• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2017.07a
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• pp.198-199
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• 2017

This paper proposed a new control method for supercapacitor (SC) to compensate the pulse load transient and enhance the power quality of dc microgrid. By coordinating the operation frequency, the supercapacitor is controlled to handle the surge current component while the low-frequency current component is dealt with by remaining sources in the system. Based on the state of charge and dc bus voltage level, the SC unit operation mode is automatically decided. Meanwhile, the dc bus voltage level indicates the power demand of the whole system; by regulating the dc bus voltage, the mismatch of power demand is covered by SC unit. The effectiveness of proposed method is verified by experiment prototype formed by two distributed generation and one supercapacitor unit.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.186-196
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• 2013

This paper presents a low voltage-stress AC-linked charge equalizing system for balancing the energy in a serially connected, valve-regulated lead acid battery string using a modular converter that consists of multiple transformers coupled together. Each converter was coupled through an AC-linked bus to increase the overall energy transfer efficiency of the system and to eliminate the problem of the unbalanced charging of batteries. Previous solutions are based on centralized and modularized topologies. A centralized topology requires a redesign of the hardware and related components. It also faces a high voltage stress when the number of batteries is expanded. Modularized solutions use low-voltage-stress, double-stage, DC-linked topologies which leads to poor energy transfer efficiency. The proposed solution uses a low-voltage stress, AC-linked, modularized topology that makes adding more batteries easier. It also has a better energy transfer efficiency. To ensure that the charge equalization system operates smoothly and safely charges batteries, a small intelligent microcontroller was used in the control section. The efficiency of this charge equalization system is 85%, which is 21% better than other low-voltage-stress DC-linked charging techniques. The validity of this approach was confirmed by experimental results.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.319-328
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• 2020

The recent use of distributed power generation systems constructed with DC-DC converters has become extremely popular owing to the rising need for environment friendly energy generation power systems. In this study, a new single-phase five-level inverter for off-grid applications constructed with a multilevel DC-DC step-up converter is proposed to boost a low-level DC voltage (36 V-64 V) to a high-level DC bus (380 V) and invert and connect them with a single-phase 230 V rms AC load. Compared with other traditional multilevel inverters, the proposed five-level inverter has a reduced number of switching devices, can generate high-quality power with lower THD values, and has balanced voltage stress for DC capacitors. Moreover, the proposed topology does not require multiple DC sources. Finally, the performance of the proposed topology is presented through the simulation and experimental results of a 400 W hardware prototype.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2018.10a
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• pp.35-38
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• 2018

This paper describes a low-power MPPT interface for DC-type energy harvesting sources. The proposed circuit consists of an MPPT controller, a bias generator, and a voltage detector. The MPPT controller consists of an MPG (MPPT Pulse Generator) with a schmitt trigger, a logic gate operating according to energy type (light, heat), and a sample/hold circuit. The bias generator is designed by employing a beta multiplier structure, and the voltage detector is implemented using a bulk-driven comparator and a two-stage buffer. The proposed circuit is designed with $0.35{\mu}m$ CMOS process. The simulation results show that the designed circuit consumes less than 100nA of current at an input voltage of less than 3V and the maximum power efficiency is 99.7%. The chip area of the designed circuit is $1151{\mu}m{\times}940{\mu}m$.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.461-467
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• 2010

This paper proposes a new soft-switched Sepic converter. It has low switching losses and low conduction losses due to its auxiliary communicated circuit and synchronous rectifier operation, respectively. Because of its positive and buck/boost-like DC voltage transfer function (M=D/(1-D)), the proposed converter is desirable for use in distributed power systems. The proposed converter has versions both with and without a transformer. The paper also suggests some design guidelines in terms of the power circuit and the control loop for the proposed converter.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.468-477
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• 2014

This study proposes an optimized design of a dual active bridge converter for a low-voltage charger in a military uninterrupted power supply (UPS) system. The dual active bridge converter is among various bi-directional DC/DC converters that possess a high-efficiency isolated bi-directional converter. In the general design, the zero-voltage switching(ZVS) region is reduced when the battery voltage is high. By contrast, efficiency is low because of high conduction losses when the battery voltage is low. Variable switching frequency is applied to increase the ZVS region and the power conversion efficiency, depending on battery voltage changes. At the same duty, the same power is obtained regardless of the battery voltage using the variable switching frequency. The proposed method is applied to a 5 kW prototype dual active bridge converter, and the experimental results are analyzed and verified.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.786-794
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• 2015

In this paper, a new power control strategy for the bipolar-type low voltage direct current (LVDC) distribution system is being proposed. The dc distribution system is considered as an innovative system according to the increase of dc loads and dc output type distribution energy resources (DERs) such as photovoltaic (PV) systems and energy storage systems (ESS). Since the dc distribution system has many advantages such as feasible connection of DERs, reduction of conversion losses between dc output sources and loads, no reactive power issues, it is very suitable solution for new type buildings and residences interfaced with DERs and ESSs. In the bipolar-type, if it has each grid-interfaced converter, both sides (upper, lower-side) can be operated individually or collectively. A complementary power control strategy using two ESSs in both sides for effective and reliable operation is proposed in this paper. Detailed power control methods of the host controller and local controllers are described. To verify the performances of the proposed control strategy, simulation analysis using PSCAD/EMTDC is being performed where the results show that the proposed strategy provides efficient operations and can be applied to the bipolar-type dc distribution system.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.923-932
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• 2017

This paper proposes a novel scheme which can compensate the common-mode voltage (CMV) for five-level active neutralpoint clamped (5L-ANPC) inverters, which is based on modifying the space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) and adding an auxiliary leg to the inverter. For the modified SVPWM, only the 55 voltage vectors producing low CMV values among the 125 possible voltage vectors are utilized, which varies over the three voltage levels of $-V_{dc}/12$, 0 V, and $V_{dc}/12$. In addition, the compensating voltage, which is injected into the 5L-ANPC inverter system to cancel the remaining CVM through a common-mode transformer (CMT) is generated by the additional NPC leg. By the proposed method, the CMV of the inverter is fully eliminated, while the utilization of the DC-link voltage is not decreased at all. Furthermore, all of the DC-link and flying capacitor voltages of the inverter are well controlled. Simulation and experimental results have verified the validity of the proposed scheme.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.10-16
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• 2004

In this thesis, improved full wave mode ZVT(Zero-Voltage-Transition) PMW DC-DC Converters are presented to maximize the regeneration ratio of resonant energy by only putting an additional diode In series with the auxiliary switch. The operation of the auxiliary switch in a half wave mode makes it possible soft switching operation of all switches including the auxiliary switch whereas it is turned off with hard switching in conventional converter. The increase of the regeneration ratio to resonant energy results in low commutation losses and minimum voltage and current stresses. The operation principles of the improved ZVT PWM DC-DC Converters are theoretically analyzed using the boost converter topology as an example. Both theoretical analysis and experimental results verify the validity of the PWM boost converter topology with the improved full wave mode ZVT PWM converters.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.111-117
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• 2009

This paper presents the characteristics of leakage currents flowing through zinc oxide (ZnO) surge arrester elements under the combined direct-current (DC) and 60 Hz alternating-current (AC) voltages. The current-voltage characteristic curves (I-V curves) of the commercial ZnO surge arrester elements were obtained as a function of the voltage ratio a. At constant peak value of the combined DC and AC voltage, the resistive leakage current of the ZnO blocks was significantly increased as the voltage ratio $\alpha$ increased. The I-V curves under the combined DC and AC voltages were placed between the pure DC and AC characteristics, and the cross-over phenomenon in both the I-V curves and R-V curves was observed at the low current region. The ZnO power dissipation for DC voltages was less than that for AC voltage in the pre-breakdown region and reversed at higher voltages.