A NOVEL ANALYSIS OF ZERO-VOLTAGE-SWITCHING HALFBRIDGE DCDC CONVERTER USING ADVANCED PWM

CONTROL METHOD
C.T.Manikandan#1, M.Padmarasan#2, K.Dinesh#3
#

Assistant Professor, EEE, Panimalar Institute Of Technology, Chennai, Tamilnadu ,India

1
manikandanct@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
Asymmetric control scheme is a technique to obtain zero voltage switching (ZVS) for half bridge DC- DC
converter. But it is not suitable for are amount of input voltage due to worst voltage and current component stresses. This
paper present a duty cycle shifted PWM control scheme for DC-DC converter to obtain ZVS operation for one of the two
switches without adding more components. With the help of DCS PWM control scheme, an active switch comprising an
auxiliary switch and a diode is added across the interleaved transformer primary winding in the half bridge converter to
achieve ZVS for the other main switch by utilizing energy storage in the transformer leakage inductance. The auxiliary
switch can also be operated under ZVS and Zero current switching (ZCS) conditions. The ringing which was produced by
the ringing between the transformer leakage inductance and junction capacitance is eliminated during the off time period
hence, switching losses and leakage inductance losses are more reduced, providing the Converter with the potential to
operate at higher efficiency and high switching frequencies..

Key-Words: - Duty cycle shifted(DCS), Half bridge(HB), Metal oxide semiconductor Field effect transistor(MOSFET), Pulse width
modulation(PWM), Zero current switching(ZCS), Zero voltage switching (ZVS)

INTRODUCTION
Many techniques for high frequency DC-DC conversion have been proposed to minimize component stresses and
switching losses while obtaining high power density and improved performance[1]-[11]. The phase- shifted zero voltage
switching (ZVS) full bridge[1]-[3] is one of the most suitable techniques since it allows all switches to operate of ZVS by
utilizing transformer leakage inductance and metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor(MOSFET). Junction
capacitance without adding an auxiliary switch. But the complex nature of the full bridge is almost highest among the
normal topologies due to its large switch count and complicated control and driving. Active clamp forward topology [4][6] is one of the good examples to successfully realize ZVS for the switches by utilizing the leakage inductance,
magnetizing inductance and junction capacitance. The topology of above said converter is asymmetric the energy delivery
is unidirectional i.e.; voltage and current is distributed non uniformly which leads to stresses of individual switches and
rectifier this demerit limits power level of deactive clamp forward topology application furthermore, DC bias of
magnetizing current may exist in the transformer[5]. Half bridge DC-DC converter is an impressive topology for middle
power applications due to its simplicity. Generally there are two control schemes available for the HB dc-dc converter,
which is symmetric control and asymmetric control. The main limitation of the conv. Symmetric control is that both
primary switches in the converter operate at default switching condition. During the off time period of two switches energy
dissipation and electromagnetic interference emissions results due to the oscillation between the transformer leakage
inductance and junction capacitance of the switches. To minimize the ringing resistive snubbers are usually included
therefore energy in the transformer leakage inductance is significantly dissipated in snubbers. As a result, symmetric
control half bridge is not suited for high switches switching frequency power conversion.
The asymmetric control was proposed to obtain ZVS operation for HB Switches. [7]-[11]. Two drive signals are
alternatively generated and applied to high side and low side switches. Hence, the HB switches are turned on at ZVS
condition due to the fact that the transformer primary current charges and discharges the junction capacitance. The
asymmetric duty cycle distributions for the two primary switches introduce asymmetric stresses distribution on the
components. The stresses on the switches on non identical and voltage and current stresses are also not equal. Therewith
diodes or synchronous rectifier having higher voltage rating needs penalty for degrading the performance and efficiency of
rectifier stage. It is found to be non linear based on the DC gain ratio of the converter so higher duty cycle variation is
needed for the corresponding input voltage variation in comparison with symmetric PWM con troll scheme this scenario
makes the converter to operated beyond the operating point of the input voltage[10]. Wherefore, PWM control is more
suitable for applications where the input voltage is fixed. In this paper a new technique to be known as duty cycle shifted
PWM (DCSPWM) control, is proposed and applied to the HB dc-dc converter owing to which ZVS is achieved without

adding extra components and without adding any penalties for complementary control in other words, the new control
scheme is shifting one of the two symmetric PWM very close to each other in the resonant interval period.
In section II we discuss about the control scheme for the DCS-PWM technique in section III we discuss about the
DCS-PWM control for ZVS half bridge converter. In section IV we discuss about the simulation results of advanced DCSPWM control for ZVS half bridge converter, Section V deals with conclusion and ways to improve the method in near
future.
CONTROL SCHEME FOR DCS PWM
Fig.1showsthehalfbridgedcdcconverterwithcurrentdoublersrectifier.Theidealwaveformsforthesymmetric
PWMcontrolissketchedinFig.2(a),whereLk,istheleakageinductance;ip,IM arethetransformerprimarysideinput
andmagnetizingcurrents,respectively;andiD1 istheforwardcurrentthroughrectifierdiode .Inadditiontothehard
switching,conventionalsymmetricPWMcontrolhastransformerleakageinductancerelateddemerits.Duringtheofftime
periodwhenbothswitchesareoff,theenergystoredinthetransformerleakageinductancemayberecycledtoprimarydc
busthroughbodydiodesofMOSFETs.Becauseofreverserecoverycurrentofbodydiodes,theoscillationbetweenthe
transformerleakageinductanceandtheMOSFETsjunctioncapacitanceissignificantontheprimaryside.Toreducethe
ringing,usually,snubbercircuitsarenecessarilyadded,butlossesdissipatedinthesnubberbecomedramaticallylarge,
especiallyathighinputcurrentandhighswitchingfrequencies.

Fig.1conventionalhalfbridgeconverterwithacurrentdoublerrectifier

Fig.2WaveformcomparisonofthehalfbridgeDCDcconverter:(a)symmetricPWMcontroland(b)DCSPWM
control

ProposedDCSPWMcontrolscheme
Fig.2(b)showsthekeywaveformsoftheproposedDCSPWMcontrol.BasedonsymmetricPWMcontrol,S2
drivingsignalVgs2isshiftedleftsuchthattheVgs2risingedgeisclosetothefallingedgeofS1drivingsignalVg1.
WhenS1isturnedoff,thetransformerprimarycurrentchargesthejunctioncapacitanceofswitchS2.Afterthevoltage
acrossdraintosourceofS2dropstozero,thebodydiodeofS2conductstocarrythecurrent. Duringthebodydiode
conductionperiod,S2maybeturnedonatzerovoltageswitching.Noringingoccursduringthetransitionperiod.

Fig.3DCSPWMmodulationscheme:(a)modulationcircuitsand(b)keywaveforms

Fig.3showsapossiblemodulationapproachfortherealizationofDCSPWMcontrol.Where,VsawistheSAW
carrierwaveformformodulation;VcandVcarecontrolvoltagederivedfromthefrontvoltageorcurrentcontroller.By
modulatingVcandVc,drivingsignalsofS1andS2canbegenerated,respectively.Becausethefallingtimeofthesaw
waveformisshort,thefallingedgeofS1isalwaysclosetotherisingedgeofS2,whichprovidethepossibilityofZVSfor
S2.ThismodulationmethoddiffersfromtheconventionalsymmetricPWMmethodinthatthedirectionofvariationof
thetwodutycyclesisoppositeasshowninFig.3(b)bythearrowsshownonthedrivingsignalswaveforms.

Principle of operation
To simplify the analysis of operation, components are considered ideal except otherwise
indicated. The main operation modes are described as follows.
Mode 1 (t<t1): Initially, S1 is conducting, and the input power is delivered to the output L 1 is charged
and L2 freewheels through D2.
Mode 2 (t1<t<t2): S1 is turned off at t=t1, causing the primary current ip to charge C1 and discharge
C2. During the interval, the reflected secondary inductor current dominates the primary current i p.
Thus, C2 may be discharged to zero at wide load range, which means wide ZVS range can be achieved
for S2.
Mode 3 (t2<t<t3): When the voltage across C2 is discharged to zero at t=t2, the body diode of S2
conducts to carry the current, which provides ZVS conduction for switch S2. During the period,
leakage inductance is reset and secondary current i1 and i2 freewheel through D1 and D2, respectively.
Mode 4 (t3<t<t4): S2 is turned on with ZVS at t= t 3; the primary current decreases to zero and then
becomes negative. When the negative peak current equals to the reflected L2 current, the diode D2 is
blocked and the converter starts to deliver power to the output. The inductor L 2 is charged and
inductor L1 current continuous to freewheel.
Mode 5 (t4<t<t5): S2 is turned off at t=t4, causing the primary current ip to charge C2 and discharge C1.
When the secondary D1 and D2 start to freewheel, leakage inductance and junction capacitance of
switches S1 and S2 start to oscillate on the primary side. During the interval, body diodes may be
involved, which worsens the ringing and results in reverse recovery losses.

Mode 6(t5<t<t6): The oscillation comes to the end with equal to voltage across switches S1 and S2.
On the secondary side, L1 and L2 keep freewheeling. At t=t6, S1 is turned on again going back to mode
1.
TABLE I

COMPARISONS OF HALF BRIDGE CONVERTERS UNDER SEVERAL CONTROL SCHEMES

Symmetric HB
DC Gains

DC bias of magnetizing
current
Stresses of switch S1

Stresses of switch S2

Stresses of rectifier D1

Stresses of rectifier D2

Asymmetric HB

DCS HB

Fig.4ProposedDCScontrolledZVSHBDCDCconverter

Fig.5 Key waveforms for the DCS controlled DC-DC converter

Tosimplifytheanalysisofoperation,componentsareconsideredidealexceptotherwiseindicated.Themainoperation
modesaredescribedasfollows.

SIMULATIONRESULTS
SimulationCircuit
ThecircuitissimulatedwithPSIM6.0environmentfor50ms.ThecircuithasthreeactiveswitchesS 1,S2,andS3
andtworeverserecoverydiodesD1andD2.ThepassivedevicessuchasinductorL1,L2,Lk,CapacitorsC1,C2,Co,Cb1,Cb2,
andoutputresistorRo.Inadditiontothatisolationtransformerisusedforresonantpurposetoachievesoftswitching.

Fig. 7 Advanced PWM control of ZVS DC-DC Converter simulated circuit.

Simulated results for 200 kHz

Fig. 8 Average output voltage of the ZVS DC-DC Converter

The average output of 7V is obtained from the 48V of input supply. It is suitable for battery charging for
solar panels. The average output waveform is shown in the Fig.8.

Fig.9 ZVS of main switch S1

The main switch is turned on by zero voltage switching so as to reduce the switching losses of the
overall converter and thereby increases the overall efficiency. The voltage stress is around 48V is comparatively
low to hard switched topologies as shown in Fig.9. Fig. 10 shows the zero voltage switching for main switch S2.
Here also switching stress is maintained as in the switch S1 around 48V.

Fig. 10 ZVS of a main switch S2

Fig.11 ZVS of auxiliary switch S3

The Auxiliary switching voltage stress is around 35V is shown in the Fig.11. The auxiliary switching increases
the stableness of the converter and improves the overall the efficiency.
Simulated results for 400 kHz

Fig.12 Average output voltage for 400kHz converter

Fig.12 shows the average output voltage of 20V with the input of 48V. The voltage gain of 0.416 times stepped
down using the proposed converter. The converter is suitable for low power smart appliances. The frequency will be raised
to 400 kHz. Fig.13 shows the zero voltage switching of the main switch S1. The voltage stress is balanced, when compared
to 200kHz range. So it is an efficient mode of ZVS switching. Fig.14 shows zero voltage switching for the main switch S 2.
The switching stress is around 48V.

Fig. 13 ZVS of main switch S1

Fig.14 ZVS of main switch S2

CONCLUSION
A simple and effective PWM control method known as duty-cycle-shifted PWM (DCS PWM) was proposed to
minimize switching losses and transformer leakage inductance related losses in half-bridge DC-DC converters. By
employing the proposed DCS PWM control scheme, ZVS is achieved for one of the two switches without adding
additional components and without irregular penalties of the complementary control. Based on the DCS PWM control
scheme, two ZVS half-bridge topologies are presented and analyzed. Theoretical analysis and simulated results verify that
all switches in the converters operate at soft switching such that switching losses are significantly reduced. Hence,
switching frequency related losses are significantly reduced, which provides converters with the potential to operate at
higher frequencies and higher efficiencies. The proposed DCS PWM control and ZVS half-bridge topologies may also be
used for high voltage input DC-DC applications. The proposed topologies may interpret with phase-shifted full bridge in
term of complexity and ZVS range for some applications.
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