7 DC - DC Choppers

EE307 – Power Electronics

Spring 2019
What are DC – DC Choppers
• Directly converts from DC to DC
• Also known as dc-dc converter
• Widely used for traction motor
control in electric vehicles
• Provide smooth acceleration control,
high efficiency and fast dynamic
response
• As per output voltage there are two
types:
• Step up chopper
• Step down chopper
Step Down Chopper with R Loads

𝑡1 : 𝑂𝑁 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
𝑡2 : 𝑂𝐹𝐹 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒

𝑇: 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑑

𝑡1
𝑘 = 𝐷𝑢𝑡𝑦 𝐶𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑒 =
𝑇
• When switch is closed for 𝑡1 , input voltage 𝑉𝑠 appears across the load
• When switch is opened for 𝑡2 , voltage across load is zero
Step Down Chopper Output Waveform for R load
Average Output Voltage
𝑡1
1
𝑉𝑎𝑣𝑔 = න 𝑣𝑜 𝑑𝑡
𝑇 0
𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑘 = 0 → 𝑉𝑎𝑣𝑔 = 0
𝑉𝑎𝑣𝑔 = 𝑘𝑉𝑠
𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑘 = 1 → 𝑉𝑎𝑣𝑔 = 𝑉𝑠
Average Load Current:
𝑉𝑎𝑣𝑔 𝑘𝑉𝑠
𝐼𝑎𝑣𝑔 = =
𝑅 𝑅
RMS Output Voltage

𝑉𝑜(𝑟𝑚𝑠) = 𝑘𝑉𝑠
• Non-sinusoidal waveform having changes in voltage
• More ripples in output voltage -> More harmonics
• Cannot attach a load directly due to the presence of harmonics
• If we connect a DC motor directly, we get both AC and DC components at
the output
• AC component is undesirable for DC motor
Effective Input Resistance Ripple Factor
𝑉𝑠 𝑉𝑠
𝑅𝑒𝑓𝑓 = = 2
𝐼𝑎 𝑘𝑉𝑠 Τ𝑅 𝑉𝑟𝑚𝑠
𝑅𝐹 = −1
𝑅 𝑉𝑎𝑣𝑔
𝑅𝑒𝑓𝑓 =
𝑘
• Input resistance acts as variable 1−𝑘
resistance 𝑅𝐹 =
• As duty cycle increases, the effective 𝑘
resistance decreases
Power Calculations
Input Power Output Power Efficiency
2
𝑃𝑖𝑛 = 𝑉𝑠 𝐼 𝑉𝑜(𝑟𝑚𝑠)
𝑃𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 𝑃𝑜𝑢𝑡
𝑅 η=
𝑉𝑠2 𝑃𝐼𝑛
𝑃𝑖𝑛 = 𝑘𝑉𝑠2
𝑅𝑒𝑓𝑓 𝑃𝑜𝑢𝑡 =
𝑅

• For a lossless or ideal chopper, the power dissipation across the chopper is zero
𝑃𝑖𝑛 = 𝑃𝑜𝑢𝑡
Types of Operation:
Constant Frequency Operation:
• The chopper’s switching frequency 𝑓 is
kept constant and the on-time 𝑡1 is
varied.
• Width of pulse is varied
• Pulse width modulation (PWM) control
• As frequency is constant, the
generated harmonics are integral
multiples of the fundamental
frequency
• Filtration is simpler
Variable Frequency Operation:
• Chopping frequency 𝑓 is varied
• Either on-time 𝑡1 or off-time 𝑡2 is kept
constant
• Called frequency modulation (FM)
control
• Produces harmonics of unpredictable
frequencies
• Filter design is complex
Points to Remember
• A step-down chopper acts as a variable resistance load
• It can produce an output from 0 to 𝑉𝑠 as the duty cycle varies from 0 to 1
• It is usually operated at a fixed frequency with variable duty cycle (PWM)
• Output voltage contains harmonics and a dc filter is needed to smooth out
the ripples
Example 5.1
A DC step down chopper has a resistive load of R=10Ω and the input
voltage is Vs = 220V. When the chopper switch remains on, its voltage
drop is Vch = 2V. The chopping frequency is f=1KHz. If the duty cycle is
50%, determine:
(a) The average output voltage
(b) The rms output voltage
(c) The converter efficiency
(d) The effective input resistance of the converter
(e) The ripple factor
A transistor dc step down chopper circuit is supplied with power form an ideal
battery of 100 V. The load voltage waveform consists of rectangular pulses of
duration 1ms in an overall cycle time of 2.5ms. Calculate, for resistive load of
10 Ω.
(a) The duty cycle k.
(b) The average value of the output voltage Vo.
(c) The rms value of the output voltage Vorms.
(d) The ripple factor RF.
(e) The output dc power.
Step Down Chopper with RL Load

FD: Freewheeling diode

Imax IAvg
Continuous output current
Imin
 𝑉𝑠 1 1 1
𝑖1 𝑡 =
−𝑡𝑅
𝐼1 𝑒 ൗ𝐿 +
−𝑡𝑅
1 − 𝑒 ൗ𝐿 0 ≤ 𝑡 ≤ 𝐾𝑇 𝐼𝐴𝑉𝐺 = 𝐼2 − 𝐼1 𝐾𝑇 + 𝐼2 − 𝐼1 𝑇 − 𝐾𝑇 + 𝐼1 𝑇
𝑅 𝑇 2 2

−𝑡𝑅
1
𝑖2 𝑡 = 𝐼2 𝑒 ൗ𝐿 0 ≤ 𝑡 ≤ (𝑇 − 𝐾𝑇) 𝐼𝐴𝑉𝐺 = 𝐼1 + 𝐼2
2

𝐴𝑡 𝑡1 𝑖. 𝑒. 𝐾𝑇
𝑖1 𝑡 = 𝐼2 𝑉𝑠 − 𝑉𝑜
𝐿𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 = 𝐾𝑇
−𝐾𝑇𝑅ൗ 𝑉𝑠 −𝐾𝑇𝑅ൗ
∆𝐼
𝐼2 = 𝐼1 𝑒 𝐿 + 1−𝑒 𝐿
𝑅 𝐼𝑓 𝐿 > 𝐿𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 → 𝐶𝐶𝑀
𝐴𝑡 𝑡2 𝑖. 𝑒. 𝑇 − 𝐾𝑇 𝐼𝑓 𝐿 < 𝐿𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 → 𝐷𝐶𝑀
𝑖2 𝑡 = 𝐼1 𝐼𝑓 𝐿 = 𝐿𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 → 𝐵𝐶𝑀
−(𝑇−𝐾𝑇)𝑅ൗ
𝐼1 = 𝐼2 𝑒 𝐿
Example
An 80 V battery supplies RL load through a DC chopper. The load has a
freewheeling diode across it is composed of 0.4 H in series with 5Ω resistor.
Load current, due to improper selection of frequency of chopping, varies
widely between 9A and 10.2.
(a) Find the average load voltage, current and the duty cycle of the chopper.
(b) What is the operating frequency f ?
(c) Find the ripple current to maximum current ratio.
Step Up Chopper
During tON
During tOFF
Complete Waveform for Step Up Chopper
Basic Operation
• 𝐼1 is the initial current in the circuit through the inductor when switch is
open
• 𝐼2 is the current when chopper switch is closed
• When switch S is closed for time interval 𝑡1 , the inductor current rises to 𝐼2
• Energy is being stored in the inductor
• When switch S is open for time interval 𝑡2 , energy stored in the inductor is
transferred to the load through diode 𝐷1
• Inductor current falls back to 𝐼1
• When chopper is turned on the voltage across the inductor:
𝑑𝑖 𝑉𝑆
𝑉𝐿 = 𝐿 ∆I = 𝑡1 (a)
𝑑𝑡 𝐿
• During time 𝑡1 , the voltage drop across the chopper is zero
• After 𝑡1 , when the switch is opened, the voltage across the inductor reverses
• Voltage across chopper:
𝑉𝑐ℎ = 𝑉𝑠 + 𝑉𝐿

𝐿∆𝐼
𝑉𝑐ℎ = 𝑉𝑠 +
𝑡2
• As 𝑉𝑐ℎ = 𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡
𝐿∆𝐼
𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 𝑉𝑠 + (b)
𝑡2
• Putting the value of ∆𝐼 from (a) to (b):

𝑉𝑠 𝑡1
𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 𝑉𝑠 +
𝑡2

𝑉𝑠
𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 =
1−𝑘

𝑡1
where 𝑘 = 𝑑𝑢𝑡𝑦 𝑐𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑒 =
𝑇