Patent Application
20070229047
The present disclosure relates to dc-dc tapped inductor buck converters.
The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Two stage dc-dc converters have recently become common for use in relatively high input voltage and relatively low output voltage in high current applications. These two stages generally use buck converters as a first stage to regulate the output voltage. A second stage is generally an isolated dc-dc converter and operates at a fixed duty cycle. This second stage converter acts essentially as a dc-transformer to step down the voltage. The second stage converter can be any of a push-pull, half-bridge, forward, or a full-bridge converter.
These two stage converters have been recognized for their many benefits, including the use of low voltage rated MOSFETS, which provide a significant cost savings from previous converters. In addition, zero voltage switching for the primary side switches can be easily achieved, as well as improved thermal performance. These two stage converters are also attractive because large voltage conversion ratios can be achieved and are applicable to a wide voltage input range.
The duty ratio of the first stage buck converter is dictated by the hold-up time requirement. Because the dc-dc converter is an open-loop converter with a fixed duty rate, the step-down ratio of the isolation transformer depends on the duty ratio of the buck converter. For a given current rating of a MOSFET switch used, in for example a full-bridge converter, the efficiency of the open loop converter will be higher at a higher input voltage because the current through the devices will be less. Therefore, if the hold-up time is improved, the primary-to-secondary turns ratio can be increased and the efficiency of the converter can be increased.
It has been known to use tapped inductors in buck converters to alter the voltage stress on the devices of the converter. One such prior art tapped inductor buck converter is shown in
n=(n1+n2)/n1
D=(n×Vo)/(Vin+(n−1)×Vo)
A dc-dc buck converter includes a tapped inductor having an active switch connected to an inductor tap and to a ground. A first diode is also connected between the inductor and an input voltage source.
Another buck dc-dc converter disclosed, in addition to the above converter, includes a tapped inductor having two inductor sections with a second diode connected between the inductor sections. A capacitor is also connected across the second diode and one of the inductor sections. Also disclosed is a two stage dc-dc converter having a first stage tapped inductor buck converter of and a second stage dc-dc converter connected to the first stage converter for stepping down an output voltage of the first stage converter.
The advantages of using such a tapped inductor buck dc-dc converter as described in the present disclosure, includes increasing the hold-up time while reducing the voltage stresses on the free wheeling diodes, as compared to the prior art. The disclosed buck dc-dc converter also nearly eliminates turn-on losses and lowers turn-off losses, as compared to the prior art. In addition, cheaper ultra fast diodes can be used instead of costly tandem/SiC diodes of the prior art, reducing manufacturing costs of the disclosed buck dc-dc converter. Because the hold-up time has been increased, improvement in efficiency can be achieved.
Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. It should be understood that the description and specific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
The drawings described herein are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way.
The following description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present disclosure, application, or uses.
A buck dc-dc converter with a tapped inductor is shown at 14 in
The converter 14 is modified from the converter 12 of
The converter 14 may also include a series connected resistor R1 and a capacitor C3 connected in parallel with the first diode D1.
Another example of a buck dc-dc converter, in accordance with the present disclosure, is shown in
During operation, prior to turning on the MOSFET Q, current is freewheeling through inductor L1, diode D1, bulk capacitor C1, the load, and capacitor C2. When the switch Q is turned on during ton, current is transferred to np. Because the coupling between np and ns will never be 100%, leakage inductance will occur. Because of this leakage inductance, the current transfer from ns to np will be delayed. If the delay caused by the leakage inductance is greater than the MOSFET Q turn on time, the turn on switching losses may be eliminated. In addition, because of the existence of the leakage inductance, the di/dt of the current through the diode D1 is reduced as compared to a conventional buck converter. Because of this current reduction, the reverse recovery current of the freewheeling diode D1 is also reduced. The voltage stress on MOSFET Q is also reduced and therefore, turn off losses of Q are reduced.
When Q is turned off during toff, the current in Q is transferred to diode D2. After the leakage energy is recovered in capacitor C2, the current is transferred to D1, and will freewheel through ns as before.
The voltage stress of the buck dc-dc converters, in accordance with the present disclosure, are less than with a conventional buck converter. In experiments varying Vin values and turns ratio values, and holding an output voltage at 310 volts, it was shown that the buck dc-dc converters, in accordance with the present disclosure, as compared to a conventional buck converter, reduced the voltage stresses on the circuit components. It was also shown that the optimum n value is two for the converters in accordance with the present disclosure, but in any case is greater than one.
By experimentation, it was shown that hold-up time improvement was 1.5 milliseconds compared to a conventional buck converter, and the efficiency improvement achieved by the conversion in accordance with the present disclosure was 0.5%.
The second stage dc-dc converter 22 can be any one of a push-pull, half-bridge, forward, or a full-bridge converter. The second stage converter 22, in this example, includes MOSFET switches Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4 connected to a transformer T1. T1 in turn is connected to diodes D4 and D5. Diodes D4 and D5 are connected to inductor L2 and capacitor C4. Converter 22 is shown as an exemplary converter, but as stated above may be one of several different converter topologies depending on the requirements of a particular application.
The description of the present disclosure is merely exemplary and those skilled in the art will appreciate that variations other than those described will fall within the scope of the present invention.
