Research on a Non-complementary Active Clamp

Flyback Converter with Unfolding DC-AC Inverter for

Decentralized Grid-connected PV Systems
Qiong Mo, Min Chen, Zhe Zhang, Mingzhi Gao, Zhaoming Qian
College of Electrical Engineering
Zhejiang University
Hangzhou, China
20910122@zju.edu.cn

Abstract—This paper proposes a non-complementary active
clamp flyback converter with unfolding dc-ac inverter for
decentralized grid-connected PV systems. A current reference
is applied to make the flyback output current half wave
sinusoid. Combination of discontinuous conduction mode
(DCM) and boundary conduction mode (BCM) is used to
optimize the efficiency with the whole load range and to limit
the maximum switching frequency. A non-complementary
active clamp circuit is proposed to recycle leakage energy and
achieve soft switching for the main switch, which further
improve the efficiency of the circuit. Performance of the
proposed circuit is validated by the simulation and
experimental results.
I. INTRODUCTION
Considering environmental protection and energy crisis,
renewable energy becomes more attractive. With the
improvement of solar cell technology and lower production
costs, decentralized grid-connected PV system for residential
applications become a research hotspot. Many kinds of
inverter topologies for photovoltaic power generation system
have been presented [1-4].
Flyback converter with unfolding dc-ac inverter is a
better choice for its higher efficiency. Flyback converters
show the characteristic of current source when operating in
DCM or BCM. Therefore, the output current of flyback
converter can be modulated to follow a folded sinusoidal
waveform, which can help PV inverters eliminate the need
for current loop.
The transformer leakage inductance of flyback converter
leakage energy for BCM flyback converter. Although it is
independent to the main circuit and its control is simple, it
needs more elements. In this application, the active clamp
circuit with non-complementary gate signal control method
is more attractive [8].
In this paper, a non-complementary active clamp flyback
converter with unfolding dc-ac inverter is proposed. BCM
operation is used when the instantaneous output power reach
a certain limit, while DCM operation is triggered under
lower power levels. A current reference is applied to control
main switch off, which can make output current sinusoid. In
BCM operation, when the secondary current drops to zero,
the switch of the non-complementary active clamp circuit is
turned on for a certain time before the main switch is turned
on. In DCM operation, the switching frequency is constant
and the auxiliary switch is turned off. A simulation platform
using SABER co-simulation with MATLAB and A 100W
laboratory prototype based on a digital controller FPGA was
constructed were built to verify the proposed circuit.
Operation Principles of Proposed Circuit
A. Circuit Configuration of the Proposed Inverter
Fig.1 shows the circuit configuration of the proposed
inverter. The inverter comprises of three parts: flyback
converter (a), active clamp circuit (b) and polarity changing
circuit (c).
390RGXOH

causes high power losses and voltage spikes due to the

parasitic resonance between the leakage inductance and the
parasitic capacitances. Therefore, a snubber is necessary.
RCD snubbers, LC snubbers and active clamp circuit with
conventional complementary gate signal do not apply to
flyback converter with variable switching frequency and Figure 1: Topology of proposed circuit.
wide output voltage range application [4-6]. In reference [7],
a buck converter is introduced to absorb and feedback

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 The flyback converter not only provides isolation
between the PV module and the ac utility grid line but also
modulates the average of the secondary current into folded
sinusoidal current. The polarity changing circuit unfolds
flyback output current into the alternating current at line
frequency. To achieve spike voltage suppression and soft
switching of the main switch Sm, as well as leakage energy
recovery, the auxiliary switch Sa and the clamp capacitor
Cclamp are added in parallel to primary side of the transformer
Tr. Lm is the transformer magnetizing inductance, Lk is the
leakage inductance and Cr is the resonant capacitor. N is the
transformer turns ratio. S1~S4 are the SCR of the inverter
bridge. Figure 3: Waveforms of the current references at
B. Current control method different output power.

Considering the conduction time of Sa and the dead time
between turn off of Sa and turn on of Sm are very short, to
simplify the current reference formula, they can be ignored.
To modulate the average secondary current is into rectified
sine wave, the primary current peak envelop should be
controlled to follow a dedicated current reference. The
expression of the current reference iref is shown below in (1).
­ 2 I o ⋅ Vg
° sin(ω t ) ( for DCM )
° Lm ⋅ f DCM
° (1)
iref (ωt ) = ®
° ªV ⋅ sin 2 (ωt ) º transfers from BCM with variable frequency into DCM with
g
°2 Io « + N sin(ω t ) » ( for BCM )
°¯ « VPV »
¬ ¼
Where Io is the peak grid current, which is determined by
MPPT control algorithm. fDCM is the constant frequency for
the main switch Sm in DCM area and ω presents the grid
angular frequency.
The waveform of the current reference iref is shown in
Fig.2. The amplitude of the current reference in DCM area is
larger than that in BCM area, because the constant frequency
in DCM area is lower.
The peak grid current Io changes with the input power.
Assuming that the maximum frequency for the main switch
is determined, different average output power corresponds to
different current references. And the switching point between
DCM area and BCM area varies at different average output
power. Fig.3 shows the waveforms of the current references
with different average output power.
As Fig.3 shown, at low average output power, such as
20W, flyback converter operates in DCM mode only. As the
average output power increases, the proportion BCM area
accounting for also increases.
C. Operation principles
Fig.4 shows the main waveforms and driving signal in
half line cycle. In order to reduce switching losses and limit
the maximum switching frequency at light load conditions,
when the instantaneous power of flyback converter drops to
a certain level, the operation mode of flyback converter
constant frequency.
In DCM region, when primary current increases to
current reference iref, Sm is turned off. And Sm is turned on
with the appropriate constant switching frequency. In
addition, the non-working of Sa is suggested as a method to
reduce resonant conduction losses at light load conditions.
Because in DCM region, the leakage energy may be even
smaller than power losses caused by turn-on of Sa. Thus, in
this region, flyback works in DCM operation as conventional
flyback converter. In BCM region, the active clamp
technique with non-complementary gate signals control
method is applied to achieve leakage energy recycle and soft
switching for Sm.

Figure 4: Main waveforms and control gate signal in half grid

cycle of the proposed photovoltaic grid-connected inverter with
an active clamp flyback converter.
Figure 2: Waveform of the current reference.

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 (f) Interval 6 (t5~t6)

Figure 5: Typical waveform in a high-frequency cycle with non-

complementary active clamp technique.
(g) Interval 7 (t6~t7)

(h) Interval 8 (t7~t8)

(a) Interval 1 (t0~t1)
Figure 6: Equivalent circuits for eight interval in a high frequency
cycle with non-complementary active clamp technique.
Typical waveforms and equivalent circuits in steady state
operation are shown in Fig.5 and Fig.6 respectively. To
simplify the analysis, assume that all semiconductors are
ideal. Each operation is described below.
(b) Interval 2 (t1~t2) a) Interval 1 [t0 ~ t1]
At t0, the main switch Sm turns on with zero-voltage
switching (because of previous interval 8 which will
described later) and the auxiliary Sa is off. The primary
current ip increases linearly and the energy is stored in Lm.
When ip reaches the current reference iref, Sm turns off.
b) Interval 2 [t1 ~ t2]
(c) Interval 3 (t2~t3) At t1, Sm is turned off and the resonant capacitor Cr is
charged by Ip. Because Cr is very small, the voltage Vds is
increased linearly.
c) Interval 3 [t2 ~ t3]
In this interval, when Vds increased to VPV+Vc, the anti-
paralleled diode of Sa turns on and the energy in the leakage
inductance Lk is absorbed by the clamp capacitor Cclamp.
Because the output voltage of flyback converter is clamped
(d) Interval 4 (t3~t4)
by the grid voltage, when the voltage across Lm reaches
Vgsin(ωt)/N, the secondary rectifier Ds conducts.
d) Interval 4 [t3 ~ t4]
At t3, the resonance between Lk and Cclamp ends. Da is off
and ip is zero. In this interval, the voltage across Lm is
clamped at Vgsin(ωt)/N and the magnetizing energy is
delivered to the grid.
(e) Interval 5 (t4~t5)

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 e) Interval 5 [t4 ~ t5] B. Selection of resonant capacitor Cr
At t4, the secondary current is decreased to zero and the At t5, Sa is turned off, and then the negative current iLk
clamp voltage across magnetizing inductance disappears. At discharges the voltage across Cr to zero. Tdelay is used to
this time, the auxiliary switch Sa turns on. The voltage across represent this time. Obviously, too large Tdelay will decrease
Lk and Lm is clamped to -Vc, and secondary winding is equivalent switching frequency. Considering the maximum
forward biased, so Ds still conducts. So the voltage across Lk switching frequency, 50ns is a reasonable value for Tdelay. On
is clamped at Vgsin(ωt)/N-Vc. In this interval, the current iLk the other hand, Tdelay should be larger than the quarter of the
and iLm increases reversely, which is ready for achieving resonant period. Therefore, the range of Cr can be expressed
ZVS of Sm. The leakage energy absorbed in Interval 3 is as
delivered to the grid and Lk.
4Tdelay 2
f) Interval 6 [t5 ~ t6]
Cr ≤ (3)
At t5, Sa is turned off. The negative current iLk discharges π 2 ⋅ Lk
the resonant capacitor Cr. In this interval, iLk is smaller than
iLm, therefore, the secondary diode Ds is still on. C. Calculate auxiliary switch on-time ton_a
g) Interval 7 [t6 ~ t7] In order to achieve the ZVS operation of the main switch,
In this interval, iLk reaches iLm and the diodes Ds turns off. during interval 6~interval 8, the energy stored in Lk and Lm
Then iLk discharges Cr together with iLm. should be larger than the resonant capacitor energy ECr.
Supposing the energy in Lk is larger than Ecr, we can obtain
h) Interval 8 [t7 ~ t8] expression as follows:
At t7, Vds is discharged to zero and the anti-parallel diode
2
of Sm conducts. The main switch Sm should be turned on 1 1 ª Vg ⋅ sin(ωt ) º
before ILm changes the polarity. Lk ⋅ iLk _ neg 2 ≥ EC = Cr ⋅ «VPV + » (4)
2 r 2 «¬ N »¼
II. DESIGN CONSIDERATION
Suppose kp is the ratio of Lk and Lm.
A. DCM region range
When flyback converter operates in BCM, the switching Ta ⋅ Vg ⋅ sin(ωt )
cycle for the main switch Sm can be expressed as iLk _ neg = (5)
N ⋅ Lm
Lm ⋅ iref (ω t ) N ⋅ Lm ⋅ iref (ω t ) Where iLk_neg is the negative peak current of ILk. Combining
Ts = ton + toff = + (2) (4) and (5), the expression of Ta can be obtained as
Vin 2Vg ⋅ sin(ω t )

From (1) and (2), we can conclude that the value of Ts L k ⋅Cr ª N ⋅ V º
PV + 1
changes with the phase and the peak grid current. And the ton _ a ≥ « » (6)
K p «¬Vg ⋅ sin(ωt ) »¼
peak grid current is determined by the output power. Fig.6
shows the waveforms of switching frequency fs for Sm at the The auxiliary switch conduction time ton_a can be
different average output power. fs is the reciprocal of Ts. generated by the digital controller FPGA accurately. ton_a can
As Fig.7 shows, when the phase ωt is very small, the be modified in synchronization with Ts to minimize the
frequency of Sm will become extremely high, especially with resonant loss and conduction loss caused by the conduction
low output power, which increases switching losses at light of Sa.
load condition. Therefore, we adopted DCM operation with D. Selection of clamp capacitor
limited constant frequency when fs reach the maximum
frequency. In our case, the limited constant frequency is One-half of the resonant period formed by Cclamp and Lk
selected as 180 kHz and the maximum frequency is 400 kHz. should be smaller than the minimum off time of Sm. The
fs_max is maximum frequency, Ds_max is corresponding duty
cycle. So the value range of Cclamp can be obtained.

(1 − Ds _ max ) 2
Cclamp ≤ (7)
π 2 ⋅ Lk ⋅ f s _ max

III. SIMULATION RESULTS

Based on the above principles analysis and design
considerations in section ċ, a 100W grid-connected inverter
Figure 7: fs against phase with different output power with active clamp flyback converter is designed and
simulated using SABER co-simulation with MATLAB was

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built. The main circuit is built in saber. The current Vref is generated by MATLAB, and it represents the
reference, the turn-on signal of the main switch and the current reference iref. The sample value of ip compares with
switch signal of the auxiliary switch are given by Vref to control Sm off. The grid current is shown in Fig.8.
programming in S-function of MATLAB. The key
Fig.9 shows the simulation results of the switching
parameters are listed in Table. Ι.
waveforms of the conventional hard-switching flyback
TABLE I. PARAMETERS OF PROPOSED CIRCUIT converter and the active clamp flyback converter. Without
active clamp, the voltage spike is severe and the main
Parameter Symbol Value switch does not open with soft switching.
Output power Po 100W
Input voltage VPV 30V
Transformer turns ration N 3:16
Magnetizing inductance Lm 7.1uH
Leakage inductance Lk 0.17uH
Clamp capacitor Cclamp 470nF
Resonant capacitor Cr 1nF
Frequency in DCM fDCM 180KHz
Frequency in BCM fBCM 150KHz~400KHz
Main switch Sm IRFS4321
Auxliary switch Sa IPP26CN10N
Rectifier diode Ds C2D05120A
Output capacitor Co 330nF (a) With no active clamp circuit
Output inductance Lo 500uH
Auxiliary switch on time ton_a 120ns~150ns

(a) Waveforms of the current reference and sample of

the primary current
(b) With active clamp circuit
Figure 9: Simulation waveforms comparison.

(b) Waveform of grid current

Figure 8: Simulation results of the grid current

Figure 10: Switching from DCM area to BCM area.

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 From the waveforms, it is clear in (b), the parasitic ring is
eliminated by the clamp capacitor, the soft switching for Sm
is achieved and the leakage energy is recycled.
Fig.10 shows the waveforms when flyback converter
switches operation from DCM area with constant frequency
to BCM area with variable frequency. So the maximum
frequency is limited to 400 KHz.
IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
Based on the foregoing design method and simulation
results, an experimental system with a field programmable
gate array (FPGA) was constructed in the laboratory. The
key circuit parameters are the same as the simulation
parameters. The current reference signal of 12 bits is
generated by FPGA. After digital-analog conversion, it is
given to controller IC to control the main switch off, which (c) Vds, is and ip (Po=89W)
makes the average output current half wave sinusoid. Fig.11
Figure 11: Experimental results at different output power.
shows the waveforms of the current reference and the grid
current. The output powers are 28W and 89W respectively.
For security reasons, AC voltage source instead of grid was
selected. When the voltage signal of iref is smaller than 100mV,
controller IC can’t recognize it, therefore, in this area, the
pulses for Sm and Sa is calculated in FPGA. And iref has a
platform. In (a), flyback converter operates in DCM mode
only when the output power is lower. In (b) and (c), the
average output power is 89W. Flyback converter operates in
BCM mode when the instantaneous power reaches a certain
limit, while DCM operation is triggered under lower
instantaneous power level to limit the maximum switching
frequency, as shown in (c).
Based on the theoretical analysis, design consideration
and simulation results mentioned above, a switched snubber
circuit has been adopted for the inverter. To realize ZVS for
the main switch Sm, FPGA outputs the opened signal of Sm
and the pulses of Sa. The conduction time for Sa and the dead
time are obtained by calculating and counting in FPGA.
Fig.12 shows drain to source voltage (Vds) of Sm, the gate
(a) Po=28W drive signals of Sm and Sa and the secondary current is at
different instantaneous power.

(b) Po=89W
(a) Operation in DCM region

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(b) Operation in BCM region
Figure 12: Experimental results at the different instantaneous
power.
Figure 13: Efficiency against output power
As Fig.12 shown, in (a), flyback converter operates in
DCM mode with constant frequency when instantaneous
power is low. In DCM area, the auxiliary switch does not
work, for the energy stored in leakage inductance is very
small and there is little voltage spike on Vds. In (b), non-
complementary active clamp technique is adopted. It is clear
that the soft switching for the main switch Sm is achieved and
the parasitic ring is eliminated. When the auxiliary switch Sa
turns on, the leakage energy stored in the clamp capacitor is
transferred to the output side and input capacitor, which can
be seen from the waveform of is.
The measured efficiency of the experimental prototype
with different output power is shown in Fig.13. The
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efficiency at rated output power is 93% and it is 1.4% higher
than the conventional hard-switching inverter.
V. CONCLUSIONS
This paper proposes a non-complementary active clamp
flyback converter with unfolding dc-ac inverter for
decentralized grid-connected PV systems. Combination of
DCM mode with constant frequency and BCM mode with
variable frequency achieved low frequency at light load,
which improve efficiency with the whole load range. The
proposed control method helps flyback converter operate in
high frequency, which can save space and reduce cost of the
PV power conditioner. In BCM operation, the on time of the
auxiliary switch is generated by digital controlled system,
therefore, it is suitable for output voltage and power with
wide range. A 100W laboratory prototype based on a digital
controller FPGA was constructed. The simulation and
experimental results confirm the proposed circuit and control
methods.
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