• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.846-857
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• 2019

Voltage step-down converters are very popular in distributed power systems, voltage regular modules, electric vehicles, etc. However, a high step-down voltage ratio is required in many applications to prevent the traditional buck converter from operating at extreme duty cycles. In this paper, a series capacitor interleaved buck converter with a soft switching technique is proposed. The DC voltage ratio of the proposed converter is half that of the traditional buck converter and the voltage stress across the one main switch and the diodes is reduced. Moreover, by paralleling the series connected auxiliary switch and the auxiliary inductor with the main inductor, zero voltage transition (ZVT) of the main switches can be obtained without increasing the voltage or current stress of the main power switches. In addition, zero current turned-on and zero current switching (ZCS) of the auxiliary switches can be achieved. Furthermore, owing to the presence of the auxiliary inductor, the turned-off rate of the output diodes can be limited and the reverse-recovery switching losses of the diodes can be reduced. Thus, the efficiency of the proposed converter can be improved. The DC voltage gain ratio, soft switching conditions and a design guideline for the critical parameters are given in this paper. A loss analysis of the proposed converter is shown to demonstrate its advantages over traditional converter topologies. Finally, experimental results obtained from a 100V/10V prototype are presented to verify the analysis of the proposed converter.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.323-332
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• 2024

Receiver and transmitter monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) multifunction chips (MFCs) for active phased-array antennas for Ka-band satellite communication (SATCOM) terminals have been designed and fabricated using a 0.15-㎛ GaAs pseudomorphic high-electron mobility transistor (pHEMT) process. The MFCs consist of four-channel radio frequency (RF) paths and a 4:1 combiner. Each channel provides several functions such as signal amplification, 6-bit phase shifting, and 5-bit attenuation with a 44-bit serial-to-parallel converter (SPC). RF pads are implemented on the bottom side of the chip to remove the parasitic inductance induced by wire bonding. The area of the fabricated chips is 5.2 mm × 4.2 mm. The receiver chip exhibits a gain of 18 dB and a noise figure of 2.0 dB over a frequency range from 17 GHz to 21 GHz with a low direct current (DC) power of 0.36 W. The transmitter chip provides a gain of 20 dB and a 1-dB gain compression point (P1dB) of 18.4 dBm over a frequency range from 28 GHz to 31 GHz with a low DC power of 0.85 W. The P1dB can be increased to 20.6 dBm at a higher bias of +4.5 V.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.34-43
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• 2019

An improved half-bridge LLC converter with a magamp auxiliary post-regulator is proposed in this paper. The function of the magamp is bypassed when the converter works within the low input-voltage range. Meanwhile, it operates as an auxiliary post-regulator when the input voltage is high. By changing the blocking time of the magamp, the dc gain of the converter can be extended. Hence, the input voltage range of the converter is extended. The realization of proposed topology does not require a complicated circuit. The controller of the magamp can be easily implemented using only passive components, transistors and an OP amp. The generalized operational principle is analyzed and the design criterion for the magamp is presented. Finally, a 25V output, 400W experimental prototype was built and tested for a 160-300V input-voltage range to verify the feasibility of the proposed method.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.590-600
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• 2017

This paper presents a ripple-free input current modified interleaved boost converter for high step-up applications. By integrating dual coupled inductors and voltage multiplier techniques, the proposed converter can reach a high step-up gain without an extremely high turn-ON period. In addition, a very small auxiliary inductor employed in series to the input dc source makes the input current ripple theoretically decreased to zero, which simplifies the design of the electromagnetic interference (EMI) filter. In addition, the voltage stresses on the semiconductor devices of the proposed converter are efficiently reduced, which makes high performance MOSFETs with low voltage rated and low resistance $r_{DS}$(ON) available to reduce the cost and conduction loss. The operating principles and steady-state analyses of the proposed converter are introduced in detail. Finally, a prototype circuit rated at 400W with a 42-50V input voltage and a 400V output voltage is built and tested to verify the effectiveness of theoretical analysis. Experimental results show that an efficiency of 95.3% can be achieved.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2016.07a
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• pp.211-212
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• 2016

본 논문에서는 비절연 고승압 소프트 스위칭 양방향 DC-DC 컨버터의 PWM Plus Phase Shift(PPS) 제어기법을 제안한다. 제안하는 컨버터는 기존의 하프브리지 양방향 컨버터의 2배의 승 강압비를 가지며 CCM에서 모든 스위치가 소프트스위칭을 성취한다. 또한, PPS 제어기법을 적용하여 스위치의 전압/전류정격을 최소화할 뿐 아니라 매끄러운 모드전환이 가능하다. 제안하는 양방향 컨버터의 3kW 시작품은 5.2배의 승 강압동작에서 최고효율 97.2%, 97.5%를 달성하였다.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.1-2
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• 2011

본 논문에서는 D=0.5에서 2배의 승 강압비를 갖는 하이브리드 자동차 HDC용 비절연 양방향 DC-DC 컨버터를 제안한다. 제안한 컨버터는 CCM에서도 소프트스위칭이 가능하며 스위치 전압정격이 1/2로 되어 소자의 선정에 유리하다. 또한 수동소자의 부피도 기존 양방향 컨버터 보다 작아 고효율 및 고전력 밀도를 달성할 수 있다. 제안하는 양방향 컨버터의 최적의 스위칭 기법을 제안하였고 10kW급 축소시작품의 실험을 통해 본 논문의 타당성을 검증하였다.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.996-1006
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• 2023

Renewable energy is promoted massively to overcome problems that fossil fuel power plants generate. One popular renewable energy type that offers easy installation is a photovoltaic (PV) system. However, the energy harvested through a PV system is not optimal because influenced by exposure to solar irradiance in the PV module, which is constantly changing caused by weather. The maximum power point tracking (MPPT) technique was developed to maximize the energy potential harvested from the PV system. This paper presents the MPPT technique, which is operated on a new high-gain voltage DC/DC converter that has never been tested before for the MPPT technique in PV systems. Fuzzy logic (FL) was used to operate the MPPT technique on the converter. Conventional and adaptive perturb and observe (P&O) techniques based on variables step size were also used to operate the MPPT. The performance generated by the FL algorithm outperformed conventional and variable step-size P&O. It is evident that the oscillation caused by the FL algorithm is more petite than variables step-size and conventional P&O. Furthermore, FL's tracking speed algorithm for tracking MPP is twice as fast as conventional P&O.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.737-745
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• 2013

Offshore wind farms are rapidly growing owing to their comparatively more stable wind conditions than onshore and land-based wind farms. The power capacity of offshore wind turbines has been increased to 5MW in order to capture a larger amount of wind energy, which results in an increase of each component's size. Furthermore, the weight of the marine turbine components installed in the nacelle directly influences the total mechanical design, as well as the operation and maintenance (O&M) costs. A reduction in the weight of the nacelle allows for cost-effective tower and foundation structures. On the other hand, longer transmission distances from an offshore wind turbine to the load leads to higher energy losses. In this regard, DC transmission is more useful than AC transmission in terms of efficiency because no reactive power is generated/consumed by DC transmission cables. This paper describes some of the challenges and difficulties faced in designing high-power-density power conversion systems (HPDPCSs) for offshore wind turbines. A new approach for high gain/high voltage systems is introduced using transformerless power conversion technologies. Finally, the proposed converter is evaluated in terms of step-up conversion ratio, device number, modulation, and costs.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.345-351
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• 2018

This paper analyzes a resonant inverter to generate plasma. The resonant inverter consists of a full bridge converter, resonant network and reactor to generate a magnetic field for plasma generation. A plasma load has very distinct characteristics compared to conventional loads. The characteristics of plasma load are analyzed through experimental results. This paper presents the study on the resonant network, which was performed in order to determine how to achieve a constant current gain. Another important contribution of this study is the analysis of drop-out phenomenon observed in plasma loads which is responsible for unpredictable shutdown of the plasma generator that requires stable operation. In addition, the design process for the resonant network of a plasma generator is proposed. The validity of this study is verified through simulations and experimental results.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.332-342
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• 2018

This paper proposes a parameter design method for multi-element resonant converters (MERCs) with a unique resonant zero point (RZP). This method is mainly composed of four steps. These steps include program filtration, loss comparison, 3D figure fine-tuning and priority compromise. It features easy implementation, effectiveness and universal applicability for almost all of the existing RZP-MERCs. Meanwhile, other design methods are always exclusive for a specific topology. In addition, a novel dual-CTL converter is also proposed here. It belongs to the RZP-MERC family and is designed in detail to explain the process of parameter selection. The performance of the proposed method is verified experimentally on a 500W prototype. The obtained results indicate that with the selected parameters, an extensive dc voltage gain is obtained. It also possesses over-current protection and minimal switching loss. The designed converter achieves high efficiencies among wide load ranges, and the peak efficiency reaches 96.9%.