An Isolated Full Bridge Boost Converter with Active Soft Switching

Chongming Qiao and Keyue M. Smedley

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of California, Irvine, CA 92697
Tel: (949) 824-6710, Fax: (949) 824-3203, email: smedley@ uci.edu

Abstract: Isolated full bridge boost converter is attractive in increases. If one pair diagonal switch S,, S, or S,, S, are
applications such as single-stage Power Factor Correction (PFC)
with isolation requirement or bi-direction DC-DC converter. It off, due to the existence of leakage inductance, the current in
features several merits such as multiple-output capability with primary transformer winding increases from zero and the
one shared choke, single-stage energy processing and good input energy stored in the input inductor can not be transferred to
current shaping ability. But the major disadvantages is that the the load immediately. The input inductor current will charge
transformer leakage inductance causes high transient voltage
the RC clamping circuit and the voltage V,, is clamped to
across the bridge switches, which increases the switching rating
and decreases the reliability. In this paper, an active soft the voltage V,,a,. The leakage inductor current increases
switching circuit is proposed for the isolated full bridge boost
converter. The proposed soft switching circuit clamps the from zero until the leakage inductor current reaches the input
voltage across the full bridge, transfers the energy in the leakage inductor current and then the energy in input inductor L, is
inductance to the load, and provides zero voltage turn-off for all
the main switches. Furthermore, the auxiliary switch features transferred to the load. The operation is similar to the regular
zero current turn-on and zero voltage turn-off. Therefore, the DC-DC boost converter except the transformer. The
efficiency is improved. The analysis is verified by experimental equilvalent circuit is shown in Fig. 1 (b). The operation
results. waveforms are shown in Fig. 2, where s, is the equivalent
I INTRODUCTION switch as shown in Fig. 1 (b).
DL
The isolated full bridge boost converter is attractive in U
applications such as single-stage Power Factor Correction
(PFC) with isolation requirement or bi-direction current
requirement [1]-[4]. It has several merits such as multiple-
outputs with shared choke, single-stage energy processing,
and good input current shaping ability. One major
disadvantage is that the transformer leakage inductance
causes high transient voltage across the bridge switches,
which increases the switching rating and decreases the
reliability. A RC (resistor and capacitor) snubber is usually
employed to clamp the voltage across the bridge switch and
dissipate the energy in the leakage inductance of the
transformer. Low efficiency is resulted. An active clamping
circuit was reported to clamp the voltage across the full
bridge in paper [2]. But both the main switches and auxiliary
switch are hard switching turned off and the loss due to the
circulating energy is also high. In this paper, an active soft
switching circuit is proposed to clamp the voltage spike
across the bridge and transfer the energy in the leakage
inductance to the load. Furthermore, all the mains switches as
well as the auxiliary switch are turned on at zero current and
turned off at zero voltage. The efficiency is improved. The
analysis is verified by experiment results.

I1 ISOLATED FULL BRIDGE BOOST CONVERTER

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WITH PROPOSED ACTIVE SOFT SWITCHING - --

A

CIRCUIT
The isolated full bridge boost converter with RC clamping
circuit as well as its equivalent circuit is shown in Fig. 1 .
When all switches S,,S, and S,,S, are on, the voltage
across the bridge v,, is zero and the input inductor current

0-7803-7067-8/01/$10.0002001 IEEE 896

due to the leakage inductance. In the meantime, the leakage are turned off, due to the leakage inductance in the
inductance also helps to reduce the reverse recovery current transformer, the energy can not transfer to the output
for the secondary diode rectifier and may improve the immediately and it will cause large spike if no clamping
efficiency. However, because of the leakage inductance, the circuit is employed. In the proposed circuit, the two
inductor current will charge the clamping circuit when the capacitors C,,C, and diodes D,,D,provide an energy
switches are off. A high power resistor is usually required to clamping circuit so that the voltage across the full bridge is
dissipate the energy in the clamping circuit and the efficiency
limited to the sum of the two capacitor voltages, i.e.
will suffer.
c,+ c,. The size of the capacitors ,c, c,(typically in
tens p range) is much larger than the snubber capacitors c, ,
therefore, the voltage across the switches vu, is well
clamped. The auxiliary switch s, and coupled inductance
c,,c, configure as an auxiliary DC-
L,, , L,, , capacitors
DC converter to transfer the energy in capacitors c,,c,to
the load. First, the energy in capacitors c,,c, is transferred
to the coupled inductance L,,, L,, when the auxiliary
switch s, is on. Then, these energy will be transferred to the
load when switch s, is off. The equivalent circuits are shown
in Fig. 4 and the operation waveforms are shown in Fig. 5.
Fig. 2. Operation waveforms of the isolated full bridge One major advantage of this auxiliary circuit is that the
converter. maximum voltage across the auxiliary switch is clamped to
the sum of two capacitor voltages E, + E,
and the energy
in the leakage inductance of the coupled inductor is recycled.
This auxiliary converter may operate in either Continuous or
Discontinuous Conduction Mode (CCM or DCM). In this
paper, since the auxiliary circuit only process the leakage
energy, DCM operation is employed and the auxiliary switch
can be turned on at zero-current.
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Proposed active so!? switching circuit

Fig. 3. The isolated full bridge boost converter with proposed

active soft switching circuit.
The proposed active soft switching circuit provides effective
clamping function replacing the RC clamping circuit as
shown in Fig. 3. In addition, it will feature zero voltage turn- I
I
sa
off for all the switches. This soft switching circuit employs I
I
one auxiliary switch, one coupled inductor, three capacitors as I

well some diodes. When all the switches, S, S, are turned -

on, the input voltage charges the input inductor Lin and the
inductor current increases. When one pair diagonal switches

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Fig. 4. Operation equivalent circuit for the auxiliary circuit (a) Stage 3, Fig. 6 (d), ( t , - t, ), The main switches s, ,s, arc
Switch sa is ON. (b) Switch s,
is OFF.
turned at zero voltage. The current in the input inductor iLDr
Auxiliary switch is shared by the main switches S, ,s, ,S , ,S, and auxiliary
gate signal
switch Sa.
Auxiliary switch
drian-source voltage
Stage 4, Fig. 6 (e), -
( t , t,), Switch sa is turned off at
Coupled inductor t, with zero voltage. Because the voltage across the capacitor
primarv current
Coupled inductor
c, is charged up to v,, that is the voltage across the
secondary current capacitor c,,the diodeD5 is blocked and the current in
inductor Lpl, L,, discharges the capacitor c, through
Fig. 5. Operation waveforms for auxiliary circuit.
diode D, and main switches SI,-S4. Voltage V,
In the proposed soft switching circuit, switch Sa has to be decreases until it reaches the reflected voltage from
synchronized with main switches S,,S, or S,,S, as
shown in Fig. 7. Thanks to the leakage inductance of the
secondary vc,= --
vo
. Diode D, starts to conduct.
nLl
primary transformer, the switch , or s, s, s, s,
, and Sa
are turned on at zero current. The turn-on losses are reduced.
Stage 5, Fig. 6 (0, ( t , - t, ), Diode D, conducts and the
energy in coupled inductor L,,, L,, is transferred to the
Since switch Sa is synchronized with main switches S, ,S,
output. The diode current decreases to zero at some time
or s, s,
, . When switch Sa is turned off, main switches are between t, and t, before next cycle starts. The leakage
still on, the current in the primary winding of the coupled
inductance of primary inductor L,, ,Lp2 can further charge
inductor charges snubber capactior C, through mains
switches -
S, S, and diode 0, . Switch Sa is turned off at capacitor C,until V,, = -Vc2

zero voltage. When main switches S,,S, or S , ,S4,are Stage 6, Fig. 6 (g), (t, - t, ), Switches s,,S, are turned off
turned off, the input inductor current discharge snubber at t,. Input inductor current iLin charges capacitor
capacitor C, through diode D5 and capacitor C,. The C,through diode D, and capacitor C, until capacitor
main switches are also turned off at zero voltage. Therefore,
switching losses for the overall circuit is minimized.
voltage V , , increases to V,, = V,, . Diodes D, and D,
In each switching cycle, the operation can be divided into start to conduct at t , . The voltage across the full bridge Vb,
eight stages. Their corresponding equivalent circuits are
shown in Fig. 6 and their detailed operation waveforms are s,
increases from zero and the switches SI, are turned off at
shown in Fig. 7. The detailed operation is explained as zero voltage.
follows: Stage 7, Fig. 6 (h), (t, -
t, ), Diodes D, and D, start to
Stage 0, Fig. 6 (a), (-to ), Switches & , S , are on and conduct at t,. The voltage across the full bridge V,, is
s, s,
switches , are off, the energy in the input inductor L, clamped to the sum of the voltage across the two bulk
is transferred to the output. capacitor c,
and c,
because these two capacitor are much
Stage 1, Fig. 6 (b), ( t o t, ), The auxiliary switch s,
is greater than the capacitor c,. In the mean time, the current
turned on at zero current thanks to the leakage inductance of
in the transformer leakage inductance i,, increases until the
the transformer L , . Two capacitors c,,c,charges the
leakage inductor current equals to the input inductor current
coupled inductor L,,, L,, and the inductor current i,, at t,.
increases from zero. In addition, the voltage across the bridge Stage 8, Fig. 6 (I), (t, t , ), The transformer starts to
vb, is set to zero and the current in the leakage inductor
conduct and the energy in the input inductor Lin is
current decreases to zero at t, .
transferred to output load. The transformer is also
Stage 2, Fig. 6 (c), ( t , t , ) , The current in the leakage demagnetized. This stage ends at the end of this switching
inductor current decreases to zero. The current in the input cycle and the entire process will repeat.
inductor i,, flows through the switch S , until t, .

898
 I

in input inductor is
transferred to the load. (d) Main switches are turned on and input inductor current
Lin increases.
4"

voltage.

(c ). Leakage inductor current drops and the energy in

C,,C, is transferred to inductors L,, ,L,, .

899
 (i). Regular boost mode. The energy in input inductor is
transferred to the load.
Fig. 6. The equivalent circuit during each stage.

(g). Mains switches S , ,s,are turned off at zero voltage.

L,"

(h). Voltage across the bridge is clamped the sum of capacitor

voltage cl+ C2.
L,,

900
Fig. 8. Simplified schematic for the experimental isolated boost PFC with proposed active soft switching.

111 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

In order to verify the concept, a 250W prototype Power
Factor Corrected isolated boost converter with proposed
active soft switching is constructed. The simplified schematic
is shown in Fig. 8. The driving circuit is not shown for
simplicity. The auxiliary circuit control block consists of one
dual Op Amp LM358 and one comparator LM319. The
output of the feedback circuit is used to regulate the clamping Input parameters Value
capacitor voltage. A P control or PI control can be used. The Input voltage 120v
output of the feedback compensator compares with a saw- OutDut Dower 250W
tooth signal synchronized to the PFC controller and generates I OutDut voltage I l0OV I I
the driving signal for auxiliary switch. Two resistors Rsetl , Components I
Value
Rset2 are used to limit the maximum duty ratio of auxiliary Input inductor I 0.3mH I POTUG44229
switch. When the voltage across clamping capacitor IInductor primary and I
3.5:l I I
C39goes high, the output of feedback also increases. The
secondary winding ratio I
duty ratio of the auxiliary switch increases and more energy is Main switches I IRF450
transferred to the load. During steady state, the voltage across I IRF450
Auxiliary switch

901
Coupled inductor 15:15:15 POTU3624 Fig. 10. Comparison of clamping voltage for isolated boost
Coupled inductance 1lOuH PFC with RC clamping and proposed soft switching.
Clamping capacitors c,,c, 47d25OV
eficiency comparison at different clamping
Output rectifier diode MBR2010 voltage

0 Ir(
;. 0.85 - /

0 50 100 150 200 250 300

output power

+Soft switching, VclarrpJlOVl

--a- Soft sw itching, Vclanp33OV
-A- Soft sw itching, Vclanp35OV
-

Fig. 1 1. Efficiency comparison at different clamping voltage

The experimental waveforms for input inductor current and
the voltage across the bridge v,,,
are shown in Fig. 12. The
main switches are turned off at zero voltage. In addition, for
the light load condition as shown in Fig. 12 (b), because the
clamping voltage is high (310V) and the current is small, it
takes less time to charge the leakage inductor current up to
the input inductor current. Therefore, most of energy will be
transferred to the load instead of the clamping circuit.

Bficiency comparison

~~~~~~

0.7
0.6
0.5
0 50 100 150 200 250
Output power
(a)

t.RC clanping --t Soft sw itching, Vc!anpJlOV

Fig. 9. Efficiency comparison between the isolated boost PFC

converter with RC clamping and proposed active soft
switching.

Comparkonfor clamping voltage

320 1 I I I

t 310
(II
5 300
;290
E 280
$ 270 (b)
260
0 50 100 150 2W 250 300 Fig. 12. Input inductor current waveforms and the voltage
output power across the bridge Vbus.(a) Output power is 200W and
--c clawing vonage(RC clawing) inductor operates in CCM. (b) Output power is 50W and
--e Qnping voltage for soft sw aching inductor operates in DCM. Top curve: input inductor current,

902
2Aldiv. Bottom curve: voltage across the main switches input voltage lOVIdiv, (sensed through a 14:1 transformer);
bridge v,,, 1OOVIdiv. Bottom curve: input current, 2Aldiv. Horizontal scale:
Smsldiv.
Fig. 14 shows the measured input voltage and current
waveforms for the isolated boost PFC with proposed soft
switching. The output power is 263W; input voltage is
120Vrms. The measured Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) is
6.5%.

IV CONCLUSION
In this paper, an active soft switching circuit is proposed for
the isolated full bridge boost converter. With the proposed
active soft switch circuit, the voltage spike across the bridge
is clamped. The energy in the leakage inductance is
transferred to load by the auxiliary circuit. In addition, the
mains switches are turned on and off at zero voltage
condition. The auxiliary switch is turned on at zero current
and turned off at zero voltage. Furthermore, the clamping
voltage is regulated for the overall load range; therefore, the
efficiency at light load is further improved. Comparing with
the isolated boost converter with typical Resistor and
Capacitor clamping circuit, experiments show more than 8%
improvement in the efficiency at the full load. At light load,
more than 20% efficiency is improved. From 20% load to
full load range, more than 83% of efficiency is achieved.
High efficiency makes this circuit a good candidate for many
applications such as single-stage Power Factor Correction,
etc.
References:
(b) [I] Yang, E.X.; Jiang, Y.; Hua, G.; Lee, F.C. Isolated boost
Fig. 13. Experimental waveforms of auxiliary switch drain- circuit for power factor correction. APEC '93. Eighth
source voltage and coupled inductor current waveforms. (a) Annual Applied Power Electronics Conference and
Top curve: coupled inductor primary current, 2Aldiv. Bottom Exposition. Conference Proceedings 1993 , San Diego,
curve: auxiliary switch drain-source voltage, 10OVldiv. (b) CA, USA, 7-1 1 March, p.196-203.
Top curve: coupled inductor secondary current, 2Aldiv. [2] Watson, R.; Lee, F.C. A soft-switched, full-bridge boost
Bottom curve: auxiliary switch drain-source voltage, converter employing an active-clamp circuit. PESC 96
1OOVIdiv. Record. 27th Annual IEEE Power Electronics Specialists
Conference; 1996. p. 1948-54 v01.2.
Fig. 13 shows that auxiliary circuit waveforms. The coupled [3] Cho, J.G.; Jeong, C.Y.; Baek, J.W.; Rim, G.H. Novel
inductor is operating in DCM, therefore, the auxiliary switch zero-voltage-transition isolated PWM boost converter for
is turned on at the zero current condition. In addition, the single stage power factor correction. The 29th Annual
auxiliary switch is turned off at zero voltage as shown in Fig. IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference
13. The switching losses for auxiliary switch is reduced. (PESC98), Fukuoka, Japan, 17-22 May 1998, p. 1023-9
=smpm: ssMq\cq,l:ar v01.2.
[4] Jinrong Qian; Batarseh, I.; Ehsani, M. Analysis and
!!I
design of a clamp-mode isolated zero-voltage-switching
boost converter. PESC 95 Record, p.1201-7 v01.2.
[5] C.Qiao, Keyue Smedley, A Universal Input Single-
Phase Single-Stage Power Supply with Power Factor
Correction and Automatic Voltage Clamping, Power
Electronics Specialists Conference; Vancouver, June,
2001.

Fig. 14. Input AC voltage and current waveforms for isolated

boost converter with proposed soft switching. Top curve:

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