Hafiz Furqan Ahmed

Switched-Coupled-Inductor Quasi-Z-Source Inverter

Z-source inverters have become a research hotspot because of their single-stage buck-boost inversion ability, and better immunity to EMI noises. However, their boost gains are limited, because of higher component-voltage stresses and poor output power quality, which results from the tradeoff between the shoot-through interval and the modulation index. To overcome these drawbacks, a new high-voltage boost impedance-source inverter called a switched-coupled-inductor quasi-Z-source inverter (SCL-qZSI) is proposed, which integrates a switched-capacitor and a three-winding switched-coupled inductor (SCL) into a conventional qZSI. The proposed SCL-qZSI adds only one capacitor and two diodes to a classical qZSI, and even with a turns ratio of 1, it has a stronger voltage boost-inversion ability than existing high-voltage boost (q)ZSI topologies. Therefore, compared with other (q)ZSIs for the same input and output voltages, the proposed SCL-qZSI utilizes higher modulation index with lower component-voltage stresses, has better spectral performance, and has a lower input inductor current ripple and flux density swing or, alternately, it can reduce the number of turns or size of the input inductor. The size of the coupled inductor and the total number of turns required for three windings are comparable to those of a single inductor in (q)ZSIs. To validate its advantages, analytical, simulation, and experimental results are also presented.

High-Efficiency Single-Phase AC–AC Converters Without Commutation Problem

This paper proposes single-phase direct pulsewidth modulation (PWM) buck-, boost-, and buck-boost-type ac-ac converters. The proposed converters are implemented with a series-connected freewheeling diode and MOSFET pair, which allows to minimize the switching and conduction losses of the semiconductor devices and resolves the reverse-recovery problem of body diode of MOSFET. The proposed converters are highly reliable because they can solve the shoot-through and dead-time problems of traditional ac-ac converters without voltage/current sensing module, lossy resistor-capacitor (RC) snubbers, or bulky coupled inductors. In addition, they can achieve high obtainable voltage gain and also produce output voltage waveforms of good quality because they do not use lossy snubbers. Unlike the recently developed switching cell (SC) ac-ac converters, the proposed ac-ac converters have no circulating current and do not require bulky coupled inductors; therefore, the total losses, current stresses, and magnetic volume are reduced and efficiency is improved. Detailed analysis and experimental results are provided to validate the novelty and merit of the proposed converters.

A Novel Buck–Boost AC–AC Converter With Both Inverting and Noninverting Operations and Without Commutation Problem

This paper proposes a new type of ac-ac converter which can operate as traditional noninverting buck and boost converters, and inverting buck-boost converter as well. The proposed converter uses six unidirectional current flowing and bidirectional voltage blocking switches, implemented by six reverse blocking insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) or series mosfet-diode pairs, two input and output filter capacitors, and one inductor. It has no shoot-through problem of voltage source (or capacitor) even when all switches are turned-on, and therefore, pulsewidth modulation dead-times are not needed resulting in high-quality waveforms, and solves the commutation problem without using bulky and lossy RC snubbers or dedicated soft-commutation strategies. It has smaller switching losses because only two switches out of six are switched at high frequency during each half-cycle of input voltage, and it can use power MOSFETs as body diode never conducts, making it immune from mosfet failure risk which otherwise may occur due to poor reverse recovery problem of body diode. The noninverting buck-boost mode of the proposed converter can be used in applications with both step-up and step-down demand, while the inverting buck-boost mode can also be used in its application as dynamic voltage restorer. Detailed analysis of the proposed converter is given, and experimental results are also provided.

Wide Load Range Efficiency Improvement of a High-Power-Density Bidirectional DC–DC Converter Using an MR Fluid-Gap Inductor

High-power-density bidirectional dc-dc converters consisting of buck-and-boost converters are widely used in hybrid electric vehicles due to their smaller size and low cost. With a conventional constant-value inductor, the light-load efficiency of these converters is greatly reduced because of the large constant peak-to-peak current swing and relatively constant conduction losses that result in the entire load range. This paper proposes a new type of nonlinear inductor using magnetorheological (MR) fluid to improve the intermediate- and light-load efficiencies of these converters. The use of the proposed inductor does not require any additional circuit or complex control, and yet, it has benefits of decreasing conduction losses and improving efficiency due to its increasing inductance when the load is changed from heavy to light. A 3.7-kW prototype converter is built, and the efficiency from heavy to light load is measured separately using the proposed MR fluid-gap inductor and conventional air-gap inductor, which validates the advantages of the proposed MR fluid-gap inductor.

An Improved Single-Phase Direct PWM Inverting Buck–Boost AC–AC Converter

A single-phase inverting buck-boost ac-ac converter is proposed in this paper. The proposed converter has no shoot-through and dead-time problems and, like conventional dc-dc converters, it can be operated with simple pulse width modulation (PWM) control. It offers high frequency and high efficiency operation because high speed mosfet can be used as switching device without the reverse recovery issues and losses of its body diode. The proposed converter features quasi-continuous input and output currents, high input power factor, low total harmonic distortion of input and output currents, and high efficiency. A 460 W laboratory prototype was constructed and tested with interleaved and complementary PWM controls using a resistive and inductive load. Detailed experimental results are provided to show the novelty of the proposed converter. Experimental results confirmed that the proposed converter can obtain 93.8% efficiency at 60 kHz switching frequency.

Elimination of Filter Inductor in Switching Cell AC–AC Converters Using Magnetic Integration

The switching cell (SC) direct pulse width modulation ac-ac converters have several advantages; in particular, they do not experience commutation issues, are not susceptible to reverse-recovery losses of body diode of switching devices, produce output waveforms of good quality, are more immune to EMI noise, and have smaller input/output current ripples. The magnetic components of the SC ac-ac converters consist of coupled inductors and a filter inductor. This paper proposes an integrated inductor which integrates all magnetic components of the SC ac-ac converters into one magnetic assembly. The leakage inductance of the proposed integrated inductor is utilized to eliminate the filter inductor in buck, boost, and buck-boost-type SC ac-ac converters. The proposed integrated inductor improves the power density and reduces cost and losses because it requires fewer magnetic cores, coils, and soldering connections. The proposed integrated inductor is especially suitable for high-current applications because it can avoid the magnetic core saturation caused by current, and can eliminate the air gap in the core. The proposed integrated inductor can realize high leakage inductance; therefore, the input and output current ripples can be reduced significantly. To verify the proposed integrated inductor, a 2.3-kW prototype inductor was built and tested.

A Highly Reliable and High-Efficiency Quasi Single-Stage Buck–Boost Inverter

To regulate an output ac voltage in inverter systems having wide input dc voltage variation, a buck–boost power conditioning system is preferred. This paper proposes a novel high-efficiency quasi single-stage single-phase buck–boost inverter. The proposed inverter can solve current shoot-through problem and eliminate PWM dead time, which leads to greatly enhanced system reliability. It allows bidirectional power flow and can use MOSFET as switching device without body diode conducting. The reverse recovery issues and related loss of the MOSFET body diode can be eliminated. The use of MOSFET contributes to the reduction of switching and conduction losses. Also, the proposed inverter can be operated with simple pulse width modulation (PWM) control and can be designed at higher switching frequency to reduce the volume of passive components. The detailed experimental results are provided to show the advantages of the proposed inverter. Efficiency measurement shows that using simple PWM control the proposed inverter can obtain peak efficiency of 97.8% for 1.1-kW output power at 30-kHz switching frequency.

A Single-Phase Buck–Boost Matrix Converter With Only Six Switches and Without Commutation Problem

In this paper, a single-phase buck-boost matrix converter is proposed which can both buck and boost the input voltage with step-changed frequency. It consists of only six unidirectional current flowing bidirectional voltage blocking switches, two input and output filter capacitors, and one inductor. It has following advantages over the existing single-phase matrix converters: 1) it can both buck and boost input voltage solving the limited voltage transfer ratio (only boost or buck) problem; 2) it also has enhanced reliability as it is immune from shoot-through problem of voltage source when all switches are turned-on simultaneously, and, therefore, it has no need of PWM dead times and RC snubbers or dedicated soft-commutation strategies to solve the commutation problem; 3) it can also use high-speed power MOSFETs as their body diodes never conduct, which eliminate their poor reverse recovery problem. The operation principle of the proposed converter is given, and switching strategies are developed to obtain various multiples and submultiples of input frequency. To verify its performance, a laboratory prototype is fabricated and experiments are performed to produce step-down and step-up voltage with three different frequencies of 120, 60, and 30 Hz.

A family of high efficiency bidirectional DC-DC converters using switching cell structure

The traditional hard switching bidirectional dc-dc converters cannot simply avoid the reverse recovery problem of MOSFET body diode, and they also require dead time between the switches to avoid current shoot-through. Therefore, the traditional bidirectional dc-dc converters are usually designed with IGBTs. The IGBTs have long tail current, low switching speed and fixed voltage drop when compared with MOSFETs. This paper proposes bidirectional buck, boost, inverting buck-boost and non-inverting buck-boost dc-dc converters. The proposed single-phase converters can be extended into N-phase. In the proposed converters, the body diodes of switching devices do not conduct, therefore the MOSFET can be used as switching device, and the reverse recovery problem and loss of body diodes can be eliminated. The current freewheeling diodes can be selected externally with extremely good reverse recovery features and low forward voltage drop, therefore the conduction and switching losses can be reduced, and high efficiency can be obtained. In the proposed converters, the switches have no current shoot-through problem, therefore the dead-time between the switches can be eliminated. Experimental results obtained with 1 kW non-inverting buck-boost dc-dc converter are provided to verify the correctness of the proposed converters.

A Family of High-Frequency Isolated Single-Phase Z-Source AC–AC Converters With Safe-Commutation Strategy

This paper extends the high-frequency transformer isolation concept to the Z-source (ZS) ac-ac converters and introduces a new family of high-frequency transformer isolated (HFTI) ZS ac-ac converters. The proposed HFTI-ZS converters retain all the benefits of their existing nonisolated counterparts, such as providing a larger range of output voltage with buck-boost functionality, reversing or maintaining the phase angle, reducing the in-rush and harmonic currents, and improving reliability. In addition to these benefits, the high-frequency (20 kHz) transformer (HFT) in the proposed ZS ac-ac converters provides the electrical isolation and safety with high power density as it eliminates the need for bulky and heavy line frequency (50 or 60 Hz) transformer for galvanic isolation, in applications such as dynamic voltage restorers, etc. The dc-blocking capacitor added in series with the HFT results in only ac voltage applied across its windings, which avoids its saturation. Various ZS-based HFTI ac-ac converters are proposed in this paper, and to verify their operation and advantages, example of quasi-ZS (qZS)-based isolated ac-ac converter is considered in detail. The commutation strategy is also developed to achieve the safe commutation, which avoids the current and voltage spikes without using any RC snubber. A 200-W laboratory prototype of HFTI-qZS ac-ac converter is fabricated and experiments are performed to validate the advantages of the proposed ac-ac converters.