A Detailed Study of Losses in the Reduced Voltage Resonant DC Link Inverter Topology

Vijay Deshpande and S . R. Doradla Electrical Engineering Department Indian Institute of Technology KANPUR 208 016 (UP) INDIA

A new reduced voltage resonant link [4],[5]. A etaile study of the effect of various parameters Such as the characteristic impedance, Q factors, input dc and the frequency On the link losses IS presented. The voltage and current stresses on various link components are also given. The losses are determined and then cornpared with those of the actively clamped resonant dc link. The RVRL toPolof3' duces the link losses by 25 ?%* The new being truely resonant offers less EM1 and requires less number of power devices. It is particularly suitable at high resonant frequencies of control.

6 4

Abstract-

RVRL topology was reported earlier

A . ACRL
Figure 1 shows the ACRL circuit and the associated link voltage and clamping current waveforms. S,, D, and C,constitute the clamping circuit. The clamping voltage Vcc is maintained within a range of 1.3 to 1.8 times vdc [3]. The link voltage U ' , is clamped to V,, with the help of the clamping diode D,. The clamping switch S, helps in recovering the charge dumped in C, so that the average link voltage remains equal to Vdc. Thus, by introducing an active clamping circuit, the device voltage stresses are reduced. Apart from limiting the device stresses, the

I. INTRODUCTION
The soft switching inverters are being actively considered for ac motor drives and power supplies. The resonant dc link provides soft switching of devices. The parallel resonant dc link as put forth by Divan [l],when compared with other resonant links, offers many advantages such as simple power circuit, ease of implementation and cOntro1, small VA ratings of resonant components etc. However, the main drawback of the earlier PRDCL is that it produces voltage stresses as high as twice the input voltage to the inverter. At times, when the link current reverses, the voltage stresses may be still higher. The voltage stresses are limited by using actively clamped resonant link (ACRL) [2],[3]. In an attempt to reduce the peak voltage stresses without using clamping circuit,.the basic PRDCL was modified with the addition of two more resonant components. Such a topology was well covered earlier [4],[5]. Since this topology reduces the peak stresses, it is hereafter referred to as reduced voltage resonant link (RVRL). The objective of the present study is to determine various losses of RVRL-fed inverter and compare them with those of ACRL-fed inverter. Furthermore, the stresses of all components at different resonant frequencies are presented for RVRL. This information is useful for proper selection of link components.

Dc conducts

Fig. 1. (a) ACRL circuit (b) The link voltage and claqping
current wavefoims.

0-7803-2795-0

13

clamping circuit also helps in the establishment of proper initial current in the resonant inductor L,. This is achieved by accurately controlling the instant of turn-off of the Clamping device S,. This eliminates the need for shorting of the bus at the end of the zero crossing. The device S, also helps in regulation of voltage V,,, without needing any auxiliary supply.

B. RVRL
The ACRL suffers from few drawbacks such as variation in the link frequency with variation in V,,, large curirent jumps with high di/dt twice every resonant cycle and increased losses due to the introduction of clamping circuit. Also, the introduction of clamping circuit increases the complexity of the power circuit and the control circuit becomes quite involved. At high values of resonant frequencies approaching 100 kHz, the control of the clamping device becomes difficult since the on time interval becomes comparable with the device turn-off time. The RVRL of Fig. 2 eliminates the drawbacks of ACRL. In this topology two additional components L h and c h are added in series with C,. For c b = 2C, and Lh = L,/4.5 the peak link voltage is reduced to 1.5V& instead

of 2V&. The devices a , . and D,. (which are of very low power rating) are needed to stabilize the operation of the a circuit. The clamping circuit consisting of De, C, and R is normally dormant. However, in case the voltage due to reversal of Io increases,, the clamping circuit) limits the link voltage to the safe value V,,. A detailed study of the effect of parameters such as the characteristic impedance, V,,, Q factors of inductors and the resonant frequency for RVRL is presented. The stresses on the various link components and inverter devices is also given. The simulation waveforms of an inverter with the RL load are given. A detailed comparison with those of ACRL is presented. of -1

11. CHARACTERISTIC IMPEDANCE

The characteristic impedance of a link is an important quantity. The circulating currents in the resonant components, the switching losses in the inverter devices, and the losses in the link are largely dependent on the characteristic impedance of the resonant link. Therefore, it is important to study its effect on the link parameters.

A . Derivation of Characterislac Impedance

The characteristic impedance of the resonant circuit can be found out from the equivalent circuit shown in Fig. 3 using A,B,C,D parameters [6]. First the B and C parameters of the circuit are obtained as follows. The transfer impedance ratio when the terminals 2 - 2 are shorted is given by

B = [--]&=I3 = SL, (1) -1 2 The transfer admittance ratio when the terminals 2 2 are open circuited is given by

E l

c=[--]ia=o E 2

I 1

sc, + S2LhChh+l

SL

(2)

30 Time (microsec)
Fig. 3 Equivalent circuit used for finding characteristic impedance.

Fig. 2. (a) RVRL topology (b) Various link voltage waveforms.

14

From (1) and (2), the characteristic impedance given by

Zrh

is

700
600
n

Substituting

Lh

= L,/4.5 and c h = 2C, we get

5
a
_I

500
400

-.
v

(4)

f - 300

From (4) it is observed that &h is a function of frequency. Substituting the expression for the resonant frequency given by S2 = O.75/L,Cr [4] in (4) we get

5 L _I

200

100
0

4
Zrh

Where 2, is the characteristic impedance with only L , and C,. From (5) it is seen that the introduction of additional elements L h and c h results in a slight increase in the characteristic impedance. It is observed that the additional elements reduce the resonant frequency fo to a value O.866fr, where, the resonant frequency fr is obtained by considering the components L, and C, only.

5 (ohm)

Fig. 4 Effect of Z,.h on the link parameters (fo = 18.5kHz).

where, c is equivalent to C,.and c h in series, t j is the device turn-off time, Ia is the load current. Substituting C=$ , . and fo = 0 . 8 6 6 / a in (6) we get

B. Variation of &h
In order to study the effect of variation in Z r h , the simulation study is carried out for a resonant frequency o f 18.5 kHz. &h is varied from 1.4 to 8.5. The results of simulation for V,, = 150 V and 600 V are shown in Fig. 4. It is observed that the losses in the link PL increase significantly with reduction in &h. ( PL is calculated by multiplying v d c with average dc current drawn by the link at no load.) These losses are mainly due to the circulating currents iLr and i L h . The reduction in Z r h reduces the voltage overshoot of the link voltage whenever the link current Io changes from a positive to a negative value. If the voltage overshoot is within the acceptable limit then the clamping circuit & can be eliminated, thereby consisting of C, , D, and I reducing the associated power loss [5]. The reduction of Z r h results in an increased value of the resonant capacitor. The higher value of the resonant cirpacitor offer large snubber action. This reduces the switching losses in the inverter devices, by reducing the area enclosed by the turn-off switching device loci 131. The average device switching losses aqr? given by

0,054I,2t;

L;/2c,3/2

(7)

111. VARIATION OF Vdc

The effect of variation in Vdc on the various parameters of the link is studied. The component values are designed for a resonant link frequency of 18.5 kHz. The Q factors for both the inductors are selected to be 150 at the resonant frequency, The supply voltage Vdc is varied from 50 v to 600 V in steps of 50 V. The damping current I d (which is required to overcome losses in the resonant link) is adjusted for each value of Vde such that there is neither overshoot of voltage nor is there any zero crossing failure. The various quantities such as i L , . , i L h , losses etc. are determined. From Fig. 5 (a) it is seen that the circulating currents iL,. and i L h increase linearly with Vd,, where as the losses in the link PL at no load i.e., Io = 0, shows a significant increase with V d c as noted from Fig. 5 (a) V,,, is the residual voltage in the capacitors at the zero crossing just before the device S,. is turned on. An equivalent circuit at the zero crossing is shown in Fig. 6 (a). It is observed that both the capacitors are charged with a voltage of equal and opposite polarity. When the devices are switched on the capacitors effectively come in parallel. The loss Pres due to the discharge o f these capacitors is given by

Io$ P*, = -fo

24C

15

180

150
120
/ 1

3 W
_1

90
60 30 0

o j

I
Vdc (V)

Fig. 6 (a) Quivalent circuit at the zero crossing. (b) Variation of V,,, and the loss R e , with vdc.

The variation of Vre, and Pres against V& is shown in Fig. 6 (b). The losses are observed to be very small. This indicates that the device S,. is of negligible power rating.

N.VARIATION OF Q
In the resonant link type inverters, the losses in the resonant inductors cannot be neglected. Since the losses are dependent on the Q factors of the inductors, it is necessary to vary the Q values to study the performance of the resonant link on no load. The performance of the resonant link on load is also determined and is included in Sec. VI. The Q value is varied by varying the equivalent series resistor (ESR) in the simulation study. The Qr and Q h of the inductors L r and L h respectively are kept identical. The Q factors are varied from 30 to 650 for a resonant frequency of18.5 kHz. The damping current I d for each value of Q is determined so that there is no

overshoot of voltage and no zero crossing failure. Fig. 7 (a)shows the variation of i~,. and i L h with Q . These remain constant with a variation in Q. The losses at no load, however, depend on the Q factors. Q must be high enough to reduce the loss. of residual voltage and loss is also plotted shown in Fig. 7 (b). In this case be reasonably high to reduce 10s

V. VARIATION O F f,,
The effect of variation of reson nk frequency for a given Zrh is studied. The Q value for each inductor is chosen to be about 150. The simulation study is carried out for the frequency ranging from 5 kHz The results indicate that the parameters such as i~~ , iLh and PL remain constant throughout the frequency range. This is because the circulating currents and the power loss depend only on Z r h . However, the losses in S r vary d c = 150V as the resonant from 56.5 mW to 1.84 w for V frequency is varied from 5 kHz to 100 kHz.

Fig. 8. Single-phase bridge circuit. TABLE 1.COMPONENT STRESSES Freq. (kHz) Current Stresses LrffiH) RMS (PEAK) (A) T,n.lrt.Hl -,.,r--, RMS (PEAK) (A) Cr [fiFI RMS (PEAK) (A) c h [Uk \ RMS (PEAK) (A) Cc(@ RMS (PEAL) (A) D C AV. (PEAK) (A) Loadcurrent RMS (PEAK) (A) Filter Cap. (fiI;) 10 25 40

,
0
100 200

14 50 26 96 (213) 92 (194) 95 (202) I 11.11 I 5.77 I 3.11 __ 75 (160) 57 (120) 68 (146) I 3.4 1 1.0 I 0.76 36 (151) 43(156) 47(162) I 6.8 I 2.0 I 1.52 54 (281) 41 (271) 48 (210) lo00 loo0 lo00 12 (119) 15 (130) 12 (136)

I I

~~

I I

I
I

300 400 Q factor

500

600 700

Fig. 7 Variation in (2 ( L , = 55pH, Cr = l p F , Vdc = SOOV). (a) PL, iLr and i L h (b) Vre, and Pres.

I 1.5 (119) I 1.6 (130) I 1.5 (136) I I I I lOO(152) I 99(147) I W(144)

I
lo000

10000

loo00

VI. COMPONENT STRESSES AND LOSSES

for Ch(V)

In order to find out the stresses on various components in the link, a single-phase H-bridge configuration is considered. The circuit for simulation is shown in Fig. 8. Sigma delta modulation (SDM) technique is used to synthesize the output of desired frequency and amplitude [7]. The transitions from +1 to -1 or -1 to +1 in the output voltage are modified by introducing freewheeling action. This is necessary to reduce stresses on the inverter d e vices [3].The dc link voltage and current, the inductor current iLr and the capacitor current icr waveforms are shown in Fig. 9 (a) to (d) for one half cycle at the output frequency of 50 Hz. These waveforms are simulated for a resonant link frequency of 10 kHz. A lower resonant frequency is chosen for the sake of clarity of waveforms. The stresses on the devices are found out for I,, = 60A, and vdc = 300V. These are shown in the Table I. The total losses in the drive are found by adding link losses, device losses and losses in the clamping circuit. The losses in:he resonant inductors dominate the link losses. These losses are calculated by first finding the rms

512

512

512

inductor currents. Then by knowing the ESRs of the inductors these losses could be found out. The losses in the device S, are neglected becuase these are very small. The presence of bleeder resistor h!b in the clamping circuit introduces clamping circuit loss. The value of Ra is determined by noting the rise in the voltage VC,.Where, KIc = Vcc Vdc.This tise in Vlc is found out by measuring the rise in the voltage Vlc due to one clamping and then multiplying by the number of clampings per output cycle. The number of clampings depend upon the type of modulation strategy used and the power factor of the load. This rise in voltage has to be discharged in & over one period at the maximum invefter output frequency. The losses in the devices are divided into two types, namely, conduction losses and switching losses. The conduction losses are determined by finding the current flow in the device and the forward voltage drop across the device. The switching losses of which turn-off loss com-

17

500

>
0

400
300 200 100

>

250 200
150 100 50

='

0
-50 -100 -150

-150
-200

'

"

18

ponents dominate are found out from (7). However, all the turn-offs may not contribute t o switching loss under certain conditions. For example, if the antiparallel diodes conduct at the zero crossing, the devices wlll turnoff without any loss. This will happen if the inductor O the zero current iLr is less than the initial current I L ~ at crossing where, ILrO = Io Id. Whenever i~~ > I L ~ O the switching loss takes place because the antiparallel diodes do not conduct under this condition. Here, the losses are calculated assuming that for 50 % switchings the turn-off takes place with losses [3]. The summary of various losses is given in Table 11.

A comparison of Tables I11 and IV reveals that the resonant frequency fo is nearly the same in both the topologies. Also, the losses are almost the same. If a bidirectional dc-dc converter operating on the inverter input 8 c voltage V d c is used then the resistor Rb can be eliminated. Under this condition the losses in the proposed topology will be less by about 25 %.

VIII. CONCLUSION
A detailed study of losses in the reduced voltage resonant link is presented. The introduction of additional elements increases the characteristic impedance Z r h and reduces the resonant link frequency. For resonant links of lower Z r h , the circulating currents increase. As a result, the losses in the link increase. However, the low value of &.h has some benificial effects. The clamping circuit can be dispensed Yith altogether. The losses in the resonant link are reduced due to improved switching loci. The study of RVRL topology reveals successful operation of the link even when the dc link current is changing fast. It is possible to choose proper component ratings based on the current and voltage stresses of various link components and devices presented here. A comparison of the losses of ACRL and RVRL shows that the losses are almost the same. However, under certain conditons the losses can be reduced by almost 25 % in the RVRL topology. Thus, the proposed RVRL topology is attractive for use in the ac drives and power supplies.

VII. COMPARISON WITH ACRL

In order to compare the performance of the proposed topology with that of ACRL, the single-phase H-bridge of Fig. 8 is considered. The SDM is used for both the resonant link inverters. The proposed topology limits the link voltage to about 1.5Vdc. Therefore, in the case of ACRL too, the clamping voltage is chosen to be 1.5vdc. The comparison is carried out for v d c = 300V and for an RL load with the current I,, = 30A. The results of simulation are shown in Tables I11 and IV for ACRL and RVRL respectively. The losses in Table 1 1 1 are calculated for the resonant component values as reported in [3]. For the same component values, the losses are calculated for RVRL (Table IV).
TABLE 1 1 . SUMMARY OF LOSSES IN THE DRIVE (Vdc = 300V, la = lOOA r m ~Po , = 15kW, Qr = Q h = 150 Rb = loon)

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Vijay Deshpande would like to thank Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) New Delhi, for granting research associateship to carry out this work.

L,
pH

C,
pF 3.4

fo

50
26

14

1.00

0.76

kHz 10 25
40

Cond. Loss W

322 319 319

Swit. Loss W 24 212

436

Link
Loss

W
184

I
I

Loss in R h

W1

225 169 1 225 153 I 225

Total Losses W 755 925

1133

REFERENCES
D.M. Divan, The resonant dc link converter- A new concept in static power conversicm, IEEE Trans on Industry Applications, vol. IA-25, no, 2 , Mar/April 1989, pp 317-325. D.M. Divan and G. Skibinski, Zero-switching-loss inverters for high power applications, IEEE Trans. on Ind. App. vol. 25, no. 4, July/Aug 1989, pp. 634-643. D.M.Divan, G Venkataramanan and W.A.A.DeDoncker, Design methodologies for soft switched inverters, IEEE Trans. Ind. App., vol. IA-29, no. 1, Jan./Feb. 1993, p p 126135. V.V.Deshpande and S.R.Doradla, A new topology for parallel resonant dc link withreduced peak voltage, in Conf. Rec. 1994, Applied Power Electronics conference held at Orlando, Florida, USA, pp 260-266. [51 Vijay Deshpande, S.R.Doradla and D.M. Divan, A current prediction scheme for the PRDCL inverter-fed Induction Motor drive, in cod. rec. 1995, power electronics specialist conference held at Atlanta USA, pp 1151-1157. J.L. Potter and. S.J.Fi&, Theory of networks and lines, Prentice hall Inc., Englewook Cliff N.J. 1963. M.H. Kheraluwala and D.M. Divan, Delta modulation strategies for resonant linkinverters, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 5 , no. 2, April 1990, pp. 22CL228.

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