• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.246-256
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• 2007

In this paper, a novel type auxiliary active edge resonant snubber assisted zero current soft switching pulse modulation Single-Ended Push Pull (SEPP) series load resonant inverter using IGBT power modules is proposed for cost effective consumer high-frequency induction heating (IH) appliances. Its operating principle in steady state is described by using each switching mode's equivalent operating circuits. The new multi resonant high-frequency inverter with series load resonance and edge resonance can regulate its high frequency output power under a condition of a constant frequency zero current soft switching (ZCS) commutation principle on the basis of the asymmetrical pulse width modulation (PWM) control scheme. Brand-new consumer IH products using the proposed ZCS-PWM series load resonant SEPP high-frequency inverter using IGBTs is evaluated and discussed as compared with conventional high-frequency inverters on the basis of experimental results. In order to extend ZCS operation ranges under a low power setting PWM as well as to improve efficiency, the high frequency pulse density modulation (PDM) strategy is demonstrated for high frequency multi-resonant inverters. Its practical effectiveness is substantially proved from an application point of view.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.181-190
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• 2007

This paper presents a novel circuit topology of a DC bus line series switch and parallel snubbing capacitor-assisted soft-switching PWM full-bridge inverter type DC-DC power converter with a high frequency planar transformer link, which is newly developed for high performance arc welding machines in industry. The proposed DC-DC power converter circuit is based upon a voltage source-fed H type full-bridge soft-switching PWM inverter with a high frequency transformer. This DC-DC power converter has a single power semiconductor switching device in series with an input DC low side rail and loss less snubbing capacitor in parallel with the inverter bridge legs. All the active power switches in the full-bridge arms and DC bus line can achieve ZCS turn-on and ZVS turn-off transition commutation. Consequently, the total switching power losses occurred at turn-off switching transition of these power semiconductor devices; IGBTs can be reduced even in higher switching frequency bands ranging from 20 kHz to 100 kHz. The switching frequency of this DC-DC power converter using IGBT power modules can be realized at 60 kHz. It is proved experimentally by power loss analysis that the more the switching frequency increases, the more the proposed DC-DC power converter can achieve a higher control response performance and size miniaturization. The practical and inherent effectiveness of the new DC-DC converter topology proposed here is actually confirmed for low voltage and large current DC-DC power supplies (32V, 300A) for TIG arc welding applications in industry.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1998.07f
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• pp.1966-1968
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• 1998

This paper describes a gate drive circuit for series connected IGBTs in high voltage applications. The proposed control criterion of the gate circuit is to actively limit the voltages during switching transients, while minimizing switching transient and losses. In order to achieve the control criterion, an analog closed loop control scheme is adopted. The performance of gate drive circuit is examined experimentally by the series connection of three IGBTs with conventional snubber circuits. The experimental results show the voltage balancing by an active control under wide variation in loads and imbalance conditions.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.172-175
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• 2005

Recently international regulations governing the amount of harmonic currents(e.g IEC 61000-3-2) became mandatory and active Power factor correction (PFC) pre-regulator circuit became inevitable for the AC/DC converters. Among these topologies, the boost topology represents an optimum solution for a PFC pre-regulation in a high power application. This paper propose improved ZVT(Zero Voltage Transition) AC/DC PFC Boost using the average current control employing a soft-switching technique of the auxiliary switch with a minimum number of components. The conventional ZVT PFC Boost Converter has a disadvantage that the auxiliary switch turns off hard, which influences the overall efficiency and the EMI problem. In this paper, an improved ZVT PFC Boost converter using active snubber is proposed to minimize the switching loss of the auxiliary. The prototype of 100kHz, 640W system was implemented to show the improved performance.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2006.04b
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• pp.281-283
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• 2006

This paper presents two new circuit topologies of DC bus lineside active edge resonant snubber assisted soft-switching PWM full-bridge DC-DC converter acceptable for either utility AC 200V-rms or AC 400V-rms input voltage source. All the active power switches in the full-bridge arms and DC busline can achieve ZCS turn-on and ZVS turn-off commutations and the total turn-off switching power losses of all active switches can be reduced for high-frequency switching action. The effectiveness of these new DC-DC converters topologies is proved for low voltage and large current high efficiency DC-DC power supplies as TIG arc welding machine from a practical point of view.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.200-202
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• 2006

In this paper, a novel type of auxiliary active snubbing circuit assisted quasi-resonant soft-switching pulse width modulation inverter is proposed for consumer induction heating equipments. The operation principle of this high frequency inverter is described using switching modes and equivalent circuits. This newly developed series resonant high frequency inverter can regulate its high frequency output AC power under a principle of constant frequency active edge resonant soft-switching commutation by asymmetrical PWM control system. The high frequency power regulation and actual power conversion efficiency characteristics of consumer induction heating (IH) products using the proposed soft-switching pulse width modulation (PWM) series load resonant high frequency inverter evaluated. The practical effectiveness and operating performance of high frequency inverter are discussion on the basis of simulation and experimental results as compared with the conventional soft-switching high frequency inverter.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.233-239
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• 2005

In this paper, a new conceptual circuit configuration of a 3-phase voltage source, soft switching AC-DC-AC converter using an IGBT module, which has one ARCPL circuit and one ARDCL circuit, is presented. In actuality, the ARCPL circuit is applied in the 3-phase voltage source rectifier side, and the ARDCL circuit is in the inverter side. And more, each power semiconductor device has a novel clamp snubber circuit, which can save the power semiconductor device from voltage and current across each power device. The proposed soft switching circuits have only two active power semiconductor devices. These ARCPL and ARDCL circuits consist of fewer parts than the conventional soft switching circuit. Furthermore, the proposed 3-phase voltage source soft switching AC-DC-AC power conversion system needs no additional sensor for complete soft switching as compared with the conventional 3-phase voltage source AC-DC-AC power conversion system. In addition to this, these soft switching circuits operate only once in one sampling term. Therefore, the power conversion efficiency of the proposed AC-DC-AC converter system will get higher than a conventional soft switching converter system because of the reduced ARCPL and ARDCL circuit losses. The operation timing and terms for ARDCL and ARCPL circuits are calculated and controlled by the smoothing DC capacitor voltage and the output AC current. Using this control, the loss of the soft switching circuits are reduced owing to reduced resonant inductor current in ARCPL and ARDCL circuits as compared with the conventional controlled soft switching power conversion system. The operating performances of proposed soft switching AC-DC-AC converter treated here are evaluated on the basis of experimental results in a 50kVA setup in this paper. As a result of experiment on the 50kVA system, it was confirmed that the proposed circuit could reduce conduction noise below 10 MHz and improve the conversion efficiency from 88. 5% to 90.5%, when compared with the hard switching circuit.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.288-296
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• 2002

In this paper, a high frequency transformer - assisted auxiliary active resonant commutated snubber (HFTA-ARCS) for voltage source soft switching pulse width modulated power conversion circuits is presented. A three phase voltage source type soft switching inverter incorporating HFTA-ARCS circuits in its three bridge legs can reduce current rating of auxiliary active power switches and has sensorless simplified control scheme which any specified boost current management is not required for soft switching. Its operation principle and digital control scheme are described and a practical design method of circuit parameters on this HFTA-ARCS circuit is also introduced on the basis of computer simulation. Moreover, this space voltage vector modulated soft switching inverter system with DSP-based digital control scheme Is discussed and its effectiveness is proved on the basis of performance evaluations. The operating performances of this inverter system are also compared with those of conventional three-phase hard switching inverter under practical conditions of specified parameters.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.413-420
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• 2014

The conventional Phase-Shift Full-Bridge (PSFB) converter has a serious voltage spike because of the ringing between the leakage inductance of the transformer and the parasitic output capacitance of the secondary side rectifier switches. To overcome this problem, an asynchronous active clamp technique employing an auxiliary DC/DC converter has been proposed. However, an exact analyses for designing the auxiliary DC/DC converter has not been presented. Therefore, the amount of power that is supposed to be handled in the auxiliary DC/DC converter is calculated through a precise mode analyses in this paper. In addition, this paper proposes a lossy snubber circuit with hysteresis characteristics to reduce the burden that the auxiliary DC/DC converter should take during the starting interval. This technique results in optimizing the size of the magnetic component of the auxiliary DC/DC converter. The operational principles and the theoretical analyses are validated through experiments with a 48V-to-30V/15A prototype.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.232-235
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• 2001

This paper presents a circuit of the quasi-resonant DC link to achieve soft-switching three phase inverter using intelligent IGBT power module. The soft-switching operation in this circuit is confirmed simulation and experimental results. Its conductive noise is measured for electrical AC motor drive as compared with that of the conventional hard switching inverter.