Wide Voltage Resonant Converter Using a Variable Winding Turns Ratio

This paper presents a inductor–inductor–capacitor (LLC) resonant converter with variable winding turns to achieve wide voltage operation (100–400 V) and realize soft switching operation over the entire load range. Resonant converters have been developed for consumer power units in computers, power servers, medical equipment, and adaptors due to the advantages of less switching loss and better circuit efficiency. The main disadvantages of the LLC resonant converter are narrow voltage range operation owing to wide switching frequency variation and limited voltage gain. For computer power supplies with hold-up time function, electric vehicle battery chargers, and for power conversion in solar panels, wide input voltage or wide output voltage operation capability is normally demanded for powered electronics. To meet these requirements, the variable winding turns are used in the presented circuit to achieve high- or low-voltage gain when Vin is at low- or high-voltage, respectively. Therefore, the wide voltage operation capability can be implemented in the presented resonant circuit. The variable winding turns are controlled by an alternating current (AC) power switch with two back-to-back metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs). A 500-W prototype is implemented and test results are presented to confirm the converter performance.