Voltage Doubler Rectifier Research Articles

Design and experimental evaluation of a single-stage AC/DC converter with PFC and hybrid full-bridge rectifier

This paper presents design and experimental evaluation of a single-stage AC/DC converter with PFC and hybrid full-bridge rectifier for supplying LED streetlight. The proposed converter consisted of one LLC resonant tank, two boost circuits and one shared inductor. By incorporating a relay switch at the secondary-side of the circuit, the output stage can be operated as two different types of rectifier: the first is as a full-bridge rectifier and the second type is as a full-bridge voltage doubler rectifier. The proposed converter was designed to receive a 240-V, 50-Hz single-phase AC supply as its input. MATLAB Simulink software was used to simulate the proposed converter, and later, a prototype was built for the experimental measurements at 100-W rated output power. The experimental results and the performance of the proposed converter were analyzed for PFC, efficiency, THD, and bus voltage. The proposed converter can achieve soft-switching characteristics since the power switches and output diodes were operated with ZVS and ZCS conditions, respectively. Furthermore, when the relay switch was closed, the output voltage was twice higher than that of when the relay switch was opened. The maximum efficiency of the proposed converter with hybrid full-bridge rectifier and full-bridge voltage doubler rectifier was about 92.6% and 93.3% respectively.

Robust Rectifying Circuits With FET Shunt-Mounted Voltage-Doubler Rectifier

Two robust rectifying circuits with a voltage-doubler rectifier (VDR) and reconfigurable matching stubs are proposed. Traditionally, if the rectifier diode in a VDR accidentally malfunctions at medium and/or high input power levels, the rectifying circuit would be mismatched or even not work. To improve the robustness of the rectifying circuit, a capacitor- or diode-shunted field-effect transistor, used as an adaptive switch and/or a rectifier diode, is installed in the VDR. Also, L-shaped reconfigurable matching stubs are adopted to automatically adjust the impedance of the rectifying circuit. Simulated and measured results demonstrate that the proposed topologies are robust, and optimal conversion efficiencies can be achieved.

Interleaved LLC Converter With Cascaded Voltage-Doubler Rectifiers for Deeply Depleted PEV Battery Charging

This paper proposes an interleaved Inductor-Inductor-Capacitor resonant converter with cascaded voltage-doubler circuits for deeply depleted plug-in electric vehicle battery charging. The use of voltage double circuits extends the operating range of converter by mitigating the effects of transformer’s parasitic capacitors. The converter has two modes of operation: simultaneous and independent. In the former mode both interleaving converters operate together at the same frequency and in the later mode only one converter operates. In the former mode, it yields twofold higher gain compared to the later one. Thus, operation with combined mode changing and frequency control results in wider output voltage range. For confirmation, a laboratory prototype rated at input dc voltage of 400 V and output power of 1.5 kW is designed, and implemented. The results obtained from the prototype show that converter achieves a wide output voltage range of 100–420 V when operated in simultaneous mode with simple frequency control and an output voltage range of 50–100 V in the independent mode. With combined frequency and mode changing control, it achieves an output range of 50–420 V. The peak efficiency of converter was measured to be 95.65% at a peak power of 1.5 kW. Thus, the proposed converter is suitable for the dc–dc stage of on-board PEV battery charger.

Dual-Band Dual-Polarized Full-Wave Rectenna Based on Differential Field Sampling

A dual-band rectenna for radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting is presented in this letter. The proposed antenna has two concentric square patches electrically connected with a small microstrip line connection. Four ports are located in the inner patch. The configuration of the ports enables a differential field sampling scheme and dual polarization. The antenna operates for the WiFi frequency bands of 2.4 and 5.5 GHz with 7.52 and 7.26 dBi gain, respectively, for each frequency. A full-wave Greinacher voltage doubler rectifier for each polarization has been employed for RF-to-dc conversion. The proposed novel topology utilizes the differential field sampling for each polarization and quadruples the overall output voltage by the rectification process. The differential output voltage source from the rectenna can directly act as a power source as typically electronics require differential source for their operation.

Broadband Planar Log-Periodic Dipole Array Antenna Based RF-Energy Harvesting System

ABSTRACT In this paper, a low-cost planar log periodic dipole array antenna has been described using triangular dipole elements for broadband RF energy harvesting applications. The antenna measured bandwidth for VSWR ≤ 2 is from 570 to 2750 MHz (1:4.8), which covers all the cellular bands. The radiation pattern is uniform over the entire frequency range. The measured gain is 7.2 dBi with less than ±0.5 dB variation over the entire bandwidth. A Schottky diode-based voltage doubler rectifier is used to convert RF energy to DC voltage. A broadband impedance matching network using an exponentially tapered microstrip line between log periodic antenna and rectifier has been designed. At a distance of 25 m from the cell tower, a voltage of 1.7 V was obtained using the developed broadband RF energy harvesting system across a load of 4.7 kΩ. A voltage of 3 V was obtained across the same load while initiating a call from a cell phone.

Efficient feeding geometries for rectenna design at 2.45 GHz

Efficient feeding geometries for rectenna design at 2.45 GHz are described. The proposed rectenna consists of two layers low cost FR-4 substrates in which circular polarisation and harmonic rejection properties are embedded. A voltage doubler rectifier with open stub matching network and the radial stub is designed at the bottom substrate to transform the ac signals to a dc voltage. A right triangular slot is designed in the ground plane to suppress second and third harmonics which improves the rectenna conversion efficiency to 75.043% at an input power of 20 dBm. The proposed rectenna design has the advantages of providing circular polarisation and harmonic rejection with a compact size and low cost which makes it a good candidate for microwave power transmission applications.

Implementation of an Active-Clamped Current-Fed Push–Pull Converter Employing Parallel-Inductor to Extend ZVS Range for Fuel Cell Application

This paper proposes a wide-range zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) active-clamped current-fed push–pull converter for fuel cell application. The presented converter achieves ZVS for all of the primary switches and ZCS for secondary diodes from rated load to 10% full load over the wide input voltage variation, improving the overall efficiency. The ZVS of switches is realized by the energy stored in the transformer leakage inductance aided by the secondary parallel inductor. An additional active clamping circuit suppresses the voltage spike as well as assists in realizing ZVS of switches. Low-voltage-rated switches with low on-state resistance can be used. Moreover, the voltage-doubler rectifier is adopted to release the reverse-recovery problem of rectifier diodes and reduce turns ratio of the high-frequency transformer. Detailed steady-state operation, analysis, design, control, comparative study, and experimental results are discussed in depth in this paper. Finally, a 200-W prototype has been built in the laboratory to verify the effectiveness of the proposed converter.

A Resonant ZVZCS DC–DC Converter With Two Uneven Transformers for an MVDC Collection System of Offshore Wind Farms

A resonant zero-voltage and zero-current-switching (ZVZCS) dc–dc converter is proposed in this paper for a medium-voltage dc collection system of offshore wind farms. The resonant converter is composed of two full-bridge cells sharing a bridge leg, two transformers with uneven power ratings and different functions, whose secondary windings are connected in series and a voltage-doubler rectifier. The converter operates in discontinuous current mode and can achieve zero-current switching for four main power switches and rectifier diodes over the whole load range. The two auxiliary switches with small forward current can be turned on with ZVZCS, and turned off with zero-voltage switching. Hence, the switching loss can be reduced and efficiency is improved. The operation principle of the converter is analyzed and design rules of main parameters are presented. The influences of the turn ratios of auxiliary transformer and resonant capacitance on the peak and switching-off currents are discussed in detail. Furthermore, a model is built in PLECS and simulation results are given. A 150–1500 V/2 kW prototype is established and tested to verify the operation principle and design rules.

Hybrid Power Combining Rectenna Array for Wide Incident Angle Coverage in RF Energy Transfer

This paper discusses a new design approach that uses hybrid power combining rectenna array in radio frequency (RF) energy transfer systems to receive more energy in a wide incident angle range. A beam-forming matrix and a dc power management network (PMN) are introduced to the hybrid power combining. The normalized dc output power of the proposed hybrid power combining array is compared to the conventional power combining methods with regard to the incident wave angle, and the average received dc power is also calculated and compared. To experimentally verify the proposed hybrid combining array performance, four suspended patch antennas are attached to RF energy receiving architecture. A $4 \times 4$ Butler matrix and quadrature hybrids are used for the beam-forming matrix in a hybrid power combining rectenna array. A reconfigurable voltage doubler rectifier with a dc PMN is used to convert RF energy to dc energy and delivers proper voltage to the load. The measured results of each component are presented. Moreover, an experimental verification using fabricated components for RF energy transfer is presented and the measured received dc output power of conventional and proposed structures is presented and compared.

A High-Efficiency Step-Up Current-Fed Push–Pull Quasi-Resonant Converter With Fewer Components for Fuel Cell Application

In this paper, a new high-efficiency step-up current-fed push–pull quasi-resonant converter is proposed, which is suitable for low-voltage fuel cell power conditioning system. The proposed converter conserves inherent advantages of low-input-current stress and high voltage conversion ratio of the conventional current-fed push–pull converter. All of power devices can achieve soft switching at light load improving the overall efficiency. Moreover, similar features have been obtained with fewer components in comparison with the active-clamped current-fed push–pull converter [37] and current-fed push–pull resonant converter [40] , that enabling to reduce the cost and improve system reliability. In addition, the voltage-doubler rectifier is adopted to eliminate the reverse-recovery problem of secondary diodes and provides much higher voltage conversion ratio resulting in small turn ratio of the high-frequency transformer. Detailed operation, analysis, design, comparative study, experimental results, and loss breakdown for the proposed converter are presented in the paper. A 510-W prototype verifies the theoretical analysis and the effectiveness of the proposed concept.

Analysis and Design of a Single-Stage Isolated AC–DC LED Driver With a Voltage Doubler Rectifier

In order to reduce the cost and volume of small-medium power ac–dc light-emitting diode (LED) lighting systems, single-stage LED drivers are often used to drive LEDs with constant current. In this paper, a single-stage isolated high-power factor ac–dc LED driver is proposed and analyzed in detail, which is composed of a buck–boost power factor correction unit operating in discontinuous conduction mode and an isolated dc/dc unit with a voltage doubler rectifier, and the two units are integrated together by sharing the same power switch. Very high input power factor is achieved since the PFC unit operates with almost fixed duty ratio during half period of the utility line voltage. Since a voltage doubler rectifier is included in the isolated dc/dc unit, magnetic core size of the transformer and voltage stress of the secondary side diodes are reduced remarkably. First, the operating principle and performance of the LED driver are analyzed. Then, the main parameters are quantitatively calculated out in detail. Finally, a comparative analysis is presented and a 120 W experimental prototype with 1 A output current is built according to the calculated parameters and the experimental results are presented to verify the correctness of the theoretical analysis and parameter design.

The Establishment and Analysis of Bidirectional Cockcroft-Walton Circuit Model

High voltage DC power supply is very important in laser and high precision instruments, so the stability of high voltage DC power supply has an affect on the stability of laser and equipment. The voltage doubling rectifier circuit is the core component of the high voltage generator, so it is very important to study the stability of the voltage doubling rectifier circuit. Through the study of bidirectional rectifier circuit, double voltage rectifier circuit produces an output ripple and response time is superior than the basic voltage rectifier circuit. At the same time to study the bidirectional rectifier circuit is optimized, the capacity of the output arm greatly increases which leads to reduction in the output ripple, as the capacity reaches large enough value the output ripple approaches zero. Thus, greatly increasing the circuit in steady state time.

Time‐division‐multiplex control scheme for voltage multiplier rectifiers

A voltage multiplier rectifier with a novel time-division-multiplexing (TDM) control scheme for high step-up converters is proposed in this study. In the proposed TDM control scheme, two full-wave voltage doubler rectifiers can be combined to realise a voltage quadrupler rectifier. The proposed voltage quadrupler rectifier can reduce transformer turn ratio and transformer size for high step-up converters and also reduce voltage stress for the output capacitors and rectifier diodes. An N -times voltage rectifier can be straightforwardly produced by extending the concepts from the proposed TDM control scheme. A phase-shift full-bridge (PSFB) converter is adopted in the primary side of the proposed voltage quadrupler rectifier to construct a PSFB quadrupler converter. Experimental results for the PSFB quadrupler converter demonstrate the performance of the proposed TDM control scheme for voltage quadrupler rectifiers. An 8-times voltage rectifier is simulated to determine the validity of extending the proposed TDM control scheme to realise an N -times voltage rectifier. Experimental and simulation results show that the proposed TDM control scheme has great potential to be used in high step-up converters.

Analysis and Design of a Hybrid-Type Converter for Optimal Conversion Efficiency in Electric Vehicle Chargers

In this paper, a hybrid-type converter, which can overcome the drawbacks of the conventional phase-shifted full-bridge (PSFB) converter, such as narrow zero-voltage-switching range, conduction loss by circulating current, and large output filter inductor, is analyzed and evaluated. The hybrid-type converter discussed in this paper consists of the conventional PSFB converter with a full-bridge rectifier and a half-bridge LLC series-resonant converter (SRC) with a voltage-doubler rectifier (VDR), sharing the lagging-leg switches and integrating the VDR of LLC SRC into the node of the secondary-side rectifier in the PSFB converter. This rectifier structure allows the targeted hybrid-type converter to have the advantages of high efficiency and high power density by the modification of the output voltage of LLC SRC. This paper analyzes the operation principle and power distribution of the targeted hybrid-type converter. Based on the analysis, the optimal design of transformer and the control strategy with frequency and pulse-width modulation are presented. With the precise design and control, the conversion efficiency and power density can be increased. Its validity is confirmed by experimental results involving a 3.3-kW (250–450-V/7.33-A) prototype converter.

APWM adapted half‐bridge LLC converter with voltage doubler rectifier for improving light load efficiency

LLC converter is widely used in various applications due to its simple structure and zero voltage switching capability. To achieve high efficiency, LLC converter is usually designed to operate near the resonant frequency over the entire load conditions. However, a constant core loss of the main transformer due to the constant frequency operation has a bad effect on the efficiency in a light load condition where the core loss dominates the total loss. Therefore, it is essential to reduce transformer core loss in order to improve light load efficiency. Adapting asymmetric pulse-width modulation (APWM) in a half-bridge LLC resonant converter with voltage doubler rectifier for improving light load efficiency has been proposed. By adapting APWM, the core loss can be reduced dramatically in the light load condition, because both the switching frequency and the flux swing of the transformer are reduced. Furthermore, the proposed method does not affect the design of the converter. The experimental results with 400–250 V input and 100 V/2 A output prototype converter support the effectiveness of the proposed method.

CNFET-based voltage rectifier circuit for biomedical implantable applications**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 61131001, 61404077, 61571248), the Science and Technology Fund of Zhejiang Province (No. 2015C31090), the Natural Science Foundation of Ningbo (No. 2014A610147), State Key Laboratory of ASIC & System (No. 2015KF006) and the K. C. Wong Magna Fund in Ningbo University.

Carbon nanotube field effect transistor (CNFET) shows lower threshold voltage and smaller leakage current in comparison to its CMOS counterpart. In this paper, two kinds of CNFET-based rectifiers, full-wave rectifiers and voltage doubler rectifiers are presented for biomedical implantable applications. Based on the standard 32 nm CNFET model, the electrical performance of CNFET rectifiers is analyzed and compared. Simulation results show the voltage conversion efficiency (VCE) and power conversion efficiency (PCE) achieve 70.82% and 72.49% for CNFET full-wave rectifiers and 56.60% and 61.17% for CNFET voltage double rectifiers at typical 1.0 V input voltage excitation, which are higher than that of CMOS design. Moreover, considering the controllable property of CNFET threshold voltage, the effect of various design parameters on the electrical performance is investigated. It is observed that the VCE and PCE of CNFET rectifier increase with increasing CNT diameter and number of tubes. The proposed results would provide some guidelines for design and optimization of CNFET-based rectifier circuits.

A high-efficiency DC-DC converter with LC resonant in the load-side of HFT and voltage doubler for solar PV systems

This paper presents the implementation of a prototype phase-shift soft-switching full-bridge PWM DC-DC power converter isolated by a high-frequency transformer (HFT). This circuit topology is based on a new concept of series resonant principle in the secondary side. The step-up HFT and the voltage doubler rectifier make this circuit suitable for low-voltage renewable sources such as fuel cell or PV applications. Meanwhile, all semiconductor switches can achieve zero-voltage soft-switching (ZVS) with the assistance of transformer leakage inductances and lossless capacitive snubbers. The new contribution of this work is that the passive semiconductor switches (diodes) on the secondary side can also perform ZVS and zero-current switching (ZCS) transitions with the assistance of voltage doubler capacitance. The theory of operation and the experimental setup of the proposed circuit with a rated output of 5 kW are presented and discussed. A comparison between simulation and experimental results is explored and illustrated.

A high-efficiency DC-DC converter with LC resonant in the load-side of HFT and voltage doubler for solar PV systems

This paper presents the implementation of a prototype phase-shift soft-switching full-bridge PWM DC-DC power converter isolated by a high-frequency transformer (HFT). This circuit topology is based on a new concept of series resonant principle in the secondary side. The step-up HFT and the voltage doubler rectifier make this circuit suitable for low-voltage renewable sources such as fuel cell or PV applications. Meanwhile, all semiconductor switches can achieve zero-voltage soft-switching (ZVS) with the assistance of transformer leakage inductances and lossless capacitive snubbers. The new contribution of this work is that the passive semiconductor switches (diodes) on the secondary side can also perform ZVS and zero-current switching (ZCS) transitions with the assistance of voltage doubler capacitance. The theory of operation and the experimental setup of the proposed circuit with a rated output of 5 kW are presented and discussed. A comparison between simulation and experimental results is explored and illustrated.

Vibration Based Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Utilizing Bridgeless Rectifier Circuit

The energy harvesting technique has the capability to build autonomous, self-powered electronic systems that does not depend on the battery power for driving the low power electronics devices. In this paper, a voltage doubler and bridgeless boost rectifier power electronic converter is proposed to increase the energy harvesting output voltage from piezoelectric vibration based transducer. The conventional full-wave diode bridge rectifier and boost converter for energy harvesting system increases significant voltage drop and power losses in the circuit. However, the proposed voltage doubler and bridgeless boost rectifier circuit reduce the voltage drop and power loses in the circuit and thus increases the efficiency of the circuit. The proposed voltage doubler and bridgeless boost rectifier circuit step-up the output voltage up to 3 V DC from an input voltage of 1.9 V AC.

Performance Analysis of Photovoltaic Induction Motor Drive for Agriculture Purpose

<p>This paper presents water pumping system using renewable source (solar) without the use of chemical storage batteries. In this converter-inverter circuit is used to drive Induction motor. The Converter used here is Two Inductor boost converter (TIBC), which consists of a resonant tank, voltage doubler rectifier and a snubber circuit. TIBC is designed to drive the three phase induction motor from PV energy. TIBC converter is also known as current fed multi resonant converter having high voltage gain and low input current ripple. Converter switches are controlled through hysteresis controller and ZCS resonant topologies. Solar PV power fluctuates according to irradiation level of sunlight and hence tracking of maximum power at all time is mandatory. SPWM control with third harmonic injection is used to trigger the IGBT’s in the inverter. The development is oriented to achieve a more efficient, reliable, maintenance free and cheaper solution than the standard ones, that uses DC motors or low voltage synchronous motors. The proposed method is verified with MATLAB/SIMULINK and the system simulation confirms the performance of the proposed system.</p>