A power converter nearly losslessly delivers energy and recovers energy from capacitors associated with controlled rectifiers in a secondary winding circuit, each controlled rectifier having a parallel uncontrolled rectifier. First and second primary switches in series with first and second primary windings, respectively, are turned on for a fixed duty cycle, each for approximately one half of the switching cycle. Switched transition times are short relative to the on-state and off-state times of the controlled rectifiers. The control inputs to the controlled rectifiers are cross-coupled from opposite secondary transformer windings.

High efficiency power converter

A single-stage single-switch power factor correction (PFC) flyback converter with a synchronous rectifier (SR) is proposed for improving power factor and efficiency. Using a variable switching-frequency controller, this converter is continuously operated with a reduced turn-on switching loss at the boundary of the continuous conduction mode and discontinuous conduction mode (DCM). The proposed PFC circuit provides relatively low dc-link voltage in the universal line voltage, and also complies with Standard IEC 61000-3-2 Class D limits. In addition, a new driving circuit as the voltage driven-synchronous rectifier is proposed to achieve high efficiency. In particular, since a driving signal is generated according to the voltage polarity, the SR driving circuit can easily be used in DCM applications. The proposed PFC circuit and SR driving circuit in the flyback converter with the reduced switching loss are analyzed in detail and optimized for high performance. Experimental results for a 19 V/90 W adapter at the variable switching-frequency of 30~70 kHz were obtained to show the performance of the proposed converter.

Single-Stage Single-Switch PFC Flyback Converter Using a Synchronous Rectifier

In this paper, a photovoltaic (PV) module integrated converter is implemented with a current fed two-inductor boost converter cascaded with a line frequency unfolder. The current source is a sinusoidally modulated two-phase buck converter with an interphase transformer. The boost cell operates at a fixed duty ratio and has an integrated magnetic structure. The two inductors and the transformer are integrated into one magnetic core. Passive lossless snubbers are employed to recover the energy trapped in the transformer leakage inductance and to minimize the switching losses. The two-inductor boost converter output interfaces with the mains via an unfolding stage, where the MOSFETs are driven by the PV gate drivers. Experimental results are provided for a 100-W converter developing a single phase 240-V 50-Hz output

A Current Fed Two-Inductor Boost Converter With an Integrated Magnetic Structure and Passive Lossless Snubbers for Photovoltaic Module Integrated Converter Applications

The conduction power loss in an MOSFET synchronous rectifier with a parallel-connected Schottky barrier diode (SBD) was investigated. It was found that the parasitic inductance between the MOSFET and SBD has a large effect on the conduction power loss. This parasitic inductance creates a current that is shared by the two devices for a certain period and increases the conduction power loss. If conventional devices are used for under 1 MHz switching, the advantage of the low on-resistance MOSFET will almost be lost. To reduce the conduction loss for 10 MHz switching, the parasitic inductance must be a subnanohenley.

Conduction power loss in MOSFET synchronous rectifier with parallel-connected Schottky barrier diode

Single winding self-driven synchronous rectification (SWSDSR) approach is a new driving circuit that overcomes the limitations of the traditional driving schemes, becoming an interesting alternative to supply new electronic loads such as microprocessors. Traditional self-driven synchronous rectification (SDSR) technique has shown very good performance to improve efficiency and thermal management in low-voltage low-power DC/DC converters, however it can not be extended to the new fast dynamic, very low voltage applications. SWSDSR scheme is based on an additional winding in the power transformer (auxiliary winding). It allows for maintaining the synchronous rectifiers (SRs,) on even when the voltage in the transformer is zero, which is impossible to do in traditional self-driven approaches. It also makes it possible to drive properly the SRs even in very low voltage applications, 1.5 V or less. Coupling of the windings strongly affects the performance of the SWSDSR technique. The influence of the coupling between the different windings is analyzed through simulations of different transformers designed for the same application. Models of transformers are generated with a finite element analysis (FEA) tool. Goodness of the SWSDSR scheme is validated through experimental results.

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A new driving scheme for synchronous rectifiers: single winding self-driven synchronous rectification

A brief description of the differences in current flow through a MOSFET and a Schottky diode establishes the basis for a prediction of future device performance. Two different forward converter designs are used to illustrate the expected performance differences between the synchronous rectifier and Schottky diode designs. The current levels were selected to provide the designer with a more intuitive understanding of which applications benefit most from each type of design. >

P. Wood

Papers

Synchronous rectifiers versus Schottky diodes: a comparison of the losses of a synchronous rectifier versus the losses of a Schottky diode rectifier