Claims
- 1. A power converter having an input and output, comprising:
a full bridge circuit coupled to the input of the power converter; a converter controller coupled to the full bridge circuit, to provide control signals thereto; a transformer coupled to the full bridge circuit to receive power from the full bridge circuit into a primary winding thereof; the full bridge circuit comprises a plurality of switching devices that intermittently couple the primary winding to the input of the power converter; and an output side circuit connected to the secondary winding of the transformer and including a switching circuit coupled to provide stored magnetic energy to drive the switching transitions of the switching devices in the full bridge circuit, wherein the switching circuit closes at a predetermined time delay after the switching transitions in the full bridge circuit to accomplish zero voltage switching for the plurality of switches in the full bridge circuit.
- 2. A power converter as recited in claim 1, wherein the converter controller is a phase shift modulation controller.
- 3. A power converter as recited in claim 1, wherein the converter controller is a pulse width modulation controller.
- 4. A power converter as recited in claim 1, wherein the full bridge circuit comprises four switches controlled by the controller in alternating pairs to deliver power received from the input of the power converter to the primary winding.
- 5. A power converter as recited in claim 1, wherein the power converter further comprises an output filter interposed between the output side circuit and the output of the power converter.
- 6. A power converter as recited in claim 1, wherein in the predetermined time delay is 100 nano-seconds.
- 7. A power converter as recited in claim 1, wherein the switching circuit comprises a pair of parallel coupled branches, each branch including a switching device coupled in series with a magnetic storage device.
- 8. A power converter as recited in claim 7, wherein the magnetic storage device is an inductor.
- 9. A power converter as recited in claim 7, wherein the switching circuit comprises the plurality of switching devices selected from the group consisting of insulated gate bipolar transistors, bipolar junction transistors, metal oxide semiconductor controlled thyristors, and field effect transistors.
- 10. A power converter as recited in claim 7, wherein the switching device is a serially connected rectifier diode and a saturable core bead.
- 11. A power converter as recited in claim 1, wherein the switching circuit comprises:
a bridge having a first, second, third and fourth branch; and an output choke coupled to the second and third branch, the output choke including an inductor.
- 12. A power converter as recited in claim 11, wherein the first, second, third, and fourth branch each include a serially coupled rectifier diode and a saturable core inductor.
- 13. A power converter as recited in claim 11, further comprising a saturable core inductor coupled between the input of the switching circuit and the bridge.
- 14. A power converter as recited in claim 13, wherein the first and fourth branch each include a serially coupled rectifier diode and a saturable core inductor and wherein the second and third branch each include at least one diode.
- 15. A converter as recited in claim 1, wherein the converter controller includes a switching device control means for turning on and off the first, second, third and fourth switching devices in a sequence to alternately connect the primary winding to the input of the power converter.
- 16. For use in a power converter having a controlled full bridge circuit coupled to a transformer, the bridge having a plurality of switching devices delivering power received from an input of the power converter to a primary winding of the transformer, a method of providing stored energy from a switching circuit coupled to the secondary winding of the transformer, comprising the steps of:
controlling the full bridge circuit to intermittently couple the primary winding to the input of the power converter; and closing the switching circuit at a predetermined delay time after the closed switching transition of one of the plurality of switching devices.
- 17. A method as recited in claim 16, wherein the controlling step includes a step of providing control signals from the controller to the switching circuit and the switching devices in the full bridge circuit.
- 18. A method as recited in claim 16, wherein the controlling step includes a step of controlling the switching devices in alternating pairs to deliver power received from the input of the power converter to the primary winding.
- 19. A method as recited in claim 16, wherein the predetermined delay is 100 nano-seconds.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is related to the application Ser. No. 09/312,091, filed May 15, 1999, for “Dual Opposed Interleaved Coupled Inductor Soft Switching Converters,” which is incorporated herein.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60201821 |
May 2000 |
US |