Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 91 (2018) 504–520

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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

Resonant power converters with respect to passive storage (LC) elements T

and control techniques – An overview
⁎
Mohamed Salema, , Awang Jusoha, N. Rumzi N. Idrisa, Himadry Shekhar Dasa,
Ibrahim Alhamrounib
a
Department of Electrical Power Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor 81310, Malaysia
b
Department of Electrical, Electronics, University Kuala Lumpur British Malaysian Institute (UniKL BMI), Gombak 53100, Malaysia

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Due to the rapid development in modern power industrial applications such as renewable energy, photovoltaic,
Resonant power converters (RPCs) laptop adapters and electric vehicles, DC/DC resonant converters have gained the attention of many researchers.
Soft-switching The rise of the potential of this industry has since led to a plethora of studies on resonant converter topologies
Series resonant converter (SRC) with the aim to enhance the features of soft switching, high power density, smooth waveforms and high effi-
Control strategies
ciency. The efficiency of these converters has been proven, thus are undoubtedly favored over hard switching
conventional converters because of their ability to both work at high frequency and reduce switching losses.
Researches are still being continued to significantly reduce the cost and number of components, besides im-
proving areas such as high power density, high efficiency, wide load variations, and reliability. This paper
presents the principles of resonant power converters (RPCs) and their classifications based on their DC-DC
converter family, and ability to achieve soft switching. Several recent research trends have focused on the
development of their constructions, operational principles, merits and demerits. The study of different resonant
DC–DC converter topologies suggests that there is no single topology which can achieve all requirements.
Therefore, further research is required to produce a power circuit that can eliminate the addressed limitations as
many as possible.

1. Introduction switched-mode power supply, rectifier, inverter, and DC-DC converter.

Switching mode DC-DC converter has been widely researched and
The rapid development of modern and clean energy, as well as developed to meet the strictest requirements of industrial power elec-
power industrial applications such as hybrid electric vehicle, smart tronics. The advantage of utilizing the switch-mode is that the
grids and renewable energy applications, has led to a substantial in- switching and conduction losses can be minimized by increasing the
terest in power converters. This is mostly contributed by their perfor- switching frequency. There are many switching topologies that can
mance improvement in energy conversion [1,2], whose main task is achieve higher power transfer [5,6]. Nevertheless, power converters
either to convert energy from one form into another (such as DC into AC contain energy storage passive elements (capacitors and inductors),
and vice versa), or alter the frequency or voltage, or combination of all power switches (transistors or mosfets), and diodes, which reduce their
the above. Therefore, power converters can be classified based on the efficiency. The development of efficient circuits for power converters
input and output forms, whether they are direct current (DC) or alter- must be parallel with the advancement in devices technology, materials
nating current (AC) [3]. Modern power converters consist of many and control systems to constantly achieve high efficiency, by mini-
conversion stages. For example, the uninterruptible power supplies mizing the switching losses and the overall size of the converter [7–9].
(UPS) system contains a rectifier to convert the AC line voltage into DC As shown in Fig. 1, DC-DC converters can be classified into three main
link voltage, to charge the battery bank while maintaining a constant technologies based on their operation modes: 1) linear, 2) hard-
DC link voltage. Then, the inverter is used to convert DC link voltage switching mode converters and 3) resonant converters or soft-switching
into AC line voltage to provide the regulated sinusoidal voltage to the [5,10–12].
load [4]. Some devices that are used for these purposes are the Linear regulator technologies have the advantages of low noise,

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (M. Salem), [email protected] (A. Jusoh), [email protected] (N.R.N. Idris),
[email protected] (H.S. Das), [email protected] (I. Alhamrouni).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2018.04.020
Received 26 January 2017; Received in revised form 9 April 2018; Accepted 10 April 2018
1364-0321/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
M. Salem et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 91 (2018) 504–520

advantages compared to linear mode regulators such as: 1) high

switching frequency which enables the use of a small ferrite transformer
core, and can be operated in a much wider DC input voltage range than
the linear regulators; and 2) higher efficiency. However, there are some
drawbacks associated with the complexity of the control circuit com-
pared to that of linear regulators, and the noise of the supply may in-
crease due to the power switching techniques.
Several studies have reviewed the literature on resonant converters,
such as the series and parallel resonant converters in [23]. This study
focused on the characteristics of series-parallel resonant converter and
covered the low order resonant converters in terms of their ability in
providing a systematic guide to the analysis and design of resonant
power circuits. Even though the study managed to provide a significant
overview of the basic resonant converters, the multilevel resonant
Fig. 1. Classification of the DC-DC converters.
converters, high order converters and control methods were not cov-
ered. Resonant converter classifications with multiple elements have
simplicity and fast response with excellent regulation. On the other been presented in [21] as proposal of LLC resonant converter for an
hand, they also possess some disadvantages due to the fact that they electric vehicle (EV) battery charger application.
dissipate power in any working conditions, which will lead to low ef- The current study describes the principles of the resonant power
ficiency. The switching-mode topologies (Buck, Boost, Buck-Boost and converters (RPCs) and their classifications based on several perspec-
Cuck converters) are classified into two types; those without galvanic tives: their order based on the DC-DC converters classifications, and
isolation, which are also named choppers, and those without isolation. their ability to achieve soft switching. Review is also inclusive of their
However, for the converters to process power that is usually obtained constructions and working principle in detail, along with discussion on
from the utility grid at voltages between 100 and 600 V, most appli- control methods and comparison. The rest of the paper is structured as
cations require galvanic isolation (transformer) for safety reasons the following:
[13–15]. Since these converters require high-powered transformer, thus
single-switch converters seem to be inappropriate solution for high- Section 2 presents soft-switching converters families, where the re-
powered applications. Therefore, other DC-DC isolated converters sonant converters are classified based on the number of the reactive
which utilize more than a single switch are definitely preferred for such elements and operating principles.
applications, for example, push-pull and full/half-bridge converters. Section 3 presents the characteristics of common resonant con-
In switch mode converters, hard switching transitions in devices verters, namely PRC, LLC, LCC and LCLC, in terms of voltage gain
will lead to high power dissipation, which will gradually cause a re- characteristics and design considerations.
duction of the converter's efficiency and probably damage to switching Section 4 reviews the series resonant converters (SRCs). The basic
devices. Snubbers have been used to minimize the stress on switches, series resonant converter is discussed in detail as a case of study to
thus eliminating this problem. Other disadvantages of hard switching provide clarification on their design considerations and challenges.
converters that are worth mentioning here are limited frequency, high Improvements on the resonant converters, their features and
switching losses, high EMI, large size and heavy weight. There are two weaknesses are reviewed.
more problems when it comes to controlling the transferred power; the Section 5 presents the control strategies of DC-DC resonant con-
first is the noise generated at the instance of switching, and the second verters. Common control methods for resonant converter are also
is the energy dissipated in the switches. reviewed.
Despite these disadvantages, hard switching transitions have been Section 6 presents an overview of the most significant applications
studied and implemented in the current research [16–18] by modifying of the RPCs based on their ample advantages and characteristics.
their voltage and the current of the active switches to overcome or at Section 7 presents challenges and future work.
least reduce the effects [19–21]. These modifications or developed Section 8 presents the conclusion of this study.
techniques work effectively by forcing either the current through the
switch or the voltage across the switch to zero. Such transition tech-
2. Soft-switching converter families
nique is known as soft switching technique, as shown in Fig. 2. Zero
Current Switching (ZCS) circuit forces the current waveform to drop to
The design considerations and operation modes of soft-switching
zero, while Zero Voltage Switching (ZVS) circuit deals with the voltage
converters have been widely investigated for both ZCS [25–28] and ZVS
waveform with the same manner. The power circuits with such tran-
converters [29–32]. Soft switching converters have shown significant
sition techniques are known as Soft-Switching Converters [22–24].
improvements in terms of EMIs, devices stresses and switching losses.
Nevertheless, the soft-switching or resonant converter has several
These improvements have allowed the converters to work at higher

Fig. 2. Current and voltage waveforms of hard and soft switching at turn-on and turn-off transitions.

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M. Salem et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 91 (2018) 504–520

high switching frequency. This is because the conversion of the DC-DC

power can be done by converting the power supply from DC into AC by
using an inverter. Then, it can be stepped up or down using electro-
magnetic component, followed by a rectifier network to be delivered to
the load as DC power. The controlled switching network (CSN) is the
stage where the DC supplied power is converted into AC power.
The most common switching networks are the full and half bridge,
whereby the usage depends on the required power. The full bridge in-
verter is usually used for high power applications, as opposed to half
bridge or single ended inverters which generate only half of the input
voltage across the active switch. The latter has a low voltage switch
rates that are proper to be used for high input voltage applications
Fig. 3. Soft-switching converter family.
[41,42]. RPCs are usually implemented with half/full-bridge inverters
along with each of full-bridge or center-tapped rectifiers [23,43].
frequencies, thus contributing to practical reduction in magnetic com- The controlled switching network shown in Fig. 5 produces a square
ponents. In general, the soft switching converter family can be divided waveform voltage Vs(t) of the switching frequency fs (ɷs = 2π fs), as
based on their operating principles, into three main types: 1) Resonant represented by the Fourier series in Eq. (2). In consideration of the
power converters (RPCs), 2) Resonant transition converters (RTCs), 3) resonant tank response that is found to be dominant to the fundamental
Quasi-resonant converters (QRCs) and Multi-resonant converters component fs of voltage waveform Vs(t), it is also apparent that the
(MRCs). The classification of soft switching converters is shown in infinitesimal response demonstrates harmonic frequencies nfs,
Fig. 3. n = 3,5,7,… Consequently, the power correlated to the fundamental
component of the voltage waveform Vs(t) is transferred to the resonant
2.1. Resonant power converters (RPCs) tank, as expressed in Eq. (2). The fundamental component is a sinu-
soidal waveform with peak amplitude equal to (4/π) times the DC
For the last two decades, resonant power converters have been source voltage, which is in the same phase with the original waveform.
thoroughly explored and developed to enhance their ability to satisfy The output sinusoidal switched current is(t) is positive when S1 is on
the most strict industrial power electronics requirements such as high and negative when S2 is off, since the two switches work alternately,
power density, efficient conversion, light weight with small size, and so and its peak amplitude Is1 with phase is equal to φs. Meanwhile, the
on [33,34]. These improvements will promote the use of these con- input of DC current to CSN can be obtained by averaging the sinusoidal
verters in majority of the renewable energy applications such as elec- switched current over half of switching period [10,22,44].
trical vehicle, battery chargers, photovoltaic sources, induction heating
4Vg 1
systems, fuel cell systems and power supplies [7,10,35–38]. However, Vs (t ) =
π
∑ n
sin (nωs t )
every resonant power converter utilizes different strategy to accomplish n = 1,3,5, … (1)
soft switching requirements rather than adopting auxiliary elements to
each switch [21]. The structure of a resonant power converter (RPC) is 4Vg
Vs1 (t ) = sin (nωs t )
shown in Fig. 4. As summarized in this section, each stage represents a π (2)
specific task to be performed. DC source powers the controlled
switching network (CSN) which switches on and off rapidly in ac- is (t ) = Is1sin(ωs t −φs) (3)
cordance to the working frequency in order to produce the output
Ts
current or voltage that feeds the next stage. A stage of high-frequency 2 2
resonant tank network (RTN) containing two or more reactive compo-
Iin =
Ts
∫0 2 is (t ) dt =
π
Is1cos(φs)
(4)
nents is used to generate sinusoidal voltage and current signals to re-
duce harmonic distortion and electromagnetic interference [39]. Since
this stage is used as an energy buffering between the CSN and the load, 2.1.2. Resonant tank network (RTN)
it can be identified by the frequency selective network. In particular, in Resonant tank (RTN), which is also known as resonant circuit, tuned
resonance condition, the impedances of both inductance and capaci- circuit, or LC circuit, contains reactive elements which store vacillating
tance are equal, which will generate the resonant frequency. Then, the energy at the circuit's resonant frequency. The resonance in the LC
output signal is rectified and filtered by a rectifier network and pass circuit is achieved by the energy movement between the inductor and
filter to produce the required DC output voltage [40]. the capacitor. When the capacitor loses its electromagnetic energy, the
inductor is electromagnetically charged because energy moves from the
former to the latter. Once the inductor is fully charged, the energy will
2.1.1. Control switching network (CSN)
flow or dissipate back to the capacitor. This back-and-forth movement
In general, the idea of the resonant power converters is not that
of electrical energy begins again and repeats itself over and over to
different from the conventional DC-DC converters in terms of their
produce an electromagnetic frequency which is indeed applicable in
advantages in achieving soft switching and the possibility of working at
many applications such as telecommunications technology.
It is possible to charge the tank to a specific resonant frequency by
setting the reactive element values. Furthermore, the resonant tank
network is the most important stage of the resonant power converters.
There are various RTN types that can be classified according to three
main factors. The first category is based on the connection method of
the tank elements. The three most common resonant circuits are Series
resonant converter (SRC) [29,45], Parallel resonant converter (PRC)
[46] and Series-parallel resonant converter (SPRC) [47]. The second
type is based on the number of the reactive elements (number of the
transfer function order) two-elements. The third type is based on de-
Fig. 4. Structure of resonant power converter (PRC). sign, either by single element or multi-elements resonant tank [44].

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Fig. 5. Equivalent circuit of controlled switching network (CSN).

Fig. 6. Two-element resonant tank network topologies.

2.1.2.1. Two-elements resonant tank. There are many topologies of tanks that are suitable for input current source and input voltage source
resonant power converters with two-element RTN, as illustrated in are drawn with red and blue colors, respectively. In order to compose a
Fig. 6, which are the parallel resonant converter (PRC) [48] and the resonant converter, the resonant tank should satisfy the resonant
series resonant converter (SRC) [49] are considered as second order conditions [67]. In case of input voltage source, the input resonant
resonant tanks. This makes them the most popular and the simplest tank impedance must be infinite to limit the HF input current. Thus, the
topologies due to their simple analysis. These two-element resonant current will be a sinusoidal wave. Also, at high frequency, the inductor
network converters have been thoroughly studied in the literature. As behaves as an open circuit, while the capacitor behaves as a short
can be seen in the topologies in Fig. 6, the RTNs which are drawn in circuit; hence, the input of the resonant tank should be open circuit. In
blue are suitable for voltage source converters, while the ones in red are case of input current source, the input resonant tank impedance must be
suitable for current source converters [21,44]. In parallel resonant zero at high frequency to limit the input voltage. Thus, the current will
converter, one or both of the elements should be in parallel with the be a sinusoidal wave, and in the same manner, the input of the resonant
load, as shown in Fig. 6(b–e and h) [50,51]. The series resonant tank should be a short circuit.
converter signifies that both elements are in series with the load Resonant converters with three-element RTN have been widely
[52–54]. SRC is not able to control the output voltage at no load studied and experimented in many industrial applications, among them
condition, nor provide an output voltage that is lower than the input, LLC, LCC, CLL, LCL, and hybrid series-parallel resonant converter
which make it applicable for step-down applications only [55]. [60–64]. LLC and LCC are the most popular topologies of the third
However, it can maintain a wide load variation of switching order RTN converters. The LLC RTN is considered as a three-element
frequency, in contrary to PRC which provides insignificant efficiency parallel resonant converter, which combines the series resonant con-
at light load and performs poor current variation with the load [56]. verter properties by adding a parallel inductor placed before the load.
Based on these reasons, SRC and PRC are not suitable for certain This topology has been studied and published in several researches,
parasitic components in some applications, such as contactless energy whereby its operation mode analysis, design steps, parameters optimi-
transfer applications [57] and high voltage applications [58]. zation and performance behavior have been elaborately presented in
[65–68]. Its application has also been put to the test, which has suc-
cessfully achieved an improvement in some aspects, such as high vol-
2.1.2.2. Three-element resonant tank. The topologies of the three- tage application [69] and electrical vehicle battery charger application
element RTN (third order resonant tanks) were driven to overcome [37]. Similarly, the LCC, which is also known as series-parallel resonant
the limitations of the two elements RTN. In particular, the third element converter SP_RPC, has also gained the researchers’ attention, [70,71],
is inserted into the two-element resonant network in a specific for application in corona generators for film treatment [72], transpor-
consideration to produce the three-element RTN. They can be tation systems applications [73] and battery chargers for photovoltaics
considered as a combination of the merits of the most common two- systems [74]. Other types of the third order RTN are less popular be-
element resonant converters SRC and PRC; overcoming their cause they do not have as many advantageous properties as LLC and
shortcoming. There are 36 different tanks of the third order RTN LCC do. For example, CLL consists of two inductors and one RTN ca-
[21,56,59], in which half of them are listed in Fig. 7. Resonant tanks a pacitor, similar to LLC, but the added property in the latter is actually
to i are formed by two capacitors and one inductor, while resonant an added inductor that is parallel with the main inductor and in series
tanks j to r are formed by two inductors and one capacitor. Resonant

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Fig. 7. Three-element resonant tank network topologies.

with the resonant capacitor [75,76]. means that the main aim of using DR_LPF is to rectify and filter the AC
waveform, to obtain the required DC output waveform. Literature on
2.1.2.3. Multi-elements resonant tank. Resonant tank networks with four resonant power converters substantiates that DR_LPS has been pre-
or more number of elements are classified as multi-elements resonant sented as a center-tapped or full-bridge rectifiers. However, center-
converters, whereby the relation between resonant tanks exists beyond tapped rectifier is impractical because of the resulting high voltage
the same element number in the RTN. The relations with different tank stress on the diodes, thus low pass filter has been studied in both cases
orders means that multi-elements resonant tank networks are of capacitive or inductance [29,44,81,82].
equivalent to lower numbers of element tanks [56]. Multi-elements
parallel resonant tanks incorporate most of the properties of the lower 2.1.3.1. Diode rectifier with capacitive low pass filter (DR-CLPF). In this
orders of the PRC, by stimulating all of the reactive elements and configuration, the input voltage VR(t) is considered as a square wave of
gaining the ability to achieve soft switching at high operating the resonant frequency, while the current is a sinusoidal waveform, as
frequencies. This topology has been conducted in some researches in shown in Fig. 9. Depending on the resonant tank filtering, the input
the literature, for example, the analysis, simulation and experimental voltage VR(t) can be approximated with its fundamental component
evaluation documented in [77,78]. From these studies, it is noteworthy VR1(t), as expressed in Eqs. (6) and (7), respectively. Additionally, the
that as the number of the reactive elements increases, the system fundamental component is in the same phase with the current, as it
becomes more complex in terms of its analysis, cost and size. A review changes once a current drops to zero due to the changes of the
on multi-resonant RTN-RPC is presented in [79], while the comparison conducting diodes.
of different RTN-RPC topologies is outlined in [44]. For example, the iR (t ) = Ipsin(ωs t −φs) (5)
fourth order RTN network shown in Fig. 8 is a well-known topology
called the LCLC tank network [80], whereby this topology incorporates 4Vo 1
VR (t ) =
π
∑ n
sin (nωs t − φs)
the properties of both of the most popular three-elements network n = 1,3,5, … (6)
which are LCC and LLC, and thus exhibits their limitations. While in
4Vo
practice, due the fact that high-frequency transformer inductances VR1 (t ) = sin (ωs t − φs)
π (7)
(magnetizing and leakage) often contribute in the tank network, this
topology can be considered for high voltage applications [21]. 2
Ts
2
Io =
Ts
∫0 2 iR (t ) dt =
π
IR
(8)
2.1.3. Diode rectifier network with low pass filter (DR-LPF)
Resonant tank network produces sinusoidal current and voltage
2.1.3.2. Diode rectifier with inductive low pass filter (DR-LLPF). The
waveforms at the resonant frequency and output voltage, which is
diode rectifier is followed by an inductive filter case and the input
considered as an input to the last stage DR-LPF is a pulse waveform. It
voltage VR(t), which is sinusoidal waveform, while the input current is
considered as a square waveform iR(t), as shown in Fig. 10. It is in the
same manner as the input voltage situation in the previous section,
which can be approximated with its fundamental component iR1(t), and
is in the same phase as the voltage. The variables can be expressed using
the following equations:
VR (t ) = Vpsin(ωs t −φs) (9)

4Io 1
iR (t ) =
π
∑ n
sin (nωs t − φs)
Fig. 8. Example of four-element resonant tank network (LCLC). n = 1,3,5, … (10)

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Fig. 9. DR_LPF with a capacitive pass filter and its variables waveforms.

4Io 2.3. Multi-resonant converters (MRCs)

iR1 (t ) = sin (ωs t − φs)
π (11)
The approach of the multi-resonant converter has been proposed to
eliminate the drawbacks of the QRCs. The technique of achieving ZVS
Ts can be obtained by utilizing two resonant capacitors with a resonant
2 2
Vo =
Ts
∫0 2 VR (t ) dt =
π
VR
(12) inductance called multi-resonant network [83]. For example, the zero
voltage resonant switch can be arranged by connecting the first re-
sonant capacitor in parallel with switch S, while the second resonant
capacitor is placed in parallel with the rectifying diode, and the re-
sonant inductance is placed in series with both semiconductors, as
2.2. Quasi-resonant converter (QRCs) shown in Fig. 13. As a result of the network arrangement for both of the
rectifying diode and the active switch, S will turn on and off with ZVS.
Conventional PWM hard switching converters are practical for low Thus, multi-resonant converters produce the most desirable switching
voltage application because of the simplicity in terms of their controls. transition conditions to obtain higher operating frequencies, while
They can also work at high-operating frequencies. Nonetheless, in- maintaining efficient energy and eliminate the current and voltage os-
creasing the switching frequency will lead to remarkable switching cillations [90,91].
stresses and losses, thus producing severe switching noise. The voltage
spikes during switching are frequently caused by electromagnetic in-
terference (di/dt) across the leakage inductance during inductive turn- 2.4. Resonant transition converters (RTCs)
off transition. This may lead to warming issue, thus either larger heat
sink or higher current capacity switching device is required [83,84]. In Resonant Transition Converters can be considered as advanced soft
order to improve the switching transient conditions, quasi-resonant switching converters of quasi-resonant converters, due to the fact that
converters have been proposed by incorporating reactive resonant they utilize four elements to obtain soft switching. While two of these
elements (LC) with semiconductor devices to achieve soft switching elements are reactive components as in quasi-resonant converters, the
transition [21,85]. There are two types of quasi-resonant converters other two elements are switches. The auxiliary elements can be ar-
based on the soft switching technique, which are ZVS or ZCS. As for the ranged to obtain either zero-current transition (ZCT) or Zero-voltage
QRC_ZVS, a resonant inductor and a resonant capacitor are added, as transition (ZCT) [21,92]. A high-frequency equivalent circuit of the
shown in Fig. 11. Resonant capacitor Cr is in parallel with switch S, converter is shown in Fig. 14. The main converter switches are S1 and
while resonant inductor Lr is in series with the series of S and Cr. In D1, while switches S2, D2 and the reactive components Cr and Lr are
order to achieve QRC_ZCS, resonant inductor Lr is in series with switch considered as auxiliary networks that are connected to achieve the
S, while resonant capacitor Cr is in parallel with the series of S and Lr, desired soft transition. A zero voltage and zero current transition
as shown in Fig. 12 [86–89]. The QRCs have three major disadvantages; (ZVZCT) has been presented in [93] to obtain ZCT turn-off and ZVT
1) the voltage stress at the switching transition, 2) power dissipation at turn-on together for the main switch. Despite being able to demonstrate
high working frequency, and 3) it only operates in either ZVS or ZCS some good features, it also has some drawbacks such as the current
mode for either the active switch or the rectifying diode but not for both stresses of the main switch and the resonant periods, which take a long
concurrently [21,83]. time, causing high losses for each switching cycle.

Fig. 10. DR_LPF with an inductive pass filter and its variables waveforms.

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Fig. 11. ZVS-quasi-resonant converters.

Active snubbers cells have been explained in detail in [94] to pro-

vide zero current and zero voltage transition together for the main
switch by utilizing quasi-resonant circuit only to overcome the com-
plexity and the cost challenges. The results portray desirable features of
both ZCT turn-off and ZVT turn-on.

3. Characteristics of resonant power converters

The characteristics of the most popular resonant converters for two,

three, and multi elements tanks are reviewed in this section in terms of Fig. 13. ZVS-multi-resonant switch.
tank structure and voltage gain. The gain curves of each converter are
also presented, based on the resulting gain equation as presented in 3.2. LLC resonant converter
Table 1.
LLC resonant converter contains three reactive elements in the RTN,
as shown in Fig. 7a. It is considered as conventional SRC with addi-
3.1. Parallel resonant converter (PRC) tional inductor Lr parallel to the load, which is called parallel inductor
Lrp. This parallel inductor can be substituted by utilizing magnetizing
Parallel resonant converter is classified as two-element tank con- inductance in case of utilizing transformer [21,95]. LLC topology pro-
verter, as shown in Fig. 6a. The resonant capacitor Cr must be in par- duces two resonant frequencies: 1) series resonant frequency fr1 based
allel with the load and the diode rectifier network DR. In case of ef- on the series elements Lr Cr, and 2) parallel resonant frequency fr2
fective load resistance, Rac the value is obviously larger compared to based on all three tank elements (Lr Cr and Lrp) as defined in Eqs. (17)
resonant capacitor reactance Cr, meaning that the resonant current is and (18), where fr1 > fr2.
independent from the load. Furthermore, the voltage across the parallel Additionally, the relation between the two resonant inductances AL,
resistance Rac, and the resonant capacitor can be increased by reducing as defined in Eq. (20), plays the main rule in designing the LLC con-
the load [21,44]. Fig. 15 illustrates the relation of the voltage gain of verter. Fig. 16 characterizes the voltage gain of the LLC as a function of
the PRC as a function of switching frequency and the load quality factor the load quality factor, switching frequency, and unity inductance ratio
based on Eq. (16) in Table 1. As it can be clearly seen, high voltage gain (AL = 1) based on Eq. (21) in Table 1. As can be noticed, the voltage
is obtained under light load conditions and at switching frequency that gain for light loads moves towards the parallel resonant frequency fr2,
is almost equal to resonant frequency fs = fr. Thus, varying the fre- and the characteristics of the converter behave as a parallel resonant
quency of the control switching network will allow the PRC to step converter PRC. For high load conditions, the converter behaves as SRC
down or up the output voltage. The output voltage can be controlled with unity voltage gain towards series resonant frequency fr1.
under no-load conditions and the resonant current is limited to the
resonant inductor value, which makes the PRC suitable for short circuit
3.3. LCC resonant converter
and open circuit applications [23].

The LCC topology also contains three reactive elements in the RTN,

Fig. 12. ZCS-quasi-resonant converters.

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Fig. 14. RTC HF equivalent circuits.

Table 1
Equations characterizing PRC, LLC, LCC and LCLC topologies.
Circuit parameters Voltage gain

PRC
1
ωr = 2πfr =
Lr Cr (13)

Lr 1
Zo = = ωr Lr =
Cr ωr Cr (14) 1
MV =
2 2
f f 1
⎡1−( s )2⎤ + ⎡ s ( )⎤
R ⎣ fr ⎦ ⎣ fr Q ⎦
Q = ac
Zo (15) (16)
LLC
1
fr1 =
2π (Lr + Lrp) Cr (17)

1
fr 2 =
2π Lr Cr (18)

Rac Rac
Q= =
Zo ωr1 (Lr + Lrp) (19) 1
MV =
2 2 2
f 1 f
AL fr1
(1+AL )2 ⎡1−⎛ r1 ⎞ ⎤ + ⎡ (( s − )⎤
L ⎢ f ⎥ ⎣ Q fr1 AL +1 fs ⎦
AL = r ⎣ ⎝ s⎠ ⎦
Lrp (20) (21)
LCC
1
fr1 =
2π Lr Cr (22)

1
fr 2 =
r rp ⎞ C C
2π Lr ⎛
⎝ Cr +Crp ⎠ (23)

Rac Rac
Q= = 1
Zo ωr 2 Lr (24) MV =
2 2 2
f 1 f AC fr 1 ⎤
(1+AC )2 ⎡1−⎛ s ⎞ ⎤ + ⎡ (⎛ s ⎞ − )
C ⎢ f ⎥ ⎣ Q ⎝ fr1 ⎠ AC +1 fs
AC = r ⎣ ⎝ r2⎠ ⎦ ⎦
Crp (25) (26)
LCLC
1
fr =
2π Lr Cr (27)

1 K 1 1
frp1 = + K2−4
2π 2 2 Lr Cr Lrp Crp (28)

1 K 1 1
frp2 = − K2−4
2π 2 2 Lr Cr Lrp Crp (29)
1 Crp Lr
With k = (1+ + )
Lrp Cr Cr Lrp

Cr
AC =
Crp (30)
1
MV =
2 2 2 2
L ⎡1+A + A − A ⎛ fs ⎞ − A ⎛ fr ⎞ ⎤ + ⎡ 1 ( fr − fs
)⎤
AL = r ⎢ C L C f L f
Lrp (31) ⎣ ⎝ r⎠ ⎝ s⎠ ⎥ ⎦ ⎣ Q fs fr ⎦

(32)

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Fig. 15. Voltage gain characteristic of PRC.

Fig. 18. Voltage gain characteristic of LCLC converter.

ratios, in which the capacitance AC and inductance AL must be con-

sidered in the design. In this topology, there are three frequencies: one
series resonant frequency frs, and two parallel frequencies frp1, frp2, as
defined in Eqs. (27) and (29), where frp1 < frs < frp2 [96,97].
Fig. 18 illustrates the relation of the voltage gain of the LCLC topology
as a function of switching frequency and the load quality factor and
AL = AC = 1 based on Eq. (32) in Table 1. It can be clearly seen that
the switching frequencies are higher than the series resonant frequency,
although the converter's characteristics are the same as the LLC con-
verter. Meanwhile, for frequencies with lower series of resonant fre-
quency, the converter behaves like LCC converter, as shown in Figs. 16
Fig. 16. Voltage gain characteristic of LLC converter. and 17, respectively [21,44].

as shown in Fig. 7j, whereby in this topology, the third element is a 4. Review of series resonant converter
capacitor, Crp connected parallel to the load. Therefore, this topology
has two resonant frequencies: 1) series resonant frequency fr1 based on Series resonant converter is classified based on two elements, and it
the series elements Lr Cr, and 2) parallel resonant frequency fr2 based has been widely studied due to its ability to perform at high frequency
on all three tank elements (Lr Cr and Crp), as defined in Eqs. (22) and and achieve soft switching [29,63,98–100]. As mentioned earlier, re-
(23), where fr1 < fr2. sonant power converters can be divided into several groups based on
In LCC converters, the ratio between both resonant capacitors AC the connection method of the tank elements, whereby the most three
must be selected carefully to match the desired peak gain. Fig. 17 shows common converters are Series Resonant Converter (SRC), Parallel Re-
the voltage gain of the LCC as a function of switching frequency and the sonant Converter (PRC) and Series-Parallel Resonant Converter (SPRC).
load quality factor with unity inductance ratio (AC = 1) based on Eq. These three basic converters are difficult to optimize at high input
(26) in Table 1. It can be clearly seen that the voltage gain for light voltage, as high switching and conduction losses will result from wide
loads moves towards the parallel resonant frequency fr2, and the input range. The reason is that the impedance of the resonant tank will
characteristics of the converter behave as a parallel resonant converter increase as frequency increases, which will then lead to more energy
PRC. For high load conditions, the converter behaves as SRC with unity circulating in the resonant tank rather than energy being transferred to
voltage gain towards series resonant frequency fr1. the output [101]. Table 2 below describes the difference between these
three types, as well as the principle and design consideration of the
3.4. LCLC resonant converter series resonant converter. As method to obtain zero voltage switching,
the above operating resonance is presented in this section.
Similar as the previous ones, the LCLC topology also contains four
reactive elements in the RTN, as shown in Fig. 8, whereby this topology 4.1. Full Bridge Series Resonant Converter (FBSRC)
combines the properties of LCC and LLC. The structure of this topology
contains series elements Lr Cr, parallel resonant inductance Lrp and The main structure of the basic series resonant converter (SRC) is
parallel resonant capacitor Crp, which means that this topology has two shown in Fig. 19. Each part performs a particular task, as will be ex-
plained in this section. DC power source supplies the full-bridge in-
verter, which turns on and off rapidly based on the switching frequency
in order to produce the output voltage. Resonance LC tank which
generates sinusoidal current and voltage signals is utilized in order to
reduce harmonic distortion and electromagnetic interference [39].
Since this network is used as an energy buffer between the load and the
inverter, it can be determined by the frequency selective network.
Under resonance condition, the identified impedances of both in-
ductance and capacitance are equal, which will generate the resonant
frequency. Then, the output signal is rectified and filtered by a rectifier
network and pass filter to produce the required DC output voltage [40].
Then, the selected value of the tank impedance must be considered
along with the tank's current, to be suitable to flow to the load. Tank
Fig. 17. Voltage gain characteristic of LCC converter. parameters can be determined based on tank impedance and resonant

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Table 2
The advantages and disadvantages of resonant topologies.
Comparative points Series Resonant Converter (SRC) Parallel Resonant Converter (PRC) Series Parallel Resonant Converter (SPRC)

Operation region large small much smaller

The condition of achieving ZVS f sw > fr f sw > fr f sw > fr
Light load sensitivity Other control methods have to be Parallel capacitor regulates the voltage, Not sensitive to load changes
added to regulate the output. so the problem does not exist
Circulating energy large much larger small
The turn off current at high increases decreases increases
voltage condition
Major problems Light load regulation, turn off current High circulating energy and high turn- Increase of conduction losses at high input voltage and
and high circulating energy off current switching losses is similar to PWM converter

Vo 1
M= =
Vin 1
1+Q 2 ( F − F )2 (37)
Where Q is the quality load factor, which can be evaluated using
Z
Q = Ro .
L
The operation modes of the SRC can be specified based on three
main categories, which are conduction mode, switching frequency and
soft-switching ranges. Therefore, SRC has uncountable number of op-
eration modes according to the load and tank parameters. These modes
Fig. 19. Full Bridge Series Resonant Converter (FBSRC). and their boundaries have been studied and explained in the literature
[102]. Further, based on the conduction mode, SRC modes can be
classified into continuous conduction mode (CCM), and discontinuous
frequency equations, as follows:
conduction mode (DCM), in accordance to normalized frequency, as
1 shown in Table 3. In short, in order to design SRC that can achieve Zero
fs =
Ts (33) voltage switching (ZVS), the normalized frequency must be larger than
one, to ensure that the resonant tank remains as an inductive response
1 [11].
f0 =
2π LC (34) The soft switching boundaries and gain curves are for different load
factors as illustrated in Fig. 21, whereby it can be noticed that within
L the range of operating above the resonant frequency, the output voltage
Z0 =
C (35) will reduce along with the increase of switching frequency. The output
voltage can be raised by minimizing the load quality factor, Q. Mean-
while, the gain of the converter remains unity at frequencies which are
4.2. Series resonant converter characteristics close to resonant frequency at low value of Q less than π/4, which
means that the converter works under discontinuous conduction modes
In series resonant converter (SRC), the tank is placed in series with (DCM). Nonetheless, to eliminate this issue, the load quality factor
the rectifier and load network, thus resonant tank and load voltages can values must be sufficient to obtain the required output voltage by
be obtained based on the voltage divider low. The impedance value of changing the switching frequency to ensure achieving Zero-voltage
resonant tank is changed based on the frequency of driving voltage to switching [41,103,104].
the tank, as shown in Fig. 20. The impedance of resonant tank can be
changed by altering the frequency of driving voltage to the resonant 4.3. Operating above resonance
network, as depicted in Fig. 20, whereby, the rectifier presents an ef-
fective resistive to the RTN, which can be determined using Eq. (36). In steady state, a full-bridge SRC working above resonant has four
The input voltage is divided between the effective resistance and the operation modes in each cycle. These four modes will be explained in
tank impedance [55]. The voltage gain of SRC will always be less than the following subsections. The current study also takes into account the
one, due the structure of the circuit configuration of SRC, which can be final value of each mode as the initial values of the next mode [42]. The
calculated using Eq. (37). Under light-load condition, if the load re- operation modes current and voltage waveforms are shown in Fig. 22.
sistance is much larger than the impedance of the resonant network Z0,
all of the input voltages will be imposed on the load. Thus, it will be 4.3.1. Mode I: (between ɷ0t0 and ɷ0t1)
difficult to control the output at light load [22,29]. This mode is in operation when the freewheeling diodes of switches
Q1 and Q4 are turned on. Part of the tank energy will feed the load, and
VR1 (t ) 8
Rac = = 2 RL the rest is delivered back to the source. Hence, ilr dies down at ɷ0t0 and
iR (t ) π (36)
Table 3
Summary of series resonant converter modes.
Conduction mode Frequency range Switch transition ZCS ZVS

DCM 0 ≤ F ≥ 0.5 Turn-on yes no

Turn-off yes yes
CCM 0.5 ≤ F ≥ 1 Turn-on no no
Turn-off yes yes
CCM1 F≥1 Turn-on yes yes
Turn-off no no
Fig. 20. Equivalent circuit of the DC-DC series resonant converter.

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ILr (1)
Vcr (t ) = Vcr (1) + sinω0 (t − t0 ) + [−Vin − V0
ω0
− Vcr (1)][1−cosω0 (t − t0 )] (41)

4.3.3. Mode III: (between ɷ0t2 and ɷ0t3)

In this mode, the diodes of switches Q2 and Q3 will be an open
circuit. This mode begins at ɷ0t2 and the resonant stage between the
tank components will be achieved. As the current flows through the
freewheeling diodes, switches Q2 and Q3 are turned on and achieved
under zero voltage switching conditions. During this interval, the tank
energy is imposed to the load, so the polarity of the output voltage seen
by the tank changes with the resonant's current. Moreover, the re-
Fig. 21. Gain characteristics of SRC, for range 0 ≤ F ≥ 2. sonant's capacitor voltage is shifted depending on the current, reaching
its peak when the current is zero, expressed as follows:
1
ILr (t ) = [−Vin + Vo − Vcr (2)] sinω0 (−t2)
Zo (42)

Vcr (t ) = −Vin + V0 − [−Vin + V0 − Vcr (2)] cosω0 (t − t2) (43)

4.3.4. Mode IV: (between ɷ0t3 and ɷ0t4)

In this interval, the hard switching turn off occurs for switches Q2
and Q3 at ɷ0t3. Therefore, the current will naturally change its track to
the freewheeling diodes of switches Q1 and Q4. Moreover, the resonant
current will reach zero at ɷ0t4, which means, the first switching period
ends, and the operation to the first mode will be in the subsequent
cycle. The instantaneous resonant voltage and current for this mode can
be determined using:
1
ILr (t ) = [Vin + Vo − Vcr (3)] sinω0 (t − t3) + ILr (3) cosω0 (t − t3)
Zo (44)

Vcr (t ) = Vin + V0 + ILr (3) Zosinω0 (t − t3)

− [Vin + V0 − Vcr (3)] cosω0 (t − t3) (45)

Based on these analyses and considerations, it is noted that SRC

works under Zero voltage switching (ZVS) as the resonant tank acts as
an inductive response. It means that the switching frequency should be
above the tank frequency. Otherwise, it will be under ZCS (as sum-
marized in Table 3 and Fig. 21). In support of this claim, researchers in
Fig. 22. Operational waveforms of full-bridge (SRC) working above resonant. [29,53,99,105] have also studied the three conduction modes based on
the frequency range. Their studies confirmed that utilizing switching
starts to reverse. The current changes its track from freewheeling diodes frequency value that is higher than resonant frequency fo = 82.5 kHz
to power switches Q1 and Q4, whereby in this mode, the switches are will achieve the CCM1 mode for the range. The frequency to obtain the
turned on at zero voltage switching. The instantaneous resonant voltage CCM mode for the range is 65.5 kHz, while the DCM mode during the
and current can be determined as follows: range is achieved at 22.7 kHz switching frequency. When the im-
pedance of the resonant acts as an inductive impedance above the re-
1
ILr (t ) = [Vin − Vo − Vcr (0)] sinω0 t sonant frequency operation, the switches are turned on at zero voltage
Zo (38)
switching (ZVS).
Vcr (t ) = Vin − V0 − [Vin − V0 − Vcr (0)] cosω0 t (39)
4.4. The improvement of the series resonant converter

4.3.2. Mode II: (between ɷ0t1 and ɷ0t2) Series resonant converters has been recommended by a plethora of
In this mode, when the resonant capacitor voltage crosses zero at researches due to its simplicity and popularity in many applications
instant ɷ0t1, switches Q1 and Q4 are forced to turn off. Turn-off losses [106–108]. Since the LC components are connected in series with the
exist because of hard switching but they can be eliminated by using rectifier load network, the only drawback of series resonant converters
small capacitors across the switches. Moreover, the current starts to is that the input voltage is split between resonant impedance and load,
flow through the freewheeling diodes of switches Q2 and Q3 resulting which makes the DC gain of SRC always lower than unity. In case of
in the power stage. This means that when the source feeds the tank, the light load or no-load condition, it is difficult to control the output
negative voltage across the tank forces the current to drop to zero at the voltage. Thus, zero voltage switching is limited to specific load condi-
end of this mode. The voltage and current for this mode are given by the tions and input voltage ranges [109]. Several schemes have been de-
following equations: veloped to solve these problems, such as the LLC series resonant con-
verter topologies, which have gained attention due to their merit of
1
ILr (t ) = [−Vin − Vo − Vcr (1)] sinω0 (t − t0) + ILr (1) cosω0 (t − t0) efficient conversion and high voltage gain [12,110]. These topologies
Zo have been introduced with full or half bridge inverters, and either of
(40) center tapped or full bridge rectifiers; however, the center tapped

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M. Salem et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 91 (2018) 504–520

rectifier is less preferred due to high voltage stress on the diodes

[23,43]. The LLC output voltage or current can be regulated in a wide
range by varying the switching frequency [111–113]. Medium and high
voltage converters with full and half-bridges have been presented and
developed in industry applications. The majority of previous works
have covered the elaboration on the use of half bridge for a resonant
converter, while concurrently presenting the different types of multi-
level inverters with interleaved resonant tank, because full bridge
converters cause high circulating current losses and narrow range of
ZVS [82,114,115].
SRC with two series transformers and full bridge rectifier has been
presented in [109]. In this study, the primary windings of both trans-
formers are connected in series to ensure that the RTN performs as an
inductive impedance, thus the switches can turn on at ZVS. The sec-
ondary windings are connected in series to confirm that the primary
currents are balanced. As a result of this topology, at input voltage
which is equal to 200 V, the ZVS is able to achieve load variation range
of 100–32%, with 400 output voltage, while the efficiency was mea-
sured in the range of 86–93% with regard to the load variance from
32% to full load, respectively. Half-bridge series resonant converter
with voltage doubler rectifier has been implemented for chargeable
batteries applications in [42]. Here, two bidirectional power switches
are used to generate a square wave voltage, which operates above re-
sonance to produce ZVS turn-on for both switches, while the voltage
doubler rectifier has been loaded with 12-V 48 A h. The results of the Fig. 23. Waveforms of typical fixed frequency control.
charger confirm that output current declines as the output voltage of
the battery increases. The minimum and maximum efficiencies of the [125–127]. A comparison of different three strategies of fixed frequency
charger circuits have been measured to be about 83% and 95%, re- control to achieve turn-on at ZVS and less turn-off along with con-
spectively. duction losses is reviewed in [128]. These three control topologies are
phase-shift or clamped-mode (CM) [129], asymmetrical duty cycle
5. Controlled strategies of resonant converters (ADC) [130] and asymmetrical clamped-mode control (ACM control)
[131]. Fig. 23 shows the waveforms of the typical fixed frequency
The concept of controlled strategies of the resonant power converter control, whereby the common aim of all three topologies is to control
is quite different from the control of Pulse Width Modulated (PWM) the angle α. Moreover, the condition to achieve ZVS is that the angle β
converters. There are many factors that need to be taken into con- must be greater than zero. As a result of these three topologies, the ACM
sideration to achieve soft switching at any specific operating point, so control requires a lower switching frequency to obtain ZVS, which
as to design the exact controller that is able to obtain desired results of means that the conduction and turn-off losses will be much lower in
frequency range, energy storage elements, load conditions and so on. each operating condition. Along with the input voltage variation, the
Many control topologies have been proposed in the literature to ACM control proves that it is restricted to 100% of the input voltage
control series resonant converters, for instance, the current and voltage value. Duty cycle control has also been studied to control the output
control [116], frequency control [117], diode conduction control [118] voltage by varying the duty cycle ratio, as in [40,52,132]. The results
and pulse density modulation [119]. Phase shift control has been ap- show the ability to obtain a good performance by taking into account
plied to regulate the voltage of the full bridge resonant converters that varying the duty cycle might cause less turning on period than the
[120–122], which could be considered as a primary control for the resonant period based on resonant frequency, which leads to dis-
switching signal. Moreover, to improve the performance of control continuous mode to be achieved.
system, there are also some advanced strategies using adaptive controls
as reported in [120,123], such as passivity-based control and auto
disturbance-rejection control (ADRC). In [121], phase shift control has 5.2. Variable – frequency control strategies
been applied to regulate the current of the resonant. As a result, the
control performance has been improved, compared to the conventional The RPC can be controlled by varying the switching frequency to
PSRC control system. Based on literature, controlled strategies can be obtain desired values and to achieve soft switching technique
classified in terms of their implementation method either digital or [59,133–135] although parallel and series resonant converters are un-
analog. Digital controls are commonly preferred due to their flexible able to offer perfect performance due to their operation modes char-
characteristics in programming, being compact and light compared to acteristics along with the operating frequency. Variable frequency
analog controllers, as well as more immune to noise and interferences. control strategies have been widely implemented and studied in the
literature. Three most common control methods are Variable frequency
5.1. Fixed-frequency control strategies (VF), Self-sustained oscillation (SSOC) and Self-sustained Phase-shift
modulation (SSPSM).
Control strategy can be chosen based on the system application and
the required achievement of the system, while the resonant converter 5.2.1. Variable – frequency control (VF)
can be controlled by varying the switching frequency. It is possible to This strategy is commonly used to control the output voltage. As the
ignore the soft switching technique because it is limited to a specific operating frequency varies within a specific frequency range, the con-
range of frequencies. Besides, it might present an impact on the in- verter will provide different operation characteristics. For example, in
ductor charging parameters and result in complex filtering of the output common series resonant converter (as mentioned earlier in Table 2), the
voltage to ripple [23,124]. Fixed frequency control has been taken into operating frequency plays a major rule in adjusting the operating
account in previous and current researches to overcome these issues characteristics and the switching behavior. It means that the use of

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M. Salem et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 91 (2018) 504–520

variable frequency control depends on the relation between the variation by around 50% compared to conventional VF control. This
switching frequency and the operating principle, besides the gain narrow variation has higher efficiency and a significant component
characteristics. rating. This controlled strategy has also been explained in [140] for
TPTL LC-type SRC with variable frequency control has been pro- comparison of its response with those of VF and SSOC controllers (as
posed recently in [136], in which the proposed converter analysis has listed in Table 3). The results confirm that SSPMS provides the best
found that the three operation modes are totally different from those of response to the resonant converter.
traditional SRC or PRC. The converter has been tested and controlled
within its different modes by varying the operating frequency for each 6. Applications of resonant power converters
mode respectively. The results prove that for the mode when the con-
trolled frequency range is higher than the resonant frequency, the Due to the ample advantages of RPCs as mentioned in previous
output voltage is higher than the other two modes. Besides, it naturally sections, their applications in the modern industry are not uncommon.
offers ZVS for all power switches and load variation with the range of An overview on the most significant applications is elaborated in this
20% to full load. As for the switching range of fr > fs > fr/3, the section. The popular application areas of RPCs are portable power
output voltage is reduced to almost 75% compared to the first mode, supplies, electric and hybrid electric vehicles, grid connection of re-
while the power switches are turned on by hard switching technique. newable energy sources, and household applications such as induction
For the last mode, the output controlled voltage has been found to be cookers.
60% of the first mode, when the power switches worked under ZCS. For portable power supply application, the converter should be
small and light-weight, high reliability, and has low electromagnetic
5.2.2. Self-sustained oscillation (SSOC) interference (EMI), high efficiency and low price tag. Soft switching can
Variable frequency (VF) control has been used for resonant con- ensure high efficiency and it can be applied using RPCs. Depending on
verters that require wide frequency range [137]. To achieve ZVS, the the application, the most suitable topology can be selected to suit ideal
frequency range is quite large as it is higher the resonant frequency, but size, cost and maximum efficiency. For instance, the power supply for
the wide range variation might make the optimization of the magnetic an electron beam welding system has been proposed by the use of full
components more difficult. Additional drawbacks of the VF control are bridge LLC resonant converter [143]. Soft switching method with this
lack of the efficiency, size and electromagnetic interference. Therefore, topology can reduce the power consumption in filament supply, while
self-sustained oscillation mode (SSOC) strategy has been proposed in avoiding inverter heating problem and ensure high efficiency. RPCs are
[138,139], which is considered as a variable frequency control that is also applied in electrostatic precipitator. It is a high-powered device
able to reduce the frequency variation range and regulate the output that is commonly used in industrial for dust and smoke removal from
voltage with optimized magnetic components [140]. Upon comparison flowing gas. Series parallel RPC with phase control proposed in [144] is
between VF and SSOC, the full bridge SRC has been considered as a smaller in size, has higher efficiency and provides faster transient re-
study case to compare these two control strategies. sponse than the traditional line frequency power supplies.
The concept of the SSOC has been implemented to regulate output RPCs are also popular in hybrid vehicle charging applications,
voltage and guarantee the ZVS for all the power switches by using two where batteries require charging either wired or wirelessly. To achieve
control loops. The aim of the inner loop is to adjust the required phase small-size and high efficiency, wired charging of EVs [145] and
shift between the inverter output voltage and the tank current to ensure plugged-in EVs [37] require the integration of RPCs. For example, in
that the voltage leads to the current. Thus, ZVS can be achieved within [145] a high performance LLC converter is proposed for a two-stage
any operating condition. Meanwhile, the outer loop functions to control smart battery charger. The converter removes both high and low fre-
the output voltage based on the reference value. As a result of this quencies ripple in output current, with improved battery life without
study, the experimental results have proven that the SSOC offers a increasing the size of the charger. Other wired charging topologies
better response compared to VF controller for the low and medium using RPCs have also been proposed in other literature [146–150].
power applications, as shown in Table 4. The current study has com- Besides wired charging, the emerging charging process is wireless
pared both controllers in various aspects such as switching frequency power transfer (WPT) for electric and hybrid vehicles. The available
variation, semiconductor requirements, conduction loss and transient WPT technologies are electric, magnetic and electromagnetic power
response. transfer. Magnetic coupling technique uses RPCs, which depicts max-
imum efficiency and higher power transmission at close distance. RPC
5.2.3. Self-sustained phase-shift modulation (SSPSM) application in WPT for electric and hybrid vehicle has also been
Phase shift modulation allows the converter to operate at a constant documented in [151–153].
switching frequency to achieve ZVS, but this method may lose the ZVS The grid integration of renewable energy sources like solar PV, wind
with wide input voltage range [141]. For the same reasons that guide and fuel cell requires converters with high efficiency and minimal
the researchers to come out with SSOC controller, there is another current ripple. DC-DC converters are the primary requirement for pro-
controller which combines the SSOC with a phase shift to provide an cessing the power from renewable energy sources. Among various
improved variable frequency controller, known as the phase shift choices, RPCs can be a major contender due to its high efficiency, low
modulation (SSPSM). It has been proposed to be used for a series par- EMI, low output ripple current and robustness. RPCs are widely applied
allel resonant converter in [142] to provide a better solution to produce in PVs [154], FC systems [155,156], electrolyzer [157] and grid con-
ZVS for all working ranges. It is also aimed to reduce the frequency nection interfaces [158,159].
Another noteworthy application of RPCs is in domestic induction
Table 4 cookers. The main element of the induction cooker is the resonant in-
Comparison results. verter which generates AC current that heats up the inductor-vessel
system. The resonant inverters used in induction cooker are either half-
Control Normalized Maximum Maximum Transient
technique Switching switch conduction response
bridge, full-bridge, singe-switch and multilevel inverters [160–162].
frequency current (p.u) loss (p.u)
range (p.u) 7. Challenges and future scope of work

VF 1–7.8 3.93 2.09 Poor

Resonant converters have experienced rapid improvement in the
SSOC 1–3.4 3.15 1.93 Very fast
SSPSM 1–3.21 2.85 1–1.75 Very fast last ten years. However, literature review still indicates that there are
some present challenges that need to be addressed. These challenges

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M. Salem et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 91 (2018) 504–520

and limitations are summarized as below. Q.J.130000.2523.07H82 for this research work. In addition, the au-
thors would like to express gratitude to Adjunct Professor. Maria Teresa
• Series resonant converters are unable to provide output voltage that Outeiro, at Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra and a research member of
is higher than the input voltage, which makes them not applicable in the Research Center for Systems and Technologies at Porto University,
high voltage applications. In addition, in case of light load or no- Portugal, who have helped by sharing data, materials, and thoughts,
load condition, it is difficult to control the output voltage. Thus, zero regarding figure reproduction. Also, the authors would like to express
voltage switching is limited to specific load conditions and input their appreciation to Ms. Asma Emhemed M Alkabir of Faculty of
voltage ranges [29,44,55,104,109]. Languages, University of Tripoli, Libya, for reviewing the manuscript
• LLC converters adjust the gain by changing the switching frequency, several times. Lastly, thanks to our colleagues who have either directly
since the inductance ratio has impact on the frequency variance and or indirectly contributed to the completion of this work.
the voltage gain. Thus, a small magnetizing inductance is required
to obtain high peak gain. However, this limits the operating range References
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[2] Rehman Z, Al-Bahadly I, Mukhopadhyay S. Multiinput DC–DC converters in re-
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[154] Rezaei MA, Lee K-J, Huang AQ. A high-efficiency flyback micro-inverter with a Mohamed Salem was born in Libya in 1984. He received
new adaptive snubber for photovoltaic applications. IEEE Trans Power Electron his B.Eng. degree from Elmergib University, Al Khums,
2016;31:318–27. Libya, in 2007. The M.Sc. degree in electrical power elec-
[155] Outeiro MT, Carvalho A. Methodology of designing power converters for fuel cell tronics from Tun Hussein Onn University of Malaysia
based systems: a resonant approach. In: Outeiro MT, Carvalho A, editors. New (UTHM), Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia, in 2011. In August
developments in renewable energy. InTech; 2013. 2017, he has awarded his Ph.D. degree from Department of
[156] Outeiro MT, Carvalho A. Design, implementation and experimental validation of a Power Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering,
DC-DC resonant converter for PEM fuel cell applications. In: Proceedings of the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Malaysia. Currently,
industrial electronics society, IECON 2013-39th annual conference of the IEEE; he is working as a research assistant with Professor. Vigna
2013, p. 619–24. K. Ramachandaramurthy at power system laboratory,
[157] Gautam DS, Bhat AK. A comparison of soft-switched DC-to-DC converters for UNITEN. Dr. SALEM has authored and co-authored number
electrolyzer application. IEEE Trans Power Electron 2013;28:54–63. of well recognized journals and conference papers, and has
[158] Chen W, Wu X, Yao L, Jiang W, Hu R. A step-up resonant converter for grid- been a regular reviewer for IEEE and Wiley journals. His
connected renewable energy sources. IEEE Trans Power Electron research interests are in DC-DC converter, renewable energy applications, energy con-
2015;30:3017–29. version, and control of power electronics systems.
[159] Beres RN, Wang X, Blaabjerg F, Liserre M, Bak CL. Optimal design of high-order
passive-damped filters for grid-connected applications. IEEE Trans Power Electron

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