Novel Step-up DC-to-DC Converter with Isolated Transformer and Switched-Clamp Capacitor Techniques for Renewable Systems

A high step-up DC-to-DC converter that integrates an isolated transformer and a switched-clamp capacitor is presented in this study. The voltage stress of the main power switch should be clamped to 1/4 V by using the turn ratio and switched-clamp capacitor of an isolated transformer to achieve a high voltage gain. In addition, a passive clamp circuit is employed reduce voltage stress on the main power switch. The energy of the leakage inductor can be recycled by the clamp capacitor because of the passive clamp circuit, thereby improving the power converter efficiency. The converter consists of one isolated transformer, one main switch, three capacitors, and four diodes. Operating principle and steady-state analyses are also discussed. Finally, a 24-V-input voltage to 200-V-output voltage and a 150 W output power prototype converter are fabricated in the laboratory. The maximum efficiency of the converter is 95.1 at 60 W.


Introduction
In the 21st century, the rapid industrial development has caused severe environmental pollution.The extent of damage to the environment has become irreparable.To obtain power and energy, substantial natural resources have been depleting because of massive exploitation of oil and natural gases.In particular, severe air pollution has been caused by coal combustion.In view of this phenomenon, a number of recommendations had been proposed in the 2015 Paris United Nations Climate Change Conference (i.e., COP21 or CMP11) to cope with the changing climate, as follows: (1) The global average temperature should be controlled within 2 °C of the pre-industrial temperature, and (2) the universal availability of sustainable energy should be promoted in developing countries to strengthen the use of renewable energy sources [1].Therefore, renewable energy technologies are being investigated, focusing on developing a new high step-up circuit architecture and using renewable energy as the main power source through direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC) inverter technology [2]- [4].The current mainstream renewable energy sources are wind and solar energies.The proposed renewable energy output voltage has a low-voltage system that requires high step-up circuits to be converted to high output voltage systems [5]- [7].A simple but highly efficient circuit structure should be designed to comply with the security rules of the isolation circuit architecture [8].
The National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center of Taiwan costs $100 million.The solar modules from TYNSOLAR Co., Ltd.comprise a single photovoltaic module that can reach a maximum power of 150 W and a maximum input voltage of 24 V.In this study, a group of high step-up circuits were developed within the TYNSOLAR photovoltaic module group of the converter.
Several basic circuits, such as the boost and flyback converters, can take high step-up voltage gains for extreme duty cycles.However, high step-up gain is limited by the capacitor, inductor main power switch, and resistance, because electromagnetic interference and reverse-recovery issues are encountered at extreme duty cycles.Moreover, the leakage inductor of the transformer will cause high power dissipation and high voltage spikes on the main power switch.Therefore, a main power switch with high stress voltage must be selected because of excessive cost and space issues.
Many topologies of high step-up converters have been proposed, including coupled inductor technology [9]- [12], switched-clamp capacitor technology [13]- [15], and isolated transformer technology [16]- [19].Coupled inductor technology can cause substantial leakage inductance.A snubber circuit can absorb leaked energy; however, the circuit efficiency may be reduced.A switched-clamp capacitor can store energy when the switch is turned on.When the power is switched off after, the energy in the capacitor is delivered to the output loading.However, the electric system prevents current flow and no direct conduction path is permitted.As a result, the isolated transformer technology has been proposed to meet the safety standards of galvanic isolation [20].This technique can easily achieve a high output voltage that uses turn ratio to achieve high voltage gain.The technology can be set to the required voltage by adjusting the turn ratio and duty cycle.An isolated step-up DC-DC converter is suitable as a renewable energy source in low-output-voltage systems.Moreover, this converter can produce high voltage output and achieve isolation.However, an isolated transformer can also produce leakage inductance; thus, a clamp circuit is necessary to recycle energy and achieve high efficiency [21]- [25].
In this study, a high step-up and high efficiency DC-DC converter is proposed.The input source is photovoltaic renewable energy, which is transferred to output loading through the proposed high step-up DC-DC converter circuit.The use of a clamp circuit can prevent spikes and clamping voltage stresses on the switch.When choosing switching elements, selecting low Rds(on) components can reduce conduction losses.An isolated transformer can be viewed as a forward converter that transfers energy to the secondary side when the switch is turned on.At the same time, the switched-clamp and clamp circuit capacitors also transfer energy to the loading.When the switch is turned off, the clamp circuit absorbs the energy stored in the leakage inductance, whereas the switched-clamp capacitor can store energy from the primary side.The proposed circuit architecture can achieve a step-up output voltage through duty cycle modulation.Moreover, the passive clamp circuit can obtain recycled energy, and the clamping voltage stress on the switch can facilitate a high efficiency power converter.
The features of the proposed converter are as follows: (1) satisfies the safety standards for galvanic isolation; (2) small isolated transformer; (3) high step-up voltage gain; (4) recycles leakage inductor energy and clamps voltage stress on the main switch through the passive clamp circuit; (5) high efficiency.

Operation Principle of the Proposed Converter
For the proposed converter, an integrated switched-clamp capacitor and isolated transformer can achieve high voltage gain and clamp spike voltage on the main power switch.However, the proposed converter needs a highly effective capacitor C1 and diodes D1 and D2.This section details the operating modes at continuous conduction mode (CCM) and discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) during a switching period.
Fig. 1 illustrates the proposed converter structure.The proposed converter circuit consists of isolated transformers Np and Ns, the main power switch S, and a secondary side step-up circuit that has diodes D3 and D4 and capacitor C2.The clamp circuit has diodes D1 and D2, capacitor C1, and large output capacitors Co1 and Co2.The leakage inductor energy loss is recycled by a passive clamp circuit capacitor C1 that clamps the voltage stress on the main switch.
Before discussing the circuit operation principles, the following conditions were assumed to simplify the analysis of the proposed converter: (1) Capacitors C1, C2, Co1, and Co2 are sufficiently large.Thus, VC1, VC2, VCo1, and VCo2 are constant during operation.(2) The parasitic capacitor of power devices is not neglected.
(3) The coupling coefficient is defined as k, which is equal to Lm/(Lm + Lk).The magnetizing inductance is Lm and the leakage inductance is Lk.(4) Turn ratio n is equal to Ns/Np.

Fig. 1. Circuit configuration of the proposed converter
The CCM and DCM of the proposed converter operation are analyzed in detail.

CCM operation analysis
The key component of the current and voltage waveforms of the proposed converter at CCM is presented in Fig. 2. In CCM, the proposed converter has five operating modes that are classified based on the switch duty cycle.
Mode I [t0, t1]: During this period, power switch S is turned on.The equivalent circuit is illustrated in Fig. 3a.The clamp circuit diode D1 and step-up circuit diode D3 are forward-biased.The DC source supplies energy to the leakage magnet and transfers energy to the secondary side capacitor C2 through the step-up circuit-isolated transformer.When diode D3 is turned on, clamp circuit capacitor C1 releases energy to the high voltage output capacitor Co2.Therefore, the leakage magnet iLk and clamp circuit current id2 increase linearly, whereas the secondary side leakage inductor current is decreases to zero.Vc2 is approximately nVL1, Vc1 is equal to Vco2, and the voltage of parasitic capacitor on the main power switch is zero.This operating mode ends when the current of secondary side is is zero at t = t1.
Mode II [t1, t2]: During this period, power switch S remains turned on.The equivalent circuit is indicated in Fig. 3b.The clamp circuit diode D1 and step-up circuit diode D4 are forward-biased.The DC source supplies energy to the leakage magnet Lkp and magnetizes inductor Lm.The secondary side capacitor C2 and isolated transformer secondary coil discharge energy to the high voltage output capacitor Co1, and the clamp circuit capacitor C1 releases energy to the high voltage output capacitor Co2.Thus, the leakage magnet iLk and magnetizing inductor current iLm increase linearly; and Vc2 is approximately equal to Vco1 − nVL1, and Vc1 is equal to Vco2, and voltage of parasitic capacitor on main power switch is zero.In this mode, the input source, magnetizing inductance, as well as the capacitor C1 and capacitor C2 energy, will be transmitted to the output capacitors Co1 and Co2.This operating mode ends when the power switch is turned off at t = t2.
Mode III [t2, t3]: During this period, power switch S is turned off.The equivalent circuit is displayed in Fig. 4a.Clamp circuit diode D1 and step-up circuit diode D4 are forward-biased.The DC source and leakage magnet Lkp supply energy to the magnetizing inductor Lm and parasitic capacitor Cds of the main power switch S. Secondary side capacitor C2 and secondary coil current is increase linearly, output capacitors Co1 and Co2 provide energy to output loading, and voltage of parasitic capacitor on main power switch is equal to Vin − VL1.This mode ends when the parasitic capacitor Cds energy becomes fully charged.
Mode IV [t3, t4]: During this period, power switch S is turned off at t = t3.The equivalent circuit is illustrated in Fig. 4b.Diodes D1 and D4 are forward-biased.Magnetizing inductor Lm and passive clamp circuit capacitor C1 charge energy via leakage inductor Lk.Leakage inductor current iLk decreases quickly because the energy is recycled by capacitor C1.Secondary coil energy and capacitor C2 continuously discharge energy to the high voltage side capacitor Co1, and voltage of parasitic capacitor on main power switch is equal to Vc1.This mode ends at t = t4 until capacitor C2 voltage is equal to the output capacitor Co1 voltage.
Mode V [t4, t5]: During this period, power switch S is turned off.The equivalent circuit is illustrated in Fig. 4c.D1 and D3 are forward biased.DC source Vin and magnetizing inductor Lm discharge energy to capacitor C1, whereas capacitor C2 charges energy via D3 by secondary coil induced energy; voltage of parasitic capacitor on main power switch is equal to Vc1.Power switch S is turned on at the next period at t = t5, during which this mode ends.

DCM operation analysis
In this section, the proposed circuit operation at DCM will be discussed.The leakage inductor Lk and parasitic capacitor of main power switch will not be discussed to simplify the analysis.The key component current and voltage waveforms are presented in Fig. 5. Fig. 6

Steady-state Analysis
The steady-state analysis of the proposed converter is discussed in this section.The assumed condition equations of turn ratio and coupling coefficients k are defined as follows: To simplify the steady-state analysis, any Lk value smaller than Lm is neglected, and coupling coefficient k should be equal to 1. Modes I, III, and IV are short and disregarded by one switching cycle.The time intervals of modes II and V are considered.

CCM operation analysis
VL1 and VL2 are across voltages at mode II.The following equations can be derived from Fig. 3b: By using ( 3) and ( 5) into (7), the stress voltage of Np in a switching period can be obtained by: According to ( 4) and ( 6) to (8), stress voltage of Ns in a switching period can be arranged as:  12) and ( 4) into (13), and ( 10) into ( 14), the stress voltage of capacitors Co1 and Co2 can be rewritten as: 4), (10), and ( 12) to (15), the output voltage equations can be expressed as: The voltage gain can obtained as follows: The use of voltage-clamped technology to reduce reverse-recovery current and switch-voltage stress are discussed in the literature [24].Circuit topology is the combination of an inductor and a transformer to increase the corresponding voltage gain.One additional inductor is a reduced reverse-current and one additional capacitor is a clamp voltage of the main power switch that can reduce switch-voltage stress.According to literature [24], voltage gain is [ ] = .
Comparisons of the voltage gains of the proposed converter and one presented in a previous study [24] are shown in Fig. 7.The voltage gain of the proposed converter is higher than that of the converter presented in [24] (see Fig. 7).

Fig. 7.
Duty ratio versus voltage gain of the proposed converter compared with the converter in [24]; condition is CCM operation under = 1 and = 3

DCM operation analysis
Three modes have been discussed at DCM operation.Fig. 5 illustrates the key component current and voltage waveforms.
Mode I: During this period, the main power switch S is turned on and the magnetizing inductor charges the DC source.Fig. 6a presents the operation.The equation can be expressed as follows: The peak current of the magnetizing inductor can be defined as: = The across voltages of C1 and C2 are given as: From ( 20), (26), and (28) to (29); and ( 21), (27), and (28) to (30), the stress voltages of capacitors C1 and C2 are: Substituting ( 21), (31), and (32) to (25), the voltage gain of the proposed converter at DCM can be obtained using: Based on Fig. 5, ico1 is the average current value of the output capacitor Co1, and the average values of the and can be calculated by: In the steady state, equals zero.( 22), (34), and = 0 can be substituted to (36).Thus, (36) can be rewritten as: The time constant of magnetizing inductance is defined as: ≝ Substituting (38) with (37), the voltage gain can be obtained by:

Boundary operating condition between CCM and DCM
The voltage gain is equal at CCM and DCM when the proposed converter operation is in boundary condition mode.Based on the formulas (19) and (39), the time constant of the boundary-normalized magnetizing inductor can be written as: Fig. 8 indicates that, if the curve of is lower than that of , then the proposed converter operation is in DCM.Otherwise, if the curve of is higher than that of , then the proposed converter operation is in CCM.

Experimental Results of the Proposed Converter
A 150 W isolated converter was built in the laboratory to prove its effectiveness and performance.The input DC voltage was 24 V, and the output voltage was 200 V.The main power switch S selected had low conduction, low voltage stress components, and with a switch frequency of 50 kHz.The main specifications are presented in Table 1.
The experimental results can be divided into current and voltage waveform testing results.Fig. 9 illustrates the proposed converter current waveform of the key components at full load.The input voltage was 24 V, and the output power was 150 W. Fig. 9a presents the isolated transformer primary and secondary currents along with the drain to source voltage from the main power switch.Drain to source voltage of the main power switch was 0 V when the main switch was turned on, and when the primary current linearly increased, the peak current of the magnetizing inductor is = . Otherwise, voltage of the main power switch was = + and current of the magnetizing inductor is = ( ) until it decreased the current to zero when the main power switch was turned off.Fig. 9b presents the diode current versus Vds.The waveforms of id1 and id2 illustrates that capacitor C1 charges and discharges when the main switch is turned on and off, respectively.Capacitor C1 releases energy through D2 and the main power switch to output capacitor Co2, and id2 is the forward current when the main power switch is turned on.At the next period, capacitor C1 was charged by magnetizing the inductor and input source.Moreover, the voltage of main power switch was clamped to Vc1 through diode D1. id1 is the forward current when the main power switch is turned off.Fig. 9c illustrates that the waveforms of id3 and id4 reveals that capacitor C2 charges energy to the secondary coil through D3 and id3 is the forward current when the main power switch is turned on.Otherwise, capacitor C2 discharges energy to capacitor Co1 through D4 and id4 is the forward current when the main switch is turned off.Figs.10a and 10b exhibit the measurements of the waveform of the capacitor voltages.Fig. 10a presents the measurements of the capacitor voltages of C1 and C2 that can satisfy formulas (10) and (12).Capacitor C1 releases energy through D2 and is charged via the input source and magnetizing inductor.Capacitor C2 changed to secondary coil via diode D3 and discharged energy to secondary coil and output capacitor Co1 through diode D4.Fig. 10b displays the measurements of the capacitor voltages of Co1 and Co2., , and test results are satisfied by ( 16), (17), and (18).Voltage of capacitor Co2 is equal to voltage of capacitor C1.Voltage of capacitor Co1 is equal to + .Output voltage is sum to and .Finally, the measured efficiency of the proposed converter is within 30-150 W (see Fig. 11), and the maximum efficiency is 95.1% at 60 W.

Conclusions
In this study, a high step-up voltage circuit was successfully designed and fabricated in the laboratory.The proposed converter uses an isolated transformer and a clamp capacitor circuit to achieve high voltage gain.The clamp capacitor circuit can be used to recycle the energy of the primary leakage inductor and reduce the voltage spike of the main power switch when the power switch is turned off.Thus, low voltage stress and conducting resistance Rds(on) component can be selected to ensure reduced switch loss on the power switch, thereby improving the efficiency of the proposed converter.Finally, a full power of a 150 W high step-up converter with an input voltage of 24 V and output voltage of 200 V was achieved.The experimental results demonstrated high efficiency of the proposed converter, with peak efficiency of 95.1%.In addition, the voltage stress on the main power switch is clamped at 50 V.

PreprintsFig. 2 .Fig. 3 .Fig. 4 .
Fig. 2. Current and voltage waveforms of the key components of the proposed converter at CCM

Fig. 5 .Fig. 6 .
Fig. 5. Current and voltage waveforms of the key components of the proposed converter at DCM operation

4 )
Based on mode V, capacitor C1 charges the DC source, and the primary coil and capacitor C2 charge the secondary coil.The across voltages of and can be written as: the volt-second balance principle, the voltage equations of Np and Ns are expressed as: Mode II: During this period, main power switch S is turned off, and the input voltage and magnetizing inductor energy discharge energy to capacitor C1.Fig. 6b illustrates the operating mode.= (26) = − (27) Fig. 6c presents mode III.The output capacitors Co1 and Co2 discharge energy to output loading.= = 0 (28) Based on the volt-second balance principle, the steady state operation of an inductor in a DC-DC converter and net inductor voltage in a switching period must be zero.+

Fig. 8 .
Fig. 8. Duty ratio versus at the boundary condition of the proposed converter under n = 3

Table 1 .
Specifications of the proposed converter