Example 2

A dc step down chopper has an

inductive load of 1 ohm resistance and
10 mH inductance. Source voltage is 24
V. The chopper operates at a frequency
of 100 Hz with on-time of 5 ms.
Determine
(a) the average load current
(b) maximum and minimum load
currents.


Solution
(a) Period 100 1000 1 = = f T ms 10 =

And duty cycle 10 5 = = T t
on
o
5 . 0 =
Average output voltage
24 5 . 0 = =
S o
V V o V 12 =
Average load current
1 12 = = R V I
o o
A 12 =















Solution
(b) During the on-period
| | ) exp( 1 ) exp( ) (
1
L Rt
R
V
L tR I t i
S
o
+ =
At the end of the on-period
5 . 0 10 ) 1 10 5 . 0 ( = = = L TR L tR o and
| | ) 5 . 0 exp( 1
1
24
) 5 . 0 exp(
1 2
+ = I I
44 . 9 607 . 0
1 2
+ = I I (b.1)
During the off-period ) exp( ) (
2
L tR I t i
o
=
At the end of the off-period
5 . 0 10 ) 1 10 5 . 0 ( ) 1 ( = = = L TR L tR o and
) 5 . 0 exp(
2 1
= I I
2 1
607 . 0 I I = (b.2)
Substitute (b.2) into (b.1):
44 . 9 ) 607 . 0 ( 607 . 0
2 2
+ = I I which gives A 95 . 14
2
= I
95 . 14 607 . 0 607 . 0
2 1
= = I I A 07 . 9 =


DC step-up chopper operation
The dc chopper can also be used to step
up a dc voltage.
The circuit of a step-up chopper is
given on the next slide.
To obtain an average value of the
output voltage greater than V
S
, a
capacitor must be connected in parallel
with the load.


DC step-up chopper circuit












When the switch S is turned on for
time t
on
, the current rises linearly in
the inductor and energy is stored.
When the switch is turned off for
time t
off
, the inductor voltage
reverses and acts together with the
input voltage to forward bias the
diode. It then transfers energy to
the capacitor.


When the switch is turned on again,
- the load current is maintained by the
capacitor,
- energy is stored in the inductor and
- the cycle starts again.

Assuming a continuous source current
the waveform for the current in the
inductor would be as shown on the next
slide.



















During the chopper on-period, the
voltage across the inductor is

From this

Over the on-time of t
on
, the source
current changes by

dt
di
L V v
s
s L
= =

t
L
V
i
s
s
=

on
s
s
t
L
V
I = A



During the off-period
And hence the average output voltage






This simplifies to
dt
di
L V v
s
s o
=
(

A
A
=
t
i
L V V
s
s o

off
s
s o
t
I
L V V
A
+ =
s
off
on
s o
V
t
t
V V + =
(
(

+ =
off
on
s o
t
t
V V 1
(

+ =
T
T
V V
s o
) 1 (
1
o
o

o
=
1
s
o
V
V


If the capacitor is sufficiently large,
the output voltage will be
continuous and v
o
will become the
average value V
o
.

The above equation shows that the
load voltage can be stepped up by
varying the duty cycle .


If losses are neglected and the capacitor
is very large

Or the average source current


Therefore,
o o s s
I V I V =

o s o s
I V V I ) ( =

the average source current ) 1 ( o =
o s
I I
the maximum source current ) 2 (
2 s s s
I I I A + =
the minimum source current ) 2 (
1 s s s
I I I A =


Example 4
The step-up chopper is to deliver 3A into
a resistive load R of 10 ohms. The source
voltage is 12 V, L = 20H and the
chopper frequency is 50 kHz. The
capacitor is very large. Determine
(a) the on-time of the chopper
(b) the average, minimum and maximum
source current.













Solution
(a) The average voltage 3 10 = =
o o
RI V V 30 =
From equation (4.12),
30 12 1 = =
o s
V V o 4 . 0 =

Therefore o 6 . 0 =
(b) Period ) 10 5 ( 10 1
4 6
= = f T s 20 =
20 6 . 0 = = T t
on
o s 12 =

12 ) 20 12 ( ) ( = = A
on s s
t L V I A 2 . 7 =

) 6 . 0 1 ( 3 ) 1 ( = = o
o s
I I A 5 . 7 =

6 . 3 - 5 . 7 ) 2 (
1
= A =
s s
I I I A 9 . 3 =

6 . 3 5 . 7 ) 2 (
2
+ = A + =
s s
I I I A 1 . 11 =


Transfer of power from a lower voltage
source to a higher voltage source
The step-up chopper can be used to
transfer power from a lower voltage
source to a higher voltage source as
shown on the next slide

The voltage E and inductance L could
be representing a dc motor supplying
power to the dc supply during braking.






For continuous source current, the
current waveform would be similar to
the waveform in Figure 4.5. repeated on
the next slide.
During the chopper on-period, the
voltage across the inductor is

This gives the source current as


dt
di
L E v
L
= =

1
) ( I t
L
E
t i + =





I
1
is the initial current for the on-period.
During the off-period

For the system to be stable the current
should fall.
Thus or

The source current during off-period is
given by


I
2
is the initial current for the off-period












dt
di
L V E
s
+ =

0 < =
dt
di
L V E
s
s
V E <

2
) ( I t
L
V E
t i
s
+

=



Switch-Mode DC Power Supplies
Switch-mode mode dc power supplies use
dc choppers to convert unregulated dc input
into regulated dc output.
The regulation is achieved by pulse-width
modulation and the switching device is
normally power BJT, MOSFET or IGBT.
At the output of the dc chopper is a small
filter which is treated as an integral part of
the chopper.


Switch-mode dc power supplies contd
The load is represented by an equivalent
resistance which is usually the case in
switch mode dc power supplies.
Two basic converter topologies, namely
step-down (buck) converter and step-up
(boost) converter are discussed.
Other topologies like buck-boost and Cuk
converters are combinations of the two
basic topologies.


Step-Down (Buck) DC-To-DC Converter
This converter provides an average output
voltage lower than the dc input voltage.
Where the input voltage is ac, the converter
is very often used with an isolation
transformer. In such converters, the ac input
is first rectified and smoothed.
The smoothed dc is then chopped at a high
frequency to feed the isolation transformer
which is ferrite cored transformer, much
smaller than its 50 Hz counterpart.


Step-down (Buck) dc-to-dc converter
contd
The figure on the next slide shows
the circuit of non-isolated converter
using a power BJT as switch.
It is like the step-down chopper in
Figure 4.2 and it operates in the
same manner as that step-down
chopper.





Buck converter contd
Waveforms in the converter are shown on
the next slide.
They are obtained under the assumption that
the capacitance is very large thus causing
the output voltage v
o
(t) to be equal to V
o

(the average output voltage).
This assumption is very reasonable because
in switch mode dc power supplies, the
percentage ripple in the output is usually
less than 1 %.





Buck converter contd
Depending on the switching frequency,
filter inductance and capacitance, the
inductance current may be continuous
or discontinuous, giving a mode of
operation called
- the continuous conduction mode
(CCM) and
- discontinuous conduction mode
(DCM) respectively.


Buck converter contd
It is not common to mix these two
operating modes because they
require different control algorithms.

We consider only the CCM.

When the transistor is turned on and
off, the voltage across the diode will
be as shown on the next slide.