Honnyong Cha

Trans-Z-Source Inverters

This paper extends the impedance-source (Z-source) inverters concept to the transformer-based Z-source (trans-Z-source) inverters. The original Z-source inverter (ZSI) employs an impedance network of two inductors and two capacitors connected in a special arrangement to interface the dc source and the inverter bridge. It has buck and boost function that cannot be achieved by traditional voltage-source inverters and current-source inverters. In the proposed four trans-Z-source inverters, all the impedance networks consist of a transformer and one capacitor. While maintaining the main features of the previously presented Z-source network, the new networks exhibit some unique advantages, such as the increased voltage gain and reduced voltage stress in the voltage-fed trans-ZSIs and the expanded motoring operation range in the current-fed trans-ZSIs, when the turns ratio of the transformer windings is over 1. Simulation and experimental results of the voltage-fed and the current-fed trans-ZSIs are provided to verify the analysis.

Design and implementation of low-profile contactless battery charger using planar printed circuit board windings as energy transfer device

This paper paper presents the practical details involved in the design and implementation of a contactless battery charger that employs a pair of neighboring printed circuit board (PCB) windings as a contactless energy transfer device. A prototype contactless battery charger developed for application with cellular phones is used as an example to address the design considerations for the PCB windings and energy transfer circuit, plus demonstrates the performance of the contactless charger adapted to a practical application system.

55-kW Variable 3X DC-DC Converter for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles

This paper presents an alternative to the traditional dc-dc converter interfacing the battery with the inverter dc bus in plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) traction drives. The boost converter used in commercial HEVs meets with obstacles when it comes to upgrading the power rating and achieving high efficiency while downsizing the converter. A four-level flying-capacitor dc-dc converter is explored that can overcome these drawbacks by dramatically reducing the inductance requirement. A special case of the four-level converter, the 3X dc-dc converter, operates at three discrete output/input voltage ratios, thus further reducing the inductance requirement to a minimal value (almost zero). When further compared to its switched-capacitor dc-dc converter counterparts, the 3X dc-dc converter can be operated at variable output/input voltage ratios without sacrificing efficiency, and it lowers the capacitance requirement by utilizing the parasitic inductance. The operating principle, current ripple analysis, the transient control to limit the inrush current, and power loss analysis are introduced. Experimental results of a 55-kW prototype are provided to demonstrate the principle and analysis of this topology.

Trans-Z-source inverters

This paper extends the impedance-source (Z-source) inverters concept to the transformer-based Z-source (trans-Z-source) inverters. The original Z-source inverter (ZSI) employs an impedance network of two inductors and two capacitors connected in a special arrangement to interface the dc source and the inverter bridge. It has buck and boost function that cannot be achieved by traditional voltage-source inverters and current-source inverters. In the proposed four trans-Z-source inverters, all the impedance networks consist of a transformer and one capacitor. While maintaining the main features of the previously presented Z-source network, the new networks exhibit some unique advantages, such as the increased voltage gain and reduced voltage stress in the voltage-fed trans-ZSIs and the expanded motoring operation range in the current-fed trans-ZSIs, when the turns ratio of the transformer windings is over 1. Simulation and experimental results of the voltage-fed and the current-fed trans-ZSIs are provided to verify the analysis.

Z-Source-Converter-Based Energy-Recycling Zero-Voltage Electronic Loads

This paper proposes two high-efficiency energy-recycling zero-voltage electronic loads (ELs) based on a Z-source converter. ELs are a family of power converters which are used as variable impedance loads in several applications. Such applications include testing of photovoltaic (PV) cells, power converters, and power supplies or frequency control of stand-alone microgeneration. In PV-cell performance tests, the zero-voltage operation, near the short-circuit point of the PV cells I- V curve, creates a challenge for EL design. The converter that is suitable for this application must have the ideal current source behavior because the challenge is to draw a specific constant current from the source under test even during the zero-voltage condition. The energy recycling principle increases the efficiency and allows the construction of high-power ELs. The proposed topologies are based on the Z-source converter and achieve the ideal current source behavior of draining an adjustable current even when the source voltage is zero. These topologies also provide power recycling for energy saving and for developing high-power ELs. The first configuration is based on the traditional Z-source converter, and the second one is based on the recently proposed quasi Z-source converter. Two prototypes were analyzed and built. Experimental results are provided to verify the principle of operation.

An Alternative Energy Recovery Clamp Circuit for Full-Bridge PWM Converters With Wide Ranges of Input Voltage

A full-bridge DC-DC converter employing a diode rectifier in the output experiences a severe voltage overshoot and oscillation problem across the diode rectifier caused by interaction between junction capacitance of the rectifier diode and leakage inductance of the transformer. The pronounced reverse-recovery current of high-power diodes significantly contributes to these issues by increasing power lossand voltage overshoot. Conventional energy recovery clamping circuits suffer from high voltage overshoot if the converter input voltage is wide. In this paper, a novel energy recovery clamp circuit is proposed to overcome this problem. The proposed circuit requires neither active switches nor lossy components. Therefore, the proposed circuit is very promising in high-voltage and high-power applications. Performance of the proposed circuit is verified both theoretically and experimentally with a 70-kW DC-DC converter.

A new contactless battery charger for portable telecommunication/computing electronics

This paper presents a new contactless battery charger that is well suited for the applications to the low-profile portable telecommunication/computing electronics such as cellular phones, Internet phones, palm-tops, and other hand-held electronics of the future. The performance of the proposed charger is confirmed with experiments on a prototype charger developed for cellular phones.

Analysis of the Contactless Power Transfer System Using Modelling and Analysis of the Contactless Transformer

In this paper, the electrical characteristics of the contactless transformer is presented using the conventional coupled inductor theory. Compared with the conventional transformer, the contactless transformer has a large airgap, long primary wire and multi-secondary wire. As such, the contactless transformer has a large leakage inductance, small magnetizing inductance and poor coupling coefficient. Therefore, large magnetizing currents flow through the entire primary system due to small magnetizing inductance, resulting in low overall system efficiency. In high power applications, the contactless transformer is so bulky and heavy that it needs to be split by some light and small transformers. So, the contactless transformer needs several small transformer modules that are connected in series or parallel to transfer the primary power to the secondary one. This paper shows the analysis and measurement results of each contactless transformer module and comparison results between the series- and parallel-connection of the con tactless transformer. The results are verified on the simulation based on the theoretical analysis and the 30㎾ experimental prototype.

Novel Single-Phase PWM AC–AC Converters Solving Commutation Problem Using Switching Cell Structure and Coupled Inductor

This paper presents novel single-phase pulse width modulation (PWM) ac-ac converters that can solve the commutation problem in single-phase direct PWM ac-ac converters without sensing the input voltage polarity. By using a basic switching cell structure and coupled inductors, the proposed ac-ac converters can be short- and open-circuited without damaging the switching devices. Neither lossy RC snubber nor dedicated soft commutation strategy is required in the proposed converter. By replacing the conventional phase-leg of the PWM ac-ac converters with the switching cell structure and the coupled inductor, three novel buck, boost, and buck-boost type PWM ac-ac converters are developed. Although two coupled inductors are required for the proposed converter, the input inductor of the proposed converter can be much smaller than that of the conventional PWM ac-ac converters. The volume of the magnetic components can be further reduced by increasing switching frequency of the converter because very fast recovery diodes can be selected externally. In order to verify performance and robustness of the proposed converter, a 200-W boost type prototype converter was built and tested with both mismatched gate signals and highly distorted input voltage.

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.