the developed prototype of the winding changeover circuit.

Design and evaluation of low-power switching power supplies using a zero-voltage boost converter with a snubber circuit

Design and evaluation of low-power switching power supplies using a zero-voltage boost converter with a snubber circuit

Interleaved Modified SEPIC Converters with Soft Switching and High Power Factor for LED Lighting Appliance

A novel ac/dc LED driver with power factor correction and soft-switching functions is proposed. The circuit topology mainly consists of two modified single-ended primary inductance converters (SEPIC) with interleaved operation. The first half stage of SEPIC operates like a boost converter and the second half stage operates like a buck–boost converter. Each boost converter is designed to operate in discontinuous current mode (DCM) to function as a power factor corrector (PFC). The two buck–boost converters that share a commonly coupled inductor are designed to operate at near boundary conduction mode (BCM). Without using any active clamping circuit, auxiliary switch or snubber circuit, the active switches can achieve zero-voltage switching on, and all diodes achieve zero-current switching off. First, operation modes in steady state are analyzed, and the mathematical equations for design component parameters are derived. Finally, a prototype circuit of 180 W rated power was built and tested. Experimental results show satisfactory performance of the proposed circuit.

Gate driver, snubber and circuit design considerations for fast‐switching series‐connected SiC MOSFETs

AbstractSeries connection of Silicon Carbide (SiC) Metal‐Oxide‐Semiconductor Field‐Effect Transistors (MOSFETs) is an interesting solution to design switches for voltages that are not yet commercially available or limited for single‐die devices. However, inherent static and dynamic voltage balancing must be achieved. Voltage imbalance is caused by the device parameters spread, whose impact is pronounced in low‐inductive circuit layouts. This study investigates the optimal design and tuning limits of resistor‐capacitor (RC)‐snubber circuits and non‐adaptive, standard, voltage‐source gate drivers for achieving the best balancing in transient and steady‐state voltage distributions among series‐connected discrete SiC MOSFETs operating at speeds up to . It has been shown that a larger parameter mismatch will lead to uneven switching energy losses and larger voltage imbalances. It was also experimentally shown that increasing the gate resistor to slow down the devices will not always improve balancing when their parameter spread is large. Thus, tuning recommendations for the RC‐snubber circuit and gate driver were developed based on these findings.

A Passive Voltage-Balancing Method for Series-Connected SiC MOSFETs in Pulse Generator Based on Snubber Circuit

A Passive Voltage-Balancing Method for Series-Connected SiC MOSFETs in Pulse Generator Based on Snubber Circuit

A family of single‐phase boost AC‐AC converters based on impedance network cells with symmetric bipolar operation

SummaryIn this paper, a family of single‐phase boost AC‐AC converters based on impedance network cells with symmetric bipolar operation is proposed. The proposed converters exhibit a range of voltage gains as a result of non‐inverting and inverting boost operations, which are influenced by the input voltage and various impedance source cells. The converters leverage inherent commutation to address the commutation problem without requiring snubber circuits and safe commutation strategy. Additionally, high‐speed switching is achieved by preventing power MOSFETs' body diode conduction and related poor reverse recovery issues. The design incorporates a simple and flexible switching strategy to produce step‐change frequency at the output, using only four switches to achieve both step‐changed frequency operation and output voltage regulation. Furthermore, by reducing the total stored energy of passive components, the proposed converters effectively decrease volume, weight, and cost. The operational modes of the converters are elucidated, and their key relationships are summarized in tabular format. Finally, experimental validation through a laboratory prototype confirms the performance accuracy of the proposed converters at frequencies 25, 50, and 100 Hz.

Design and hardware verification of photovoltaic converter based on adaptive P&O with snubber and BJT circuits

The efficient utilization of renewable energy is a key technology area of high domestic and international concern, and the research and development of DC–DC photovoltaic converters with high conversion efficiency is of great significance for improving performance and reducing the cost of solar power generation systems. In order to improve the conversion efficiency of solar energy, this paper proposes the design of a high-efficiency photovoltaic DC–DC converter with a non-isolated DC–DC converter as the object of the study. Solar power conversion is accomplished by designing a simple and reliable snubber circuit and a triode auxiliary circuit and tracking the maximum power point by combining the perturbation observation method with variable step size. The snubber circuit can effectively suppress the problems of pulse spikes and oscillations, and the triode auxiliary circuit prevents the reverse current and improves the switching speed, which reduces the switching loss and combines with the perturbation observation method with variable step size for fast and stable tracking of the maximum power point. In order to verify the feasibility of the converter, a 600 W prototype is designed. The experimental results show that using the snubber circuit reduces the pulse spike by 4.2 V and the overshoot is reduced by 4.3%. The maximum conversion efficiency is increased by 0.88% with the use of the transistor-assisted circuit, and the tracking efficiency of the MPPT is still stable under cloudy conditions. The maximum conversion efficiency of the prototype is finally measured to be up to 98.12%.

A Study of High Gain DC-DC Boost Converters for Renewable Energy Sources

This paper presents a comprehensive investigation into the various topologies of DC-DC boost converters which are designed for optimal integration with RES like photovoltaic (PV) systems. Photovoltaic applications demand efficient energy harvesting and management to maximize the conversion of solar energy into electrical power. The DC-DC topologies include switched coupled inductor, basic coupled inductor, coupled capacitor with coupled inductor with a snubber circuit, active clamp, high step-up and three-winding dual switches are considered for study. Each topology is analyzed in terms of its suitability for PV applications, considering factors such as efficiency, voltage gain, and reliability. The basic coupled inductor topology is explored as a reference point, providing a foundation for understanding the subsequent advanced configurations. This work explores and compares several prominent boost converter configurations, incorporating advanced techniques to enhance overall performance and efficiency for RES applications.

A Comprehensive Investigation into Bidirectional DC-DC Converters with Soft Switching for Electric Vehicles

Electric vehicles (EVs) are one of the the promising solutions for the environmental issues such as carbon emission and global warming. The high voltage traction battery in EVs is charged from utility grid by an EV charger. The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) standardize EV charges into two categories on-board chargers and off-board chargers. Usually, the on-board chargers are located inside the vehicle whereas, off-board chargers are not mounted on the vehicle. For onboard chargers, size and power density of charger become a prior matter of concern. The only way to reduce the size of a converter and thereby increase the power density is to operate power electronic conversion system (PECS) at very high switching frequency (HSF) resulting in reduced size of magnetic component in the charger configuration. However, HSF operation may lead to a high electromagnetic interference (EMI), loss in switch and switch duty. The work in this paper is focused on the development of high frequency bi-directional DC-DC converter (BD2C) stage priory used in on-board chargers due to distributed sources of energy as well as to manage the power distribution in the configuration. The power electronic BDCs are derived from boost and buck unit. The boost derived converter are current fed converters and offers advantages in terms of inherent voltage gain, short circuit protection and lower input current ripple. The voltage spikes across switches, high rated device selection, hard switching, snubber and auxiliary circuit requirements are some of the undesirable factors. This occurrence happened due to unbalance power transfer by the power electronics converter. Similarly, voltage fed converter offers good voltage control during power transfer.

A Novel Mixture-Devices-Based Submodule for MMC by Using Low on-State Voltage IGCT and High di/dt Ability IGBT

At present, insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) is widely used as the converter component in the submodule of modular multilevel converter (MMC) for its excellent performance in driving circuit and switching speed, but the further application is restricted by its high conduction loss and cost rate. Integrated gate-commutated thyristor (IGCT) is another converter device used in MMC with low conduction loss and cost. However, the d <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">i</i> /d <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">t</i> capability of IGCT is limited so that a snubber circuit is required in the submodule for protection, which generates unwanted power loss for MMC. For better performance and reliability, this paper proposes a mixture-devices-based submodule (MS) for MMC based on the cooperation of parallel IGCT and IGBT devices. Double-pulse switching experiments for the MS are conducted to verify its effectiveness, and to get the data for the follow-up switching power loss calculation. The power loss of MMC based on IGBT, IGCT and mixture devices are calculated based on the model established in this paper. Furthermore, the comprehensive comparison for power loss among IGBT-based, IGCT-based and mixture-device-based MMCs are performed, proving the effectiveness of the mixture topology in terms of power loss reduction. Meanwhile, the proposed MS is cost-competitive.

COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF CONVERTER CIRCUITS APPLIED FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM

This research intents to design and laboratory implementation of a power electronic converter, which is useful for home applications, industrial, communications, street light and water pumping using solar cell source. The design is based on a step up boost DC/DC converter followed by a full wave SPWM inverter. The nominal power rating is 1.25kW and can operate from any DC source such as DC battery besides fuel cells. The system which consists of the following stages (PV, converter, inverter, DC link, filter and snubber circuit), is designed primarily with a general module depending on Orcad PSPICE program to produce power output nearly 1.25kVA at 50Hz with a pure sinewave output for both voltage and current. After designing and simulating this system, the intended SPWM inverter are built experimentally to compare its results with the simulated one.

High power voltage multiplier (VM) PFC Converter with inherent ZCS Characteristics and high step-ip gain for enhanced low-line efficiency

In this paper, a Voltage Multiplier (VM) converter configuration has been designed for high Power PFC application, ensuring reduced losses and high system efficiency.The conventional PFC system is improved with adding VM circuit configuration that enhances the static gain features with moderate duty ratio (D), and hence, the reverse recovery (RR) issue is resolved. The VM section inherently adds two main specific features of clamping behavior and ZCS phenomenon to the PFC system. An experimental prototype of 2 kW, 600 V VM PFC converter configuration is designed and its effectiveness is validated under low line input of 100 V , operating at a high duty ratio, D = 0:67. The Real-Time Interface (RTI) feature of dSPACE1104 and MATLAB/Simulink are used to give the control signal for the verification of the system. Always, less than half of the output voltage (300 V ) appears across the switches of the converter, hence, voltage stress of the switch is minimized. Also, ZCS phenomenon is evident during switching commutations due to the snubber circuit behavior of the resonant tank, included in the proposed PFC converter. Hence, the overall system efficiency is improved. Furthermore, higher system efficiency is maintained for different rating which has been tested in this research work.

Coupled inductor‐based buck power factor correction (PFC) converter with soft switching

SummaryIn this study, couple inductor‐based buck power factor correction (PFC) converter is designed to mitigate dead zones of the converter. To minimize switching losses, all switches are controlled using a soft switching method, eliminating the need for snubber circuits. The circuit is controlled by an analog UC3843 pulse width modulation (PWM) integrated circuit (IC), providing natural PFC capability, which simplifies control and offers advantages in terms of size and cost compared to conventional ones. Simulation studies and prototype implementation are carried out to evaluate performance of the topology. The converter operates within a voltage range of 90–280 Vrms and has a power rating of 150 W. The results from both simulation and experimental analyses indicate that power factor (PF) of the circuit exceeds 98% and total harmonic distortion (THD) of the input current is found to be below 5% under various input voltage and load conditions. Furthermore, proposed topology demonstrated high efficiency, with measurements of 93% at full load and 95.6% at half load under 220 Vrms input voltage and 80 Vdc output voltage conditions. Outcomes highlight that the proposed topology achieves pure sinusoidal input current and exhibits competitive performance compared to other topologies used in the industry.

Повышение адекватности моделей электромеханотронных систем

Development of electromechanotronic systems is connected with modeling and calculation of processes of various kinds. Electromagnetic, mechanical and thermal processes are analyzed, control, regulation, protection, monitoring and diagnostics problems are solved. Systems may contain a large number of power semiconductor elements. Short-term and multi-hour processes are calculated. Taking into account mutual connections of processes of various kinds in calculations of complex systems requires inadmissibly large expenditures of machine time. The problems are solved under more or less significant assumptions, which leads to a decrease in the adequacy of the results. The methods of systems calculation are proposed, which allow to reduce machine time consumption and to use more detailed description of installations and more accurate computer models. Possibilities of calculation of processes by «smooth components» of variables, and also application of dual models, in which speed and accuracy are combined, are considered. As an example, a system with an active cascade frequency converter containing 780 transistors and diodes, parasitic inductances and snubber circuits, and a vector-controlled induction motor with ladder circuits accounting for current displacement is analyzed. The model takes into account energy losses in the converter and in the motor, as well as the distribution of losses by components. It also takes into account emergency operation modes associated with disconnection of a part of low-voltage units of the cascade converter and maintenance of power quality at its input and output by symmetrization of the main current components and suppression of parasitic components.

A High-Efficiency Integrated Converter for LED Driver

Enhancing the efficiency in the light-emitting-diode (LED) drivers is a noteworthy issue as it not only helps saving energy but also causes the long life span of the drivers. In this paper, a new LED driver with improved efficiency is proposed. Efficiency improvement is achieved without using any active or passive component to perform soft switching conditions. In the proposed driver, buck and buck-boost converters are integrated. The freewheeling diodes and inductors - of the two converters - are replaced by one diode and one inductor. So, the proposed driver constitutes a single-stage driver with a simple structure that uses only one controlled switch, one freewheeling diode, and one inductor. Besides its simple structure, the driver works with a constant frequency, which leads to using a simple controller. Efficiency improvement is obtained by changing the inductor size and LEDs arrangement rather than using the active clamp or snubber circuits. To decrease the switching losses in the proposed driver, the average of the input current is kept constant while the peak of the pulsating input current - which passes from the switch and freewheeling diode - is decreased. Moreover, power losses of the semiconductor components in the proposed driver are investigated, and consequently decreased, leading to improvement in the system's overall efficiency. Finally, a 10 W experimental driver is built and tested. The experimental results are consistent with theoretical analysis.

An Active Snubber Circuit for High-Capacity DC Chopper to Achieve Soft-Switching Operation for Offshore Wind VSC-HVdc System

An Active Snubber Circuit for High-Capacity DC Chopper to Achieve Soft-Switching Operation for Offshore Wind VSC-HVdc System

A Hardware-Simplified Soft-Start Scheme for Current-Fed Full-Bridge DC-DC Converter

At present, the current-fed full-bridge DC-DC converter still faces two inherent defects, namely, the soft-start issue during the start-up process and the voltage spike issue in normal working conditions. In existing research, a large number of attempts have been reported to overcome these two inherent issues. However, the existing solutions are all based on both redundant soft-start circuits and snubber circuits, and two different circuits are required. As a result, the cost of the current-fed full-bridge DC-DC converter is high, especially because the soft-start circuits are only used during the start-up process. So, to reduce device redundancy, a hardware-simplified soft-start scheme is proposed in this paper. In the proposed scheme, the snubber circuit is reused for the soft-start process based on topology reconfiguration, avoiding additional soft-start circuits to reduce the cost of this DC-DC converter. In this proposed method, the current-fed full-bridge DC-DC converter is operated as the voltage-fed full-bridge DC-DC converter by always turning on the snubber switch during the start-up process. Then, the output capacitor can be charged by slowly increasing the output voltage of the H bridge. Then, when the output voltage is high enough, the current-fed full-bridge DC-DC converter is again operated in the current-fed mode to boost the voltage. Subsequently, the converter characters and control strategy were examined and analyzed. The experimental results verify the feasibility of the proposed hardware-simplified soft-start scheme for the current-fed full-bridge DC-DC converter.

The Development of a Compact Pulsed Power Supply with Semiconductor Series Connection

In this study, high-voltage switching was performed by connecting semiconductors in series. By employing Snubber circuits and voltage divider resistors for each semiconductor, the destruction of the semiconductors was prevented. Additionally, a pulse transformer was installed between the function generator and the photocoupler to isolate the gate circuit, preventing electrical discharges in the circuit and enabling operation at an output voltage of 10 kV and an operating frequency of 200 Hz. The temperature of the semiconductors increased with the increase in operating frequency, which was counteracted by connecting charging resistors and capacitors to limit the current to the semiconductors. As a result, operation at 430 Hz became possible. Furthermore, a saturable inductor (SI) was connected to enable continuous operation. The SI delays the rise of the current and creates a phase difference, thereby reducing the power consumption of the conductor and mitigating the temperature rise, enabling continuous operation at 300 Hz. Moreover, by increasing the number of semiconductor series stages to six, an output voltage of 20 kV was confirmed in tests. By using two semiconductor series circuits, the pulsed power supply that can be changed to any pulse width was also created. As a result, output voltages with arbitrary pulse widths from 5 μs to 30 μs were confirmed.

Current-Fed Phase-Shifted Full-Bridge Converter With Secondary Harmonic Current Reduction for Two-Stage Inverter in Energy Storage System

For the low voltage, high current, isolated DC-DC converter applications, current-fed type converter has the chance to achieve higher efficiency due to the lower transformer root mean square current compared with other well-known converters such as dual active bridge or LLC. A current-fed phase-shifted full-bridge, CFPSFB converter has the advantages of nearly full range zero-voltage-switching and soft-commutating without large size of passive or active snubber circuit because the phase-shift of secondary full-bridge is controlled to be proportional to the input current. However, as a front-end stage of a single phase inverter, the input secondary harmonic current (SHC) propagating from the output AC load may cause large voltage spike to damage the primary MOSFETs due to losing the soft-commutating property. SHC may also reduce the conversion efficiency and the lifespan of battery intensely. This paper proposes a simple control scheme based on virtual series impedance method with a notch filter in control loop to reduce the SHC and maintain good dynamic performance. A small-signal model of CFPSFB for a reliable controller design is derived and verified by simulation. A 48 V/3 kW maximum output power inverter prototype is built to verify the theoretical analysis. The maximum efficiency of the DC-DC stage is 97.4% and the peak to peak SHC is less than 10% of the average input current.

Design and development of modified high efficient high gain DC-DC converter for SPV standalone systems

&lt;p class="MDPI17abstract"&gt;&lt;span lang="EN-US"&gt;A conventional DC-DC converter is not viable for power conditioning in standalone solar photovoltaic applications. Switching losses are the primary reason for the poor performance of conventional DC-DC converters. To mitigate the issues in conventional DC-DC converters, a high efficient high gain (HEHG) DC-DC converter is designed and developed in this research work. Modified HEHG converter utilizes the passive components switched capacitors, coupled inductor, and resistor capacitor (RC) snubber circuit for minimizing the switching losses and improving the overall power conversion efficiency of the solar photovoltaic (SPV) system. In addition, a modified &lt;br /&gt; D-sweep maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm is in-corporate into this system to improve the tracking efficiency of the SPV system. HEHG for a standalone system is designed using MATLAB/Simulink environment and developed the hard-ware prototype. As a part of the validation, real-time testing is carried out and compares the performance of the HEHG converter with a traditional DC-DC converter. The theoretical efficiency of the HEHG converter is 96.01%, and the real-time efficiency is 95.62%. Found that theoretical and practical values of performance parameters are closely tallying.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;