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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMSI: FUNDAMENTAL THEORY AND APPLICATIONS, VOL. 45, NO. 4, APRIL 1998

Transmission-Line-Based Gyrator
Doron Shmilovitz, I. Yaron, and Sigmond Singer, Member, IEEE

Abstract A new approach to efficient gyrator realization is

described. The approach was motivated by the observation that
a =4 segment of transmission line exhibits gyrator-like behavior.
A gyrator that operates at low-frequency band, including dc, is
formed by the combination of a =4 segment of transmission
line and a switching network. Using a switching bridge, the lowfrequency signal is converted into a high-frequency wave which
is applied to the input terminals of the transmission line. Then
the original waveform is reconstructed using a second switching
bridge. Since the switching bridge, as well as the transmission
line, are loss free (in principle), the resulting gyrator is also
lossless. Such a gyrator can find applications in power processing
circuits. A circuit based on this approach was constructed and
tested at the energy conversion laboratory, Tel-Aviv University,
Israel.
Index Terms Distributed line topology, gyrator, high-frequency converter.

I. INTRODUCTION

HE gyrator is a passive lossless, storageless two-port

network defined by the matrix
(1)

(see Fig. 1). A main property of the gyrator is that it converts

into
, its dual with respect to the
a one-port network
gyration conductance , defined by [1]:

Various methods of gyrator realization have been suggested,

some of them very interesting, such as the Hall-effect gyrator;
but the most practical are those based on transistors or some
other active devices arranged to operate as linear amplifiers.
It has been found by many researchers that using two linear
amplifiers and a few resistors, one can synthesize an ideal
gyrator. Small-signal modeling of gyrator, realized by such
kinds of circuits, is discussed in [1]. The poor efficiency of
linear amplifiers (less than 0.5) results in a poor efficiency
of a gyrator realized by that method. The power losses
have no significant importance as long as the gyrator is
applied for signal processing (which was and still is its usual
Manuscript received October 2, 1997; revised February 4, 1997 and July
1, 1997. This work was supported in part by the Israel Science Foundation.
This paper was recommended by Associate Editor A. Ioinovici.
D. Shmilovitz was with the Faculty of Engineering, Tel-Aviv University,
Ramat Aviv, 69978 Tel-Aviv, Israel. He is now with the Department of
Electrical Engineering, New York Polytechnic University, Brooklyn, NY
11201 USA (e-mail: shmilo@zpower.poly.edu).
I. Yaron and S. Singer are with the Faculty of Engineering, Tel-Aviv
University, Ramat Aviv, 69978 Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Publisher Item Identifier S 1057-7122(98)02106-0.

Fig. 1. Gyrator model.

Fig. 2. A transmission line segment coupling two networks.

application); however, they cannot be ignored in the case of

power processing applications.
It has been found that efficient circuits, which have gyrator
characteristics, may be applied in the power processing area.
Some of the possible applications are coupling of dc voltage
sources with reduced sensitivity of the operation point to variations, ac/dc conversion, and capacitive VAR generation [2].
Realization of loss-free gyrator (in principle) can be achieved
by the continuous control of a time variable transformer [2].
It has also been found that switched mode converters which
naturally exhibit gyrator behavior do exist [3][5].
In this paper, a new type of gyrator, based on the natural
properties of transmission lines, is described. The well-known
transmission line transfers a short circuit into an
fact that a
open circuit and vice versa, and actually transfers linear loads
like a gyrator, motivated this approach. Other transmission
line-based power processing networks, like transformers and
loss-free resistor, have been reported lately [6], [7].
II. THE GYRATOR-LIKE CHARACTERISTIC
OF A
TL IN THE CASE OF HARMONIC
EXCITATION (HIGH-FREQUENCY EXCITATION)
Let us look at a segment of a uniform, loss-free transmission
line (TL) (Fig. 2). It is well known that for such TL, the
characteristic impedance
and the propagation velocity are
given by

(2)
The propagation time , along a segment of TL whose length
is , is

10577122/98$10.00 1998 IEEE

(3)

SHMILOVITZ et al.: TRANSMISSION-LINE-BASED GYRATOR

429

Fig. 3. =4 TL segment in cascade with a phase shifting network implements a gyrator.

Fig. 4. The network equivalent for each of the harmonics.

The definition of

implies

In the case of harmonic excitation at an angular frequency ,

the input/output phasors relationship is given by
(12)

(4)
The Fourier series expansion of

is

and
are the input voltage and current phasors,
where
and
are the output ones. In the case in which the
while
(4) becomes
length of the TL segment is

(13)
(14)

(5)
A passive impedance, , connected to the output of the
TL segment would be seen by the source at the input as its
reciprocal multiplied by
which is a gyrator property.

assuming the length of the TL is

where
is the
wavelength of the square wave. Substitution into (4) leads
to the following relationship concerning the th harmonic
input/output current/voltage characteristics:

(6)
On the other hand, (5) is the transfer matrix of a gyrator with
phase
gyration conductance connected in cascade with a
shifting network,
so the chain matrix
of the
TL
is given by

(15)
Since

(16)

(7)
(8)

Substituting
(17)

is transformed into a current

For example, a voltage source
source
with a phase shift of

(15) can be written as

(9)

(18)

That implies that only reactive power (but not real power)
can be transferred between two, in phase voltage (or current)
sources. Thus a pure gyrator can be achieved by the cascade
connection of a phase shifting network , that would cancel
transmission line segment, see Fig. 3.
the phase shift, and

Equation (18) is the equation of a cascade connection of a

gyrator and a phase shifting element. Thus, by adding to the
termination of the TL, an element whose chain matrix is given
by (19), the system (Fig. 4) exhibits gyrator behavior for each
of the harmonics.
(19)

III. SQUARE WAVE EXCITATION

In this section, it will be shown that a
transmission line
segment exhibits gyrator-like behavior in the case of square
wave excitation as well.
Let
be a voltage source with a square waveform which
is applied to the input terminals of the TL;
is defined as
follows:
(10)

(11)

Thus, such a system can be viewed as a gyrator for a square

wave excitation.
IV. A DC GYRATOR
In this section, it will be shown that the chain matrix of
the total system,
, is a gyrator matrix when operated with
dc sources as well. In particular, it will be shown that it is
possible to couple two dc voltage sources using a transmission
line-based gyrator.
A dc voltage can be converted into a square wave by
applying a switching bridge as shown in Fig. 5. In this case, the

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Using the Fourier series expansion, we obtain

(24)
, is given by

Substituting

Fig. 5. The switching cell.

(25)
since
have

, and

where

, we

(a)

Using (4), the following relationship is achieved for the th

harmonic:

(26)

(b)

Substitution of the Fourier expansion (24) for

yields

Fig. 6. (a) The gyrator network and (b) its equivalent.

and

input/output voltage and current parameters at the switching

bridge terminals are given by
(27)
(20)
(28)
where
where
(29)

(21)
.

Equations (27) and (28) can be written as

A gyrator suitable for coupling dc sources and loads can be

obtained by the cascade connection of a switching bridge,
a
transmission line, and an additional switching bridge
in time, as shown
whose switching function is shifted by
in Fig. 6.
The relationship between the input/output parameters and
those which appear on the terminals of the transmission line
is given by

(30)
(31)
Using (13) we have
(32)

(22)
(23)

(33)
But
(34)

are the voltages at the input and output termiwhere

nals of the TL, while
are the voltages at the input and
output terminals of the total system, respectively.
Let us assume that each of two, constant voltage sources,
and , is coupled by switching bridges
to the input and output terminals of a
transmission line
segment, respectively, as in the network shown in Fig. 6.

(35)

(36)

SHMILOVITZ et al.: TRANSMISSION-LINE-BASED GYRATOR

431

(a)

(b)
Fig. 7. (a) The equivalent circuit and (b) the simulation layout.

Fig. 9. Simulation results, transient.

Fig. 10. The experimental setup.

voltage sources are of the form

(40)

Fig. 8. Simulation results, steady state.

The definition of

where
is the ac source frequency. Applying the switching
networks, the input and output voltages of the TL are created:

implies
(37)

thus,
(41)

(38)
, is a gyrator maSince the chain matrix of the total system,
trix, it is concluded that the system exhibits gyrator behavior
in the case of dc excitation, i.e.,

Reformulating (41):

(39)
V. GYRATOR OPERATION WITH AC SOURCE EXCITATION
One of the interesting applications of gyrators is with ac
sources; let us consider the case where the input and output

(42)

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Fig. 11.

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMSI: FUNDAMENTAL THEORY AND APPLICATIONS, VOL. 45, NO. 4, APRIL 1998

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Experimental results.

Assuming the TL length is tuned to

frequency is , in that case,

when the exciting

(45)

Fig. 12.

and the following approximations are valid:

The equivalent circuit in terms of parasitic resistors.

Incorporating the approximation at the begining of this section,

it can be proved that the network has gyrator characteristic for
each of these terms, provided that

(46)
in which case (4) transforms into (47) rather than (5)

(43)
In conclusion, the network is a gyrator with respect to the
input and output ac sources.
VI. THE INFLUENCE OF SLIGHT MISMATCHING
AND GYRATOR OPERATION WITH AC SOURCES

(47)
If this kind of network is to possess gyrator characteristics, the
following condition needs to be fulfilled:

Through the derivations so far, total matching was assumed,

i.e.,
. A sensitivity analysis is required to find out what
happens if a slight mismatching, originated either by the TL
length or by the switching frequency, exists. Does the model
collapse?
Let us consider the case of harmonic excitation where the
angular frequency is slightly different, i.e.,
(44)

(48)
In conclusion, the network is quite tolerant to length variations;
or, viewed the other way, to variations in the switching
frequency.

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433

VII. SIMULATION RESULTS

REFERENCES

Simulations have been performed for the topology in Fig. 7,

have been added at the input and
where small filters
output of the gyrator. The switching frequency is 100 kHz.
is expected to
Since the load is a capacitor, the current
rise linearly.
In Fig. 8, the input and output currents and the capacitor
voltage are presented for the steady state, while in Fig. 9, we
have focused on the transient behavior. It can be seen that
the currents reach steady state within 300 s, which indicates
that this gyrator can easily operate with line voltages whose
frequencies are 50, 60, or even 400 Hz.

[1] A. N. Willson and H. J. Orchard, Realization of ideal gyrators, IEEE

Trans. Circuits Syst., vol. CAS-21, pp. 729732, Nov. 1974.
[2] S. Singer, Loss free gyrator realization, IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst.,
vol. CAS-35, pp. 2634, Jan. 1988.
[3] M. Ehsani and I. Husain, Power converters as natural gyrators, IEEE
Trans. Circuits Syst., vol. 40, pp. 946949, Dec. 1993.
[4] S. Singer and R. W. Erikson, Canonical modeling of power processing
circuits based on POPI concept, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol.
PE-7, pp. 3743, Jan. 1992.
[5] M. Ehsani and I. Husain, Inverse dual converter (IDC) for highpower DCDC applications, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 8, pp.
216222, Apr. 1993.
[6] S. Singer and D. Shmilovitz, The transformer matrix of some transmission line topologies, in IEE Proc. Circuits, Devices Syst. Feb. 1995,
vol. 142, no. 1, pp. 2126.
[7]
, Transmission line based loss-free resistor, IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst., vol. 41, pp. 120126, Feb. 1994.
[8] R. W. Newcomb, The semistate description of non linear time-variable
circuits, IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst., vol. CAS-28, pp. 6271, Feb. 1981.
[9] A. Antoniou and K. S. Naidu, Modeling of a gyrator circuit, IEEE
Trans. Circuit Theory, vol. CT-20, pp. 533540, Sept. 1973.
[10] P. T. Couse, Broadband transformer design for RF transistor power
amplifiers, in Proc. Electron. Components Conf., 1968, pp. 207216,.
[11] J. Sevick, Simple broadband matching networks, Qst., vol. 60, pp.
2023, 1976.
[12] W. J. Sarjeant and R. E. Dollinger, High Power Electronics. New York:
TAB Books, 1989, pp. 117136.
[13] M. Macdonald, Design broadband passive components with ferrite,
Microwaves RF, pp. 8187, Oct. 1993.

VIII. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

Due to some drawbacks of TL (volume and ohmic losses),
the experimental setup was based on a -approximation of
and
were
TL, like the one shown in Fig. 10. Capacitors
added to eliminate source inductance effects at the switching
frequency. Since in this switching method,
and
contain
different dc components, a capacitor
had to be inserted
to eliminate the dc coupling; due to its high value it has no
influence at the switching frequency.
The switches were implemented by power Mosfets MTM
H (toroid core MPP B-166 151-2),
15N50
F,
F,
F, the phase shift
was
, the switching frequency 50 kHz,
V, and
the load resistor was varied to achieve output voltage in the
range of 1218 V. For a short circuit at the output, the input
current was 0.1 A, while for output voltage of 15 V the input
current was 0.85 A.
The total efficiency was over 77%, the maximum power
and
were chosen relatively high in order
was 40 W.
to examine the dc response of the static (dc) experiment. The
experimental results are presented in Fig. 11. Combining the
results of all those graphs, the equivalent circuit, shown in
Fig. 12, can be derived. The equivalent resistors values were
and
.
IX. DISCUSSION
A new TL-based approach for gyrator implementation was
described. This kind of gyrator is capable of operation with
large signals, thus expected to apply for power processing
applications. The TL-based gyrator can operate with ac signals,
as well as dc signals and, in principle, has no losses. The
approach was verified by simulation as well as by experiments,
the results are in good agreement with the expectations.
A phase shift,
between the two switching networks in
Fig. 6 might deviate from
it looks as if a variation
of
might control the power flow. However, additional
research is required to achieve a complete understanding of
this mechanism.
A second unsolved question is the T-LC link approximation
of the transmission line (Fig. 10). For practical applications, it
is needed to define the number of links that is required in order
to achieve a good approximation. The values of the capacitors
and inductors in each link have to be defined as well.

Doron Shmilovitz received the B.Sc. and M.Sc.

degrees from Tel-Aviv University, Israel, in 1986
and 1993, respectively.
In 19961997, he was a Lecturer at Holon Institute of Technological Education. From 1986 to
1990, he was an Engineer at I.A.F. Labs. Currently, he is working on postdoctoral studies at
New York Polytechnic University, Brroklyn. His
research interests include modeling and simulation
of power converters, and high quality converters and
rectifiers.

I. Yaron received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from

Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel, in 1985 and
1995, respectively.
Since 1991, he has been working with I.A.I. Labs
as a Software Engineer. He is active in the area of
circuits and systems and software.

Sigmond Singer (M92) received the B.Sc. and

D.Sc. degrees from the Technion, Haifa, Israel, in
1967 and 1973, respectively.
In 1978, he joined the staff of the Faculty of
Engineering at Tel-Aviv University, Israel, where
he is currently a Professor. His research interests
are general circuits and systems theory, power electronics, and energy conversion.
Dr. Singers paper Realizaiton of Loss Free
Resistive Elements was awarded the 1990 Darlington Award by the IEEE-CAS Societys Best Paper
Award Committee.