MODELLING OF A ZVS FULL-BRIDGE DC-DC CONVERTER FOR
PHOTOVOLTAIC APPLICATIONS
Bernardo Andres, Leonardo Cassol Bach, Mário Lúcio da Silva Martins,
Hélio Leães Hey, Rafael Concatto Beltrame
Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria – RS, Brazil
e-mail: bernardoandres@mail.ufsm.br, beltrame@gepoc.ufsm.br
Abstract – This paper presents the small-signal ac
model of a zero-voltage switching full-bridge dc-dc
converter employed as a micro-inverter (MIC) in
photovoltaic applications. The proposed model relates the
input voltage (supplied by the photovoltaic module) with
phase-delay of phase-shift modulation. It can be used to
design the voltage controller to implement the desired
maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm. To
accomplish this goal, the state-space averaging approach
is used. Experimental results (step response and
frequency sweep) are obtained to validate the model.
Keywords – Full-bridge dc-dc converter, Phase-shift
PWM, Photovoltaic (PV), Zero-voltage switching (ZVS).
I. INTRODUCTION
Carbon dioxide, a residue from fossil fuels combustion,
is one of main responsible of the greenhouse effect. This
effect causes climate changes, affecting the global
environment with potential catastrophic consequences.
Beyond the environmental problems, fossil fuels resources
are not perennial, requiring to be replaced in the near future
by new solutions, like renewable energy sources [1]-[2].
Currently, photovoltaic (PV) energy is receiving a great
attention, since this primary energy resource is theoretically
infinite, clean and does not yield gas emission. PV modules,
that generate dc voltage, have high reliability and durability,
and can be easily installed close to consumers, reducing the
distribution and transmission costs [3].
All over world, more than 90% of photovoltaic systems are
grid-connected [4]. For this application, string inverter and
module integrated converter (MIC) configurations are often
adopted. String inverter is commonly composed of a step-down
inverter fed by a single string of PV modules. On the other hand,
MIC consists of a single PV module connected to a step-up
inverter [5]. Among the advantages of the MIC configuration, it
can be state its simplicity, with plug and play characteristic,
security, modularity and reliability. The maximum power point
tracking (MPPT) algorithm can be implemented individually in
each PV module, avoiding mismatching and partial shading
problems [6].
The MIC topologies are classified in three groups: MIC
with dc link, MIC with pseudo dc link, and MIC without dc
link [7]. Due to the simplicity of design, modulation and
control, the dc link configuration is chosen and analyzed in
this paper. Furthermore, the dc link configuration enables to
design a dc link voltage level high enough to reduce the
capacitance requirement, enabling to choose a film capacitor
instead of an electrolytic technology. As result, the
equivalent series resistance (ESR) of capacitor can be
978-1-5090-6248-5/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE
reduced, reducing the losses. Further, there is an increase in
the lifetime of capacitor, improving the reliability of whole
system [8].
The choice of the dc-dc converter must consider some
desired features. For instance, if high efficiency is required, a
converter with low number of active and passive components
(especially magnetic devices) is preferable. In this group of
converters, the full-bridge dc-dc converter is attractive, since a
high voltage gain can be achieved through a transformer.
Further, zero-voltage switching (ZVS) can be reached by using
the phase-shift PWM technique, enabling to reduce the turn-on
losses of bridge switches and the turn-off losses of their
antiparallel diodes [9].
It is worth mentioning that an ac model of the zero-voltage
switching full-bridge dc-dc converter, relating the input voltage
(over the PV module) to the phase-delay of phase-shift
modulation, was not found in the literature. For instance, one of
the first works that presented the small-signal ac model of this
converter, relating the output voltage to the effective duty-cycle,
was presented in [10]. This model was then improved by [11],
where the non idealities of transformer, inductor and capacitors
had been considered. Finally, a small-signal ac model, relating
the input voltage with the output voltage, and the output voltage
with effective duty-cycle, was presented in [12].
It is important to note that these works do not relate the input
voltage to the phase-delay of phase-shift modulation. This way,
in order to enable controlling the PV module voltage and
implement the MPPT algorithm, this paper derives, by means of
the state-space averaging approach, the small-signal ac model of
a zero-voltage switching full-bridge dc-dc converter. This
converter is employed in a MIC application, witch dc link, as
shown in Figure 1. It must be mentioned that the dc-ac stage
(inverter) will not be addressed in this paper. Experimental
results (step response and frequency sweep) are obtained to
validate the proposed model.
II. ZVS FULL-BRIDGE DC-DC CONVERTER
The ZVS full-bridge dc-dc converter is shown in Figure 2.
It presents a full-bridge inverter stage, comprised by four
semiconductor switches (S1, S2, S3 and S4) with its body diodes
(D1, D2, D3 and D4) and intrinsic drain-to-source capacitances
(C1, C2, C3 and C4), a galvanic insulation stage, consisting of a
PV Full-bridge Full-bridge
module dc-dc converter dc-ac inverter
DC DC
Grid
DC AC
Fig. 1. Module integrated converter for photovoltaic applications.
 Req Arm a Arm b
L

ipv S1 D 1 C1 S3 D 3 C3 Da Dc iL
LR
a
iLR
Veq Cpv vpv N1 N2 vsec C R vlink
vab
b
S2 D 2 C2 S4 D 4 C4 Db Dd

Fig. 2. ZVS full-bridge dc-dc converter.

high frequency transformer, a full-wave rectifier bridge, Ts Arm b

composed of four diodes (Da, Db, Dc and Dd), and a second- Tij Arm a
order low-pass filter (L and C). The leakage inductance of 1
transformer (LR) is included since it plays an important role to 1/2
obtain the ZVS of semiconductor switches. As present in
Section III, the PV module is represented by its linear t
equivalent Thévenin model that is composed of Veq and Req.
S1
In order to guarantee the ZVS operation for a wide range of t
input current, the phase-shift PWM technique is used. In this S3
modulation, each arm of converter has its own triangular
carrier signal, with phase-delay ij, between them. The pulse- t
vab vpv
width of each switch signal command is constant and has a
value of 50% of period time (Ts). The arm a (composed of S1
and S2) is defined as fixed arm and the arm b (composed of S3 t
and S4) is defined as the delay arm. So, the arm b will always
present a phase-delay in comparison to arm a. -vpv
To better understand the phase-shift modulation, Figure 3
shows the carrier signals (with amplitude 1), the modulation vsec vpv .N2 / N1
signal (with amplitude 1/2), the PWM signals of S1 and S3
(arms a and b, respectively), the resultant voltage (vab) on
primary side of transformer and the resultant voltage (vsec)
t
after the rectifier bridge. The voltages vab and vsec are obtained Stage 2
disregarding the effect of the leakage inductance LR. This way,
Stage 1
the resonance between LR current and C1 to C4 voltages are
Fig. 3. Phase-shift PWM technique and main converter waveforms.
neglected, which results in four operation stages during a
switching period. It is worth mentioning that these four stages
can be grouped in just two stages, which are represented in § ij ·
D 1 ¨ ¸. (4)
Figure 3: Stage 1 (energy transfer) and Stage 2 (freewheeling). © 180D ¹
From Figure 3, it is possible to conclude that the duration of
Stage 1 and Stage 2 are given, respectively, by Equation (4) shows that the energy is transferred from input
to output (during Stage 1), and it is controlled by the phase-
T1 Ts  2TM , (1) angle ij of phase-shift modulation.
T2 2TM , (2)
III. SMALL-SIGNAL AC MODEL OF PV MODULE
where Ts is the switching period (related to switching The Kyocera® KC200GT module, with maximum power
frequency by Ts = 1/fs) and Tij is the time-delay between the of 200 W at 1000 W/m2, was chosen for supplying the
carriers of arm a and arm b, as shown in Figure 3. converter. Its main parameters are shown in Table 1.
The effective duty-cycle of this converter is defined by The electrical parameters presented in Table 1 are used to
obtain a linear Thévenin equivalent circuit of module
D T1 Ts 1  2TM 
Ts . (3) (composed of Veq and Req).
In order to obtain this linear model, it is necessary to
Assuming that Ts is equivalent to 360º and Tij is linearize the curve current versus voltage around the
equivalent to ij (phase-delay between arms a and b), maximum power point (MPP). The curves of KC200GT
Equation (3) can be rewritten as are shown in Figure 4 for different irradiations, where
 TABLE 1 Req L
Electrical Parameters of PV Module [14]
Parameters Value ipv S1 S3 Da Dc iL
Maximum power 200 W
Voltage at maximum power 26.30 V a
Current at maximum power 7.61 A
Open-circuit voltage 32.80 V Veq Cpv vpv N1 N2 C R vlink
Short-circuit current 8.21 A
b
S2 S4 Db Dd
9
1000 W/m² 25ºC
Photovoltaic module current, ipv (A)

8
MPP1 (a)
7 800 W/m²
Req L
6 MPP2
600 W/m² Li
5 ne
ar ipv S1 S3 Da Dc iL
m
MPP3 1
4 od
400 W/m² Req el a
3
MPP4
2 200 W/m²
Veq Cpv vpv N1 N2 C R vlink
1 MPP5
0 b
10 15 20 0
25 5
30 35 40
Photovoltaic module voltage, vpv (V) S2 S4 Db Dd
Fig. 4. Current versus voltage of PV module [14].
(b)
MPP1 corresponds to an irradiation of 1000 W/m². This Fig. 5. Converter operation stages. (a) Stage 1 (energy transfer).
way, considering the point MPP1 and the procedure (b) Stage 2 (freewheeling).
presented in [13], it is possible to demonstrate that
Veq = 50.01 V and Req = 3.23 ȍ.
where n is transformer turns ratio, defined as n = N2/N1.
IV. SMALL-SIGNAL AC MODEL OF FULL-BRIDGE Defining the state vector as x(t) = [vpv iL vlink]T, the input
DC-DC CONVERTER vector as u(t) = [veq], and the output vector as y(t) = [vpv],
Equations (5)-(7) can be rewritten as
The leakage inductance of transformer (LR) is not taken
into account in following analysis, in which the period of dx  t 
resonance with intrinsic drain-to-source capacitances (C1 to K A1 x  t   B1u  t 
dt (8)
C4) can be neglected when compared to Ts. The equivalent
series resistance (ESR) of inductors and capacitors are also y t  H1 x  t   E1u  t 
not taken into account. Basically, LR and ESR maximizes the
damping factor of the small-signal ac model [10]. This way, where
the model derived in this work represents a conservative
approach, since a small damping factor makes challenging to ªC pv 0 0º
design the controller. « »
K « 0 L 0», (9)
A. Analysis of Converter Stages « 0 0 C »¼
¬
Stage 1: 0 ” t < d(t)Ts ª  1 Req n 0 º
« »


The converter configuration during this stage is presented A1 « n 0 1 » , (10)

in Figure 5 (a). The period of this stage is defined as d(t)Ts, « 0 1  1 R »¼
¬
where d(t) is the effective duty-cycle of converter. T
For this stage, the current through Cpv, the voltage across B1 ª¬1 Req 0 0 º¼ , (11)
L and the current through C are given by
H1 >1 0 0@ , (12)

C pv
dv pv

v pv
 iL n 
Veq
, (5) E1 >1 0 0@ . (13)
dt Req Req
diL Stage 2: d(t)Ts ” t < Ts
L v pv n  vlink , (6)
dt The converter configuration during this stage is
dv v presented in Figure 5 (b). The period of this stage is defined
C link  link  iL , (7) as Ts – d(t)Ts.
dt R
 Now, the current through Cpv, the voltage across L and the linear model (25), it is assumed that the perturbed signals are
current through C are given by much smaller than their steady-state values.
dv pv v pv Veq dxˆ  t 
C pv   , (14) Ap xˆ  t   Bp uˆ p  t 
dt Req Req dy (25)
diL yˆ  t  H p xˆ  t   Ep uˆ p  t 
L vlink , (15)
dt
where
dvlink vlink
C   iL . (16)
dt R Ap K 1 A
Again, Equations (14)-(16) can be rewritten as Bp K 1 ª¬ B  A1  A 2  X   B1  B 2  U º¼
(26)
dx  t  Hp H
K A2 x t   B2 u t 
dt (17) Ep ª¬ E  H1  H 2  X   E1  E2  U º¼
y t  H 2 x  t   E2 u  t 
The desired transfer function can be found by applying
where Laplace Transform in (25):
ª  1 Req 0 0 º
 
1
« » yˆ  s  H p s I 3,3  Ap Bp uˆ p  s  . (27)
A2 « 0 0 1 » , (18)
« 0 1  1 R »¼ Solving (27), disregarding the perturbation in veq, and
¬
T considering that dˆ ( s )  Mˆ ( s ) 180D [obtained from perturbing
B2 ª¬1 Req 0 0 º¼ , (19)
and linearizing (4)], it is possible to demonstrate that
H 2 >1 0 0@ , (20)
vˆ pv  s  a1 s 2  a2 s  a3
E2 >1 0 0@ . (21) Gvpv,M  s   M , (28)
Mˆ  s  b1 s 3  b2 s 2  b3 s  b4
B. DC State Equations
where
The equilibrium state vector X= [Vpv IL Vlink]T, and the
equilibrium output vector Y = [Vpv], with U = [Veq] and d(t) = D, M nReq 180 b1 CC pv LRReq
are given by (22), [15]. It must be noted that Vpv, IL and Vlink are a1 CI L LR b2 CLR  C pv LReq
the steady-state values of vpv, iL and vlink, respectively. (29)
a2 I L L  CDnRV pv b3 L  C pv RReq  CD 2 n 2 RReq
X  A 1BU
(22) a3 I L R  DnV pv b4 R  D 2 n 2 Req
Y  HA 1
BE U 
D. Effect of PWM Modulator and Time-Delay of Digital
where Control
A A1 D  A 2 1  D 
In order to digitally control the ZVS full-bridge dc-dc
B B1 D  B 2 1  D  converter, the effects of the digital-to-analog conversion (i.e.,
(23)
H C1 D  C2 1  D  the PWM modulator), the time-delay required by both analog-
to-digital conversion and evaluation of control law (usually,
E E1 D  E2 1  D  one sample) must be taken into account. This way, (28) can be
rewritten as
Solving (22), one may obtain the equilibrium state equation:
Gvpv,M ,T  s   Gvpv,M  s  G pwm  s  Gtd  s  , (30)
V pv 1
. (24)
Veq 2 2
Req where
1 D N
R 1  e  sTs
G pwm  s  , (31)
C. Small-Signal AC State Equations sTs
Gtd  s  e  sTs . (32)
The state equations of the linear small-signal ac model are
expressed in (25), where uˆ p (t ) >uˆ dˆ @T . It must be V. EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION
highlighted that uˆ (t ) and dˆ (t ) are small ac variations in input
In order to validate the proposed model of the ZVS
vector and duty-cycle, and xˆ(t ) and yˆ (t ) are the resulting ac full-bridge dc-dc converter, a step response and a
variations in the state and output vectors. In order to obtain the frequency sweep (Bode plot) were experimentally
 TABLE 2 PV Full-bridge
emulator dc-dc converter
Converter Specifications
vpv DC
Parameters Value
R
Cpv 82 μF
DC
C 120 μF
L 40 mH PWM signals
n 18
DSP
ij 5º
R 920 Ÿ M̂
D 0.9
fs 24 kHz Analyzer
v2 v1
Ts 41.67 μs
Vpv 26.31 V
Vlink 426.5 V
IL 469 mA

T
Experimental Fig. 7. Setup for acquiring the Bode plot.
Model
-20

-30
Magnitude (dB)
1 -40

-50
Experimental
-60
Model
-70
100

Fig. 6. Step response. 0

Phase (deg)

-100
acquired. In both cases, the converter was operating at -200
rated power (MPP1, cf. Figure 4), with input power (Pin)
-300
of 200 W, module voltage (Vpv) of 26.31 V, output voltage
(Vlink) of 426.25 V and efficiency of 96.25%. These -400 2 3 4
measurements were taken with the digital power meter 10 10 10
Frequency (Hz)
WT1800 (Yokogawa®). The additional parameters of
Fig. 8. Bode plot.
converter operation are summarized in Table 2. The curve
of PV module was programmed in the photovoltaic
emulator E4360A (Agilent®). Further, the phase-shift- frequency response analyzer AP200 (AP Instruments®)
modulation was implemented in a DSP TMS320F28335 provides a sinusoidal waveform with a frequency range
(Texas Instruments®). from 100 Hz up to 12 kHz (limited by the Nyquist
theorem). This waveform is acquired by the analog-to-
A. Step Response digital channel of DSP and added (as a small ac variation)
to the steady-state phase-delay of phase-shift modulation.
In order to analyze the precision of model (28), the
phase-delay ij of phase-shift modulation was varied from
5º to 6º. Both oscilogram of vpv (acquired with an
oscilloscope DPO3034 from Tektronix®) and model (28)
(disregarding the dc component) are compared in Figure
6. As can be seen, there is a good agreement between
experimental and theoretical results. Actually, the model
presents a slight higher oscillatory behavior, since the
damping factor introduced by LR and ESR were not taken
into account (as previously explained).
B. Bode Plot
The setup employed for experimentally evaluating the
frequency sweep (Bode plot) of ZVS full-bridge dc-dc
converter is presented in Figure 7. Basically, the
Both the perturbing signal M ˆ and the resultant output
variable (vpv) are measured by the frequency response
analyzer (v1 and v2, cf. Figure 7) in order to evaluate
magnitude and phase of the system. The model (30) was
considered for a comparison purpose, since the delays
introduced by both PWM modulation and sampling period
can not be neglected in this case.
The experimental and theoretical Bode plots are compared
in Figure 8. Again, there is a good agreement between
experimental and theoretical results in terms of both
magnitude and phase. As can be seen, the theoretical model
presents a higher resonant peak, resulting in a higher
oscillatory behavior. On the other hand, both Bode plots
match accurately for low and high frequencies.
 VI. CONCLUSIONS
This work presented the small-signal ac model of a ZVS
full-bridge dc-dc converter employed in a MIC application.
The methodology was based on the state-space averaging
approach. The proposed model related the PV module
voltage to the phase-delay angle of phase-shift modulation.
The model was obtained disregarding the influence of
leakage inductance (LR) and its resonance with intrinsic drain-to-
source capacitances (C1 to C4) of switches. Further, the resultant
four operation stages were grouped in only two stages:
(i) energy transfer and (ii) freewheeling. The PV module was
represented by a linear Thévenin equivalent circuit obtained
from its electrical parameters and irradiation curves.
Experimental results were obtained and compared with
theoretical ones. As demonstrated, there was a good
agreement between experimental and theoretical results, both
for step response and Bode plot. In addition, the converter
showed a high voltage gain and high efficiency in steady-
state, which are essential for this application. On the other
hand, the proposed model presented a peak of resonance
higher than that observed experimentally. However, this can
be considered a conservative approach, since a model with
small damping factor is more challenging to control.
ACKNOLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank “CAPES/PROEX –
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível
Superior” for financial support.
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