IJISET - International Journal of Innovative Science, Engineering & Technology, Vol. 2 Issue 4, April 2015.

www.ijiset.com
ISSN 2348 – 7968

Dual Switch Forward & Flyback Converter: A Comparison

Perumal S, K. H. Sivanand, Rajashekar J. S.
1
Mtech student, Dept. of Instrumentation,
DSCE, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
2
Department of EEE, Bangalore College of Engineering
and Technology, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
3
Department of instrumentation technology
DSCE, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

Abstract (capacitors)[1]. This conversion method is more power

This paper presents a comparison of dynamic models for efficient (often 75% to 98%) than linear voltage regulation
dual switch flyback and forward switching DC-DC (which dissipates unwanted power as heat). In these DC-
converters. The proposed models have significant advantages to-DC converters, energy is periodically stored into and
such as dual switch technique, single-input inductor, purely released from a magnetic field in an inductor or a
capacitive output filter, isolation, low current ripple through transformer, typically in the range from 300 kHz to 10
the output capacitor and operation at constant frequency in a MHz. By adjusting the duty cycle of the charging voltage
conventional pulse-width-modulation scheme. The new (that is, the ratio of on/off time), the amount of power
practical converter operates over a wide input-voltage range transferred can be controlled. Usually, this is applied to
and can be employed in power factor correction and control the output voltage, though it could be applied to
multiple-output power supplies. Comparing with the current control the input current, the output current, or maintain a
existing models in published literatures, several factors are constant power. Transformer-based converters may
taken into account, such as anomalous loss in magnetic cores, provide isolation between the input and the output. In
differential inductance and leakage inductance. In order to general, the term "DC-to-DC converter" refers to one of
obtain accurate parameters, modeling is performed to these switching converters. These circuits are the heart of
calculate some key parameters of transformer, capacitor and
a switched-mode power supply.
operating frequency. A simulation model in
MATLAB/Simulink is built & the developed model is
At higher power levels switching regulators use power
validated by executing the model on a simulation platform electronic semiconductor switches in on and off states.
and several performance metrics are obtained and verified. Since there is a small power loss in these states, switching
Keywords: Flyback, Forward, Dual Switch converters; regulators can achieve high energy conversion
AC-DC converters; Inductor design; efficiencies. Modern power electronic switches can
operate at high frequencies. The higher the operating
frequencies, the smaller and lighter the transformers, filter
1. Introduction inductors and capacitors. In addition, the dynamic
characteristics of the converters improve with increasing
There is an increasing demand in modern power operating frequencies. Pulse-width modulation (PWM)
electronics for high density power converters. In most allows control and regulation of the total output voltage.
cases, the size of the magnetic components, including This approach is also employed in applications involving
transformers and inductors, significantly influences the alternating current, including high-efficiency dc-ac power
overall profiles of the converters. Integrated magnetic converters (inverters and power amplifiers), ac-ac power
techniques seem to be suitable solutions for high density converters, and some ac-dc power converters (low-
application. The attraction is that transformers and harmonic rectifiers)[2]. The objectives of this paper are to
inductors are combined in a single core, and therefore,
present a detailed analysis of the two-switch flyback &
cost and size of the converters may be reduced. Generally,
forward DC–DC converter, including the switch output
there are two dominant types of isolated topologies using
integrated magnetics: buck mode topologies, such as capacitance, and the transformer design.
forward, push–pull, half-bridge and full-bridge, and buck-
boost mode topologies, such as dual Flyback and Forward
converters. Electronic switch-mode DC to DC converters 2. Assumptions
convert one DC voltage level to another, by storing the
input energy temporarily and then releasing that energy to The following simplifying assumptions are made
the output at a different voltage. The storage may be in before proceeding to the detailed analysis of the circuit[3]:
either magnetic field storage components (inductors,  ON state voltage drops of switches and diodes are
transformers) or electric field storage components neglected. Similarly, leakage currents through the off

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 IJISET - International Journal of Innovative Science, Engineering & Technology, Vol. 2 Issue 4, April 2015.
www.ijiset.com
ISSN 2348 – 7968
state devices is assumed zero. The switching-on and spike caused by leakage inductor, but the voltage stress is
switching-off times of the switch and diodes are still so high that it is inapplicable to high voltage
neglected. occasions. The traditional dual switch flyback converter
 The transformer used in the circuit is assumed to be conquered the demerit of high switch voltage stress,
ideal requiring no magnetizing current, having no whose two main switches just bear input voltage when
leakage inductance and no losses. they are off.

 The filter circuit elements like, inductors and

capacitors are assumed loss-less.
 For the simplified steady-state analysis of the circuit
the switch duty ratio (δ), is assumed constant.
 The input and output dc voltages are assumed to be
constant and ripple-free. Current through the filter
inductor (L) is assumed to be continuous.

3. Dual switch flyback converter Fig: 2 Simulink diagram of Dual Switch Flyback
Flyback converter is the most commonly used Converter
SMPS circuit for low output power applications. Where
the output voltage needs to be isolated from the input main Additionally, energy of leakage inductor feedbacks to
supply the output power of Flyback type SMPS circuit input source, no snubber is needed. However, the duty
may vary from few watts to less than 100 vats. The overall cycle this kind of topology cannot exceed 50% and hard
circuit topology of the circuit is considerably simpler than switching operation is commutated. Thus it cannot be
other SMPS circuits. Input to the circuit is generally utilized in wide input voltage application. Though some
unregulated Dc voltage obtained by rectifying the utility improved topologies, which have the advantage of wide
AC voltage followed by a simple capacitor filter. The duty cycle, are also proposed, meanwhile the demerits are
circuit can offer single or multiple isolated output voltages obvious such as complicated control strategy or topology
and can operate over wide range of input voltage variation structure, one of the main switches inevitably subjecting to
[4]. In respect of energy-efficiency, Flyback power voltage spike.
supplies are inferior to many other SMPS circuits but its The two-switch flyback DC–DC converter is an extended
simple topology and low cost makes it popular in low out version of the conventional single-switch flyback
power range. The commonly used Flyback converter converter. An additional switch and two clamping diodes
requires a single controllable switch like MOSFET and the serve as a simple, but an effective way to limit the switch
usual switching frequency is in the range of 100 KHz. overvoltages, which occur in the conventional single-
switch flyback converter due to the ringing of the resonant
circuit formed by the transformer leakage inductance and
the transistor output capacitance. The clamping diodes in
the two-switch flyback topology clamp the maximum
voltage across each switch equal to the DC input voltage.
The flyback pulse-width modulated (PWM) DC–DC
power converter is one of the most commonly used
converters in the industry for low-power applications. The
main drawback of the single-switch flyback converter is
the high turn-off voltage stress suffered by the switch. The
Fig 1: Dual Switch Flyback Converter high-voltage transients are caused by the resonant
behavior of the transformer leakage inductance and the
A two switch topology exits that offers better transistor output capacitance, resulting in higher
energy efficiency and less voltage stress across the conduction and switching losses. A switch with higher
switches. However, traditional single switch flyback DC- voltage rating must be selected to withstand the turn-off
DC converter suffers from low utilization of transformer, transient voltage.
high switch voltage stress and severe EMI. A variety of
soft-switching techniques either passive-clamping or
active-clamping methods have been presented in open
literatures which have well solved the problem of voltage

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 IJISET - International Journal of Innovative Science, Engineering & Technology, Vol. 2 Issue 4, April 2015.
www.ijiset.com
ISSN 2348 – 7968
 PIN<0.25W@ 230Vac with no load
 High Efficiency
 Leakage inductance energy is recycled to the
input and snubber circuitry is not required
 500V MOSFETs can be used in the primary
side
 Low switching loss with valley switching in
the primary side
 Lower voltage stress on the secondary side
rectifier
 Variable PFC output voltage technique can
be used to improve low line efficiency of the
Fig 3: Dual Switch Flyback Converter Input Voltage entire system
 Easy Design
A switch with higher-voltage blocking capability is
 Same as well known conventional Flyback
usually accompanied by a higher on-resistance RDS,
resulting in increased conduction losses. As a solution, converter design
several topologies of the single-switch flyback converter  Easy transformer mass production
with active-clamp circuit have been proposed to reduce the  Ultra low profile transformer can be used
switching losses by achieving soft switching. However, without concern of leakage inductance
the switches in converters suffer from high voltage stress  Low Electro Magnetic Inductance
as the maximum voltage across the switch is the sum of  Drain voltage overshoot is clamped to input
the DC input and the reflected output voltages. In addition, voltage
the gate-drive circuit is complex as the main switch and  Valley switching
the auxiliary switch are driven complimentarily. Addition
of a power MOSFET and two clamping diodes to the 4. Dual Switched Forward Converter
single-switch flyback converter leads to the two-switch
The forward converter remains as an industry
flyback PWM DC–DC converter, which effectively limits
workhorse in low-power DC/DC conversions. Recent
the switchover voltage. development has significantly enhanced the performance
and, in the mean time, increased the number of forward
topologies that are available for a designer to choose from.
Hence, selecting a best suitable forward topology for a
given application becomes an important and challenging
task. Dual-switch forward converter is the preferable
candidate in occasion of medium-low power range
application under high-line input due to lower voltage
stress of switches for the very topology.

Fig 4: Dual Switch Flyback Output Current & Output

Voltage

The advantages of Dual Switch Flyback Converter can be

listed as below [5]: Fig 5: Dual Switch Forward Converter
The basic operation is as follows. Fig. 1a shows transistors
 Low Standby Power Consumption Q1 and Q2, which turn on together, transferring energy
 PIN<0.5W @230Vac with PO=0.25W through the transformer primary into the secondary. On

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 IJISET - International Journal of Innovative Science, Engineering & Technology, Vol. 2 Issue 4, April 2015.
www.ijiset.com
ISSN 2348 – 7968
the secondary, the forward rectifying diode conducts, Fig 7: Dual Switch Forward Converter Input Voltage
transferring the energy into the output filter and load.
When transistors Q1 and Q2 are turned off, the The presented topology features both lower voltage
transformer magnetizing current flows through the now stress of switches and good adaptability of wide range
forward-biased diodes D1 and D2 and then back into the input.
source as shown in fig. 1b. The diodes conduct until all the
magnetizing energy in the primary, along with the energy
stored in the leakage inductances, is returned to the input
supply. Since diodes D1 and D2 clamp the input voltage,
no snubber circuit is required. Any overshoot beyond the
input voltage needs to be managed with a proper circuit
layout to minimize stray inductances[6]. On the secondary,
the freewheeling diode conducts as shown, transferring the
output inductor energy to the load. During the non-power
delivery cycle of the primary, proper transformer reset
time is achieved when the ON time is less than its OFF
time (duty cycle is less than 50 %). In other words, the
primary winding itself acts as the reset winding. Having
the OFF time longer than the ON time will always reset
the transformer.

Fig 8: Dual Switch Forward Output Current & Output

Voltage

In the case of the two-switch forward, the core is

demagnetized via both diodes so that no auxiliary winding
is required. For the active-clamp forward, the capacitor on
the transformer generates a higher negative voltage, so
that the demagnetization is achieved in a shorter time. This
means that duty cycles higher than 50% are possible.
The two-switch forward converter is a widely used
topology and considered to be one of the most reliable
Fig 6: Simulink diagram of Dual Switch Forward converters ever. Its benefits include the following[7]:
Converter  Bullet proof operation: no timing issues or dead
time requirements, and no chance of “shoot-
However duty cycle of the conventional dual- through”
switch topology is less than 50%, which influences its
adaptability of wide-range input application. In order to  No MOSFET body diode conduction under any
supply appropriate topology for application of medium- condition
low power range under high-line input, asymmetrical dual-  No snubber circuitry required
switch forward topology is presented in this paper.  MOSFET voltage stress is limited to maximum
supply voltage
 Simplicity of operation over a wide range of input
voltages and load conditions
 Ability to handle multiple isolated outputs

Conclusion
Flyback and forward topologies are good candidates for
step up DC-DC converter application due to their
simplicity and low cost, while achieving high efficiency
and wide voltage operation range. In contrast with the
flyback converter, where there are two distinct phases for

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 IJISET - International Journal of Innovative Science, Engineering & Technology, Vol. 2 Issue 4, April 2015.
www.ijiset.com
ISSN 2348 – 7968
energy storage and delivery to the output, the forward
converter uses the transformer in a more traditional
manner, to transfer the energy directly between input and
output in the one step. Derived from the simple buck
converter, the forward converter delivers energy from the
input source to the output filter inductor during the on time
of the main switch. In contrast, the flyback converter
delivers energy to the output filter capacitor only during the
off-time of the main power switch. The forward converter,
when compared with the fly-back circuit, is generally more
energy efficient and is used for applications requiring little
higher power output (in the range of 100 watts to 200
watts). For comparison, a flyback converter stores energy
as a magnetic field in an inductor airgap during the time the
converter switching element (transistor) is conducting.
When the switch turns off, the stored magnetic field
collapses and the energy is transferred to the output of the
flyback converter as electric current. In contrast the
forward converter (which is based on a transformer) does
not store energy during the conduction time of the
switching element -transformers cannot store a significant
amount of energy unlike inductors. Instead, energy is
passed directly to the output of the forward converter by
transformer action during the switch conduction phase. The
Dual Switch Flyback is ideal for 75-200W and has good
efficiency with OFF time modulation providing excellent
standby power performance with burst operation. A
simulation model in MATLAB/Simulink is built and
characteristic of these topologies are analyzed in detail and
comparison between the two of them is done..

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