Self-oscillating resonant converters: general approach and applications

Identifier:  TDX:2523

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX2523

Authors:  Bonache Samaniego, Ricardo

Abstract:
In this thesis, self-oscillation in resonant converters is generated by the appropriate use of the input inductor current zero-crossings to change the polarity of the input voltage. As a result, the input current and the first harmonic of the input voltage are in phase, which ensures a unity power factor to the steady-state operation of the resonant converter. This fact confers a nature of loss-free resistor (LFR) on the two-port description of the converter. The self-oscillation generating mechanism is proven to be effective in second, third and fourth order structures. Although the self-oscillation generation is a relatively simple task, the analytical description of the generation is more involved. It combines time-domain and frequency-domain analyses to justify that a spiral starting from zero initial conditions eventually converges into an ellipse that corresponds to the steady-state behavior of the limit cycle. The stability of the generation is demonstrated by proving the stability of the resulting discrete recurrence considering two successive zero-crossings of the input inductor current after completing a generic oscillation cycle. This approach successfully explains the generation of two-dimension and three-dimension spirals in second and third order converters respectively. Self-oscillating resonant converters with the previous mechanism to generate oscillations are a simple procedure to transmit power but they are sensitive to input voltage perturbations or load changes. Hence, a voltage regulation loop has to be added. Inserting a voltage regulation loop requires modeling the dynamic behavior of the self-oscillating resonant converter whose switching law is a linear combination of inductor current and capacitor voltage. Relating the variations of the constant of that linear combination to the changes of the switching frequency is the key aspect of the modeling, which is carried out for second order converters. The resulting closed-loop regulation exhibits larger bandwidth and a better robustness degree than conventional controllers.