A ZVS-PWM Single-Phase Inverter Using a ZVS
Transformer-Isolated Step-Up/Down DC Link
Chien-Ming Wang and Guan-Yu Chen
Department of Electrical Engineering
National Ilan University
I-Lan, Taiwan
Abstract—A zero-voltage switching (ZVS) pulse-width-
modulation (PWM) single- phase inverter using a ZVS
transformer-isolated step-up/down dc link is presented in this
paper. The proposed ZVS transformer-isolated step-up/down dc
link not only makes the switches in single-phase inverter can
operate at ZVS condition, but it has a step-up/down input voltage
function and it provides an isolation function. Moreover, the
switches in itself also operate at ZVS. Except for the switch in the
ZVS-PWM auxiliary circuit of the proposed ZVS transformer-
isolated step-up/down dc link, all power semiconductor devices in
proposed inverter operate at ZVS turn on and turn off. The
switch in the ZVS-PWM auxiliary circuit of proposed ZVS
transformer-isolated step-up/down dc link operates at zero-
current-switching (ZCS) turn-on and turn-off. Thus, the
switching losses can be reduced. The proposed ZVS-PWM
inverter operates at constant frequency. The voltage stress and
current stress on the main semiconductors in the proposed ZVS-
PWM inverter are the same them in conventional hard switching
inverter. The analysis of operation principle and experimental
results of the proposed ZVS-PWM inverter, rated 2kW and
operated at 40 kHz, are provided in this paper to verify the
performance.
Keywords—pulse-width-modulation (PWM); inverter; ZVS
I. INTRODUCTION
Because the PWM voltage-source inverter is easy to
implement and its harmonic is easy to be eliminated by power
filter, it has been widely used in industrial application such as
uninterruptible power supplies, static frequency changers and
variable speed drives. However, it must increase the switching
frequency to reduce the size and weight of components for
increasing power density. Nevertheless, it will increase the
more switching losses and electromagnetic interference (EMI).
Recently, a number of soft-switching technique for inverter
were presented. One of the techniques is that the resonant
circuit is used in the DC-link. It can reduces the input voltage
of the inverter to zero by resonant method at certain moments.
If the power switches of the inverter are controlled to switch at
this moment, then ZVS can be achieved. There are several
available circuits for producing a resonant dc link (RDCL) and
they are presented in [1]-[10]. Some of these circuits operate at
fixed resonant frequency, i.e. the switching moments of the
switches of inverter are predetermined by the resonance period
[1]-[2]. They are unsuitable for PWM techniques because they
have not a function which is continuous variation of the pulse
width. For improve this drawback, lot of work has been done
on the quasi-resonant DC-link (QRDCL) power converters [3]-
[10] for ZVS techniques to eliminate switching losses in PWM
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inverter. They generate zero voltage instants in dc-link at
controllable instants, which can be synchronized with any
PWM transition command, thus ensuring ZVS condition. As a
result, these inverters can be operated at high switching
frequencies with high efficiency, and reduced size and device
stresses. In QRDCL circuits, the input current of inverter is
always assumed as a unidirectional constant current source. In
a three-phase inverter, this assumption is correct because the
input current of three phase inverter is unidirectional current
without respect to the load type. However, in a single-phase
inverter, its input current is bidirectional current. This
assumption is incorrect and it will affect the operation of
QRDCL circuits.
Fig. 1 The proposed ZVS-PWM inverter using a ZVS transformer-isolated step
up/down DC link
A ZVS transformer-isolated step up/down DC link circuit
for PWM unipolar single-phase inverter is presented in this
paper to overcome this problem. This proposed ZVS
transformer-isolated step up/down DC link circuit uses new
control strategy to get high frequency pulse dc-link in input of
inverter. Thus, the proposed ZVS transformer-isolated step
up/down DC link circuit not only owns the step up/down
voltage characteristic and isolation function but provides the
ZVS on all semiconductors in the PWM unipolar single-phase
inverter. Also, the switching cycle of the proposed ZVS
transformer-isolated step up/down DC link circuit and PWM
unipolar single-phase inverter is synchronous. The switching
noise interference can be removed. Furthermore, in order to
achieve the aim that all semiconductor devices in the proposed
ZVS-PWM inverter operate at ZVS without additional voltage
stress and current stress, a ZVS cell is used in the proposed
ZVS transformer-isolated step up/down DC link circuit to
provide the semiconductor devices in the proposed ZVS
transformer-isolated step up/down DC link circuit operate at
ZVS. Thus, the switching losses in the proposed ZVS-PWM
inverter can be reduced. For achieving good dynamic
687
 regulation and properly gating the power switches, the
sinusoidal pulse-width modulation (SPWM) control strategy is
designed in the proposed ZVS-PWM inverter. System analysis
(a)
(d)
(g)
(j)
Fig. 2 The topology stages of proposed ZVS-PWM inverter.
II. PRINCIPLE OF PROPOSE ZVS-PWM INVETER
The main power circuit of the proposed ZVS-PWM single-
phase inverter is shown in Fig. 1. The circuit includes three
sections. The first section is a conventional PWM buck inverter
with unipolar voltage switching. This section composes of the
switches S1, S2, S3, S4, and output filter Lf, Cf. It is a unipolar
type voltage source inverter. It performs the DC to AC
conversion function and provides a stable AC output voltage.
The second section is the proposed ZVS transformer-isolated
step up/down DC link, composes of Tm, SB, CB, and the body
diodes of the switches S1, S2, S3, S4. This section provides an
isolation function between input and output. It also provides a
step up/down voltage function in high frequency pulse dc-link
for the input of the inverter in the first section and the zero-
voltage-switching function on all semiconductors of the
inverter in the first section. The third section is a ZVS cell to
provide the ZVS on the switch SB and the body diodes of the
switches S1, S2, S3, S4. It composes of the diodes Da1, Da2, a
resonant inductor Lr, a resonant capacitor Cr, a transformer Tr,
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for predicting and evaluating the inverter performance are
conducted.
(b) (c)
(e) (f)
(h) (i)
(k) (l)
and a switch Sa. To simplify the analysis, it is assumed that the
proposed ZVS-PWM single-phase inverter is operated in the k-
th switching period. iLm, iLf, and vCB are assumed as constant
and equaled to ILm, ILfk and VCB during one switching cycle. The
circuit operation about the proposed ZVS-PWM inverter in one
switching includes twelve stages. The relative dynamic
equivalent circuits and the ideal relevant waveforms about the
circuit operation are shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, respectively.
STAGE 1 [ Fig. 2(a) : t0 < t < t1]:
Before t=t0, SB and Sa are turn-off state, S1, S2, S3 and S4
are turn-on state. The energy stored in Lm is delivered to CB
and the inverter is operated in freewheeling state. This stage
begins when Sa turns on under ZCS. Lr is charged linearly by
Vin+VCB. iLr(t) increases linearly. The stage ends when iLr(t)
reaches ILm+ILfk and body diodes of S1, S2, S3, and S4 turn off
with ZCS at t=t1.
STAGE 2 [Fig. 2(b) : t1 < t < t2]:
 During this stage, the ZVS cell starts resonance
behavior. iLr(t) increases and vCr(t) decreases. The energy
stored in CB gradually supplies to the inverter. The stage is
finished when vCr(t) drops to zero.
STAGE 3 [ Fig. 2(c) : t2 < t < t3]:
In this stage, SB turns on at ZVS. The energy stored in Lr
is delivered back to CB via Tr. iLr(t) decreases linearly. Lm is
charged by DC input source. The DC input source voltage and
the energy stored in CB supplies to inverter stage. This stage
ends when iLr(t) drops to zero and the body diode of SB, Da
naturally close at ZCS.
Fig. 3 Ideal relevant waveforms of proposed ZVS-PWM inverter.
STAGE 4 [ Fig. 2(d) : t3 < t < t4]:
During this stage, Lm is continuously charged by DC
input source. The DC input source and the energy stored in
capacitor CB also continuously supplies to inverter stage.
STAGE 5 [ Fig. 2(e) : t4 < t < t5]:
This stage begins when SB turns off at ZVS. Cr is
charged linearly by ILm. vCr(t) increases linearly. This stage is
finished when vCr(t) equals Vin+VCB.
STAGE 6 [ Fig. 2(f) : t5 < t < t6]:
During this stage, the body diode of S1, S2, S3, and S4 are
turned on at ZVS. The energy stored in Lm is delivered to CB.
The inverter stage starts a freewheeling state. This stage is
finished when Sa is triggered again.
STAGE 7 [ Fig. 2(g) : t6 < t < t7]:
This stage begins when Sa turns on under ZCS again. Lr
is chargesdlinearly by Vin+VCB again. iLr(t) increases linearly.
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The stage ends when iLr(t) reaches ILm and body diodes of S1
and S2 turn off with ZCS at t=t7.
STAGE 8 [ Fig. 2(h) : t7 < t < t8]:
During this stage, the ZVS cell starts resonance behavior
again. iLr(t) increases and vCr(t) decreases. The inverter stage
is operated at freewheeling state. The stage is finished when
vCr(t) drops to zero.
STAGE 9 [ Fig. 2(i) : t8 < t < t9]:
This stage begins when vCr(t) equals zero and SB turns on at
ZVS. The energy stored in Lr is delivered back to CB via Tr.
iLr(t) decreases linearly. Lm is charged by DC input source.
The inverter stage continuously operates at freewheeling state.
This stage ends when iLr(t) drops to zero and the body diode
of SB, Da naturally close at ZCS.
STAGE 10 [ Fig. 2(j) : t9 < t < t10]:
During this stage, Lm is continuously charged by DC input
source. The inverter stage still operates at freewheeling state.
STAGE 11 [ Fig. 2(k) : t10 < t < t11]:
This stage begins when SB turns off at ZVS. Cr is charged
linearly by ILm. vCr(t) increases linearly. This stage is finished
when vCr(t) equals Vin+VCB.
STAGE 12 [ Fig. 2(l) : t11 < t < t12]:
This stage begins when the body diode of S1, S2, S3, and S4
turn on at ZVS. The energy stored in Lm is delivered to CB.
The inverter stage continuously operates at freewheeling state.
This stage is finished when Sa is triggered again.
After stage 12, the circuit operation returns to stage 1. vCr(t)
equals Vin+VCB and equals zero. Thus, the previous
assumption is valid.
III. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
An example of a 2kW proposed ZVS-PWM single-
phase inverter is designed and realized. The implemented
power stage circuit is shown in Fig. 1. The relative
specification is described as follows.
z Input voltage : Vin=200V
z Output voltage : vo (t ) = 110 2 sin[2π (60)]t
z Maximum output power: Po,max=2kW
z Switching frequency: 40kHz
Lr and Cr are selected as Lr=1.3H and Cr=22nF. Lm and CB
are also selected as Lm=1mH, CB=4.7Ňįġ Lf and Cf to
minimize the undesired harmonics of the output ac voltage are
selected as Lf=1mH, Cf=4.7Ňį
In hardware realization, MOSFET’s IRFP 460 and S30L60
are selected as the power switches and diodes in this design.
The commutation phenomenon in the switches SB, Sa, S1, and
S3 are measured in Fig. 4 and Fig.5, respectively. The
experimental results shown in Figs. 4 and 5, demonstrate that
zero-voltage-switching is achieved at constant frequency for
the switches (SB, Sa, S1, and S3). The measured waveforms of
output voltage and current are also shown in Fig. 6, in which
 the measured total harmonic distortions (THDs) of output the experimentally obtained efficiency from the presented
voltage for the mentioned loads are given as 1.63%. Moreover, ZVS-PWM single-phase inverter equals 94.5% for rated load.

(a) (b)
Fig. 4 Commutation in SB and Sa of the proposed ZVS-PWM transformer-isolated step up/down dc link VDSB, VDBa: 250V/div; IDSB, IDSa:20A/div, time:5s.

(a) (b)
Fig. 5 Commutation in S1 and S3 of the proposed inverter. VDS1, VDB1: 250V/div; IDS1, IDS1:10A/div, time:5s.

Fig. 6 The waveforms of output voltage vo(t) and current io(t) of the proposed inverter.

inverter combines the advantages of the SPWM and ZVS

IV. CONCLUSION
This paper has presented a ZVS-PWM single-phase
inverter with a simple and compact configuration. The circuit
operation about it was analyzed. The proposed ZVS
transformer-isolated step up/down DC link not only owns the
step up/down voltage characteristic and isolation function but
provides the ZVS on all semiconductors in the unipolar type
single-phase inverter. All semiconductor devices in the
proposed inverter operate at ZVS turn on and turn off. The
proposed inverter is regulated by the conventional SPWM
technique at constant frequency. Therefore, the proposed
techniques. High power efficiency over 94.5% is acquired
under the rated power of 2000W for proposed ZVS-PWM
single-phase inverter. Some experiment results prove the truth
of the theoretical prediction.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
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America is without an “e” after the “g.” Avoid the stilted
expression “one of us (R. B. G.) thanks ...”. Instead, try “R. B.
G. thanks...”. Put sponsor acknowledgments in the unnumbered
footnote on the first page.

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