• 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 Korean Institute of IIIuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.377-382
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• 2005

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. One topology of proposed DC-DC converters is composed of a typical voltage source-fed full-bridge high frequency PWM inverter using DC busline side series power semiconductor switching devices with the aid of a parallel capacitive lossless snubber. 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. It is proved that the more the switching frequency of full-bridge soft switching inverter increases, the more soft-switching PWM DC-DC converter with a hish frequency transformer link has remarkable advantages for its efficiency and power density as compared with the conventional hard-switching PWM inverter type DC-DC converter

• KIEE International Transaction on Electrical Machinery and Energy Conversion Systems
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• v.5B no.4
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• pp.366-373
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• 2005

This paper presents two new circuit topologies of the dc busline side active resonant snubber assisted voltage source high frequency link soft switching PWM full-bridge dc-dc power converters acceptable for either utility ac 200V-rms or ac 400V-rms input grid. These high frequency switching dc-dc converters proposed in this paper are composed of a typical voltage source-fed full-bridge PWM inverter, high frequency transformer with center tap, high frequency diode rectifier with inductor input filter and dc busline side series switches with the aid of a dc busline parallel capacitive lossless snubber. All the active switches in the full-bridge arms as well as dc busline snubber can achieve ZCS turn-on and ZVS turn-off transition commutation with the aid of a transformer leakage inductive component and consequently the total switching power losses can be effectively reduced. So that, a high switching frequency operation of IGBTs in the voltage source full bridge inverter can be actually designed more than about 20 kHz. It is confirmed that the more the switching frequency of full-bridge soft switching inverter increases, the more soft switching PWM dc-dc converter with a high frequency transformer link has remarkable advantages for its power conversion efficiency and power density implementations as compared with the conventional hard switching PWM inverter type dc-dc power converter. The effectiveness of these new dc-dc power converter topologies can be proved to be more suitable for low voltage and large current dc-dc power supply as arc welding equipment from a practical point of view.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.216-225
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• 2006

This paper presents a new circuit topology of DC busline switch and snubbing capacitor-assisted full-bridge soft-switching PWM inverter type DC-DC power converter with a high frequency link for low voltage large current applications as DC feeding systems, telecommunication power plants, automotive DC bus converters, plasma generator, electro plating plants, fuel cell interfaced power conditioner and arc welding power supplies. The proposed power converter circuit is based upon a voltage source-fed H type full-bridge high frequency PWM inverter with a high frequency transformer link. The conventional type high frequency inverter circuit is modified by adding a single power semiconductor switching device in series with DC rail and snubbing lossless capacitor in parallel with the inverter bridge legs. All the active power switches in the full-bridge inverter arms and DC busline can achieve ZVS/ZVT turn-off and ZCS turn-on commutation operation. Therefore, the total switching losses at turn-off and turn-on switching transitions of these power semiconductor devices can be reduced even in the high switching frequency bands ranging from 20 kHz to 100 kHz. The switching frequency of this DC-DC power converter using IGBT power modules is selected to be 60 kHz. It is proved experimentally by the power loss analysis that the more the switching frequency increases, the more the proposed DC-DC converter can achieve high performance, lighter in weight, lower power losses and miniaturization in size as compared to the conventional hard switching one. The principle of operation, operation modes, practical and inherent effectiveness of this novel DC-DC power converter topology is proved for a low voltage and large current DC-DC power supplies of arc welder applications in industry.