Lecture 6: DC-DC Conversion

ELEC-E8405 Electric Drives (5 ECTS)

Marko Hinkkanen
Autumn 2019

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Learning Outcomes

After this lecture and exercises you will be able to:

I Explain basic operating principles of switched DC-DC conversion
I Draw the equivalent circuit of a 4-quadrant DC-DC converter
I Implement a simple pulse-width modulator in the Simulink software

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Outline

Introduction

Buck Converter

4-Quadrant DC-DC Converter

Unipolar Pulse-Width Modulation

Synchronous Sampling

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Symbol Used for the DC Motor

ia La Ra ia

ua ea = ua

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Introduction

DC-DC
Battery converter
I DC source voltage Udc is typically a
battery or a diode bridge Udc ua
I Armature voltage ua has to be
adjusted in order to be able to
control the speed and torque
DC-DC
I Topologies and control of DC-DC Rectifier converter
Grid
converters are very similar to those
of three-phase inverters ua

Thyristor bridges could be used to feed the DC motors, but they are not considered in this course.
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DC-DC Converters Are Similar to 3-Phase Inverters

4-quadrant 3-phase
DC-DC converter inverter AC motor
DC motor

Udc Udc

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Why Not Linear Voltage Regulation?

ia

Udc ua
I In principle, ua could be adjusted using a
rheostat or a transistor in the linear region
I What would be the efficiency if Udc = 100 V Rheostat
and ua = 50 V? What would be the losses in
the transistor if ia = 10 A? uCE ia
I Why linear voltage regulation does not work
in practice (except in very low-power drives)? Udc ua

Transistor in the linear region

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Outline

Introduction

Buck Converter

4-Quadrant DC-DC Converter

Unipolar Pulse-Width Modulation

Synchronous Sampling

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Switched-Mode DC-DC Conversion

I To avoid high losses, the transistor is switched

periodically on and off
I Typical power semiconductors: gate
IGBT, MOSFET, thyristor, GTO uCE
I We will assume ideal switches Udc

I Typical switching frequencies fsw = 1 . . . 50 kHz ua

I Figure shows a buck converter ia

(step-down converter)

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Buck Converter
iC

uCE ≈ 0
I Low power loss uCE iC in the transistor Udc
On-state: uCE ≈ 0 ua = Udc
Off-state: iC = 0
I Motor is an inductive load On-state
I Current ia must flow even when the
transistor is switched off iC
Freewheeling
I Freewheeling diode is needed diode
I Next we will consider short time periods
ia
I ea = constant and Ra = 0 can be assumed Udc
ua = 0

Off-state
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 iC
ua ua
Udc ia
Udc
0 ua = Udc
t+ t− t
ia ia
∆ia On-state (t+ )
iC
0
t
iC
ia
Udc
0 ua = 0
Tsw t
Off-state (t− )

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 I Duty cycle
ua ua
Udc t+
d= 0≤d≤1
Tsw
0
t+ t− t I t+ is the on-time
ia ia
∆ia I Tsw is the switching period
I Average of the voltage ua
0
t 1
Z Tsw
iC ua = ua dt
Tsw 0
= dUdc
0
Tsw t
over the period Tsw

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Current Ripple
ua Tsw
Udc
I Voltage equation

dia 0
La = ua − ea t+ t− t
dt ia
∆ia
I On-state: ua = Udc
Z t+ 0
1 t
∆ia = (Udc − ea )dt
La 0 I Duty ratio in steady state
(Udc − ea )t+
= t+ Ua Ea
La D= = =
Tsw Udc Udc
I Off-state: ua = 0
I Current ripple in steady state
Z t−
1 ea t−
−∆ia = (−ea )dt = − D(1 − D)Udc
La 0 La ∆ia =
fsw La
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Maximum Current Ripple

I Maximum ripple for D = 1/2 (at about half base speed)

Udc
∆ia,max =
4fsw La
I Example parameter values for a 1-kW DC motor

La = 50 mH Udc = 100 V fsw = 5 kHz ⇒ ∆ia,max = 0.1 A

I If the rated current is 10 A, the current ripple is only 1%

(5 kHz is not a high switching frequency at 1-kW power level)
I Current ripple ∆ia and torque ripple ∆TM = kf ∆ia are typically insignificant

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Outline

Introduction

Buck Converter

4-Quadrant DC-DC Converter

Unipolar Pulse-Width Modulation

Synchronous Sampling

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Four Quadrants

TM
I Back-emf ea = kf ωM
I Torque TM = kf ia Generating Motoring
ea < 0 ea > 0
I Mechanical power ia > 0 ia > 0
pM = ωM TM = ea ia
I Converter should allow both its Motoring Generating ωM
output voltage ua ≈ ea and current ia ea < 0 ea > 0
to reverse in 4-quadrant operation ia < 0 ia < 0

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4-Quadrant DC-DC-Converter

S1 and S4 switched ON: ua = Udc ua

S1 ia S3
S2 and S3 switched ON: ua = −Udc
Udc
S1 and S3 switched ON: ua = 0
S2 S4
S2 and S4 switched ON: ua = 0

This circuit topology is also known as a 1-phase inverter, full bridge, and H-bridge.
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Operation Modes
Only Nonzero Voltage Switching States Are Shown

ua ua
ia ia
Udc Udc

ua = Udc , ia > 0 ua = −Udc , ia > 0

ua ua
ia ia
Udc Udc

ua = Udc , ia < 0 ua = −Udc , ia < 0

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Notation of Potentials and Voltages
Leg A Leg B

ua
I Legs can be modelled as ia
Udc A B
bi-positional switches
I Negative DC-bus potential N N
I uAN is the voltage between
Circuit diagram
potentials A and N
I uBN is the voltage between
potentials B and N A ia
I Converter output voltage
Udc ua
ua = uAN − uBN B
N
Equivalent circuit
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Switching States of the Bi-Positional Switches

I Switching state q
I q = 0 if the switch is connected to N
I q = 1 if the switch is connected to P P
A ia
I Pole voltages

uAN = qA Udc uBN = qB Udc Udc ua

B
I Converter output voltage N

ua = (qA − qB )Udc qA
qB
I Figure: qA = 1 and qB = 0, giving ua = Udc

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Switching-Cycle Averaged Quantities
uAN dA Tsw
Udc uAN
I Average pole voltage over Tsw
0
1
Z Tsw t
uAN = uAN dt = dA Udc uBN dB Tsw
Tsw 0 Udc
I Average voltage uBN is obtained uBN
similarly 0
t
I Average output voltage ua
Udc
ua = (dA − dB )Udc ua

0
Tsw t

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Outline

Introduction

Buck Converter

4-Quadrant DC-DC Converter

Unipolar Pulse-Width Modulation

Synchronous Sampling

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Pulse-Width Modulation

I PWM generates the control signals

qA and qB for the power switches A ia
I Goal: switching-cycle averaged
voltage ua equals the reference Udc ua
voltage ua,ref B
I Various PWM methods exist: they all N
give ua = ua,ref but produce different
qA
pulse patterns ua,ref
PWM qB
I Unipolar PWM will be considered in
the following

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Duty Cycles
qA dA Tsw
I Conditions ua = ua,ref and dA + dB = 1 1 dA
lead to the duty cycles
  0
1 ua,ref t
dA = 1+ qB
2 Udc dB Tsw
1

ua,ref
 1
dB = 1− dB
2 Udc
0
I Example in the figure: ua,ref = 0.5Udc t
ua
I What are the duty cycles dA and dB ?
Udc
I How to generate the control signals qA ua,ref
and qB ?
0
Tsw t

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Carrier Comparison
qA
1
I Carrier comparison is often used for dA
generating the control signals 0
I Triangular carrier with the period Tsw t
qB carrier
I Magnitude varies between 0 and 1
1
I If d is higher than the carrier, then q = 1
dB
(otherwise q = 0)
0
I Same carrier for both dA and dB t
ua
I Next slide: step change in the voltage
Udc
reference (−0.5Udc → 0.75Udc ) ua,ref

0
Tsw t
There are various ways to scale the carrier waveform and the reference quantities. Using the carrier varying between 0 and 1 together with the
duty cycle references is convenient in digital implementation.
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 qA
  1
1 ua,ref
dA = 1+ dA
2 Udc
0
t
qB
  1
1 ua,ref
dB = 1− dB
2 Udc
0
t
ua
Udc
ua,ref
ua = (dA − dB )Udc 0
t

−Udc

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Outline

Introduction

Buck Converter

4-Quadrant DC-DC Converter

Unipolar Pulse-Width Modulation

Synchronous Sampling

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Digital Controller

ia

I Current is measured for the feedback of Udc ua

the current controller
I Digital controllers are used nowadays ia
qA , qB
I Sampling of the current is typically
synchronized with the PWM PWM Sampling
I Synchronised sampling effectively
ua,ref (k) ia (k)
removes the current ripple from the
samples Current controller

ia,ref (k)

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Synchronous Sampling
carrier Tsw
1
I Voltage reference ua,ref can be updated
in the beginning and in the middle of the 0
carrier (marked with the circles) t
ua
I Current samples (circles) can be taken
Udc ua,ref
at these same time instants
I Next slide: Current response is
0
governed by t
ia
dia
La = ua − ea ia
dt
where Ra = 0 is assumed 0
Ts Ts t

Different variants of sampling synchronized with the PWM exist, while only one is presented here. Furthermore, it can be noticed that actually four
current samples per carrier period could be taken without the current ripple in the case of the unipolar PWM.
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 ua
Udc ea

0
ua,ref t

−Udc
ia

ia
0
t
Ts Ts

Tsw

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 ua
Udc

0
t

−Udc
ia
When considering the current controller,
ua = ua and ia = ia can be assumed.

0
t

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