21
Power Electronics in Capacitor
William C. Dillard, Ph.D. 21.1
Archangel Systems, Incorporated 21.2
1635 Pumphrey Avenue Auburn,
Alabama, USA
21.3
21.4
21.1 Introduction
Conventional dc power supplies operate at a given dc output
voltage into a constant or near constant load. However, pulse
loads such as lasers, ashlamps, railguns, and radar require
short but intense bursts of energy. Typically, this energy is
stored in a capacitor and then released into the load. The
rate at which the capacitor is charged and discharged is called
the repetition rate, T, and may vary from 0.01 Hz for large
capacitor banks to a few kHz for certain lasers. Recharging the
capacitor voltage to a specied voltage is tasked to a capacitor
charging power supply (CCPS). The role of power electron-
ics devices, topologies, and charging strategies for capacitor
charging applications is presented in this chapter.
Figure 21.1 shows the voltage across the energy storage
capacitor connected to the output of a CCPS. This gure shows
that the CCPS has three modes of operation. The rst mode
is the charging mode in which the capacitor is charged from
an initial voltage of zero to a specied nal voltage. The dura-
tion of the charging mode is determined by the capacitance of
the energy storage capacitor and the rate at which the CCPS
delivers energy. The next mode of operation is the refresh
mode, which can be considered a standby mode, where the
stored energy is simply maintained. When the output volt-
age drops below a predetermined value, the CCPS should turn
on and deliver the energy necessary to compensate for capac-
itor leakage. Since energy is lost during the refresh mode, the
duration of the refresh mode should be as brief as possible.
Issues that lead to nonzero refresh times include safety margins
for worst-case charging and discharging mode times and SOA
requirements of switching devices. The nal mode of operation
is the discharge mode in which the load is actively discharging
Copyright  c 2007, 2001, Elsevier Inc.
All rights reserved. DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-382036-5.00021-5
Charging Applications
Introduction .......................................................................................... 567
High-Voltage DC Power Supply with Charging Resistor .................................. 568
Resonance Charging ................................................................................ 568
Switching Converters ............................................................................... 570
References ............................................................................................. 572
the capacitor. The CCPS does not supply any energy to the load
in this mode. The amount of time the CCPS remains in this
mode is determined by how quickly the load can discharge the
capacitor.
The instantaneous output power for a CCPS varies over a
wide range in comparison to a conventional dc power supply
that supplies a near-constant power to its load. This is shown in
Fig. 21.2; the output power for the pulsed power load is drawn
as linear for illustration purposes only. The charging mode
is characterized by high peak power. At the beginning of this
mode, the output power is zero (i.e. there is no voltage present
but current is owing). Thus, the load capacitor is equivalent
to a short circuit. In addition, at the end of the charging mode,
the output power is again zero (i.e. there is an output voltage
present but no current is owing). Now, the load capacitor is
equivalent to an open circuit. The refresh mode is typically
a low-power mode because the current required to compen-
sate for capacitor leakage is small. The CCPS does not supply
any power during the discharge mode when the energy storage
capacitor is being discharged by the pulsed load.
The average output power for a CCPS depends on the dis-
charge mode energy and the repetition rate of the load. It
is maximum when the energy storage capacitor is discharged
at the end of the charging mode (large voltage and cur-
rent), which corresponds to operation without a refresh mode.
Because the CCPS power is not constant, the rating of a CCPS
is often given in kJ/s instead of kW. The kJ/s rating can be
written as
WLOAD
kJ/s =
T
where WLOAD is the energy delivered to the load per charging
cycle and T is the repetition rate. In the optimum case with no
567
568 W. C. Dillard

Refresh
mode

Output voltage
Charging
mode Discharge
mode

Repetition rate = 1/T Time

T

FIGURE 21.1 Three modes of operation of a capacitor charging power supply.

Pulsed power load Constant power load

Charging
mode
Power

Discharge
mode
Refresh
Time
mode

FIGURE 21.2 Power requirements for pulsed power and constant power loads.

refresh and instantaneous discharge, the kJ/s rating is limited to
how fast a particular capacitor can be charged by its specied
voltage.
21.2 High-Voltage DC Power Supply
with Charging Resistor
In this technique, the energy storage capacitor is charged by
a high-voltage dc power supply through a charging resistor as
shown in Fig. 21.3. The charging mode ends when the capaci-
tor voltage equals the output voltage of the power supply. The
capacitor is continually refreshed by the power supply. During
the discharge mode, the charging resistor isolates the power
supply from the pulse load. The advantages of this technique
are its simplicity, reliability, and low cost.
R V0 . In this circuit, C2 is much greater than C1 . Thyristor T1 is
High-voltage
DC power C Pulse load
supply
FIGURE 21.3 High-voltage dc power supply and charging resistor.
The major disadvantage of this technique is its poor ef-
ciency. In the charging mode, the energy dissipated in the
charging resistor is equal to the energy stored in the capaci-
tor in the ideal case; therefore, the maximum efciency is 50%.
As a result, this technique is utilized only in applications where
the charge rate is low, i.e. 200 J/s. Another disadvantage of this
technique is related to the charging time, which is determined
by the RC time constant. Some laser applications require that
the output voltage be within 0.1% of a target voltage. For this
technique, more than ve time constants are required for the
capacitor voltage to meet this voltage specication.
21.3 Resonance Charging
The basic resonance-charging technique is shown in Fig. 21.4.
An ac input voltage is stepped up with a transformer, recti-
ed, and ltered with capacitor C2 to produce a high dc voltage
gated and current ows through the inductor and diode D1 is
transferring energy from C2 to C1 . The voltage v (t) and cur-
rent i (t) are described by the following equations assuming
that C2  C1 . The charge time, tc , for this circuit can be cal-
culated by nding the time at which the current, described by
Eq. (21.2), reaches zero and is given below. The voltage v (t) has
21 Power Electronics in Capacitor Charging Applications 569

T1
L D1
1: N
+ +
i (t)
Rectifier V0 C2 C1 v (t) Pulse load

FIGURE 21.4 Resonance charging.

a value of 2V0 at the end of the charging mode. efciency and increases the circuit complexity and cost but still
does not enable a refresh mode to compensate for capacitor
v (t) = V0 (1 cos 0 t) (21.1) leakage.
 Boost charging, a variation on the resonance-charging tech-
C1
i (t) = V0 sin 0 t (21.2) nique, is shown in Fig. 21.6 [1]. An extra switch is added to
L the circuit of Fig. 21.4, allowing energy to be stored in both C2
1 and L. This can be modeled as an increase in the voltage gain
0 = (21.3)
LC1 of the CCPS. With switches S1 and S2 closed, the current i (t)
 is given by
tc = LC1 = (21.4)
0 V0
i (t) = t (21.5)
Even though this technique is simple and efcient, it is not L
without its limitations. A high-voltage capacitor with a large When t = ton , S2 is opened, and the current is now des-
capacitance value is needed for C2 , which increases the cost. cribed by
A single thyristor is shown in Fig. 21.4. Multiple thyristors con-

nected in series or a thyratron may be required depending on C1
the voltage level. The repetition rate of the pulse load should be i (t) = I0 cos 0 t + V0 sin 0 t (21.6)
L
such that C1 is fully charged and i (t) has reached zero before
the load discharges to prevent latch up of T1 . It is not pos- where
sible for this circuit to operate in the refresh mode because V0
of the switch characteristics. Therefore, v (t) will drift due to I0 = ton (21.7)
L
capacitor leakage. The charge time is a function of the circuit
parameters and will drift as they change with temperature or is the inductor current initial value at ton . The voltage v (t) is
due to aging. then
Because all of the energy stored in C1 is transmitted from C2 
in a single pulse, it can be difcult to achieve precise voltage L
v (t) = I0 sin 0 t + V0 (1 cos 0 t) (21.8)
regulation with the resonance-charging technique. However, C1
regulation can be improved with the addition of a de-queing
circuit as shown in Fig. 21.5. The voltage v (t) is monitored The time required for the current to reach zero and for the
with a sensing network. Before v (t) reaches the desired level, voltage v (t) to reach its peak value can be calculated from

thyristor T2 is red, which terminates the charging mode.
I0 CL1
The remaining energy stored in the inductor is dissipated tan (0 tc ) = = 0 ton (21.9)
in R. The addition of the de-queing circuit reduces the circuit V0

Control

R D2 T2
T1 L D1
1: N
+ +

Rectifier V0 C2 C1 v (t) Pulse load

FIGURE 21.5 Resonance charging with de-queing.

570
1: N
Rectifier
FIGURE 21.6 Boost charging.
This is also the charge time, tc , or the length of the charging
mode. Note from equation (21.9) that the charge time depends
on ton , which is the on-time of switch S2 . In addition, the peak
capacitor voltage is a function of ton . The peak capacitor voltage
is limited to 2V0 without S2 ; voltage gains as high as 20 are
possible with the addition of S2 [1].
The switching elements in Figs. 21.4 and 21.5 are realized
with thyristors. Simple switches are shown for the boost-
charging technique in Fig. 21.6. Switch S1 could be imple-
mented with a thyristor. The boost capability provided by
switch S2 is best realized with a gate-controlled semiconductor
device such as a GTO or an IGBT.
21.4 Switching Converters
The poor efciency when charging a capacitor through a resis-
tor from a high-voltage power supply limits its application to
low charging rates. In the resonance-charging concepts, the
energy is transferred to the load capacitor in a single pulse,
and it is not possible to compensate for capacitor leakage.
Energy storage capacitors may be charged utilizing the same
power electronic technology that has been applied in switch-
ing converters for constant power loads. Instead of charging
the energy storage capacitor with a single pulse, switching
converters can charge the capacitor with a series of pulses or
T1
A
+ +
Vin
T3
FIGURE 21.7 Series resonant converter.
W. C. Dillard
S1 L D1
+ +
i (t) C1
V0 C2 S2 v (t) Pulse load
pulse train. The peak current is reduced when charging with a
series of pulses, thus improving the efciency of the charging
process. In addition, soft-switching techniques may be used in
the switching converter to increase the efciency. The regula-
tion of the output voltage is also improved with the pulse train
because the energy is passed to the energy storage capacitor
as small packets. Common control techniques such as pulse-
width modulation can be used to control the size of the energy
packet. This capability to control the size of the energy packet
permits the CCPS to operate in the refresh mode and compen-
sate for capacitor leakage. As a result, the CCPS may operate
over a broad range of load repetition rates and still maintain
tight output voltage regulation during refresh mode. During
the refresh mode, energy lost due to capacitor leakage may
be replaced in a burst fashion [2] or in a continuous fashion
similar to trickle charging a battery [3].
In the switching converter, semiconductor switches may be
operated on the lower side of the transformer permitting the
use of MOSFETs or IGBTs in the CCPS. Because the CCPS
begins the charging mode with a short circuit across its output,
the switching converter must be capable of operating under this
severe load condition. This may require the implementation of
a current limiting scheme in the converter control circuit.
One switching converter as shown in Fig. 21.7 consists of
a resonant converter. Note that the MOSFETs and resonant
components Lr and Cr are connected on the low-voltage side
T4
Lr Cr 1: N
vAB C1
B
T2
21 Power Electronics in Capacitor Charging Applications 571

of the transformer. Only the rectier diodes and energy stor- N1: N2
age capacitor must have high voltage ratings. When the out-
put rectier is conducting, the energy storage capacitor C1 is
connected in series with the resonant capacitor Cr . For a trans-
C1
former turns ratio of 1:N , reecting C1 through the transfomer
yields a capacitance of N 2 C1 . Since N is typically large, this
reected capacitance is much larger than Cr , thus the reso- Vin
nant frequency, which is dened in Eq. (21.10), is not affected
by C1 . For high-voltage, high-frequency operation, the leakage
inductance of the transformer may be utilized as Lr . Thus, the
resonant frequency can be expressed as

1
r = (21.10)
Lr ((NCr C1 )/(Cr + NC1 ))
FIGURE 21.8 Flyback converter.

One characteristic of this converter, which makes it attrac-

tive for capacitor charging, is the ability to operate under the
to the input circuit. If the packet energy is small enough, the
short-circuit conditions present at the beginning of the charg-
breakdown is not destructive and VO is limited to
ing mode. The voltage across C1 is zero at the beginning of
this mode. The current in the switches is limited by the input
voltage and impedance Z0 as is dened in Eq. (21.11). VO = VO,nom + VO,

Lr where VO, is the small excess voltage caused by the last energy
Z0 = (21.11)
Cr packet.
Sokal and Redl [7] have investigated different control
schemes for charging capacitors using the yback converter.
Another method for current limiting is to vary the ratio of
Their recommendation is to charge C1 with current pulses that
fs , the switching frequency of the MOSFETs, and the resonant
are nearly at-topped. This strategy results in higher average
frequency, fr , which is r /2 . This effectively controls the ow
current for a given peak current. The capacitor is charged faster
of energy from the source to C1 . The ratio fs /fr may be set to a
because the charge delivered to it during a pulse is directly pro-
low value at the beginning of the charging mode and increased
portional to the average current. This desired pulse shape is
toward unity as the voltage across C1 increases. This limits the
achieved by turning on the MOSFET to terminate the trans-
current when the voltage across C1 is low and allows increased
fer of energy to C1 soon after the MOSFET is turned off, which
energy transfer as the voltage approaches the target voltage. The
increases the switching frequency. When the primary current
disadvantage of this approach is that variable frequency opera-
rises to a preset minimum level, the MOSFET is again turned
tion complicates device and component selection and degrades
off. This switching strategy is essentially hysteretic current
EMI/EMC performance of the CCPS.
mode control, in which the switch current is limited between
The yback converter, shown in Fig. 21.8, also may be
two preset bounds.
utilized for capacitor-charging applications [4, 5]. When the
Another converter for capacitor-charging applications is the
MOSFET is turned on, current increases in the primary wind-
Ward converter [810] shown in Fig. 21.9. When the MOSFET
ing, storing energy in the magnetic eld. When it reaches a
is turned on, energy is stored in the inductor and capacitor
specied level, the MOSFET is turned off and the energy is
Ca transfers energy into the energy storage capacitor C1 and
transferred from the magnetic eld to C1 . This energy transfer
capacitor Cb . The energy stored in the inductor is transferred to
is terminated when the MOSFET is turned on again.
Ca when the MOSFET is turned off. The leakage inductance of
In cases where precise output regulation is not required and
the transformer and Ca resonate producing a sinusoidal current
the packet energy is low, the diode in Fig. 21.8 can be replaced
that ows in the primary winding of the transformer and the
with a Zener diode with a Zener voltage of
MOSFET. When the primary current reaches zero and starts
negative, the diode turns on, which allows the MOSFET to be
VZ = nVin + VO,nom turned off efciently at zero current.
In some converter operating conditions, the voltage across
where VO,nom is the nominal value of VO [6]. Once VO,nom is Ca is very small because most of the energy has been transferred
reached, the next energy packet will force the diode into a brief from Ca to C1 . The energy stored in Ca may be too small to
period of breakdown with the excess energy partially recycled ensure zero-current turn off of the MOSFET. In this case, the
572
Ca
L
Vin
FIGURE 21.9 Ward converter.
energy stored in Cb helps to ensure that the amplitude of the
current is large enough for zero-current turn off of this device.
References
1. P. K. Bhadani, Capacitor-charging power supply for laser pulsers
using a boost circuit, Review of Scientic Instruments, vol. 60, no. 4,
pp. 605607, April 1989.
2. A. C. Lippincott and R. M. Nelms, A capacitor-charging power
supply using a series-resonant topology, constant on-time/variable
frequency control, and zero current switching, IEEE Trans. Industrial
Electronics, vol. 38, no. 6, pp. 438447, December 1991.
3. B. E. Strickland, M. Garbi, F. Cathell, S. Eckhouse, and M. Nelms,
2 kJ/sec 25-kV high-frequency capacitor-charging power supply
using MOSFET switches, Proc. 1990 Nineteenth Power Modulator
Symposium, pp. 531534, June 1990.
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factor correction for a capacitor-charging power supply, IEEE Trans.
Industrial Electronics, vol. 49, no. 5, pp. 11461153, October 2002.
W. C. Dillard
1: N
Cb C1
5. F. P. Dawson and S. B. Dewan, A subresonant yback converter
for capacitor charging, Proc. Second Annual IEEE Applied Power
Electronics Conf., pp. 274283, March 1987.
6. W. C. Dillard and R. M. Nelms, A digitally-controlled, low-cost
driver for piezoceramic ight control surfaces in small unmanned air-
craft and munitions, Seventeenth Annual Applied Power Electronics
Conf. Exposition, APEC 02, pp. 11541160, 2002.
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optimally yback-charging an energy-storage capacitor (e.g. for ash
lamp or debrillator), IEEE Trans. Power Electronics, vol. 12, no. 5,
pp. 885894, September 1997.
8. M. A. V. Ward, DC to DC Converter Current Pump, U.S. Patent
Number 4,868,730, September 1989.
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Design. New York: McGraw-Hill Publishing, 1989.
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utilizing a ward converter, IEEE Trans. Industrial Electronics, vol. 39,
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