A lossless active clamping circuit for current doubler topologies

This letter presents a new lossless clamping circuit on the secondary side for DC-DC converters with a current-doubler structure. This circuit reduces ringing on secondary-side rectifiers due to leakage inductance. The ringing loss is recovered to the load. As a result, efficiency is improved, and the voltage stress on secondary-side rectifiers is reduced significantly. These improvements allow DC-DC topologies with a current doubler to operate efficiently at high switching frequencies. The operating principle of the clamping circuit is detailed. Simulations and experimental results validate the proposed technique.

[1]  Issa Batarseh,et al.  A full bridge ZCS PWM converter for high voltage and high power applications , 2000, 2000 IEEE 31st Annual Power Electronics Specialists Conference. Conference Proceedings (Cat. No.00CH37018).

[2]  Issa Batarseh,et al.  Full bridge ZCS PWM converter for high-voltage high-power applications , 2002 .

[3]  I. Barbi,et al.  A half-bridge zero-voltage switching pulse-width modulated DC-to-DC converter , 1991, [Proceedings] APEC '91: Sixth Annual Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exhibition.

[4]  Dong-Wook Yoo,et al.  Novel zero-voltage and zero-current-switching (ZVZCS) full bridge PWM converter with low output current ripple , 1997, Proceedings of Power and Energy Systems in Converging Markets.

[5]  F. Lee,et al.  High-voltage, high-power, ZVS, full-bridge PWM converter employing an active snubber , 1991, [Proceedings] APEC '91: Sixth Annual Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exhibition.

[6]  N. Machin,et al.  Lossless active clamp for secondary circuits , 1998, INTELEC - Twentieth International Telecommunications Energy Conference (Cat. No.98CH36263).

[7]  J. A. Sabate,et al.  Zero-voltage and zero-current-switching full bridge PWM converter for high power applications , 1994, Proceedings of 1994 Power Electronics Specialist Conference - PESC'94.

[8]  Bong-Hwan Kwon,et al.  An improved zero-voltage and zero-current-switching full-bridge PWM converter using a simple resonant circuit , 2001, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron..

[9]  F.C. Lee,et al.  Design considerations for high-voltage high-power full-bridge zero-voltage-switched PWM converter , 1990, Fifth Annual Proceedings on Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition.

[10]  Milan M. Jovanovic,et al.  Design and performance evaluation of low-voltage/high-current DC/DC on-board modules , 1999, APEC '99. Fourteenth Annual Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition. 1999 Conference Proceedings (Cat. No.99CH36285).

[11]  Chern-Lin Chen,et al.  Design optimization for asymmetrical half-bridge converters , 2001, APEC 2001. Sixteenth Annual IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (Cat. No.01CH37181).

[12]  N. H. Kutkut.  A full bridge soft switched telecom power supply with a current doubler rectifier , 1997, Proceedings of Power and Energy Systems in Converging Markets.

[13]  M. Shoyama,et al.  Zero-voltage-switched push-pull DC-DC converter , 1991, PESC '91 Record 22nd Annual IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference.