This application claims the priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 of European patent application no. 10162482.3, filed on May 11, 2010, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a power converter and to a method adapted to power conversion.
Power converters are very much used in many applications for supplying a DC current or voltage to a consumer. There are applications in which multiple outputs are necessary for delivery of different voltages/currents in the same application.
An example of state of the art power converter is shown in
Hence, it is a need to provide a power converter that can be more easily integrated and being able to generate with minimum modifications more output signals.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a power converter comprising
The invention is defined by the independent claims. Dependent claims define advantageous embodiments.
The above-mentioned converter is easy to adapt for generating multiple output signals and it is easily scalable i.e. it is possible to adapt it to generate more output signals simply by multiplication of the secondary circuits together with the post regulation circuits.
In an embodiment of the invention, the second secondary circuit is adapted to generate a second output signal, the switch being opened at a zero-crossing of the second output signal.
In an embodiment, the switch is coupled to second secondary signal an inductor. This improves the smoothing of the output signal. The inductor can be a discrete component or can be (partly) integrated in the power converter transformer. And even more, the inductor increases the conduction angle of the output diode and as such reduces the crest factor of the output current.
In another embodiment, the first secondary circuit comprises a first secondary winding magnetically coupled to the primary winding; the second secondary circuit comprises a second secondary winding magnetically coupled to the primary winding;
the primary winding, the first secondary winding and the second secondary winding are included into a resonant power converter. The resonant power converter may be adapted to be coupled to rectified mains. The rectified mains could be further obtained from the 50-60 Hz mains. Alternatively, the supply voltage can be a separate DC source, as a battery.
In another embodiment, a method for power conversion is derived, the method comprising steps of:
the first secondary output signal being used to open a switch included into a post regulator, the post regulator being adapted to be coupled to a second secondary circuit.
The above and other advantages will be apparent from the exemplary description of the accompanying drawings in which
The power converter comprises a primary winding np, which is connected either to a conventional pulsating voltage or it is part of a series resonant circuit 10. The pulsating voltage can be the mains (50-60 Hz). Alternatively, the resonant converter can be supplied from a Direct Current (DC) source.
The power converter further comprises a first secondary winding ns1 and a second secondary winding ns2. The first secondary winding ns1 provides a first output signal ID1, which is used as a first output of the converter and as a reference signal for a second regulator as it is described hereunder. The resistor R1 and the capacitor C1 represent the load of the first output signal. The first and the second secondary windings each comprise two identical windings.
The power converter is adapted to have a second secondary winding ns2, too. The secondary winding provides a second output signal ID2. It is worthwhile to mention that the power converter may comprise more than two secondary windings and therefore it may produce more than two output signals in a similar manner as the power converter described in this application does. The first and the secondary windings may, each, comprise two identical windings.
The second output signal is connected to a small inductor L2 and to a switch S3 and it is delivered to a second load comprising the resistor R2 and the capacitor C2.
The power conversion function can be better understood in connection with
Part of the current coming from the transformer is diverted to the second winding ns2. This current starts to flow when the switch S3 starts to conduct and stops by natural commutation. Switch S3 should be opened before the current from the transformer changes polarity. This is done by detecting the voltage over the first secondary winding ns1 or over the secondary winding ns2 or the current through S3. This control methodology ensures Zero Current Switching, which enhances the power efficiency i.e. reduced switching losses and avoids voltage spikes over switch S3. The volt*second product over L2 is much smaller now since a tapped voltage is used. The turning off of S3 is synchronized with the resonant converter output winding and dT is the control parameter: larger dT, more power.
It is remarked that the scope of protection of the invention is not restricted to the embodiments described herein. Neither is the scope of protection of the invention restricted by the reference numerals in the claims. The word “comprising” does not exclude other parts than those mentioned in the claims. The word “a(n)” preceding an element does not exclude a plurality of those elements. Means forming part of the invention may both be implemented in the form of dedicated hardware or in the form of a programmed purpose processor. The invention resides in each new feature or combination of features.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10162482.3 | May 2010 | EP | regional |