DC Choppers

The dc to dc converter or also known as dc chopper converts the input dc voltage into fixed or
variable dc output.

 The chopper has fixed or variable DC input, Vs. The output Vo is also fixed or variable.
Hence DC chopper is also called as DC to DC Converter.
 The output Vo can be greater or less than the input. Hence the choppers can be step down
or step up type
 Basically a chopper is a high speed on-off semiconductor switch that converts fixed dc
input voltage to a variable dc output voltage, by connecting source to load and
disconnecting the load from source at a fast speed.
 The average value of fixed DC source can be varied if the voltage is chopped by certain
duty cycle.

Chopped
into

Duty cycle, d = Ton/T

Application

 In many industrial applications, such as battery operated vehicles, trolley buses, cars,
traction, motor control it is required to convert a fixed dc voltage into a variable dc
voltage.
 Choppers are used in dc traction drives, electric train, forklift (trolley trucks), and battery-
driven vehicles.
 The choppers are also used in dc voltage regulators for high efficiency.

Advantages

A chopper circuit has several advantages as listed below:

 Offers high efficiency (reduced losses)

 Faster response to control signals
 Requires less maintenance
 Smaller in size
 Cost is less
STEP-DOWN CONVERTER ( Buck Copper)

The buck converter is a dc-to-dc converter, where the output voltage can be controlled from zero
to the input voltage level. Therefore, it is called a step down converter.

Basic Principle of Chopper Circuit

 A chopper is a thyristor on/off switch that connects to load and disconnects it from the
supply and produces a chopped load voltage from a constant input supply voltage.

 The chopper is represented by a switch (SW1) enclosed in dotted square. The switch can
be a power transistor, SCR, GTO, power MOSFET, IGBT or similar switching device.

 It is triggered periodically and is kept conducting for a period Ton and is blocked for a
period Toff. The chopped load voltage waveforms and circuit diagram are shown in fig 2
and 3 respectively.
Method Of Control

The output dc voltage can be varied by the following methods:

 Pulse width modulation control or constant frequency operation.

 Variable frequency control

Pulse Width Modulation

 In pulse width modulation the pulse width (tON) of the output waveform is varied keeping
chopping frequency ‘f’ and hence chopping period ‘T’ constant. Therefore output voltage
is varied by varying the ON time, tON. Figure 4 shows the output voltage waveforms for
different ON times.
Variable Frequency Control

 In this method of control, chopping frequency, fis varied keeping either tON or tOFF
constant. This method is also known as frequency modulation.
 In frequency modulation to obtain full output voltage, range frequency has to be varied
over a wide range. This method produces harmonics in the output and for large tOFF load
current may become discontinuous.

The output voltage waveforms for a constant tON and variable chopping period T
Step-Down Converter With R-L Load
  It consists of dc input voltage source Vd, controlled switch S, diode D, filter inductor L,
filter capacitor C, and load resistance RL.
 As the name implies, a step-down (buck) converter produces a lower average output
voltage, Vo than the dc input voltage, Vdc.
 By varying the duty cycle (Ton/T ) of the switch, the average output voltage can be
controlled.
 The state of the converter in which the inductor current is never zero for any period of
time is called the continuous conduction mode (CCM).
 It can be seen from the circuit that when the switch S is commanded to the on state, the
diode D is reverse-biased. When the switch S is off, the diode conducts to support an
uninterrupted current in the inductor.

Circuit Operation

 The supply current flows through the path filter inductor L, filter capacitor C, and load.
Therefore, the inductor stores the energy during the Ton period.
 The diode becomes reverse biased and the input provides energy to the load as well as to
the inductor.
 When switch turned off (opened) at t = Ton :

 During the interval when the switch is OFF, the inductor current flows through L, C, load
and diode D and hence diode D conducts.

Vdc.D(1  D)
VC 
8.L.C. f 2
Average, Maximum and Minimum inductor current
Output Voltage Ripple
 If the switch (S) is turned on before the inductor current reaches zero level, it is called
continuous mode of operation.

 If the inductor current reaches zero-level before the next on-period, it is called
discontinuous mode of operation.

 It is to be noted that if the switching frequency of the chopper is close to the natural
frequency (ω0) of the LC filter circuit, then the output voltage may be higher than the
input voltage.

 The main application of buck chopper or step-down chopper is in regulated d.c power
supplies and d.c speed motor control.
Step Up Converter (Boost Chopper)

 A switch (transistor, GTO, MOSFET etc) is connected across inductance and supply. A
filter capacitor C is used across the load to make Vo smooth.

When the switch,S is turned ‘on’ (closed) :

 The switch is turn on from 0 to t/2. Hence current flows through the inductance from the
supply.
 The diode, D blocks the reverse flow of output current when switch is turned ‘on’.
 The inductance current rises and inductance stores the energy from the supply.
 Note that the drop in the inductance is LdiL/dt with the polarity shown. The voltage
across S is zero.
 The capacitor maintains the voltage ‘vo’ and supplies current ‘io’ when switch is closed.
Hence the diode, D is reversed biased and it does not conduct.
When the switch,S is turned ‘off’ (open) :

 The switch is turned-off at T/2. Hence the inductor generates a large voltage LdiL/dt to
maintain the current iL in the same direction.

 The diode D is forward biased and it starts conducting. Thus the output voltage will be Vo
= Vs + LdiL/dt

 Thus the output voltage of the chopper is greater than supply voltage Vs. This shows the
step-up operation. The voltage induced in the inductance adds to the supply voltage and
this total voltage appears as output voltage.

 The capacitor also charges to this boosted voltage. The inductance as well as supply
provides the energy to the load from t/2 to T (i.e when switch is off).

 The current through the inductance decreases because its stored energy goes on reducing.

 At T, the switch is again turned on and the cycle repeats.


Example 1

Figure 1: Buck converter circuit

The buck dc-dc converter of Figure 1 has the following parameters:

Vs = 50 V, D = 0.4, L = 400 μH, C = 100 μF, f = 20 kHz, R = 20 Ω
Assuming ideal components, calculate:
(a) the output voltage Vo,
(b) the maximum and minimum inductor current, and
(c) the output voltage ripple.


( 20V )
( max = 1.75 A || min = 0.25 A )
( 3 mV )

Example 2

A buck converter has an input voltage Vs = 12 V. The required average output voltage, Vo
= 5 V at R = 500 Ω and the peak-to-peak output ripple voltage is 20 mV. The switching
frequency is 25 kHz. If the peak-to-peak ripple current of inductor is limited to 0.8 A,
determine:
(a) the duty cycle, D
(b) the filter inductance L
(c) the filter capacitor, C

( 0.417 )
( 66.25μ )

( 1.6μ )





Example 3

The boost converter of Fig. 6-8 has parameter Vs = 20 V, D = 0.6, R = 12.5 Ω,
L = 10 μH, C = 40 μF, and the switching frequency is 200 kHz.
(a) Determine the output voltage
(b) Determine the average, maximum, and minimum inductor currents
(c) Determine the output voltage ripple
(d) Determine the average current in the diode.
Assume ideal components.

( 50 V )
( max = 7A || min = 1A)
( 3.125 mV)