• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.1490-1499
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• 2017

The modular multilevel converter (MMC) is generally considered to be a promising topology for medium-voltage and high-voltage applications. However, in order to apply it to high-power applications, a huge number of switching devices is essential. The numerous switching devices lead to considerable switching losses, high cost and a larger heat sink for each of the switching device. In order to reduce the switching losses of a MMC, this paper analyzes the performance of the conventional discontinuous pulse-width modulation (DPWM) method and its efficiency. In addition, it proposes a modified novel DPWM method for advanced switching losses reduction. The novel DPWM scheme includes an additional rotation method for voltage-balancing and power distribution among sub modules (SMs). Simulation and experimental results verify the effectiveness and performance of the proposed modulation method in terms of its switching losses reduction capability.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 1997.07a
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• pp.256-260
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• 1997

To achieve high efficiency in high power and high frequency applications, reduction of switching losses and noise is very important. In this paper, an improved soft switching forward converter is proposed. The proposed converter is constructed by using non-dissipative snubbers in parallel with the main switch and output diode of the conventional forward converter. Due to the use of the non-dissipative snubbers in the primary and secondary, the proposed converter achieves zero-voltage and zero-current switching for all switching devices without switching losses and output diode recovery losses. The complete operating principles, theoritical analysis, experimental results will be presented.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.259-266
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• 2009

In order to increase the power density of power converters, reduction of the switching losses at high-frequency switching conditions is one of the most important issues. This paper presents a new gate drive circuit that enables the reduction of switching losses in both the Power MOSFET and the IGBT. A distinctive feature of this method is that both the turn-on loss and the turn-off loss are decreased simultaneously without using a conventional ZVS circuit, such as the quasi-resonant adjunctive circuit. Experimental results of the switching loss of both the Power MOSFET and the IGBT are shown. In addition, an energy recovery circuit suitable for use in IGBTs that can be realized by modifying the proposed gate drive circuit is also proposed. The effectiveness of both the proposed circuits was confirmed experimentally by the buck-chopper circuit.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2017.07a
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• pp.577-595
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• 2017

${\bullet}$ Silicon Carbide (SiC) had excellent material properties as the base material for next generation of power semiconductor. In developing SiC MOSFET, gate oxide reliability issues had to be first overcome before commercial application. Besides, a high and stable gate-source voltage threshold $V_{GS(th)}$ is also an important parameter for operation robustness. SiC MOSFET with such characteristics can directly use existing high-speed IGBT gate driver IC's. ${\bullet}$ The linear voltage drop characteristics of SiC MOSFET will bring lower conduction loss averaged over full AC cycle compared to similarly rate IGBT. Lower switching loss enable higher switching frequency. Using package with auxiliary source terminal for gate driving will further reduce switching losses. Dynamic characteristics can fully controlled by simple gate resistors. ${\bullet}$ The low switching losses characteristics of SiC MOSFET can substantially reduce power losses in high switching frequency operation. Significant power loss reduction is also possible even at low switching frequency and low switching speed. in T-type 3-level topology, SiC MOSFET solution enable three times higher switching freqeuncy at same efficiency.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.1051-1055
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• 1998

To achieve high efficiency in high power and high frequency applications, reduction of switching losses and noise is very important. In this paper, an improved zero voltage switching forward dc/dc converter is proposed. The proposed converter is constructed by using energy recovery snubbers in parallel with the main switches and output diodes of the conventional forward dc/dc converter. Due to the use of the energy recovery snubbers in the primary and secondary side, the proposed converter achieves zero-voltage-switching turn-off without switching losses for switching devices and output rectification diodes. The complete operating principles and experimental results will be presented.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.385-391
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• 2020

In this paper, a new passive lossless snubber circuit with energy transfer capability is proposed. The proposed lossless snubber circuit provides Zero-Current Switching (ZCS) condition for turn-on instants and Zero-Voltage Switching (ZVS) condition for turn-off instants. In addition, its diodes operate under soft switching condition. Therefore, no significant switching losses occur in the converter. Since the energy of the snubber circuit is transferred to the output, there are no significant conduction losses. The proposed snubber circuit can be applied on isolated and non-isolated converters. To verify the operation of the snubber circuit, a boost converter using the proposed snubber is implemented at 70W. Also, the measured conducted Efficiency Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) of the proposed boost converter and conventional ones are presented which show the effects of proposed snubber on EMI reduction. The experimental results confirm the presented theoretical analysis.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 1999.07a
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• pp.614-617
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• 1999

To achieve high efficiency in high power and high frequency applications, reduction of switching losses and noise is very important. In this paper, an improved zero voltage switching forward dc/dc converter is proposed. The proposed converter is constructed by using energy recovery snubbers in parallel with the main switches and output diodes of the conventional forward dc/dc converter. Due to the use of the energy recovery snubbers in the primary and secondary side, the proposed converter achieves zero-voltage-switching turn-off without switching losses for switching devices and output rectification diodes. The complete operating principles and experimental results will be presented.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2002.07a
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• pp.498-501
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• 2002

In the conventional PWM converter, high-frequency switching techniques was used for high-density of energy, but occurred a lot of problems such as switching losses, switching voltage/current stresses, EMI(Electromgnetic Interference) and so on. To overcome these problems, various soft switching techniques have been presented. However these techniques are focused on reducing switching losses and voltage/current stresses . The simulation and experimental results are shown that the active clamp ZVS flyback converter with the proposed RPWM(Random Pulse Width Modulation) technique reduces the conducted noise.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.62 no.4
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• pp.502-509
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• 2013

It presents an efficient switching pattern, which expects a reduction of switching losses in a cascaded H-bridge PWM multilevel inverter. By the proposed switching scheme, the lower H-bridge module operates at low frequency of 60[Hz] because it assigns to transfer most load power. The upper H-bridge module operates at high frequency of PWM switching to improve THD of output voltage. The proposed switching pattern applies to cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter with PD, APOD, bipolar, and unipolar switching methods. By computer-aided simulations, we verify the validity of the proposed switching scheme. Finally, we prove that the proposed PD and APOD switching patterns are better than those of the conventional one in efficiency.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.702-713
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• 2018

Power loss reduction and total harmonic distortion(THD) minimization are two important goals of improving three-level inverters. In this paper, an optimized pulse width modulation (PWM) strategy that can reduce switching losses and balance the neutral point with an optional THD of three-level neutral-point-clamped inverters is proposed. An analysis of the two-level discontinuous PWM (DPWM) strategy indicates that the optimal goal of the proposed PWM strategy is to reduce switching losses to a minimum without increasing the THD compared to that of traditional SVPWMs. Thus, the analysis of the two-level DPWM strategy is introduced. Through the rational allocation of the zero vector, only two-phase switching devices are active in each sector, and their switching losses can be reduced by one-third compared with those of traditional PWM strategies. A detailed analysis of the impact of small vectors, which correspond to different zero vectors, on the neutral-point potential is conducted, and a hysteresis control method is proposed to balance the neutral point. This method is simple, does not judge the direction of midpoint currents, and can adjust the switching times of devices and the fluctuation of the neutral-point potential by changing the hysteresis loop width. Simulation and experimental results prove the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed strategy.