Course Material

on
Switched Mode Power Conversion

Department of Electrical Engineering

Indian Institute of Science
Bangalore 560012
(for Private Circulation Only)

V. Ramanarayanan

January 3, 2009
c V. Ramanarayanan 2005

First Edition 2005
Second Edition 2006
 i

Preface
Power electronics forms an important part of industrial electronics. Power
electronics is defined as the application of electronic devices and associated
components to the efficient conversion, control and conditioning of electric
power. The modern power electronics technology traces its origin to the tech-
nology of rectifiers developed using mercury arc devices. From this beginning
of simple ac-dc conversion of power, today the technology has grown to en-
compass the general definition given above. The conversion of power relates
to the form of electric power namely ac or dc. The control application relates
to the regulation of electrical quantities like voltage, current, power etc. or
the regulation of non-electrical quantities such as the speed of a motor, the
temperature in an oven, the intensity of lighting etc. The conditioning of
electrical power relates to the quality of power quantified through harmonic
content, reactive power in a system and so on.
The key aspect of power electronics is the efficiency of power processing. As
bulk power is processed in power electronic systems, high efficiency of power
conversion is vital for reasons of both the economic value of lost power as well
as the detrimental effect of the heat that the lost power results in a power
electronic system.
Traditionally the subject of power electronics is introduced in an undergrad-
uate curriculam more as “Thyristor and its applications” than as the subject
of power electronics proper [1]. The reason for this bias is understandable.
Historically the first commercial solid state power switching device available
was the silicon controlled rectifier (SCR). Initially the SCRs started replac-
ing the ignitron tubes for ac-dc conversion and Ward-Leonard systems for the
speed control of dc motors. With the availability of fast SCRs, the applica-
tion of SCRs entered the area of dc-ac power conversion as well. The subject
of power electronics practically grew with the application of SCRs. The un-
dergraduate curriculum therefore centered around the SCR and broadly dealt
with naturally commutated converters for ac-dc power conversion, and forced
commutated converters for the dc-ac power converters [8]. The application
area was broadly classified into natural commutated applications and forced
commutated applications. This classification itself grew out of the limitation
of the SCR that it cannot be turned off through the control gate. The focus of
such a curriculum was on the SCR in the centre and its myriad applications
based on the above classification.
However the monopoly of SCR as the power electronic switch was eroded
from the mid 1970s. The newer devices arriving in the commercial scene
were bipolar junction transistor (BJT), metal oxide semiconductor field effect
transistor (MOSFET), and the insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT). These
devices are fully controllable (both off/on transition and on/off transition),
faster in switching, and easier to control compared to the SCR. These modern
devices are getting closer and closer to the ideal properties of a switch. The
ii

classification of applications based on the property of SCR (natural/forced

commutation) has become dated.
Accordingly a curriculum addressing the under-graduate students under the
title Switched Mode Power Conversion is presented in this book [14]. This is
a sub-set of the broad subject matter of power electronics.
The subject matter is covered starting from the properties of ideal switches,
real power semiconductor switches and their idealisation, realisation of dif-
ferent circuit topologies, thier operation, steady state performance, dynamic
properties, analysis methods, idealised models, effect of non-idealities, control
strategies, application of feedback and feedforward control to achieve overall
performance and so on. This may be taken as a first course on Switched mode
power conversion. The material covered are as follows.
• Power Switching Elements
• Reactive Elements in Power Electronic Systems
• Control, Drive and Protection of Power Switching Devices
• DC-DC Converters
• DC-DC Converters Dynamics
• Closed Loop Control of Power Converters
• Current Programmed Converters
• Soft Switching Converters
• Unity Power Factor Rectifiers
Each chapter has a full complement of exercises and a problem set. Advanced
topics such as active filters, and simulation techniques applied to power con-
verters will be topics covered in the next edition of this book
Subject material such as Switched Mode Power Conversion is an application
subject. It will be very valuable to include in such a text book design examples
and data sheets of power switching devices, magnetic materials, control ICs,
manufacturer’s application notes etc. This has been done and the material
has been designed in the pdf format with links to all the necessary resource
material embedded in the same. The appendices carry a number of sections
which will enhance the understanding of the subject matter.

V. Ramanarayanan
vram@ee.iisc.ernet.in
Department of Electrial Engineering
Indian Institute of Science
560012
Contents

1 Power Switching Devices - Characteristics 1

1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Ideal Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Real Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.4 Practical Power Switching Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.5 Diodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.5.1 Schottky diodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.5.2 Rectifier diodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.5.3 Fast diodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.6 Thyristor or Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR) . . . . . . . . . 9
1.6.1 Gate turn-on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.6.2 Voltage turn-on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.6.3 dV/dt turn-on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.6.4 Temperature effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.6.5 Light firing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.6.6 Turn-off of an SCR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.6.7 Switching Characteristics of the SCR . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.7 Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.7.1 Switching Characteristics of the Transistor . . . . . . . 15
1.8 MOS Field Effect Transistor(MOSFET) . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.8.1 Switching Charcteristics of the MOSFET . . . . . . . . 18
1.9 Gate Turn-off Thyristor (GTO) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.9.1 Turn-on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.9.2 Conduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1.9.3 Turn-off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1.9.4 Blocking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
1.9.5 Gate Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
1.10 Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) . . . . . . . . . . . 23
1.10.1 Switching Characteristics of the IGBT . . . . . . . . . 25
1.11 Integrated Gate Commutated Thyristor (IGCT) . . . . . . . . 26
1.12 Comparisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
1.13 Thermal Design of Power Switching Devices . . . . . . . . . . 28
1.13.1 Thermal model of the device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
iv CONTENTS

1.13.2 Steady state temperature rise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

1.13.3 Transient temperature rise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
1.13.4 Equivalent circuit of the thermal model . . . . . . . . . 31
1.14 Intelligent Power Modules (IPM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
1.15 Illustrated Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
1.16 Problem Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

2 Reactive Elements in Power Electronic Systems 47

2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.2 Electromagnetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.3 Design of Inductor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
2.3.1 Material constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
2.3.2 Design Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
2.3.3 Design steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
2.4 Design of Transformer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
2.4.1 Design Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
2.4.2 Transformer and Choke Design Table . . . . . . . . . . 57
2.5 Capacitors for Power Electronic Application . . . . . . . . . . 57
2.6 Types of Capacitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
2.6.1 Coupling Capacitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
2.6.2 Power capacitors (low frequency) . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
2.6.3 Power capacitors (high frequency) . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
2.6.4 Filter capacitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
2.6.5 Pulse capacitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
2.6.6 Damping capacitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
2.6.7 Commutation capacitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
2.6.8 Resonant capacitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
2.7 Illustrated Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

3 Control, Drive and Protection of Power Switching Devices 69

3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.2 Base Drive Circuits for BJT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.2.1 Requirements of Base Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.2.2 Drive Circuit 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.2.3 Drive Circuit 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.2.4 Drive Circuit 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
3.2.5 Drive Circuit 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
3.2.6 Drive Circuit 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
3.2.7 Drive Circuit 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
3.2.8 Drive Circuit 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
3.2.9 Drive Circuit 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
3.3 Snubber Circuits for Power Switching Devices . . . . . . . . . 75
3.3.1 Turn-off Snubber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
3.3.2 Turn-on Snubber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
CONTENTS v

3.4 Gate Drive Circuits for MOSFET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

3.4.1 Requirements of Gate Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
3.5 Illustrated Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

4 DC-TO-DC Converter 95
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
4.2 Simple DC to DC Converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
4.2.1 Series Controlled Regulator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
4.2.2 Shunt Controlled Converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
4.2.3 Practical Regulators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
4.3 Switched Mode Power Converters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
4.3.1 Primitive dc-to-dc Converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
4.3.2 A Simplified Analysis Of The Primitive Converter . . . 104
4.3.3 Nonidealities in the Primitive Converters: . . . . . . . 106
4.4 More Versatile Power Converters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
4.4.1 Buck Converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
4.4.2 Boost Converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
4.4.3 Buck-Boost Converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
4.5 Discontinuous Mode of Operation in dc to dc Converters . . . 115
4.5.1 Buck converter in DCM Operation . . . . . . . . . . . 117
4.6 Isolated dc to dc Converters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
4.6.1 Forward Converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
4.6.2 Push-Pull converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
4.6.3 Half and Full Bridge Converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
4.6.4 Fly-back Converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
4.7 Problem Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

5 DC-TO-DC Converter – Dynamics 135

5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
5.2 Pulse Width Modulated Converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
5.2.1 Dynamic and Output Equations of the Converter . . . 137
5.3 An Idealized Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
5.4 A More Realistic Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
5.5 Averaged Model of the Converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
5.5.1 Steady State Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
5.5.2 Small Signal Model of The Converter . . . . . . . . . . 146
5.5.3 Transfer Functions of the converter . . . . . . . . . . . 147
5.5.4 Example of a Boost Converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
5.6 Circuit Averaged Model of the Converters . . . . . . . . . . . 152
5.7 Generalised State Space Model of the Converter . . . . . . . . 155
5.7.1 Generalised Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
5.7.2 Linear Small signal Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
5.7.3 Dynamic functions of the Converter . . . . . . . . . . . 157
5.7.4 Circuit Averaged Model Quantities . . . . . . . . . . . 158
vi CONTENTS

5.8 Some Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

5.8.1 Buck Converter: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
5.8.2 Boost Converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
5.8.3 Buck-Boost Converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
5.9 Dynamic Model of Converters Operating in DCM . . . . . . . 163
5.9.1 Dynamic Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
5.9.2 Fly back Converter Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
5.10 Problem Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

6 Closed Loop Control of Power Converters 179

6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
6.2 Closed Loop Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
6.2.1 Control Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
6.2.2 Compensator Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
6.2.3 Design of Compensator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
6.2.4 A Simple Design Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
6.3 Closed Loop Performance Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
6.3.1 Audio Susceptibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
6.3.2 Input Admittance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
6.3.3 Output Impedance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
6.4 Effect of Input Filter on the Converter Performance . . . . . . 187
6.5 Design Criteria For Selection of Input Filter . . . . . . . . . . 193
6.5.1 Design Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
6.6 Problem Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

7 Current Programmed Control of DC to DC Converters 203

7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
7.2 Sub-harmonic Instability in Current Programmed Control . . 204
7.2.1 Compensation to Overcome Sub-harmonic Instability . 206
7.3 Determination of Duty Ratio for Current Programmed Control 207
7.3.1 Buck Converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
7.3.2 Boost Converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
7.3.3 Buck-Boost Converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
7.4 Transfer Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
7.4.1 Buck Converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
7.4.2 Boost Converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
7.4.3 Buck-Boost Converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
7.5 Problem Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

8 Soft Switching Converters 217

8.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
8.2 Resonant Load Converters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
8.2.1 Principle of Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
8.2.2 SMPS Using Resonant Circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
CONTENTS vii

8.2.3 Steady State Modeling of Resonant SMPS . . . . . . . 225

8.2.4 Approximate Design Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
8.2.5 Design Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
8.3 Resonant Switch Converters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
8.3.1 Switch Realisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
8.3.2 Buck Converter with Zero Current Switching . . . . . . 233
8.3.3 Operation of the Circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
8.3.4 Conversion Ratio of the Converter . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
8.3.5 Halfwave Operation of the Converter . . . . . . . . . . 238
8.3.6 Boost Converter with Zero Voltage Switching . . . . . 239
8.4 Resonant Transition Phase Modulated Converters . . . . . . . 244
8.4.1 Basic Principle of Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
8.4.2 Analysis of a complete cycle of operation . . . . . . . . 246
8.4.3 Design considerations to achieve ZVS . . . . . . . . . . 249
8.4.4 Development Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
8.5 Resonant Switching Converters with Active Clamp . . . . . . 252
8.5.1 Analysis of Active Clamp ZVS Buck Converter . . . . 253
8.5.2 Steady State Conversion Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
8.5.3 Equivalent Circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
8.6 Problem Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

9 Unity Power Factor Rectifiers 265

9.1 Power Circuit of UPF Rectifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
9.1.1 Universal Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
9.2 Average Current Mode Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
9.2.1 Voltage Feedforward Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
9.3 Resistor Emulator UPF Rectifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
9.3.1 Non-linear Carrier Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
9.3.2 Scalar Controlled Resistor Emulator . . . . . . . . . . 269
9.3.3 Single Phase and Polyphase Rectifier . . . . . . . . . . 270
9.4 Problem Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

A Review of Control Theory 273

A.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
A.1.1 System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
A.1.2 Dynamic System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
A.1.3 Linear Dynamic System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
A.1.4 A Simple Linear System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
A.1.5 A Simple Linear Dynamic System . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
A.2 Laplace Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
A.2.1 Transfer Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
A.2.2 Physical Interpretation of the Transfer Function . . . . 278
A.2.3 Bode Plots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
A.2.4 Some Terminologies on Transfer Function . . . . . . . . 279
viii CONTENTS

A.2.5 Asymptotic Bode Plots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

A.3 Principles of Closed Loop Control of Linear Systems . . . . . . 284
A.3.1 Effect of the Non ideal G(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

B Extra Element Theorem 287

B.1 Concept of Double Injection and Extra Element Theorem . . . 287
B.2 Some Application Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
B.2.1 Transfer Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
B.2.2 Output Impedance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
B.2.3 Input Impedance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
B.2.4 Transistor Amplifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

C Per Unit Description of Switched Mode Power Converters 295

C.1 Normalised Models of Switched Mode Power Converters . . . . 295
C.1.1 Normalisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
C.1.2 Dynamic Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
C.1.3 Dynamic Equations in pu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
C.1.4 Some Sample Converters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
C.2 Problem Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

D Visualisation of Functions 305

D.1 Mathematical Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
D.1.1 Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
D.1.2 Exponential Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
D.1.3 A Composite Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
D.1.4 Trigonometric Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
D.1.5 Composite Trigonometric Functions . . . . . . . . . . . 310
D.1.6 Hyperbolic Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
D.2 Functions as Differential Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
D.2.1 Some Common Functions as Differential Equations . . 312
D.3 Strong and Weak Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
D.4 Linear and Non-linear Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
D.5 Steady-State and Dynamic Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
D.6 Impedance Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
D.6.1 Series RL Circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
D.6.2 Shunt RC Circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
D.6.3 A Composite RLC Circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
D.7 Rational Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
D.8 Periodic Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
D.8.1 Certain Symmetries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323