Boost dc-to-dc converters have very good source interface properties. The input inductor makes the source current smooth and hence these converters provide very good EMI performance. On account of this good property, the boost converter is also the preferred converter for off-line UPF rectifiers. One of the issues of concern in these converters is the large size of the storage capacitor on the dc link. The boost converter suffers from the disadvantage of discontinuous current injected to the load. The size of the capacitor is therefore large. Further, the ripple current in the capacitor is as much as the load current; hence the ESR specification of the tank capacitor is quite demanding. This is specially so in the emerging application areas of automotive power conversion, where the input voltage is low (typically 12V) and large voltage boost (4 to 5) are desired. The first part of this thesis suggests multi-phase boost converter to overcome the disadvantages of large size storage capacitor in boost converter. Comparison between the specification of single stage and multi-stages is thoroughly examined. Besides the average small signal analysis of N converters in parallel and obtaining an equivalent second order system are discussed. By paralleling the converters the design of closed loop control is a demanding task. To achieve proper current sharing among the stages using current control method is inevitable. Design and implementation of closed loop control of multi-phase boost converter both in analog and digital is the topic of next part of the thesis. Comparison between these two approaches is presented in this part and it will be shown that digital control is more convenient for such a topology on account of the requirement of synchronization, phase shifted operation, current balancing and other desired functions, which will be discussed later in detail. A new direct digital control method, which is simple and fast, is developed. Two different realizations with DSP controller and FPGA controller are considered. In the last part of the thesis a novel soft switching circuit for boost converter is presented. It provides Zero Voltage Switching (ZVS) for the main switch and Zero Current Switching (ZCS) for the auxiliary switch. The paper presents the idealized analysis giving all the circuit intervals and the equations necessary for the design of such a circuit. The proposed soft switching circuit is particularly suited for the tapped-inductor boost circuit with a minimum number of extra components. Extension of the method to tapped inductor boost converter addresses the application of Zero Voltage Transition (ZVT) to high conversion ratio converters. Extension of the method to multiphase boost converter shows that with less number of auxiliary switches soft switching operation can be achieved for all interleaved switching devices. Several laboratory prototype boost converters have been built to confirm the theoretical results and design methods are matching with both simulation and experimental results.

With the increasing demand for fast, cheaper, and efficient power converters come the need for a single-stage power factor correction (PFC) converter. Various single-stage PFC converter proposed in the literature has the drawback of high DC bus voltage at the input side and together with the shift to wide bandgap switches like GaN drives the converter cost higher. However, an interleaved topology with high-frequency isolation was proposed in this research work due to the drastic reduction in the DC bus voltage and extremely low input current ripple thereby making the need for an EMI filter circuit optional.   Meanwhile, this research work focuses on adapting the proposed topology for a high voltage low current application (EV charger - 400V, 7KW) and low voltage high current application (telecom power supply - 58V,  58A) owing to cost benefits. However, all single-stage PFC are faced with the drawback of second-order (100Hz) output harmonic ripple. Therefore, the design and simulation presented a huge peak to peak ripple of about 50V/3A and 26V/26A for the EV charger and telecom power supply case, respectively. This created the need for the design of a ripple cancellation circuit as the research required a peak to peak ripple of 8V and 200mV for the EV - charger and telecom power supply, respectively.   A novel output passive ripple cancellation technique was developed for the EV charger case due to the ease it offers in terms of control, circuit complexity and extremely low THDi when compared with the active cancellation approach. The ripple circuit reduced the 50V ripple to 431mV with the use of a total of 2.2mF capacitance at the output stage.   Despite designing the passive technique, an active ripple cancellation circuit was designed using a buck converter circuit for the telecom power supply. The active approach was chosen because the passive has a slow response and incurs more loss at a high current level. Adding the active ripple cancellation circuit led to a quasi-single stage LLC PFC converter topology. A novel duty-ratio feedforward control was added to synchronize the PFC control of the input side with the buck topology ripple cancellation circuit. The addition of the ripple circuit with the feedforward control offered a peak to peak ripple of 6.7mV and a reduced resonant inductor current by half.   After analysis, an extremely low THDi of 0.47%, PF of 99.99% and a peak efficiency of 97.1% was obtained for the EV charger case. The telecom power supply offered a THDi of 2.3%, PF of 99.96% with a peak efficiency of 95%.

The aim of this thesis is to describe the advantages of simultaneous utilization of photovoltaic and wind electricity in an autonomous system, supplying the household with electricity without connection to the electrical grid. The most used methods of connecting photovoltaic modules and wind generators to chemical batteries are discussed. Several maximum power point tracking methods and their properties are described. A block schematic diagram of an autonomous off-grid system utilizing chemical accumulators is proposed. The system also contains an inverter producing standard mains voltage 230 VAC to supply common household appliances. A Quasi-Square Wave converter topology was chosen for all three power converters. An experimental 180 W output power QSW converter with one controllable switch was designed, simulated with Pspice, manufactured and tested to verify the efficiency of the topology. Excellent agreement was found between predicted and measured efficiency at full output power. Efficiency for reliable operation varies between 89% and 92,2% at full power and depends mainly power inductor and MOSFET used. After successful evaluation of QSW topology, the power converters for the main system were designed. Because of higher power, the converters were designed as four-phase, whereas each phase contains two controllable switches to boost efficiency mainly in low-power area. The most critical and difficult part of the project was to design the mixed-signal control sections for the converters to ensure proper switching of two controllable MOSFETs in each phase. For user interactivity, main control board with graphic LC display, Ethernet module and SD memory card slot was also manufactured.

With the development of electric vehicle (EV) charging systems, energy storage systems (ESS), data center power supplies, and solid-state transformer (SST) systems, the fixed-ratio isolated DC-DC converter, namely the DC transformer (DCX), has gained significant popularity. Similar to the passive AC transformer, DCX can bidirectionally convey DC power with very high efficiency. Due to zero-voltage switching (ZVS) and a small root mean square (RMS) current, the open-loop CLLC resonant converter operating at the resonant frequency is a promising candidate for DCX with a constant voltage transfer ratio. In Chapter 2, to solve unsmooth bidirectional power flow and current distortion in the traditional CLLC-DCX with synchronization rectification (SR) modulation, a dual-active-synchronization (DAS) modulation is adopted with identical driving signals on both sides. First, the switching transition of this modulation is thoroughly analyzed considering the large switch's output capacitances. After comparing different transitions, a so-called sync-ZVS transition is more desirable with ZVS, has no deadtime conduction loss, and almost has load-independent voltage gain. An axis and center symmetric (ACS) method is proposed to achieve this switching transition. Based on this method, an overall design procedure of CLLC-DCX with DAS modulation is also proposed. However, designing a high-power and high-frequency transformer for CLLC-DCX presents significant challenges due to the trade-off between thermal management, leakage inductance minimization, and insulation requirements. To overcome this trade-off between power rating and operation frequency, a scalable electronic-embedded transformer (EET) with a low-voltage bridge integrated into the transformer windings is proposed in Chapter 3. The EET addresses the challenge through simple open-loop control and natural current sharing, enabling easy parallel connection and scaling to different power ratings. Based on this concept, a bidirectional, EET-based DC transformer (EET-DCX) is proposed to solve the transformer-level paralleling and resonant point shift issues in traditional LLC-DCX designs. By employing the embedded full bridge, the EET-DCX effectively cancels out the impedance of the leakage inductance, ensuring optimal operation at any frequency. Additionally, the EET-DCX retains the inherent advantages of the LLC-DCX, such as load-independent voltage gain, simple open-loop control, full-load range ZVS, and low circulating current. Leveraging these advantages, the proposed EET-DCX solution has the potential to push the boundaries of transformer performance to the MHz operation frequency range with hundreds of kilowatts of power capability. Moreover, to address the significant RMS current problem of the CLLC-DCX, a trapezoidal current modulation is also proposed in Chapter 3. Compared to the CLLC-DCX with a sinusoidal current, an EET-DCX with a trapezoidal current can reduce the total conduction loss by up to 23%. This total conduction loss includes semiconductor loss on both high-voltage and low-voltage bridges and transformer winding loss. In light of this EET concept, another resonant commutation (RC) EET-DCX is proposed to streamline the circuit. First, it replaces the embedded full bridge with a low-voltage bidirectional AC switch. Second, it introduces a resonant current commutation to realize a quasi-trapezoidal transformer current with a smaller RMS value. Compared to the triangular current produced by the original EET-DCX, the RMS current can be decreased by 15%. By incorporating only one embedded bidirectional AC switch, the high-frequency transformer leakage inductance impedance is fully neutralized. As a result, the rated power of the proposed RC EET-DCX can be readily scaled up through transformer-level parallelism. Furthermore, the RC EET-DCX maintains the benefits of a typical LLC/CLLC-DCX, including load-independent voltage gain, full load range ZVS, and low circulating current. However, either in EET-DCX or RC EET-DCX, the trapezoidal current modulation will increase the voltage stress on the low-voltage full bridge or bidirectional AC switch, especially when the leakage inductance is large and variable, such as in the high-power wireless charging application. To address this trade-off between RMS current and voltage stress, this paper proposes the concept of a hybrid resonant-type EET-DCX with a series resonant capacitor. Following this concept, two specific topologies, hybrid EET-DCX and hybrid RC EET-DCX, are proposed. The main difference between these topologies is that the former adopts a full bridge. In a hybrid RC EET-DCX, a resonant current commutation scheme is developed. Among these topologies, since the passive capacitor can mainly cancel the leakage inductance impedance, the full bridge or AC switch only needs to handle the remaining impedance. Thus, the voltage stress on active components can be dramatically decreased. Additionally, these two proposed topologies can retain all the advantages of previous EET-DCX designs, including natural current sharing, load-independent voltage gain, simple open-loop control, and full-load range ZVS. The comparison between these two topologies is thoroughly studied. Finally, a 12-kW DCX testbench is built to verify all the analysis and performance in Chapter 3. If output voltage regulation is required, DCX can cooperate with other voltage regulators to realize high conversion efficiency and power density. In Chapter 4, two DCX applications are implemented: an 18-kW 98.8% peak efficiency EV battery charger with partial power processing and a 50-kW symmetric 3-level buck-boost converter with common-mode (CM) noise reduction. In the first battery charger, a large portion of the power is handled by an 18 kW CLLC-DCX, and the remaining partial power goes through a 3-phase interleaved buck converter. The proposed switching transition optimization in Chapter 2 is adopted in the 18-kW CLLC-DCX to realize 98.8% peak efficiency. To handle the step-up and step-down cases at the same time, a symmetric 3-level buck-boost converter with coupled inductors is also studied as a post regulator. With symmetric topology and quadrangle current control, the converter can achieve a CM noise reduction and full load range ZVS with a small RMS current. To further optimize the performance and simplify the control, a mid-point bridging with a better CM noise reduction and a split capacitor voltage auto-balance is implemented. A 50-kW prototype is built to verify the above analysis. To summarize, Chapter 2 first proposes a switching transition optimization for CLLC-DCX. Later, to address the intrinsic trade-off between transformer rating power and frequency, an EET concept and its corresponding soft-switching DCX family are found in Chapter 3. Finally, to handle voltage regulation, two examples for practical applications are studied in Chapter 4 —one is an 18-kW partial power converter, and the other is a 50-kW 3-L buck-boost converter. Finally, Chapter 5 will draw conclusions and illustrate future work. / Doctor of Philosophy / With the development of electric vehicle (EV) charging systems, energy storage systems (ESS), data center power supply, and solid-state transformer (SST) systems, the fixed-ratio isolated dc-dc converter, namely dc transformer (DCX), has gained significant popularity. However, designing a high-performance DCX still has many challenges, such as large dead time loss, poor current sharing, and sensitivity to parameter tolerance. Firstly, the state-of-the-art resonant CLLC-DCX is optimized in Chapter 2. With an optimal switching frequency and dead time, both the primary and secondary sides of zero voltage switching (ZVS) can begin and finish simultaneously, which means dead time loss caused by current through the body diode can be eliminated. Therefore, the efficiency of CLLC-DCX can be improved. However, designing a high-power and high-frequency CLLC-DCX transformer still presents significant challenges due to the trade-off between thermal management, leakage inductance minimization, and insulation requirements. To overcome this trade-off, in Chapter 3, a scalable electronic-embedded transformer (EET) concept with a low-voltage bridge integrated into the transformer windings is proposed. The EET addresses the challenge through its simple open-loop control and natural current sharing, enabling easy parallel connection and scaling to different power ratings. In light of this EET concept, a new family of soft-switching DCXs is proposed for different applications, such as high-power wireless charging systems. All these EET-based DCXs retain the merits of typical CLLC-DCX, such as small circulating current ringing, small turn-off current, full load range ZVS, and load-independent gain. After realizing a desirable design for DCX, Chapter 4 presents two DCX applications with voltage regulation. Firstly, an 18 kW 98.8% peak efficiency battery charger is designed with partial power processing. Most of the power will go through an optimized DCX, and the remaining small portion of power will go through a 3-phase interleaved buck converter. On the other hand, DCX can also be adopted as a front-end or rear-end converter in a typical two-state DC-DC converter. As for another stage, a non-isolated DC-DC converter with a large output range can be used to handle voltage regulation. Following this structure, a 50-kW symmetric 3-L buck-boost converter with coupled inductors and reduced common emission is proposed. To summarize, the state-of-the-art CLLC-DCX is optimized in Chapter 2. Afterward, a new concept of EET-DCX and its corresponding DCX family is proposed in Chapter 3. After obtaining an optimized DCX, two practical applications with DCX are implemented in Chapter 4. Finally, Chapter 5 will draw conclusions and illustrate future work.

Energy harvesting is identified as an alternative solution for powering implantable biosensors. It can potentially enable the development of self-powered implants if the harvested energy is properly handled. This development implies that batteries, which impose many limitations, are replaced by miniature harvesting devices. Customized interface circuits are necessary to correct for differences in the voltage and power levels provided by harvesting devices from one side, and required by biosensor circuits from another. This thesis investigates the available harvesting sources within the human body, proposes various methods and techniques for designing power-efficient interfaces, and presents two CMOS implementations of such interfaces. Based on the investigation of suitable sources, this thesis focuses on glucose biofuel cells and thermoelectric harvesters, which provide appropriate performance in terms of power density and lifetime. In order to maximize the efficiency of the power transfer, this thesis undertakes the following steps. First, it performs a detailed analysis of all potential losses within the converter. Second, in relation to the performed analysis, it proposes a design methodology that aims to minimize the sum of losses and the power consumption of the control circuit. Finally, it presents multiple design techniques to further improve the overall efficiency. The combination of the proposed methods and techniques are validated by two highly efficient energy harvesting interfaces. The first implementation, a thermoelectric energy harvesting interface, is based on a single-inductor dual-output boost converter. The measurement results show that it achieves a peak efficiency of 86.6% at 30 μW. The second implementation combines the energy from two sources, glucose biofuel cell and thermoelectric harvester, to accomplish reliable multi-source harvesting. The measurements show that it achieves a peak efficiency of 89.5% when the combined input power is 66 μW. / Energiskörd har identifierats som en alternativ lösning för att driva inplanterbara biosensorer. Det kan potentiellt möjliggöra utveckling av själv-drivna inplanterbara biosensorer. Denna utveckling innebär att batterier, som sätter många begränsningar, ersätts av miniatyriserade energiskördsenheter. Anpassade gränssnittskretsar är nödvändiga för att korrigera för de skillnader i spänning och effektnivå som produceras av de energialstrande enheterna, och de som krävs av biosensorkretsarna. Denna avhandling undersöker de tillgängliga källorna för energiskörd i den mänskliga kroppen, föreslår olika metoder och tekniker för att utforma effektsnåla gränssnitt och presenterar två CMOS-implementeringar av sådana gränssnitt. Baserat på undersökningen av lämpliga energiskördskällor, fokuserar denna avhandling på glukosbiobränsleceller och termoelektriska energiskördare, som har lämpliga prestanda i termer av effektdensitet och livstid. För att maximera effektiviteten hos effektöverföringen innehåller denna avhandling följande steg. Först görs en detaljerad analys av alla potentiella förluster inom boost-omvandlare. Sedan föreslår denna avhandling en designmetodik som syftar till att maximera den totala effektiviteten och effektförbrukningen. Slutligen presenterar den flera designtekniker för att ytterligare förbättra den totala effektiviteten. Kombinationen av de föreslagna metoderna och teknikerna är varierade genom två högeffektiva lågeffekts energigränssnittskretsar. Den första inplementeringen är ett termoelektriskt energiskördsgränssnitt baserat på en induktor, med dubbla utgångsomvandlare. Mätresultaten visar att omvandlaren uppnår en maximal effektivitet av 86.6% vid 30 μW. Det andra genomförandet kombinerar energin från två källor, en glukosbiobränslecell och en termoskördare, för att åstadkomma en tillförlitlig multi-källas energiskördslösning. Mätresultaten visar att omvandlaren uppnår en maximal effektivitet av 89.5% när den kombinerade ineffekten är 66 μW. / <p>QC 20170508</p> / Mi-SoC

This thesis deals with the design of Hybrid Energy Storage System (HESS) for Light Electric Vehicles (LEV) and EVs. More specifically, a tri-mode high-efficiency non-isolated half-bridge converter is developed for the LEV based HESS applications. A 2 kW, 100 V interleaved two-phase converter prototype was implemented. The peak efficiency of 97.5% and a minimum efficiency of 88% over the full load range are achieved. Furthermore, a power-mix optimizer utilizing the real-time Global Positioning System (GPS) data for the EV based HESS is proposed. For a specific design, it is shown that at the cost of less than 1.5% of the overall energy savings, the proposed scheme reduces the peak battery charge and discharge rates by 76% and 47%, respectively. A 30 kW bi-directional dc-dc converter is also designed and implemented for future deployment of the designed HESS into a prototype EV, known as A2B.

This thesis deals with the design of Hybrid Energy Storage System (HESS) for Light Electric Vehicles (LEV) and EVs. More specifically, a tri-mode high-efficiency non-isolated half-bridge converter is developed for the LEV based HESS applications. A 2 kW, 100 V interleaved two-phase converter prototype was implemented. The peak efficiency of 97.5% and a minimum efficiency of 88% over the full load range are achieved. Furthermore, a power-mix optimizer utilizing the real-time Global Positioning System (GPS) data for the EV based HESS is proposed. For a specific design, it is shown that at the cost of less than 1.5% of the overall energy savings, the proposed scheme reduces the peak battery charge and discharge rates by 76% and 47%, respectively. A 30 kW bi-directional dc-dc converter is also designed and implemented for future deployment of the designed HESS into a prototype EV, known as A2B.

This thesis describes the flexible voltage control of a multi-level-voltage-reinjection voltage source converter. The main purposes are to achieve reactive power generation flexibility when applied for HVdc transmission systems, reduce dynamic voltage balancing for direct series connected switches and an improvement of high power converter efficiency and reliability. Waveform shapes and the impact on ac harmonics caused by the modulation process are studied in detail. A configuration is proposed embracing concepts of multi level, soft-switching and harmonic cancellation. For the configuration, the firing sequence, waveform analysis, steady-state and dynamic performances and close-loop control strategies are presented. In order not to severely compromise the original advantages of the converter, the modulated waveforms are proposed based on the restrictions imposed mathematically by the harmonic cancellation concept and practically by the synthesis circuit complexity and high switching losses. The harmonic impact on the ac power system prompted by the modulation process is studied from idealistic and practical aspects. The circuit topology being proposed in this thesis is developed from a 12-pulse bridge and a converter used classically for inverting power from separated dc sources. Switching functions are deduced and current paths through the converter are analysed. Safe and steady-state operating regions of the converter are studied in phasor diagrams to facilitate the design of simple controllers for active power transfer and reactive power generations. An investigation into the application of this topology to the back-to-back VSC HVdc interconnection is preformed via EMTDC simulations.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This Master Thesis presents the development of a new dynamic model for the DC-DC Zero-Voltage-Switching Phase-Shift-Modulated Full-Bridge (ZVS-PSM-FB).At first, the ZVSPSM-FB converter is analyzed and the Steady-State equations are derived. Then, using the ac equivalent circuit modeling technique, it is derived two new ZVS-PSM-FB dynamical models, based on step operation of the converter and steady-state converter equations. These two new ZVS-PSM-FB dynamical models with two dynamical models previously presented in the literature are used to perform a frequency response and a transfer-function DC-gain comparison to verify the performance of the dynamical models. Comparison results shows that our second model here derived presents a better performance among other models, keeping the desirable characteristics as simple polynomial ratio transfer-functions, excellent theoretical accuracy of transfer-functions DC-gains, transfer-functions coefficients independency of circuit parasitics components, excepting the primary leakage inductance. Even in this work, it is shown frequency response experimental results of the ZVS-PSM-FB converter, designed following telecommunications rectifiers power supplies standards. / Esta Dissertação de Mestrado apresenta o desenvolvimento de um novo modelo dinâmico para o conversor CC-CC Ponte-Completa Modulado por Deslocamento de Fase e com Comutação em Zero de Tensão (ZVS-PSM-FB). Inicialmente, o conversor ZVS-PSM-FB é analisado, onde são derivadas as equações que definem a operação em regime-permanente do conversor. A seguir, utilizando-se da técnica de modelagem ca média de conversores estáticos, deriva-se dois novos modelos dinâmicos para o conversor, tendo por base as etapas de operação do conversor e as equações de regime-permanente. Feito isso, os dois modelos aqui derivados, são comparados com outros dois modelos dinâmicos já apresentados na literatura para verificar seus desempenhos quanto à resposta em freqüência e resposta do ganho-cc das funções de transferências à variações de carga do conversor, dos modelos dinâmicos. Resultados desta comparação mostram que o segundo modelo aqui derivado é o que apresenta melhor desempenho entre os modelos comparados, mantendo características desejáveis de simples formato de função de transferência como razão de polinômios, precisão teórica excelente para resposta de ganho-cc das funções de transferências e não-dependência dos coeficientes das funções de transferências de parâmetros parasitas do circuito, a menos da indutância de dispersão do transformador. Ainda neste trabalho, são mostrados resultados experimentais da resposta em freqüência do conversor ZVS-PSM-FB, projetado com especificações de normas para retificadores chaveados de alta-freqüência para equipamentos de telecomunicações.

This thesis deals with switched mode power supplies based on resonant principle to achieve high efficiency. Several ways of switched mode power supplies optimalisation are described as part of the work to achieve better efficiency. Priparily, the new generation of switching elements based on SiC and resonant topology are used to achieve significant switching loss minimization. The selected resonant topology is simualted in detail and then built with focus on high efficiency. The main content of the work consists in the design and realization of the switched mode power supply with selected control algorithms and their comparison. The problems associated with usage of new SiC MOSFET generation in TO-247-4L package are being solved within the design and implementation of the power source. To solve the main problems, new 3rd SiC MOSFET gate driver was developer for working with switching frequencies in hundreds of kHz and resisting very high voltage stress on the controlled transistor. The next part of the gate driver is the overcurrent protection. The overcurrent limit can be set easily by changing one component. This protection reacts very quickly in hundreds of nanoseconds, so it is capable of saving the converter even in branch failure and going to hard short circuit. The functional sample of the series resonant converter was built and revated in the work. The converter based on 3. Generation of SiC MOSFET transistors from Cree in a modern case TO-247-4L was built. For this inverter, it was also necessary to develop both the control scheme and the resonance frequency tracking to achieve accurate switching and thus achieve the use of the resonant principle of the converter to the maximum extent possible. The result of this work is up to 3 kW converter with adjustable output voltage while maintaining high efficiency up to 96%.