Analysis and Design of LLC Resonant Converter

with Integrated Transformer

Hangseok Choi
Fairchild Semiconductor
82-3, Dodang-dong, Wonmi-gu
Bucheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea

Abstract- LLC resonant converter has a lot of advantages over buck mode operation as well as on the boost mode operation,
the conventional series resonant converter and parallel resonant but no design consideration was given. References [8-12]
converter; narrow frequency variation over wide load and input
variation, Zero Voltage Switching (ZVS) for entire load range and investigated LLC topology in detail using fundamental
integration of magnetic components. This paper presents analysis approximation, but simplified the AC equivalent circuit by
and design consideration for half-bridge LLC resonant converter ignoring the leakage inductance in the secondary side. In
with integrated transformer. Using the fundamental general, the magnetic components of the LLC resonant
approximation, the gain equation is obtained, where the leakage converter are implemented with one core by utilizing the
inductance in the transformer secondary side is also considered.
Based on the gain equation, the practical design procedure is leakage inductance as the resonant inductor and consequently
investigated to optimize the resonant network for a given the leakage inductance exists not only in the primary side but
input/output specifications. The analysis and design procedure also in the secondary side. Since the leakage inductance in the
are verified through an experimental prototype converter. secondary side affects the gain equation, ignoring the leakage
inductance in the secondary side results in incorrect design.
I. INTRODUCTION This paper presents design consideration for half bridge LLC
The Conventional PWM technique processes power by resonant converter. Using the fundamental approximation, the
controlling the duty cycle and interrupting the power flow. All gain equation is obtained, where the leakage inductance in the
the switching devices are hard-switched with abrupt change of transformer secondary side is also considered. Based on the
currents and voltages, which results in severe switching losses gain equation, the practical design procedure is investigated to
and noises. Meanwhile, the resonant switching technique optimize the resonant network for a given input/output
process power in a sinusoidal form and the switching devices specifications. The design procedure is verified through an
are softly commutated. Therefore, the switching losses and experimental prototype converter of 120W half-bridge LLC
noises can be dramatically reduced. This also allows the resonant converter.
reduction of the passive component size by increasing the
switching frequency. For this reason, resonant converters have
drawn a lot of attentions in various applications [1-3]. Among II. OPERATION PRINCIPLES AND FUNDAMENTAL
many resonant converters, half-bridge LLC-type series- APPROXIMATION
resonant converter has been the most popular topology for
many applications since this topology has many advantages Fig. 1 shows the simplified schematic of half-bridge LLC
over other topologies; it can regulate the output over wide line resonant converter. The magnetic components are integrated
and load variations with a relatively small variation of into a transformer; L, is the magnetizing inductance and Llkp
switching frequency, it can achieve zero voltage switching and Llk, are the leakage inductances in the primary and
(ZVS) over the entire operating range, the magnetic secondary, respectively. Fig. 2 shows the typical waveforms of
components can be integrated into a transformer and all LLC resonant converter. Operation of the LLC resonant
essential parasitic elements, including junction capacitances of converter is similar as that of the conventional LC series
all semi-conductor devices, are utilized to achieve ZVS. resonant converter. The only difference is that the value of the
While a lot of researches have been done on the LLC magnetizing inductance is relatively small and therefore the
resonant converter topology ever since this topology was first resonance between Lm+Llkp and Cr affects the converter
introduced in 1990's [4], most of the researches have focused operation. Since the magnetizing inductor is relatively small,
on the steady state analysis rather than practical design there exists considerable amount of magnetizing current (I).
consideration. In [5], the low noise features were mainly In general, the LLC resonant topology consists of three
investigated and no design procedure was studied. Reference stages as shown in Fig. 1; square wave generator, resonant
[6] discussed the above resonance operation in buck mode only, network and rectifier network.
where LLC topology was introduced as "LCL type series
resonant converter." In [7], detailed analysis was done on the

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 The square wave generator produces a square wave voltage, The filtering action of the resonant network allows the classical
Vd by driving switches, Ql and Q2 with alternating 50% fundamental approximation to obtain the voltage gain of the
duty cycle for each switch. The square wave generator resonant converter, which assumes that only the fundamental
stage can be built as a full-bridge or half bridge type. component of the square-wave voltage input to the resonant
network contributes to the power transfer to the output.
-The resonant network consists of capacitor and leakage Because the rectifier circuit in the secondary side acts as an
inductances and magnetizing inductance of the transformer. impedance transformer, the equivalent load resistance is
The resonant network has an effect of filtering the higher different from actual load resistance. Fig. 3 shows how this
harmonic currents. Thus, essentially only sinusoidal current equivalent load resistance is derived. The primary side circuit
is allowed to flow through the resonant network even is replaced by a sinusoidal current source, Iac and a square
though square wave voltage is applied to the resonant wave of voltage, VRO appears at the input to the rectifier. Since
network. The current is lagging the voltage applied to the harmonic components of VRO are not involved in the power
resonant network (that is, the fundamental component of transfer, AC equivalent load resistance can be calculated by
the square wave applied by the half-bridge totem pole), dividing the fundamental component of VRO by Iac as
which allows the MOSFETs to be turned on with zero
voltage. As can be seen in Fig. 2, the MOSFET turns on
VF 817 8R
RIa
= ac
R = 2 -= i2 RO(2)
while the current is flowing through the anti-parallel diode
and the voltage across the MOSFET is zero.
- The rectifier network produces DC voltage by rectifying the By using the equivalent load resistance, the AC equivalent
AC current with a capacitor. The rectifier network can be circuit is obtained as illustrated in Fig. 4.
implemented as a full-wave bridge or center-tapped
configuration with capacitive output filter. ac _pk _I
No No

Square wave generator

resonant network Rectifier network VO

ac 'ac 2 (wt)
VROF VR F 7-i
Figure 1. A schematic of half-bridge LLC resonant converter
vigureDrivtio ofequvalnt
3.RO v VRO Ss
i e
n(wt)

Figure 3. Derivation of equivalent Load resistance Rac

Vi _ I

n=NI/N
p s

v F
VROF
in

Figure 2. Typical waveforms of half-bridge LLC resonant converter Figure 4. AC equivalent circuit for LLC resonant converter

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 With the equivalent load resistance obtained in (2), the m +Likp
characteristics of the LLC resonant converter can be derived. m@ co=c L. +n2LIks
L - L+L
k+l
(8)
Using the AC equivalent circuit of Fig. 4, the voltage gain is L L k
obtained as
As observed in Fig. 5, the LLC resonant converter shows
M= 2n.-Vo (i)21LR 0C (3) nearly load independent characteristics when the switching
frequency is around the resonant frequency. This is a
jco.(I- ).(L +nL distinctive advantage of LLC-type resonant converter over
COO COP
conventional series-resonant converter. Therefore, it is natural
where to operate the converter around the resonant frequency to
minimize the switching frequency variation at light load
8n2
condition.
z
Lp Lm + Llkp Lr = Llkp + Lm HI(n2LlkS) LLC resonant Converter
1 1 p fo
V'L LlPC,~ 2.0

As can be seen in (3), there are two resonant frequencies. 1.8

One is determined by Lr and Cr while the other is determined
by Lp and Cr. In actual transformer, Lp and Lr can be measured 1.6
in the primary side with the secondary side winding open
circuited and short circuited, respectively. 1.4
Important feature that should be observed in (3) is that the .Fl
gain is fixed at resonant frequency (wo) regardless of the load 1.2
variation, which is given as
M _ L. _Lm+n2LIks (4)
1.0

@Co=co Lp Lr Lm
0.8
Without considering the leakage inductance in the
transformer secondary side, the gain in (4) becomes unity. In 0.6
40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140
the previous research, the leakage inductance in the freq (kHz)
transformer secondary side was ignored to simplify the gain
equation [7-12]. However, as observed, there exists Figure 5. Typical gain curves of LLC resonant converter
considerable error when ignoring the leakage inductance in the
transformer secondary side, which generally results in non The operation range of LLC resonant converter is
optimized design. determined by the available peak voltage gain. As shown in
By assuming that Llkp=n2Ljks, the gain in (2) can be Fig. 5, higher peak gain is obtained as Q decreases (as load
simplified as decreases). Another important factor that determines the peak
co2 k gain is the ratio between Lm and Llk which is defined as k in
M (- 2)
k+1 (5) (5). Even though the peak gain at a given condition can be
2n VO obtained by using the gain in (4), it is difficult to express the
Vin co
Q (k + )2+(1 2t
2

A ) (1- peak gain in explicit form. Moreover, the gain obtained from
COOhCOO2e2k+1 lo (4) has some error at frequencies below the resonant frequency
where (fo) due to the fundamental approximation. In order to simplify
the analysis and design, the peak gains are obtained using
k= m t0) simulation tool and depicted in Fig. 6, which shows how the
Llkp
gain varies with Q for different k values. It appears that higher
Q Lr I Cr (7) peak gain can be obtained by reducing k or Q values. With a
R ac
given resonant frequency (f,), decreasing k or Q means
reducing the magnetizing inductance, which results in
The equation (4) is plotted in Fig. 5 for different Q values increased circulating current. Accordingly, there is a trade-off
with k=5 and f=lIOOkHz. The gain at the resonant frequency between the available gain range and conduction loss.
(w0) is also simplified in terms of k as

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 the proper Q and k values can be obtained from Fig. 6. Even
though higher gain is obtained with small k, too small k value
2.4
results in poor coupling of the transformer. It is typical to set k
to be 5-10, which results in a gain of 1.1-1.2 at the resonant
2.2 frequency.
The value of k affects the losses of the converter. The major
portion of the conduction loss is caused by the magnetizing
2.0
current whose peak value is given by
k=1.5
eM 1.8 I pk nV0 T (8)
k=1.75 m L4
The value of k also affects the switching loss. Since the turn-
0, 1.6 on switching loss is removed by zero voltage switching, the
k=2.5 turn-off switching loss is dominant. The turn off switching loss
1.4 k=3 is proportional to the turn-off current, which is same as the
peak magnetizing current of (8). Therefore, magnetizing
k=4 current should be minimized for high efficiency.
k=5
1.2
k=7
k=9
I M|
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
Q / sm,,..---~~-~~~~-- ,, / ---- --'--"--
Figure 6. Peak gain versus Q for different k values
...---- X X X , . - .

III. DESIGN CONSIDERATION L \A XII)fIQ

Based on the previous analysis, the practical design
procedure is presented in this section. It discusses optimizing
the resonant network for a given input/output specifications.
(1) Operation mode: While the conventional LC series
resonant converter always operates at a frequency above the ID
resonant frequency, LLC resonant converter can operate at
frequency below or above the resonance frequency. Fig 8
shows the waveforms of the currents in the transformer Figure 7. Waveforms of current in the transformer primary side and secondary
primary side and secondary side. As can be observed, sides for difference operation modes
operation below the resonant frequency (case I) allows the soft
commutation of the rectifier diodes in the secondary side while IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
the circulating current is relatively large. Meanwhile, operation
above the resonant frequency (case II) allows the circulating In order to show validity of the previous analysis and design
current to be minimized, but the rectifier diodes are not softly consideration, an experimental prototype converter of 120W
commutated. Thus, below resonance operation is preferred for half-bridge LLC resonant converter has been built and tested.
high output voltage application where reverse recovery loss in The schematic of the converter and circuit components are
the rectifier diode is severe. On the other hand, above shown in Fig. 8. The input voltage is 220Vac-270Vac and the
resonance operation can show better efficiency for application output is 24V/5A. In terms of DC voltage, the input voltage is
where the output voltage is low and schottky diodes are 260-380V considering holdup time.
available for the secondary side rectifiers since the conduction The ratio (k) between L, and Llkp is determined as 6.5, which
loss is minimized. results in the gain at the resonant frequency as
(2) Maximum Gain: The operation range of LLC resonant
converter is determined by the available peak voltage gain.
M O - =
k= k = 1.15 (9)
Since the peak gain takes place when the converter operates at As observed in the previous analysis, there is a trade-off
the boundary of zero voltage switching (ZVS) and zero current between the available gain range and conduction loss. Since
switching (ZCS) mode, ZVS condition is lost at the maximum the input voltage varies over wide range, if the converter is
gain condition [12]. Therefore, some margin is required when designed to operate only at below resonance frequencies, the
determining the maximum gain. Based on the maximum gain, excessive circulating current can deteriorate the efficiency.

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 ---

Core: EER3541
Np=54T (0.12x 30, Litz wire)
Nsl=Ns2=7T (O.lx 100, Litz wire)
Sectional winding
Lp=800uH (Measured with secondary side open),
Lr-200uH (Measured with secondary side short)

vv
FI Llkpi7. uRotil
N Ns
_R
lLmc.
713iH N
L
----- -
D2 CFRF
FYP201ODN
KA431

Figure.8 Schematic of half-b:)ridge LLC resonant converter

Thus, the converter is designed to operate above resonance at

high input voltage condition and below resonance at low input By selecting the resonant frequency as 85kHz, the resonant
network is determined as L=713uH, Lwk=107uH (Lp=800uH,
voltage to minimize the conduction loss caused by circulating
current. The minimum gain at full load is determined as 1.0. Lr=200uH) and C= 1 8nF The transformer is implemented with
a sectional stacking method to increase the leakage inductance
With the minimum gain, the transformer turn ratio is obtained
as depicted in Fig. 8.
as
N 'Vin max22
M mm66_ 1380/2 76 Fig. 10 and 11 show the operation waveforms for full load
P= - _0 condition with input voltage of 22IVac and 270Vac,
NS (VO +VF) (24+0.8) respectively. Fig. 12 and 13 show the operation waveforms for
where VF is the diode forward voltage drop. no load condition with input voltage of 220Vac and 270Vac,
The maximum gain to cover the input voltage variation is respectively. As can be seen, ZVS is achieved for entire
380/260=1.46. With 10% margin, maximum gain of 1.6 is input/output range.
required. From the gain curves in Fig 9, Q is obtained as 0.4. Fig. 14 shows the measured efficiency. As expected,
efficiency decreases for low input voltage condition due to the
2.0 increased circulating current.

._F.
CM 1.8

00
; 1.6

1.4 k v V-^; -k=3

k=4
1.2
-J^r
~ ^~~;k=5
k=9

Meaur gat dr~iv(

fe )P:enC3 C3PDai
signal P40V/div tC), vltg (2 /dv
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4

Q
Figure 9. Design gain curves
C4: Drain current (|AIdiv)

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 94%

92%

90%

- 88%

L 86%
-
-1-22OVac 25OVac 27OVac
84%

Measure Pl:freq@W(Cl P2mean(C3) P3:--- PCnpoInts(C4) P5.--- P6;--- P7 --- P8o---

value 11:12.41 49 kHz
status v

80%
0. OW 20.OW 40. OW 60. OW 80. OW 100. OW 120.OW
Figure 11. Operation waveforms: 27OVac input and full load
Output Power
Cl: gate drive signal (20V/div), C3: Drain voltage (200V/div)
C4: Drain current (lA/div) Figure 14. Measured efficiency

V. CONCLUSION

This paper has presented design consideration for LLC

resonant converter with integrated transformer, which utilizes
the leakage inductances and magnetizing inductance of
transformer as resonant components. The leakage inductance in
the transformer secondary side was also considered in the gain
equation. The design procedure was verified through
experimental results.

Measure Plfreq@W(Ci1) P2 mean(C3 PCnpbnts(C4)

P3M4--- P5.- - P6.--- P8O-- P7
value 62.25172 kHz
status
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[2] A. F. Witulski and R. W. Erickson, "Design of the series resonant converter
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AES-22, pp. 356-363, July 1986
[3] Y. G. Kang, A. K. Upadhyay, D. L. Stephens, "Analysis and design of a
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[4] Yasuhito Furukawa, Kouichi Morita, Taketoshi Yoshikawa "A High
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[5] Koichi Morita "Novel Ultra Low-noise Soft switch-mode Power Supply",
Intelec 1998, pp.115-122
[6] Ashoka K. S. Bhat, "Analysis and Design of LCL-Type Series Resonant
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[7] J. F. Lazar and R. Martineli "Steady-state analysis of the LLC series
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Fiur 13. Oprto waeom .7 a inu and no loa
[8] Yan Liang, Wenduo Liu, Bing Lu, van Wyk, J.D, " Design of integrated
,a
passive component for a 1 MHz 1 kW half-bridge LLC resonant
converter", IAS 2005, pp. 2223-2228
[9] B. Yang, F.C. Lee, M. Concannon,"Over current protection methods for
LLC resonant converter" APEC 2003, pp. 605 - 609
[10] Yilei Gu, Zhengyu Lu, Lijun Hang, Zhaoming Qian, Guisong Huang,
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C4: Drain current (IAIdiv)
on Power Electronics Vol.20, July 2005, pp.781 - 789
[11] Bo Yang, Lee, F.C, A.J Zhang, Guisong Huang, "LLC resonant converter
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[12] Bing Lu, Wenduo Liu, Yan Liang, Fred C. Lee, Jacobus D. Van Wyk,
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pp.533-538

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