[MUSIC PLAYING] So now in part 5 of the series, we're going to take an introductory

look at the phase-shifted full bridge. This is a typology which is very well suited
to battery charter applications, especially those where the input voltage is high.

The phase-shifted full-bridge topology is a good choice at these power and voltage
levels because it achieves zero-voltage switching, which significantly reduces
switching losses. This is especially important at high-input voltages. It uses the
full flux swing available from the transformer core so that a smaller transformer
is possible. The transformer primary is driven with the full-input voltage,
minimizing primary currents. And efficiencies of greater than 99% can be achieved
with careful design. The main disadvantage is that it requires four active switches
on the transformer primary. However, the added complexity is justifiable at high
power levels because of the improvement in transformer utilization.

So this is the schematic of a phase-shifted full-bridge circuit. QA, B, C, and D

are the four primary side switches. QE and F are the second reset rectifiers. Other
secondary rectification circuits are possible, and we will look at these later. But
for now, I'm going to concentrate on the center top full-bridge rectifier.

The phase-shifted full bridge is a double-ended topology, which means that both
ends of the transformer primary are alternately switched between Vin and zero
volts. This allows electrical positive negative fluxing in the transformer core so
that core reset is not an issue. The transformer primary sees the full-input
voltage, so currents are less than in other typologies.

The phase-shifted full bridge is a buck-derived typology, so the input-to-output

conversion ratio is directly proportional to the duty cycle. There are two active
power transfer states, two passive or freewheeling states, and four ZVS transitions
per switching cycle. And we look at these in more detail in part 6 of this series.

There are different terms used for the legs of the full bridge when describing this
typology. I'm going to simply call them the left and right legs, although the PA
and AP terms are also used and so deserve some clarification. The left leg is also
called the passive to active or PA leg because it switches at the start of an
energy transfer interval. That is when the bridge begins to actively transfer
energy from the impulse.

The right light is also known as the active to passive or AP leg because it
terminates the active transfer of energy from the input to the output. And the
bridge then enters the passive state, during which the output inductor supplies the
output current. Just to restate-- the phase-shifted full bridge is well-suited to
high-input, voltage high-power applications, because of excellent transformer core
utilization, and its ability to achieve ZVS.

So the phase-shifted full bridge can achieve ZVS, but it's not guaranteed to do so.
The ZVS transition is a resonant transition whose frequency is set by the
capacitances and inductances at the switching nodes A and B. In order to achieve
ZVS, the system must be designed with enough energy storage and with the
appropriate delay times between switching events to allow the transitions to
happen.

This graphic shows the gate drives to QA and QB in red and blue and taupe-- and QC
and QD, red and blue in the middle. The voltage across the transformer is shown in
brown at the bottom. The switching waveforms are all at 50% duty cycle, less 1% or
2% to allow time for the ZVS transitions. OUTA and OUTB are the reference pair, and
they don't change.

The control shifts the phase of OUTC and OUTD, with respect to the reference pair
to control the duty cycle seen by the transformer. And energy transfer from the
prime to the secondary happens when the analog pairs of switches are on QA and QB
or QB and QC. The duty cycle is simply the proportion of the switching cycle for
which voltage is applied to the transformer.

The controller shifts the phase of OUTC and OUTD, with respect to the reference
pair to control the duty cycle seen by the transformer. Energy transfer from
primary to secondary happens when diagonal pairs of switches are on QA and QD or QB
and QC. The duty cycle is simply the proportion of the switching cycle for which
voltage is applied to the transformer. And this is the end of part 5.

Now, let's move on to part 6, which deals in more detail with how the phase-shifted
full bridge works.