Paralleling operation of DC/DC converters is widely used in today's distributed power systems. To ensure balanced output currents among paralleled power modules, current sharing control is usually necessary.Active current sharing controls with current feedback mechanism are widely used in today's power supplies. However, the dynamic performance of these current sharing control schemes are not yet clearly explored. In this work, the dynamic current sharing performance is evaluated for paralleling systems with the output impedance approach. As the representative of the terminal characteristic of a power converter, output impedance is a powerful tool to study the dynamic response under load transients. The dynamic current sharing analyses are then conducted for three different active current sharing control structures and a comprehensive comparison among them helps the designer to choose appropriate controls for different applications. On the other hand, high-frequency load transients are possible to happen for voltage regulators, which are the power supplies of microprocessors. In order to study the dynamic current sharing performance for a paralleling system when the perturbation frequency is higher than half of the switching frequency,the conventional output impedance concept needs to be extended. Due to the non-linear behavior of a switching modulator, the beat-frequency phenomenon could cause unexpected failure of a power supply when the perturbation frequency is close to the switching frequency. To address this issue, an unconventional multi-frequency model is proposed for high-frequency dynamic current sharing studies. With this model, the sideband components are possible to be included and the beat-frequency oscillations can be predicted. After that, the conventional impedance concept is expanded in the form of extended describing function, so that the terminal characteristics of paralleled converters are represented by a series of impedances. Besides the analyses, this work also proposed several solutions for the beat-frequency oscillation issue which are experimentally verified. In summary, both low-frequency and high-frequency dynamic current sharing performances are studied in this dissertation. The output impedance concept and its extension in the form of extended describing function are utilized as the tools for researches. With these powerful tools, more insights are obtained to help better design of a paralleling system. / Ph. D.

abstract: As electric powered unmanned aerial vehicles enter a new age of commercial viability, market opportunities in the small UAV sector are expanding. Extending UAV flight time through a combination of fuel cell and battery technologies enhance the scope of potential applications. A brief survey of UAV history provides context and examples of modern day UAVs powered by fuel cells are given. Conventional hybrid power system management employs DC-to-DC converters to control the power split between battery and fuel cell. In this study, a transistor replaces the DC-to-DC converter which lowers weight and cost. Simulation models of a lithium ion battery and a proton exchange membrane fuel cell are developed and integrated into a UAV power system model. Flight simulations demonstrate the operation of the transistor-based power management scheme and quantify the amount of hydrogen consumed by a 5.5 kg fixed wing UAV during a six hour flight. Battery power assists the fuel cell during high throttle periods but may also augment fuel cell power during cruise flight. Simulations demonstrate a 60 liter reduction in hydrogen consumption when battery power assists the fuel cell during cruise flight. Over the full duration of the flight, averaged efficiency of the power system exceeds 98%. For scenarios where inflight battery recharge is desirable, a constant current battery charger is integrated into the UAV power system. Simulation of inflight battery recharge is performed. Design of UAV hybrid power systems must consider power system weight against potential flight time. Data from the flight simulations are used to identify a simple formula that predicts flight time as a function of energy stored onboard the modeled UAV. A small selection of commercially available batteries, fuel cells, and compressed air storage tanks are listed to characterize the weight of possible systems. The formula is then used in conjunction with the weight data to generate a graph of power system weight versus potential flight times. Combinations of the listed batteries, fuel cells, and storage tanks are plotted on the graph to evaluate various hybrid power system configurations. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Engineering 2016

abstract: A 4-phase, quasi-current-mode hysteretic buck converter with digital frequency synchronization, online comparator offset-calibration and digital current sharing control is presented. The switching frequency of the hysteretic converter is digitally synchronized to the input clock reference with less than ±1.5% error in the switching frequency range of 3-9.5MHz. The online offset calibration cancels the input-referred offset of the hysteretic comparator and enables ±1.1% voltage regulation accuracy. Maximum current-sharing error of ±3.6% is achieved by a duty-cycle-calibrated delay line based PWM generator, without affecting the phase synchronization timing sequence. In light load conditions, individual converter phases can be disabled, and the final stage power converter output stage is segmented for high efficiency. The DC-DC converter achieves 93% peak efficiency for Vi = 2V and Vo = 1.6V. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 2017

Solar power is becoming ever more popular in a variety of applications. It is particularly attractive because of its abundance, renewability, and environment friendliness. Solar powered spacecraft systems have ever-expanding loads with stringent power regulation specifications. Moreover, they require a light and compact design of their power system. These constraints make the optimization of power harvest from solar arrays a critical task. Florida Power Electronics Center (FPEC) at UCF set to develop a modular fault-tolerant power system architecture for space applications. This architecture provides a number of very attractive features including Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) and uniform power stress distribution across the system. MPPT is a control technique that leads the system to operate its solar sources at the point where they provide maximum power. This point constantly moves following changes in ambient operating conditions. A digital controller is setup to locate it in real time while optimizing other operating parameters. This control scheme can increase the energy yield of the system by up to 45%, and thus significantly reduces the size and weight of the designed system. The modularity of the system makes it easy to prototype and expand. It boosts its reliability and allows on-line reconfiguration and maintenance, thus reducing down-time upon faults. This thesis targets the analysis and optimization of this architecture. A new modeling technique is introduced for MPPT in practical environments, and a novel digital power stress distribution scheme is proposed in order to properly distribute peak and thermal stress and improve reliability. A 2kW four-channel prototype of the system was built and tested. Experimental results confirm the theoretical improvements, and promise great success in the field.

An ever present trend in the power conversion industry is to get higher performance at a lower cost. In a computer server system, the front-end converter, supplying the load subsystems, is typically a multiple output power supply. The power supply unit is custom designed and its output voltages are fully regulated, so it is not very efficient or cost effective. Most of the load systems in this application are supplied by point-of-load converters (POLs). By leaving the output voltage regulation aspect to POLs, the front-end converter does not need to be a fully regulated, multiple output converter. It can be replaced by a dc-dc transformer (DCX), which is a semi-regulated or unregulated, single output dc-dc converter. A DCX can be made using a modular design to simplify expansion of the system capacity. To realize this concept, the DCX block must have a current sharing feature. The current sharing method for a resonant DCX is discussed in this work. To simplify the system architecture, the current sharing method is based on the droop method, which requires no communication between paralleled units. With this method, the current sharing error is inversely proportional to the droop voltage. In traditional DCX implementations, the droop voltage depends on the resistive voltage drops in the power stage, which is not sufficient to achieve the desired current sharing error. The resonant converter has the inherent characteristic that its conversion gain depends on the load current, so the virtual droop resistance can realized by the resonant tank and the droop voltage can be obtained without incurring conduction loss. An LLC resonant converter is investigated for its droop characteristic. The study shows the required droop voltage is achievable at very high switching frequency. To lower the switching frequency, a notch filter is introduced into the LLC resonant tank to increase the sensitivity of the conversion gain versus the operating frequency. The design of the multi-element resonant tank is discussed. Depending soly on the resonant tank, the droop characteristic is largely varied with the component tolerance in the resonant tank. The current sharing error becomes unacceptable. The active droop control is imposed to make the output regulation characteristic insensitive to the component tolerance. The proposed resonant DCX has simpler circuit structure than the fully regulated resonant converter. Finally simulation and experimental results are presented to verify this concept. / Master of Science

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / A distributed power supply composed of multiple DC-DC converters connected in parallel offers several advantages in comparison to a centralized solution. Among these benefits are the following: redundancy, system modularity, increased reliability, improved thermal ow on the system and reduction in the physical size of the units. Its main purpose is to evenly share the output current between the converters. In practice, this specification is rarely achieved without the use of a specific control strategy for sharing, since each converter produces output dependent on the tolerances of the components and the line impedance that connects the unit to the load bus. This imbalance in the shared current can cause excessive stress on the units operating outside of their specifications, increasing their chances of failure. Also, it is desirable that any points of failure are minimized or eliminated by adopting a decentralized control strategy, minimizing connections between units. In this work, the generalized model of output current for a i -th converter from a source with n converters connected in parallel is obtained. To obtain this model, each converter present in the system is modeled as a controlled voltage source, connected to the load bus through an individual line resistance. As the main contribution, two strategies to control current sharing between converters are proposed, based on parallelism without communication between modules, specifically the droop control. To validate the design, the simulation results for a power supply containing three converters in parallel applied to a LED street lamp fixture are shown and analyzed. At the end of this document, the conclusions and suggestions for future work involving the subject are developed. / Uma fonte distribuída de potência composta por vários conversores CC-CC conectados em paralelo oferece diversas vantagens em comparação a uma solução centralizada. Entre esses benefícios, destacam-se os seguintes: redund^ancia, modularidade do sistema, aumento da confiabilidade, melhoria no uxo térmico do sistema e redução no tamanho físico das unidades. Seu principal objetivo é compartilhar uniformemente a corrente de saída entre os conversores. Na prática, esta especificação é raramente atingida sem o emprego de uma estratégia de controle específica para o compartilhamento, visto que cada conversor produz saída dependente das tolerâncias de seus componentes e da impedância de linha que o conecta ao barramento de carga. Este desequilíbrio nas correntes compartilhadas pode ocasionar estresse excessivo nas unidades operando fora de suas especificações, aumentando suas chances de falha. Ainda, é desejável que quaisquer pontos de falha sejam minimizados ou eliminados através da adoção de uma estratégia de controle descentralizada, minimizando conexões entre os conversores. Neste trabalho, o modelo generalizado de corrente para um i -ésimo conversor constituinte de uma fonte com n conversores conectados em paralelo é obtido. Para obtenção deste modelo, modelou-se cada conversor presente no sistema como uma fonte de tens~ao controlada, conectado ao barramento de carga através de uma resistência de linha individual. Como principal contribuição, são apresentadas duas estratégias de controle para compartilhamento de corrente entre conversores, baseados no paralelismo sem comunicação entre módulos, mais especificamente o controle por decaimento. Para validar o projeto, são mostrados e analisados os resultados de simulação para uma fonte de potência contendo três conversores em paralelo aplicados a uma lâmpada de LEDs para iluminação pública. No final deste documento, as conclusões e sugestões para futuros trabalhos envolvendo o tema são elaboradas.

abstract: High-efficiency DC-DC converters make up one of the important blocks of state-of-the-art power supplies. The trend toward high level of transistor integration has caused load current demands to grow significantly. Supplying high output current and minimizing output current ripple has been a driving force behind the evolution of Multi-phase topologies. Ability to supply large output current with improved efficiency, reduction in the size of filter components, improved transient response make multi-phase topologies a preferred choice for low voltage-high current applications. Current sensing capability inside a system is much sought after for applications which include Peak-current mode control, Current limiting, Overload protection. Current sensing is extremely important for current sharing in Multi-phase topologies. Existing approaches such as Series resistor, SenseFET, inductor DCR based current sensing are simple but their drawbacks such low efficiency, low accuracy, limited bandwidth demand a novel current sensing scheme. This research presents a systematic design procedure of a 5V - 1.8V, 8A 4-Phase Buck regulator with a novel current sensing scheme based on replication of the inductor current. The proposed solution consists of detailed system modeling in PLECS which includes modification of the peak current mode model to accommodate the new current sensing element, derivation of power-stage and Plant transfer functions, Controller design. The proposed model has been verified through PLECS simulations and compared with a transistor-level implementation of the system. The time-domain parameters such as overshoot and settling-time simulated through transistor-level implementation is in close agreement with the results obtained from the PLECS model. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Electrical Engineering 2017

Recently, as a promising lighting source, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have become more and more attractive and have great opportunity to replace traditional lighting sources - incandescent, fluorescent and HID because of the advantages such as high luminous efficacy, long lifetime, quick on/off time, wide color gamut, eco-friendly etc. Based on the research from U.S. Department of Energy, over 30% of total electric consumption in U.S. each year is for lighting, 75% of which are for indoor lighting (including both residential and commercial buildings). In the indoor LED lighting application, to provide multiple current source outputs for multiple LED strings, traditional solutions usually adopt a two-stage structure, which is complicated and cost-ineffective. How to design a simple, low-cost and efficient LED driver with multiple current source outputs is in great demand and really challenging. In this thesis, a single-stage multi-channel constant current (MC3) LED driver structure has been proposed. Multiple transformer structure is utilized to provide multiple current source outputs. The current control scheme is also simple - only one LED string current is sensed and controlled; other strings' currents are cross regulated. Firstly, a PWM half bridge topology is chosen to implement the proposed single-stage MC3 LED driver concept. In order to analyze the current cross regulation, a general model is derived. The circuit has been simulated under various LED load conditions to verify its good current sharing capability. In order to further improve efficiency, simplify the driver's complexity and reduce cost, a LLC resonant topology is also investigated. LLC current gain characteristic has been derived by considering LED's i-v character and a design procedure is developed. A 100 kHz, 200 W, 4-string MC3 LLC LED driver is designed and tested. The experimental results show that the driver can maintain constant current output within the whole input and output variations, achieve good efficiency and realize current sharing under both balanced and unbalanced LED conditions. The dimming function can also be realized through frequency modulation method and burst mode control method. As a conclusion, a single-stage MC3 LED driver concept is proposed and implemented with two topologies. The proposed idea provides a simple, low-cost and efficient solution for indoor LED lighting application with multiple LED string configuration. It also has good current sharing capability and robustness to LED forward voltage variations or short failures. / Master of Science

L'apparition de convertisseurs multicellulaires parallèles entrelacés et magnétiquement couplés a conduit ces dernières années à améliorer les performances des convertisseurs (en termes de densité de puissance, d'efficacité, de dynamique,...). Le pendant de ces améliorations successives résulte en une nécessité d'équilibrage précis des courants de phase, ce qui entraîne une complexification de la commande des ces convertisseurs. Une première étape de détermination de la fonction de transfert d'une boucle d'équilibrage des courants nous permet de déterminer la nature des correcteurs d'équilibrage de ces courants. Cette étude nous permet d'appréhender des systèmes plus complexes avec différentes topologies de couplage magnétique entre les bras du convertisseur parallèle. Suite à une étude bibliographique mettant en avant le manque de précision des techniques actuelles de mesure des courants de bras, nous proposons une technique d'émulation analogique précise de ces courants ne nécessitant qu'un seul capteur. Deux prototypes ont été réalisés et permettent de valider cette technique. Enfin, face à l'intérêt grandissant que portent les industriels pour des architectures modulaires, deux innovations permettant de s'affranchir d'un circuit spécifique de supervision sont proposées. Dans un premier temps, une technique modulaire d'équilibrage des courants est proposée et validée expérimentalement : elle permet, entre autres, une mesure différentielle précise des courants de bras. Ensuite, une méthode de génération modulaire de porteuses triangulaires auto-alignées est proposée et validée grâce à la réalisation d'une maquette de test. L'association de ces deux techniques nous permet de proposer une architecture entièrement modulaire ne nécessitant plus de circuit de commande superviseur. / Development of interleaved power converters with coupled inductors has enhanced converters performances (better power density, eciency, transient response. . .). Such improvements lead to the necessity of a precise current-sharing in the converter legs, and consequently to much more complex control strategy for those converters. First step is to determine current sharing loop transfer function in order to choose the kind of sharing corrector and calculate its parameters. State-space representation is used to consider any coupling topology. Because ux induced in coupled inductors must be controlled with accuracy, a bibliography study emphasizes the lack of precision in present current-sensing techniques. Then, a precise analogical emulation of currents in every leg, based on only one current sensor, is proposed. Two prototypes have been developed and validate this approach. Finally, because of growing interest of industrial in modular architectures, two innovations which avoid the use of central specic circuit are presented. First, a masterless and modular current sharing technique is proposed and tested : it allows a very precise dierential current measurement and regulation. Then a modular generation of self-aligned triangular carrier for interleaved converters is proposed and conrmed by test. The association of both techniques leads to a full masterless and modular approach for the control circuit of parallel converter with coupled inductors.

Cette thèse traite de la conception d’un convertisseur DC / DC destiné aux véhicules électriques et hybrides (2,5 kW, 400V/14V, 250kHz). Dérivé de la topologie LLC à résonance, ce convertisseur bénéficie des nombreux avantages propres à cette structure particulière. C’est ainsi que le prototype réalisé présente un rendement très élevé, une densité de puissance très forte avec des perturbations EMI très réduites. La première partie de cette thèse est consacrée à l’analyse théorique du circuit LLC afin de dégager un modèle de conversion et une stratégie de contrôle adaptée à l’application visée. Afin de conserver un rendement important sur une large plage de charge, une structure basée sur la mise en parallèle de deux modules LLC est proposée. Une nouvelle stratégie de contrôle à deux boucles est également proposée pour équilibrer le courant entre les deux modules. La seconde partie de la thèse fait appel à la simulation et à l’expérimentation. Il s’agit de minimiser la masse et l’encombrement tout en maximisant le rendement. Un composant magnétique spécial est conçu puis dimensionné pour intégrer le transformateur et diverses inductances de résonance. Ce convertisseur met également en œuvre un système de redressement synchrone robuste avec une compensation de phase, un module de puissance avec une résistance thermique très faible et un système de refroidissement efficace par air. Le rendement maximal mesuré est 95%. Le rendement demeure supérieur à 94% sur une plage de puissance s’étalant de 500 W à 2 kW. La densité de puissance est 1W/cm3. La CEM du convertisseur est développée dans cette thèse. / In this dissertation, a 2.5kW 400V/14V, 250kHz DC/DC converter prototype is developed targeted for electric vehicle/hybrid vehicle applications. Benefiting from numerous advantages brought by LLC resonant topology, this converter is able to perform high efficiency, high power density and low EMI. A first part of this dissertation is the theoretical analysis of LLC: topology analysis, electrical parameter calculation and control strategy. To arrange high output current, this thesis proposes parallel connected LLC structure with developed novel double loop control to realize an equal current distribution. The second part concerns on the system amelioration and efficiency improvement of developed LLC. A special transformer is dimensioned to integrate all magnetic components, and various types of power losses are quantified based on different realization modes and winding geometries to improve its efficiency. This converter also implements a robust synchronous rectification system with phase compensation, a power semiconductor module, and an air-cooling system. The power conversion performance of this prototype is presented and the developed prototype has a peak efficiency of 95% and efficiency is higher than 94% from 500W to 2kW, with a power density of 1W/cm3. The CEM analysis of this converter is also developed in this thesis.