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A Wide-Inputamp Wide-Output WIWO DCamp DC Converter-HIa PDF
A Wide-Inputamp Wide-Output WIWO DCamp DC Converter-HIa PDF
2, FEBRUARY 2010
A Wide-Input–Wide-Output (WIWO)
DC–DC Converter
Hao Cheng, Keyue Ma Smedley, Fellow, IEEE, and Alexander Abramovitz, Member, IEEE
Abstract—This paper presents a new wide-input–wide-output quently, buck converter losses mount at low duty cycle, whereas
dc–dc converter, which is an integration of buck and boost convert- boost converter efficiency deteriorates when the duty cycle tends
ers via a tapped inductor. Coherent transition between step-down to unity. Accordingly, voltage conversion range of the buck con-
and step-up modes is achieved by a proper control scheme. This
paper presents theoretical concepts and experimental results. verter below 0.1–0.15 becomes impractical whereas that of the
boost converters’ is limited to below 8–10. Additional prob-
Index Terms—Boost, buck, coupled inductors, energy recovering lems associated with narrow duty cycle are caused by MOS-
snubber, wide step-down, wide step-up, wide-input–wide-output
(WIWO) dc–dc converter. FET drivers rise and fall times as well as pulsewidth-modulated
(PWM) controllers that have maximum pulsewidth limitations.
I. INTRODUCTION These problems become even more severe at higher voltages
HE BUCK, boost, buck–boost, and Cúk converters are the and higher frequencies.
T four basic dc–dc nonisolating converters that have found
wide applications in industry. The buck converter can step down
Introducing a transformer helps attaining large step-up or
step-down voltage conversion ratio. Transformers’ turn ratio
the dc voltage, whereas the boost converter is capable to per- should be chosen as to provide the desired voltage gain while
form a step-up function. In applications where both step-up keeping the duty cycle within a reasonable range for higher
and step-down conversion ratios are required, the buck–boost efficiency. The transformer, however, brings in a whole new
and Cúk converters can be used. Simplicity and robustness are set of problems associated with the magnetizing and leakage
among the advantages of the buck–boost converter. However, inductances, which cause voltage spikes and ringing, increased
the pulsating input and output currents cause high conduction core and cooper losses as well as increased volume and cost.
losses, and thus, impair the efficiency of buck–boost. Further- In a quest for converters with wide conversion range, quite a
more, the buck–boost converter uses the inductor to store the few authors proposed using converters with nonlinear charac-
energy from the input source, and then, release the stored energy teristics. Single-transistor converter topologies, with quadratic
to the output. For this reason, the magnetic components of buck– conversion ratios, were proposed in [1] and demonstrated
boost are subjected to a significant stress. These disadvantages large step-down conversion ratio. This method has successfully
limit the applications of the buck–boost converter mainly to low achieved wide conversion range in the step done direction. A
power level. The isolated version of buck–boost, referred to as different approach to obtain wide conversion range utilizing
the flyback converter, can achieve greater step-up or step-down coupled inductors was proposed in [2]. With only minor modi-
conversion ratio utilizing a transformer, possibly, with multiple fication of the tapped-inductor buck, [2] shows low component
outputs. As compared with the buck–boost converter, the Cúk count and solves the gate-drive problem by exchanging the po-
converter has higher efficiency and smaller ripples in input and sition of the second winding and the top switch. The problem
output currents. A significant improvement of the Cúk converter of a high turn-OFF voltage spike on the top switch was solved
performance can be achieved by applying the zero ripple con- by applying a lossless clamp circuit. Due to the coupled induc-
cept. The Cúk converter can be found in many high-performance tor action, the converter demonstrated high step-down dc–dc
power applications. conversion ratio, whereas the converter’s efficiency was im-
In theory buck and boost converters can generate almost any proved by the extended duty cycle. A tapped-inductor buck
voltage, in practice, the output voltage range is limited by com- with soft switching was introduced in [3]. Derivations of the
ponent stresses that increase at the extreme duty cycle. Conse- tapped-inductor buck were also suggested in [4] and [5]. An-
other modification of the tapped-buck converter was realized
in [6] for power factor correction (PFC) application. With the
Manuscript received November 7, 2008; revised January 20, 2009. Current
version published February 12, 2010. Recommended for publication by addition of a line-frequency-commutated switch and a diode,
Associate Editor J. Antenor. both flyback and buck characteristics were achieved and large
H. Cheng is with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer step-down was demonstrated.
Science (EECS), University of California, Irvine (UCI), Irvine, CA 92617 USA
(e-mail: hcheng1@uci.edu). Some applications, especially battery-operated equipment,
K. M. Smedley is with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engi- require high voltage boosting. To attain very large voltage step-
neering (ECE), University of California, Irvine (UCI), Irvine, CA 92697 USA up, cascaded boost converters that implement the output volt-
(e-mail: ksmedley@uci.edu).
A. Abramovitz is with the Department of Electrical Engineering (EE), Sami age increasing in geometric progression were introduced in [7].
Shamoon College of Engineering (SCE), Beer-Sheva 84100, Israel (e-mail: These converters effectively enhance the voltage transfer ra-
aabramov@eng.uci.edu). tio; however, their circuits are quite complex. In comparison,
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. tapped-inductor boost converters proposed in [8] and [9] at-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPEL.2009.2025375 tain a comparable voltage step-up preserving relative circuit
0885-8993/$26.00 © 2010 IEEE
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CHENG et al.: WIDE-INPUT–WIDE-OUTPUT (WIWO) DC–DC CONVERTER 281
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282 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 25, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2010
Fig. 2. Voltage conversion ratio of buck-derived converters with tapped inductors. (a) 0 < n < ∞. (b) 0 < n < ∞. (c) n > 1. (d) n > 1.
whereas the lower comparator and the NAND gate provide the
required duty cycle for the S1 switch. Thus, the converter enters
the boost mode.
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CHENG et al.: WIDE-INPUT–WIDE-OUTPUT (WIWO) DC–DC CONVERTER 283
Fig. 4. Voltage conversion ratio of boost-derived converters with tapped inductors. (a) 0 < n < ∞. (b) 0 < n < ∞. (c) 0 < n < 1. (d) 0 < n < 1.
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284 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 25, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2010
Fig. 7. Four topological states of the WIWO converter. (a) Buck-mode charging state. (b) Buck-mode discharging state. (c) Boost-mode charging state.
(d) Boost-mode discharging state.
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CHENG et al.: WIDE-INPUT–WIDE-OUTPUT (WIWO) DC–DC CONVERTER 285
TABLE I
CHARACTERISTICS OF WIWO DC–DC CONVERTER AND CHARACTERISTICS FOR n = 1
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286 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 25, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2010
Fig. 9. Switched circuit models. (a) State 1. (b) State 2. (c) State 3. (d) State 4.
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CHENG et al.: WIDE-INPUT–WIDE-OUTPUT (WIWO) DC–DC CONVERTER 287
Fig. 12. Experimental waveforms of WIWO in the boost mode (see Fig. 6 for
designation of variables). Top trace: drain voltage of S1 switch (20 V/division,
2 µs/division); second top trace: drain voltage of S2 switch (20 V/division,
2 µs/division); middle trace: input current Ii (0.5 A/division, 2 µs/division);
second bottom trace: output current Io (0.5 A/division, 2 µs/division); bottom
trace: S1 switch gating voltage (20 V/division, 2 µs/division).
is cut off, both windings carry the same current and are dis-
charging into the output capacitor and feeding the load. For this
reason, the currents ripple components appear in antiphase, as
predicted by WIWO models in Fig. 9(c) and (d). Also could Fig. 14. Comparison of the experimental and theoretical voltage conversion
ratio under different loading conditions. (a) K = 2. (b) K = 0.2. (c) K = 0.02.
be seen is the snubber circuit resonant discharge as the snubber
recycles the stored energy.
With decreased load, the converter enters the discontinuous ratio in DCM is higher than that in CCM, as shown in Fig. 14(b)
conduction mode (DCM). To measure the tendency of the con- and (c).
verter to operate in DCM, the parameter K = (2Lm /RTs ) is The efficiency of the experimental WIWO dc–dc converter
defined as suggested in [15]. The critical value of K for n = 1 for different dc input voltages versus the load current is plotted
is compared with K = 2, 0.2, 0.02 in Fig. 13. The experimen- in Fig. 15. The output voltage was kept at the nominal value
tal voltage conversion ratio M as function of m for different of 28 Vdc . No attempt was made to optimize the preliminary
values of K plotted on top of the theoretical curve is given in design, still the converter demonstrated high efficiency.
Fig. 14(a)–(c). Due to the parasitic resistances in the circuit, the
experimental voltage conversion ratio M is slightly lower than
theoretical prediction. For very same reason, the experimental V. APPLICATIONS
M cannot become infinite and drops as m approaches 2. A A continuously conducting diode D has a considerable
narrow buck- to boost-mode transition can be observed on the forward voltage drop. This is not desirable for low-output-
WIWO characteristic in the vicinity of m = 1. The conversion voltage applications. The voltage drop can be reduced using
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288 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 25, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2010
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CHENG et al.: WIDE-INPUT–WIDE-OUTPUT (WIWO) DC–DC CONVERTER 289
In the boost mode, the snubber operation is similar. However, [5] K. Nishijima, K. Abe, D. Ishida, T. Nakano, T. Nabeshima, T. Sato, and
here, S1 interrupts the current and is subject to the voltage spike K. Harada, “A novel tapped-inductor buck converter for divided power
distribution system,” in Proc. IEEE PESC Conf. (PESC 2006), Jun., 18–
while S2 switch is constantly ON with zero voltage VD S 2 across. 22, pp. 1–6.
[6] G. Spiazzi and S. Buso, “Power factor preregulator based on modified
VII. CONCLUSION tapped-inductor buck converter,” in Proc. IEEE PESC Conf., 1998, vol. 2,
pp. 873–879.
This paper has presented a new WIWO dc–dc converter, [7] F. L. Luo and H. Ye, “Positive output cascade boost converters,” Proc.
which is an integration of buck and boost converters with cou- Inst. Electr. Eng. Electr. Power Appl., vol. 151, no. 5, pp. 590–606, Sep.
2004.
pled inductors. The paper described WIWO principles of opera- [8] Q. Zhao and F. C. Lee, “High efficiency, high step-up dc–dc converters,”
tion and offers a comprehensive summary of WIWO analytical IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 65–73, Jan. 2003.
characteristics. Simulation and experimental results were also [9] N. Vazquez, L. Estrada, C. Hernandez, and E. Rodriguez, “The tapped-
inductor boost converter,” in Proc. IEEE Int. Symp. Ind. Electron., Jun.,
reported. A modified PWM modulator scheme required to make 4–7, 2007, pp. 538–543.
the converter work coherently was also suggested. A prototype [10] K. C. Tseng and T. J. Liang, “Novel high efficiency step-up converter,”
WIWO dc–dc converter was built and tested. The converter Proc. Inst. Electr. Eng. Electr. Power Appl., vol. 151, no. 2, pp. 182–190,
Mar. 2004.
demonstrated in practice the WIWO dc–dc conversion ratio. [11] H. Cheng, “Wide input wide output (WIWO) dc–dc converter,” Master’s
The new converter topology has several advantages. The thesis, Univ. California, Irvine, Dec. 2007.
WIWO retains the features of both the buck and the boost con- [12] H. Cheng and K. Smedley, “Wide input wide output (WIWO) dc–dc con-
verter,” in Proc. IEEE Appl. Power Electron. Conf. Expo., 2008, pp. 1562–
verters; however, it achieves wider step-up and wider step-down 1568.
dc–dc conversion range. The WIWO converter can operate with [13] R. D. Middleblook, “A continuous model for the tapped-inductor boost
an input source with broadly varying voltage or, alternatively, converter,” in IEEE PESC 1976 Rec., Jun., pp. 10–19.
[14] D. Edry, M. Hadar, O. Mor, and S. Ben-Yaakov, “A SPICE compatible
feed loads with variable operating voltage such as dc motors. model of tapped-inductor PWM converters,” in Proc. IEEE APEC 1994,
The converter has a simple structure and moderate component pp. 1021–1027.
count. The advantageous buck feature allows turning off the [15] R. Erickson and D. Maksimovic, Fundamentals of Power Electronics.
Norwell, MA: Kluwer, 2001.
output voltage on demand. WIWO is also inherently capable of
limiting the inrush current and can protect the output in the case
of a short circuit. Due to the nonlinear characteristics, WIWO Hao Cheng, photograph and biography not available at the time of publication.
can avoid operating at extreme duty cycle. As a result, WIWO
efficiency remains high even throughout large input voltage
swing. The transition between the operating modes is inher-
ently smooth, and causes no transient disturbance in the average Keyue Ma Smedley (S’87–M’90–SM’97–F’08) re-
ceived the B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engi-
current. Among the disadvantages of WIWO is the coupled in- neering from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China,
ductor whose leakage causes oscillation and high voltage spike in 1982 and 1985, respectively, and the M.S. and
across the switches. Clamp circuits are needed to clamp volt- Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, in 1987
age spikes upon switches, so as to recycle the leakage energy. and 1991, respectively.
Another disadvantage of WIWOs is that small-signal transfer She was employed at the Superconducting Super
functions include an RHP zero, and therefore, WIWO is some- Collide from 1990 to 1992, where she was respon-
sible for the design and specification of ac-dc con-
what difficult to stabilize using a single voltage loop. To resolve verters for all accelerator rings. She is currently a
the dynamic problem, current loop should be employed, which Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science,
is a good practice in any case. An additional disadvantage is that University of California at the Irvine (UCI). She is also the Director of the UCI
Power Electronics Laboratory. Her research activities include high efficiency
WIWO does not provide isolation. This, however, may not be dc-dc converters, high-fidelity class-D power amplifiers, active and passive soft
much of a problem in systems with multiple stages. switching techniques, single-phase and three-phase PFC rectifiers, active power
Modifications of the WIWO to synchronous WIWO dc–dc filters, grid-connected inverters for alternative energy sources, VAR on demand
for modern grid, motor drive, fault current limiters for utility, solar and wind
converter, bidirectional WIWO dc–dc converter, and WIWO power conversion, etc. She has authored or coauthored more than 100 technical
dc–dc converter for PFC are possible. Numerous advantages articles and holds ten US/international patens.
indicate WIWO as a viable candidate for many industrial Dr. Smedley is the recipient of UCI Innovation Award 2005.
applications.
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