Resonant Converters

Module 6_Part1

Anju James
Assistant Professor
Electrical and Electronics
GECI
 Introduction
• The practical power semiconductor switches are not ideal switches.
• Typically, the switches in the switched-mode power converters are not switched in excess of 100 kHz.
• Switching at high frequencies in excess of 1MHz is desirable as the isolation transformer can become smaller and
the sizes of the output L and C can also be smaller, thereby improving or bringing down the power per unit volume
of the converter.
• But the switching losses of the power devices prevent switching at higher frequencies.
• Every switch dissipates power during switching transitions. Thus as the switching frequencies increases, there are
more switching transitions in a given time and thereby more power loss.
• The switching losses occur due to the increase of one variable (voltage or current) and the decrease of the other
variable during the switching transition. The product of these two variables is non-zero during the switching
transition which results in the switching loss.
 Hard Switching & Soft Switching
 Hard Switching:
• Hard-Switching is simply forcing the device(MOSFET/IGBT/Transistor) to turn on and
off by adding the current or voltage to the gate pin to enable the changed
states(ON/OFF)
• The main disadvantage of hard-Switching is switching losses.
• The switching losses occur due to the increase of one variable (voltage or current)
and the decrease of the other variable during the switching transition. The product of
these two variables is non-zero during the switching transition which results in the
switching loss.
 Soft Switching
• If one of the two variables, either the voltage across the switch or current through
the switch, is maintained at zero during the switching transition, then the product of
the voltage and current is zero resulting in zero switching loss. Such zero switching
converters are called soft switching converters.
• If the current is maintained at zero during the switching transition, then such soft
switching converters come under the category of ZCS converters.
• If the voltage is maintained at zero during the switching transition, such soft
switching converters come under the category of ZVS converters.
 ZCS and ZVS Converter- Introduction
• Any of the converters can be converted into ZCS or ZVS converter. The change is actually in the structure of the
controlled switch.
• To realize ZCS, a primary requirement is that the controlled switch should have an inductor in series with it so that
the current does not have discontinuities.
• To realize ZVS, a primary requirement is that the controlled switch should have a capacitor across it so that the
voltage across the device does not have discontinuities.
• Zero Current Switching: -The switch turns on and turns off at zero current.
• Zero Voltage Switching: -The switch turns on and turns off at zero voltage
 Resonant Converters: Overview
• Resonant power converters contain resonant L-C networks whose voltage
and current waveforms vary sinusoidaly during one or more subintervals of
each switching period.
• Turn-on or turn-off transitions of semiconductor devices can occur at zero
crossings of tank voltage or current waveforms, thereby reducing or
eliminating some of the switching loss mechanisms.
• Hence resonant converters can operate at higher switching frequencies than
comparable PWM converters
• In DC/DC converters based on pulse-width modulation (PWM), very fast
voltage dv/dt and current di/dt changes occur during turning on and off of
the power switches, . These changes cause the appearance of
electromagnetic interference (EMI) which may exceed the permitted level of
conductive interference in the power lines.
• Zero-voltage switching also reduces converter-generated EMI
• Zero-current switching can be used to commutate SCRs
• Some types of resonant converters:
 Dc-to-high-frequency-ac inverters
 Resonant dc-dc converters
 Resonant inverters or rectifiers producing line-frequency ac
Typical Resonant dc-dc converter
 Frequency spectrum of tank circuit

• Tank current and output voltage are essentially

sinusoids at the switching frequency fs.
 A conventional PWM controlled buck converter
• As an example, consider a conventional buck converter
• The inductor current is assumed to be constant and can be replaced by a
current source. The diode is also assumed to be ideal.
 Turn OFF
• Initially, switch is ON. Current through the switch iT is Io. When the gate
pulse is removed, voltage across the switch vT starts increasing,
assumed linearly
• During this time, iT remains Io since diode is reverse biased. When the
voltage reaches VS, the switch current starts decreasing, assumed
linearly to zero
• The inductor current flows through diode.
 Turn ON
• When the gate pulse is given, current starts build up linearly. Voltage
remains constant.
• Only after the current Io flows entirely through switch, the diode
become reverse biased, the switch voltage falls to small ON-state value
gradually.

• Switching loss varies linearly with switching frequency.

Basic resonant circuit concepts:
Series resonant circuit
&
Parallel resonant circuit
 Undamped Series Resonant circuit
• For an undamped series resonant circuit with zero initial inductor current and initial
capacitor voltage Vc0,

• L
𝑑𝑖
𝑑𝑡
+
1
𝐶
𝑖𝑑𝑡 = 𝑉𝑑𝑐 − 𝑉𝑐𝑜

• Taking laplace,
1 𝑉𝑑𝑐 −𝑉𝑐𝑜
sL I(s) + I(s) =
𝑠𝐶 𝑆

𝑽𝒅𝒄 −𝑽𝒄𝒐
I(s) =c 𝟏
𝑳𝑪(𝑺𝟐 + )
𝑳𝑪

I(s) = 𝑽𝒅𝒄 −𝑽𝒄𝒐

∗ 𝑳𝑪  i(t) =𝑽𝒅𝒄𝒁𝒐−𝑽𝒄𝒐sinwot where wo is the angular
𝟐 𝟏
𝑳 𝑺 + resonant frequency and Zo is the characteristic
𝑳𝑪
𝑪
impedance
i(t) =𝑽𝒅𝒄𝒁𝒐−𝑽𝒄𝒐sinwot where wo is the angular resonant frequency and Zo
is the characteristic impedance
 wo = 𝟏
𝑳𝑪
and Zo =
𝑳
𝑪

 Vc(t)= Vdc-(Vdc-Vc0) cos wot

 wo = 𝟏
𝑳𝑪
and Zo =
𝑳
𝑪

Vc(t) =𝐶1 𝑖𝑑𝑡 + 𝑉𝑐𝑜 ⇒ 𝑽𝒄 𝒕 =

𝟏
𝑪
𝑽𝒅𝒄 −𝑽𝒄𝒐
𝒁𝒐
sinwot 𝒅𝒕 + 𝑽𝒄𝒐

Vc(t) =𝑪𝟏*𝑽𝒅𝒄𝒁𝒐−𝑽𝒄𝒐 *[−cosw wot] + Vc0 ; Zowo= 1/c

o
 Vc(t)= Vdc-(Vdc-Vc0) cos wot
Undamped Series Resonant circuit- Simulation
 Series Resonant circuit with a load parallel to capacitor
• For a series resonant circuit with zero initial inductor current and zero initial
capacitor voltage Vc0,

• iL= ic +Io &

1
𝐶
𝑖𝑐𝑑𝑡 = 𝑉𝑑𝑐 - L
𝑑𝑖
𝑑𝑡

• Taking laplace,
1 𝑉𝑑𝑐
Ic(s) = - sL Ic(s)
𝑠𝐶 𝑆

𝑽𝒅𝒄  ic(t) =𝑽𝒅𝒄

𝒁𝒐
sinwot where wo is the angular
Ic(s) =c 𝟏
𝑳𝑪(𝑺𝟐 + ) resonant frequency and Zo is the characteristic
𝑳𝑪
impedance
𝟏

Ic(s) = 𝑽𝒅𝒄
∗ 𝑳𝑪
𝟏
 iL(t) = 𝑽𝒅𝒄
𝒁𝒐
sinwot + Io
𝑳 𝟐
𝑺 +
𝑪
𝑳𝑪
 Vc(t)= Vdc-Vdc cos wot
ic(t) =𝑽𝒅𝒄
𝒁𝒐
sinwot where wo is the angular resonant frequency and Zo is
the characteristic impedance

 wo = 𝟏
𝑳𝑪
and Zo =
𝑳
𝑪

Vc(t) =𝐶1 𝑖𝑐𝑑𝑡 ⇒ 𝑽𝒄 𝒕 =

𝟏
𝑪
𝑽𝒅𝒄
𝒁𝒐
sinwot 𝒅𝒕

Vc(t) =𝑪𝟏*𝑽𝒅𝒄
𝒁𝒐
*[
−cos wot
wo
]; Zowo= 1/c

 Vc(t)= Vdc-Vdc cos wot

 Resonant Converter:
ZCS Converter (L & M type),
ZVS Converter
 ZCS Converter : Overview
• A large external resonant capacitor is needed to lower the turn-off switching loss effectively for ZVS.
• ZCS eliminates the voltage and current overlap by forcing the switch current to zero before the switch voltage rises, making
it more effective than ZVS in reducing switching losses, especially for slow switching power devices.
• ZCS topologies are most frequently adopted for high efficiency power conversion.
• The switches of Zero Current Switching (ZCS) resonant converters turn ON and OFF at zero current.
• The resonant circuit consists of switch S1, inductor L, and capacitor C. The inductor L is connected in series with power
switch S1 to achieve ZCS.
• Types - L type and M type. In both the types the inductor L limits the di/dt of the switch current and L and C constitute a
series resonant circuit.
 L type ZCS Converter

Circuit schematic of a buck converter with the controlled switch replaced with an Ltype zero current switch.

• L & C near the dc source Vs form a resonant circuit and L1 & C1 near the load constitute a filter circuit.
• Assumptions :
• Filter inductance L1 is sufficiently large so that the current io through the inductance L1 is assumed to be constant at Io.(Switching
frequency also will be very high)
• Initially, switch S is open, iL=0; vC=0; load current Io freewheels through the diode D.
• Since the filter inductor current is continuous and ripple free (io = Io), the load circuit including filter L1 and C1 can be replaced by a
constant current source Io.
• The circuit operation is divided into 5 modes of operation
 L type ZCS Converter : Mode 1 & 2
 Initially Io is freewheeling through diode D; vD=0; vC=0; iL =0.
 Mode 1 : ( 0 ≤ t ≤ t1 ) :
• S is turned ON at t=0; vL=Vs;
• iL linearly increases from zero; iD=Io-iL; iD decreases linearly
from Io.
• At t=t1; iL=Io; iD becomes zero; diode become reverse biased;
short circuit across C is removed.
 Mode 2 : (t1 ≤ t ≤ t2 ) :
• S remains ON; iL > Io; iC flows through C, Vs and L. iC increases
sinusoidally from 0 and reaches maximum value Im and
decreases to zero.
• IL increases from Io, reaches maximum Io+Im and then
decreases to Io sinusoidally. During this time, vC increases from
0 to 2Vs.

Simulation example : Io = 0.034 A, Vs = 5v; f = 4kHz

 L type ZCS Converter : Mode 3 ,4,5
 Mode 3 : (t2 ≤ t ≤ t3 ) :
• Now, iC increases in –ve direction ; iL decreases from Io;
• When iC = -Io; iL=0; S is turned OFF.
• Diode remains OFF because of the reverse voltage by vc.
 Mode 4: (t3≤ t ≤ t4 ) :
• Filter inductance current Io flows through C and vc decreases
till vc=0.
 Mode 5: (t4≤ t ≤ t5 ) :
• When vc becomes zero, filter inductance current Io starts
freewheeling through diode D. iD = Io.
• At t = t5; S is turned ON again and the cycle repeats.

Simulation example : Io = 0.034 A, Vs = 5v; f = 4kHz

L type ZCS Converter : Waveforms
Thank You