Transistor dc-dc converters which employ a resonant circuit are described. A resonant circuit is driven with square waves of current or voltage, and by adjusting the frequency around the resonant point, the voltage on the resonant components can be adjusted to any practical voltage level. By rectifying the voltage across the resonant elements, a dc voltage is obtained which can be either higher or lower than the input dc voltage to the converter. Thus, the converter can operate in either the step-up or step-down mode. In addition, the switching losses in the inverter devices and rectifiers are extremely low due to the sine waves that occur from the use of a resonant circuit (as opposed to square waves in a conventional converter); also, easier EMI filtering should result. In the voltage input version, the converter is able to use the parasitic diode associated with an FET or monolithic Darlington, while in the current input version, the converter needs the inverse blocking capability which can be obtained with an IGT or GTO device. A low-power breadboard operating at 200-300 kHz has been built. Two typical application areas are switching power supplies and battery chargers. The converter circuits offer improvements over conventional circuits due to their high efficiency (low switching losses), small reactive components (high-frequency operation), and their step-up/stepdown ability.

High-Frequency Resonant Transistor DC-DC Converters

Presented is a converter philosophy for controlled transfer and transformation of electric energy through internal series resonant circuits at high internal power frequencies in excess of 10 kHz. Control of the continuously oscillating high Q series resonant circuit is attained by adjustment of the phase angle ? r between the exciting voltage and the resonant current. Only a very small fraction of the energy transferred to the load is absorbed by the resonant circuits to replace the power dissipated therein. Moderate and unconditionally predictable voltage and current stresses on components result from definite control of static and dynamic behavior of the system. This system is suited for construction of failsafe and highly efficient, low cost, submegawatt, single module converters with currently available components.

An Improved Method of Resonant Current Pulse Modulation for Power Converters

Closed-form steady-state equations are derived for the halfbridge series resonant converter with a rectified (dc) load. Normalized curves for various currents and voltages are then plotted as a function of the circuit parameters. Experimental results based on a 10-kHz converter are presented for comparison with the calculations.

A Normalized Model for the Half-Bridge Series Resonant Converter

A steady state model is derived for the full-bridge series-resonant power converter. Normalized parametric curves for various currents and voltages are then plotted versus the triggering angle of the switching devices. The calculations are compared with experimental measurements made on a 50 kHz converter and a discussion of certain operating problems is presented.

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Modeling the Full-Bridge Series-Resonant Power Converter

The overload characteristics of the full bridge series resonant power converter are considered. This includes analyses of the two most common control methods presently in use. The first of these uses a current zero crossing detector to synchronize the control signals and is referred to as the ? controller. The second is driven by a voltage controlled oscillator and is referred to as the ? controller. It is shown that the ? controller has certain reliability advantages in that it can be designed with inherent short circuit protection. Experimental results are included for an 86 kHz converter using power metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs).

Inherent Overload Protection for the Series Resonant Converter

Anticipated future spacecraft requirements have motivated research on high power, high voltage dc to dc power processors. Therefore, a LC series resonant inverter utilizing silicon-controlled rectifiers (SCR's) or thyristors as power switches has been developed as the main power stage of the ion engine power processor over an input of 200 to 400Vdc, and an output of no load to 2.5KW.

J. J. Biess

Papers

High voltage series resonant inverter ion engine screen supply. [SCR series resonant inverter for space applications]