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710

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 11, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER 1996

ng Active Sn /Dc Converters


Abstract-A soft-switchingactive snubber is proposed to reduce the turn-off losses of the insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) in a buck converter. The soft-switching snubber provides zerovoltage switching for the IGBT, thereby reducing its high turnoff losses due to the current tailing. The proposed snubber uses an auxiliary switch to discharge the snubber capacitor. This auxiliary switch also operates at zero-voltage and zerocurrent switching. The size of the auxiliary switch compared to the main switch makes this snubber a good alternative to the conventional snubber or even to passive low-loss snubbers. The use of the soft-switching active snubber permits the IGBT to operate at high frequencies with an improved RBSOA. In the experimental results reported for a 1 kW, 40 kHz prototype, combined switchinglsnubbinglosses are reduced by 36 % through the use of the active snubber compared to a conventional snubber. The use of an active snubber allows recovery of part of the energy stored in the snubber capacitor during turn-off. The generic snubber cell for the buck converter is generalized to support the Yommon nonisolated dddc converters (buck, boost, buck-boost, Cuk, sepic, zeta) as well as isolated dddc converters (forward, flyback, Cuk, and sepic).

Ahmed Elasser, Student Member, IEEE, and David A. Torrey, Member, IEEE

I. INTRODUCTION
HE PULSE WIDTH modulation (PWM) technique is praised for its high power capability and ease of control. However, the semiconductor devices experience voltage and current stresses during turn-on and turn-off transitions. The resonant technique allows the semiconductor devices to operate at zero-voltage and zero-current switching during turn-on and turn-off, though with increased current or voltage stress imposed on the devices. For the same power, the devices in a PWM converter experience less stress than their resonant counterpart. By adding a resonant snubber to the devices in a PWM converter, we can get a zero-voltage or zero-current transition converter [71, [81. Semiconductor power devices need snubber circuits because they have a limited safe operating area at turn-on and turn-off. The objective of a snubber circuit is to help the device during the switching transitions to survive the voltage and the current stresses. These stresses are due to the interruption of the current at turn-off and to the collapse of the voltage at turn-on. Numerous topologies of snubber circuits are available in the literature [1]-[5]. A topology similar to the one presented in this paper was studied in a previous paper for the discontinuous boost converter in a unity power factor correction circuit [6].
Manuscript received October 31, 1995; revised April 29, 1996. This work was supported in part by the Niagara Mohawk Power Electronics Research Chair. The authors are with the Department of Electric Power Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180-3590 USA. Publisher Item Identifier S 0885-8993(96)06864-0.

Most of the zero-voltage transition snubbers proposed in the literature use an auxiliary switch [7]-[9]. The zero-voltage transition is achieved by the use of a snubber capacitor. Many of the snubbers proposed in the literature do not isolate the snubber capacitor from the main switch. This can be a problem at low load and at no load, because the snubber capacitor can be discharged in the main switching device. The proposed snubber topology for the buck converter is shown in Fig. 1. It uses a diode to isolate the main device S 1 from the snubber capacitor C, . The snubber capacitance value is generally higher than the diode junction capacitance, hence little charge will flow through switch S 1 at turn-on. It also uses an auxiliary switch S2 which is operating at a clamped zero-voltage during turn-off and at zero-current at turn-on. Soft-switching of the main switch S I at turn-off is maintained under continuous and discontinuous conduction. The use of the soft-switching active snubber allows the insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) to be operated at high frequency. An alternative to the circuit of Fig. 1 is shown in Fig. 2. In this topology, the snubber capacitor is now connected to the ground at one of its terminals. In this scheme, the snubber capacitor discharges at turn-off and charges at turn-on. In this paper, the operating principles, analysis, parameter design, and control scheme are addressed in detail for the generic active snubber applied to the buck converter. Experimental results are used to validate the analysis with a 1-kW buck converter operating at 40-kHz switching frequency. The buck converter example is used as motivation for a discussion of the active snubber topologies for common nonisolated and isolated dc/dc converters. In the analysis below, T is the switching period of the converter and D is the duty cycle. 11. BUCK CONVERTER WITH A SOFT SWITCHING ACTIVESNUBBER
I

A. Discontinuous Conduction Mode

Fig. 3 shows the ideal waveforms for the circuit of Fig. 1 when operated on the boundary between the discontinuous and continuous conduction modes. Six intervals of operation are present as in the up-converter described in [6]. V,, and V,, are the drive signals for switches S1 and S2, respectively. To describe the operating principles of the active snubber, we assume that the initial voltage across capacitor C, is less than the input voltage but greater than the output voltage and that the maximum snubber inductor current is less than the maximum load current. We also assume that all switching devices are ideal. Switch S2 is turned on first. When switch

0885-8993/96$05.00 0 1996 IEEE

ELASSER AND TORREY: SOFT SWITCHING ACTIVE SNUBBERS FOR DCDC CONVERTERS

711

vin

Fig. 1. The buck converter with the soft switching active snubber.

Fig. 2. An alternative topology of the buck converter with a soft switching active snubber.

S1 turns on, the energy in the snubber capacitor is transferred to the snubber inductor through S1 and 52. When the snubber capacitor voltage reaches zero, diode 0 2 turns on, clamping the snubber capacitor voltage at zero. At the same time, the voltage across the snubber inductor is clamped at zero by 0 2 and 52. The current in switch S 2 is constant and freewheels through 0 2 and L,. When the main switch S1 turns off, the load current is transferred to the snubber capacitor charging it to the input voltage. Switch S1 turns off at zero-voltage by virtue of being in parallel with C, (which is large). When the snubber capacitor is completely charged, diodes Dl and 0 3 turn on, since the load current is assumed to be larger than the snubber inductor current. This assumption is true for a well designed snubber. We can then turn off switch S 2 at clamped zerovoltage using diodes D l and 0 3 , recognizing that the current through L, maintains conduction of 0 3 . The current in the snubber inductor is still constant. The freewheeling diode D 1 is carrying only a part of the load current, with the balance being carried by D2,03, and L,. In discontinuous conduction mode, diode D1 turns off first, leaving 0 2 and 0 3 to carry the load current until the energy in L, is transferred to the output. All three diodes turn off softly at zero-current. If the inductor current has intervals of zero-current, the soft switching of the main switch S1 and the diodes D 1 , 0 2 , 0 3

is still maintained. The auxiliary switch S2 still turns off at a clamped zero-voltage, its maximum voltage is now defined by the difference between the voltage across the main switch at the instant of zero-current (load) and the output voltage.

B. Continuous Conduction Mode


Fig. 4 shows the ideal waveforms for the circuit of Fig. 1 in continuous conduction mode. Note that the control strategy in this case is not the same as in the discontinuous continuous mode. Five intervals of operation are identified. As in the previous case, we assume that all switching devices are ideal. We also assume full load conditions. We will describe the light load conditions in more detail later. Prior to the turn-on of switch S1, diode 0 3 is on and the snubber capacitor voltage is constant and equal to the input voltage. Diodes D l and 0 2 are also on. When switch 51 turns on at t o , diodes D1 and 0 2 are turned off with the usual reverse recovery. The snubber capacitor will discharge via diode 0 3 and the input voltage I $ , . The energy stored in the snubber inductor IN transferred to the source. The load current is now carried by switch 51. At time tl, diode 0 3 will turn-off softly and the snubber capacitor voltage will ble approximately one half the input voltage. At this point, the snubber capacitor voltage is clamped to this value and the snubber inductor current is equal to

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E E E TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 11, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER 1996

's1
-vs1

-vcs
I !

;
's2

;
: I

V
i

A I s2, ;
I '

1 '

!
~

Ls

N I

I
iD2\'Li"6j
;

:
I

,
$

I
1

I
,

I
I

'D 1
i
D3

I
I

k
t

'DBmax
AT1

i
8

I I
I I

I ;
' I I

to

tl

'2 3 '
AT2 AT3

t 4

ATo
Fig 3

5 t6 AT4 ATs

Waveforms of the soft switching buck converter of Fig 1 for the limt between continuous and discontinuous conduction mode.

zero. To maintain zero-voltage across switch S1,diode 0 2 is now reverse-biased with the same voltage as the snubber capacitor C,. At time t2, switch S2 is turned on and the 1 and L,. snubber capacitor will discharge via switch S If the delay between turn-on of switch S2 and turn-off of switch S1 is equal to one quarter of the period of the L,-C, circuit, diode 0 2 will turn on at the same time as we turn off switch S1. Otherwise, the voltage across the snubber capacitor is equal to zero and the snubber inductor current is constant, freewheeling through diode 0 2 and switch S2. At turn-off of switch S1, the load current is now transferred to the snubber capacitor via diode 0 2 . When the voltage across the snubber capacitor reaches the input voltage, diodes D1 and 0 3 turn on simultaneously, allowing us to turn off switch 5'2 at clamped zero-voltage. This mode prevails until the next turn-on of switch S1 beginning another cycle. Under light load conditions, the snubber inductor current can be larger than the load current. Even under these conditions, the soft switching of the main switch S 1 is maintained. The auxiliary switch S2 turns on at zero-current and turns off at zero-voltage, however, the voltage at turn-off is no longer clamped at zero. It is possible to have a clamped voltage across the auxiliary switch by adjusting the delay between switch S 1 and switch S2 gate signals at turn-off. The continuous conduction mode (CCM) control strategy can be used for the discontinuous mode case. All of the advan-

tages obtained at turn-off with the discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) control strategy of Fig. 3 are preserved except for the low voltage across the auxiliary switch S2. With the CCM control strategy applied to the DCM case, the maximum voltage across switch S2 will be equal to the input voltage. All diodes and switches turn on at zero-current because of the discontinuous nature of the current in DCM mode.

C. Quantitative Analysis

1 ) Discontinuous Conduction Mode: A complete analysis of a boost snubber operating on the boundary between continuous and discontinuous conduction mode can be found in [6]. The same analysis can be applied to the buck snubber with minor modifications. These modifications include: 1) replacing V,, in the boost converter equations by V,, V& in the buck converter equations; 2) replacing V& in the boost converter equations by V;, in the buck converter equations. The results of this analysis applied to the buck converter in DCM with a soft switching active snubber are given here. We assume that the snubber inductor is completely discharged at the turn-on of switch S2 and that the maximum snubber inductor current is less than the maximum main inductor current.

ELASSER AND TORREY: SOFT SWITCHING ACTIVE SNUBBERS FOR DCDC CONVERTERS

113

D1

ATo

AT1

AT2

AT3

A=4

Fig. 4. Waveforms of the soft switching buck converter of Fig. 1 for continuous conduction mode.

Interval 1 (to< t < t l ) : The maximum current in the auxiliary switch and the duration of this period are
1s2 max

= vCs (to)

AT, =

:m.

L,

(1)

This is the minimum time delay between the turn-off of switch S1 and switch S2. In pra'ctice, the delay should be greater than this value in order to assure proper functioning of the circuit. If we assume that the load (currentis constant during this period, ( 5 ) can be simplified to

(2)

In the analysis below we will refer to as 1max. Interval 2 (tl < t < t2): The maximum current in the main switch and the duration of this period are

AT2 = C, * -. IL max
V,n

(7)

AT1 = DT - AT,.

Interval 4 (t3 < t < tL[): At the beginning of this time interval the voltage across C, is Kn and diode D1 turns on. At ( 3 ) the end of this mode diode D1 turns off and the duration of (4) this period is

Interval 3 (t2< t < t 3 ) : During this time interval, the snubber capacitor is charged to the input voltage and the duration of this period is

AT3

) Imax L i~(t3
vdc

(8)

AT2 = 1 arcsin w2

vdc
v n - vdc

(1

D2T2 + =)

1 arctan( oT) m +w2

(5)

where w2 is defined as
2 1 w2 =LC, .

(6)

where i ~ ( t 3is ) the main inductor current at the end of the charging period of snubber capacitor C,. This current can be very well approximated by the maximum current in switch S1. Interval5 (tg < t < t:;):In this time interval, the snubber inductor transfers its stored energy to the load. Either diode 0 3 will turned off first lleaving diode 0 2 to carry the rest of the load current, or diode 0 2 will turn off first. Mode I-Diode 0 3 Turns Off First: In this mode, diode 0 3 will discharge to the input source V,, via C, and L,. The

714

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 11, NO. 5 , SEPTEMBER 1996

duration of this period AT4 satisfies

0 2 Turns Off First: The output voltage is given by

v,,
where
w3

DTV, T+AT

1 AT2 + -V,------2 T+AT +

L,
T+AT

(16)

is defined as

where A T is given by

AT=--Csw3 sin(w3AT4). L + L,
Once diode 0 3 is off, the remaining load current is now carried by diode 0 2 . This residual current charges the snubber capacitor C, to a value close to the input voltage. If the voltage across the snubber capacitor at the end of this period is equal to the input voltage I & , , switch 5'2 can be turned on at zero-voltage and zero-current. The duration of this period is AT5 =
-

'

The maximum voltage across the auxiliary switch is equal to V;, - Vc,(t5). The maximum voltage across the snubber capacitor occurs when the recovered energy to the output during interval five is equal to the circulating energy. In steady state operation, the recovered energy is

arctan

i D 2 (t5)

w2

CswZ(vC, (t5) - % - vdc)

The circulating energy is iC,V$! ( t s ) . The maximum voltage across the snubber capacitor at time t5 is VcSmax
-

where i ~ z ( t 5is ) the value of the load current when diode 0 3 turns off. Mode 11-Diode 0 2 Turns Off First: In this mode, diode 0 2 turns off first leaving diode 0 3 to discharge to the input source through the snubber inductor L, and the snubber capacitor C,. AT4 now satisfies AT4

Kn

a'

(19)

wj i sin(w3AT4) +y w1
-

+ L,
v d c

This expression is still valid when the snubber inductor does not discharge completely during intervals one and five. If the load current is discontinuous with interval of zero current, the above analysis is still valid. The switching period T is now replaced by (1 - k)T where k is
4
A m

w3

(12)

where w1 is given by 2) Continuous Conduction Mode: Initially, diodes 0 3 , D l , and 0 2 are on. We assume that diodes 01 and 0 2 turn off instantaneously at the turn-on of switch S1 with zero reverse recovery current. Interval 1 (to < t < t l ) : The maximum snubber inductor current and the duration of this period are

Once diode 0 2 is off, diode 0 3 is left to discharge the snubber inductor and the snubber capacitor via the input voltage. AT5 is now given by

where 2 ~ 3 ( t 5 )is the value of the snubber inductor current when diode 0 2 turns off. Output Voltage Characteristics Under DCM Mode: The output voltage is now also dependent on the snubber elements. For the same duty ratio 0 , the output voltage of a buck converter with an active snubber is bigger than that without snubber. This relationship can be found from the Volt-seconds balance on the main inductor L. We assume that the voltage across the snubber capacitor rises linearly during the time interval [ t 2 , t3], AT5 is equal to zero and that the residual current is negligible. 0 3 Turns Off First: The output voltage Vdc is given by
vdc

= DKn

+ -2 V

AT2 n Tp

Ls
rmax- T

(15)

where T is the switching period.

By the end of this period, the voltage across the snubber capacitor is equal to XJ2. The duration of this period defines the minimum delay between the turn-on of switch SI and switch S2. As in the case of DCM mode, we will refer to the maximum snubber inductor current as I,,. Interval 2 (tl < t < t z ) : During this interval all diodes are off and switch 5'2 is still off. The voltage across the auxiliary switch is now equal to Kn/2. Interval 3 (t2 < t < t3): The snubber capacitor discharges completely at the turn-on of switch S2. The energy stored in the snubber capacitor is transferred to the snubber inductor. The maximum snubber inductor current and the duration of this period are given by (21) and (22). Interval 4 ( t 3 < t < t4): The snubber capacitor C, is charged by the maximum load inductor current i~~~~ to & . The duration of this period is also given the input voltage I by the right hand side of (7).

ELASSER AND TORREY SOFT SWITCHING ACTNE SNUBBERS FOR DCBC CONVERTERS

715

Ls

Ls

D3

-r
s2

f
(0

Ls

(4

(e)

Fig. 5. Generic snubber cells for the six basic dc/dc converters. (a) Buck snubber cell. (b) Boost snubber cell. (c) Buck-boost snubber cell. (d) Cuk snubber cell. (e) Sepic snubber cell. (f) Zeta snubber cell.

Interval 5 ( t 4 < t < t 5 ) : Diodes 0 1 , 0 2 , and 0 3 are all on. The duration of this period is given by

-97

s1
K--Vc

c s1 7 7 7 - 7
S
(b)

AT, =

i ~ ( t 4) I L min

- IL, max

vdc

L.

(23)

Output Voltage Characteristics Under CCM Mode: As in the case of the DCM mode, the output voltage v d c is found through the Volt-seconds balance in the main inductor L. The output voltage is given by

S
(a)

Fig. 6. Converters snubber connections for the six basic nonisolated dc/dc converters. (a) Buck, buck-boost, and zeta connections. (b) Boost and sepic connections.

B. Analysis Extension to Other DC/DC Converters


111. GENERIC SNUBBER CELLS FOR DC/DC CONVERTERS

A. Snubber Cell Identijication Close inspection of the snubber structure of both Fig. 1 of this paper and of Fig. 1 of [6] reveals that the snubber itself is a buckhoost converter cascaded with the main buckhoost converter. It follows that the active snubber can be generalized to other basic dcldc converters. For each dcldc converter topology, a generic snubber cell can be defined. Fig. 5 shows the six generic snubber cells for the six basic dcldc converters. The generic cell is cascaded to the main dcldc converter via the snubber capacitor at terminal S , and to the freewheeling diode via terminal A or K . The last terminal is connected to the common terminal of switch S1 and freewheeling diode 0 1 . The snubber capacitor and snubber diode 0 2 are connected in parallel with the main switch S1. The connections are shown in Fig. 6(a) for the buck, buck-boost, Cuk and Zeta converters. Fig. 6(b) shows the connection for the boost and Sepic converters. Fig. 7 shows the active snubbers of Figs. 5 and 6 incorporated into their respective topology.

The buck converter analysis and the boost analysis of [6] can be extended to the other topologies with minor modifications. The four remaining topologies were analyzed under DCM and CCM conduction mode with the waveforms of Figs. 3 and 4. The results of this analysis are reported in Tables I and I1 for the output voltage as a function of the input voltage and the snubber elements in DCM and CCM modes, respectively. The factor A T that appears in the output voltage expression under DCM is characteiristic of the converter and should be determined for each converter separately. The expression for A T for the soft switched buck converter is given by (17).

C. Generalized Snubber Cells


The same generic cells can be used to generate the softswitching snubbers presented in [7]. The snubber cell connection and the control strategy, however, are modified. A more general cell can be defined to encompass all the soft switching active snubbers used fajr dcldc converters including passive low loss snubbers. For example, the snubber presented in [2] can be easily derived by replacing the snubber inductor by a transformer and the active switch by a large capacitor in the

716

E E E TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 11, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER 1996

in '
'in
v 4 !l

(b)
LI

Fig. 7. Soft switching active snubbers for the six basic dc/dc converters. (a) Buck. (b) Boost. (c) Buck-boost. (d) Cuk. (e) Sepic. (f) Zeta. OUTPUT VOLTAGE EXPRESSION FOR TABLE I SIX BASICDC/DC CONVERTERS UNDER DISCONTINUOUS CONDUCTION MODE

THE

0
(b)

u2

A/
(a) (C) Fig. 8; Generalized cells for the six basic dc/dc converters. (a) Buck and zeta generalized cell. (b) Boost and sepic generalized cell. (c) Buck-boost and Cuk generalized cell.

boost generic snubber cell. Note also that the generic snubber cells shown in Fig. 5 can be simplified to three forms. The Cuk generic cell is the same as the buck-boost cell. The Sepic cell is identical to the boost snubber cell. The Zeta snubber cell is the same as the buck cell. Hence, only three generalized cells are defined as shown in Fig. 8. Each element U1 can be

implemented with a snubber inductance or a transformer or even a resistor in the case of lossy snubbers. The element U 2 can be replaced by an active switch or by a snubber capacitor. It is also possible to replace U 2 by a combination of inductors or capacitors. It is generally left to the designer to decide the nature of the connections between the snubber and

ELASSER AND TORREY SOFT SWITCHING ACTIVE SNUBBERS FOR DCDC CONVERTERS

Nl N2 D1

N1 N2

D 1

"in

in

1 1

Cl

D1

(C)

(d)

Fig. 9. Soft switching active snubbers for isolated dc/dc converters. (a) Forward. @) Flyback. (c) Cuk. (d) !3epic. TABLE I1 OUTPUT VOLTAGE EXPRESSION FOR THE SIXBASIC DClDC
CONVERTERS UNDER CONTINUOUS CONDUCTION MODE

or K can either be connected to the anode or the cathode of the converter freewheeling diode. IV. ISOLATED D O C CONVERTERS The concept of the generic snubber cell can be extended to isolated dc/dc converters. Fig. 9 shows the generic snubber cell for the isolated dc/dc converters. The snubber inductor L, is now replaced with the transformer T,. As before, terminal S is connected to the snubber capacitor C, while terminals A and K are connected to the secondary freewheeling diode of the isolated dc/dc converter. The common terminal C is connected to the collector of the main switch as in Fig. 6(b). Fig. 10 shows the soft switching snubber connection for the four basic isolated dc/dc converters. The generic cell of Fig. 10 can also be used to derive the soft switching active snubbers presented in [7]. In deriving the topologies of Fig. 9, two key characteristics of the soft switching snubber of Fig. 1 were preserved. First, the auxiliary switch turns off at clamped zero-voltage. Second, diode 0 3 shares the load current with the freewheeling diode

Topology

Output Voltage

the converter. Terminal S of the cell will always be connected to the snubber capacitor, terminal G will be connected either to the collector or the emitter of the main switch. Terminal A

718

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 11, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER 1996

TABLE 111
CONVERTER CHARACTERISTICS WITH THE

ACTIVESNUBBER, WITHOUT SNUBBER, AND

WITH THE

RCD

SNUBBER IN

DISCONTINUOUS CONDUCTION MODE

Converter characteristics Active snubber


IGBT turn-off losses IGBT turn-on losses IGBT conduction losses
snubbing losses
v

1
)I
1)

11 Conventional RCD snubber I/ Without snubber


8.8W
1.2w 12W 20w 17ov/ps 170V/fis 150A/ps 150A)& 2PS 42W
(1

5W

24.8W

0.4W
11.6W

0.8W
15.6W

dv/dt dv/dt at turn-off diJdt at turn-off Tail current duration Total losses

9.8W I u 170V Jps 1 70V l ~ ~ s I] 130A/ps 130A;;s ''


2PS 26.8W

207ov/p 207OVlus
112A/ps

1.7ps
41.2W

PART

LISTFOR

POWER CIRCUIT IN

TABLE IV DISCONTINUOUS CONDUCTION MODE

IC

A
Fig. 10. Generic snubber cell for the isolated dddc converters.

during the turn-off period of the main switch 5'1. As in the case of the nonisolated dc/dc converters, the output voltage will be boosted by the energy recovered from the snubber transformer. Moreover, the clamp winding in the forward converter topology is no longer needed. The recovery process of the magnetizing energy of the main transformer is now accomplished through the snubber cell [ 111. To avoid large overvoltages across switch S 2 at turn-off, the snubber transformer T, should be designed carefully with a very small leakage inductance and a very high coupling between the primary and the secondary windings. Diode 0 3 has to have good dynamic characteristics; a very fast forward recovery in particular. Since diode 0 3 turns off at zero-current, a fast recovery diode is not needed.
V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
A. Design Example

V,, - V&(to). If we also fix the maximum voltage across the auxiliary switch S2, we can find Vc.(to). The value of C, can be determined from the maximum current in switch SI and the maximum allowable time for the charging period. If we assume that the snubber capacitor is charging linearly, then C, is given by
At c,= I L m a x * AV
-*

At and AV are, respectively, the charging period and the maximum voltage across the snubber capacitor during turn-off AV is equal to the input voltage; therefore, with of switch S1. the knowledge of At, we can find C,. Similarly, L, can also be found from (1)with the knowledge of 152 and Vis ( t o ) . With an input voltage of 150 V, a maximum current of 10 A and 30 A in switch S2 and switch S 1 , respectively, a maximum voltage of 20 V across switch S2 and a maximum charging time of 0.5 ps, we find L, needs to be 10 pH and C, needs to be 0.1 pF. A similar analysis can be done in the CCM case.
B. Experimental Waveforms
A prototype of the buck converter with the soft-switching active snubber has been built and experimentally verified. The DCM control strategy is used for continuous and discontinuous conduction mode of the converter. In CCM mode, a value of 230 pH is used for the main inductor. All of the IGBT devices used in this prototype are asymmetric IGBT's known also as punch-through (PT) devices. The results are shown in Figs. 11 and 12. These results demonstrate the zero-voltage switching for the main switch S 1 and both zero-current and zero-voltage

The two main elements to design here are the snubber inductor L , and the snubber capacitor C,. This is facilitated by fixing the maximum current in the auxiliary switch to a certain value Imax. The value of the capacitor should be chosen to be as large as possible keeping in mind that its charging duration should not be longer than the interval during which switch S1 is off. The value of the maximum current as given by (1) in DCM mode is defined by the residual voltage Vc, (to) in the snubber capacitor at the end of the turn-off period of This residual voltage can be defined as the main switch SI.

ELASSER AND TORREY SOFT SWITCHING ACTIVE SNUBBERS FOR DCDC CONVERTERS

719

Time (s)

10"

. . . . .. .. . . . . .. . . . .. : .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . :. . .. .. .............. ;.. . . . : ....... :.. 5 , 5 - . . ....: . .. ..; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a .. . , . . , , .. ..........:......... :.......... :....... .: .......... :....................... 010 ......!.........
+

-501 0

0.5

'

'

1.5

'

'

lime (s)

x 10"

2.5 3 Time (s)

'

'

3.5

'

'

4.5

'

-51 0

05

"

15

"

25 3 Time (s)

"

35

"

45

'

x io-5

lime (s)

x 10"

(Cl Fig 11 Experimental waveforms for the buck converter under discontinuous conduction mode with the DCM control strategy. (a) M a n and snubber inductor current (b) Current and voltage waveforms for SI (c) Current and voltage waveforms for S2

switching for the auxiliary switch S2 at turn-on and turn-off, without a snubber are about 0.62 mJ or 24.8 W at 40 respectively . kHz. With a conventional RCD snubber, the losses are about 0.22 mJ or 8.8 W at 40 kHz. These results corroborate the fact that soft switching permits a net reduction in turn-off C . Turn-OfS Switching Losses losses. In addition, the first part of the current fall time, In order to evaluate the effect of soft-switching on losses, which corresponds to the turn-off of the MOSFET part of we measured switching losses of the main switch SI in discontinuous conduction mode. In this mode, turn-on losses the IGBT, is shorter with the use of a capacitive snubber [IO]. are negligible, since the main switch SI turns on at zero In fact, with the use of a snubber capacitor across the main current. Fig. 13(a) shows switching losses of switch 5'1 at switch, the d v l d t is smaller compared to hard switching, as a turn-off for an input voltage of 130 V, a snubber capacitor of consequence, the displacement current fed to the gate of the 0.1 pF and a snubber inductor of 10 pH. The total switching IGBT is small and is not enough to maintain the IGBT on its losses at turn-off are 0.13 mJ or 5 W at 40 lcHz switching on state voltage. The snubber capacitor controls the d v l d t of switch S1 at frequency. We also measured switching losses without a snubber and turn-off, therefore limiting its overvoltage. The overvoltage with a conventional RCD snubber. The results are shown, with a soft-switching snubber is limited to about 180 V, while respectively, in Fig. 13(b) and (c). The total switching losses the overvoltage without a snubber reaches almost 300 V.

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 11, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER 1996

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Consequently, the RBSOA of switch S1 is improved with oscillations could also be suppressed by placing spike killers the use of a soft-switching active snubber. Other bipolar de- or Amobeads in the loop between the snubber capacitor and vices such as MCTs, GTOs, and bipolar junction transistors the main switch S1 as shown in Fig. 14. (BJTs) can also benefit from the use of this soft switching Table I11 gives a breakdown of the important characteristics active snubber, since they all exhibit a current tail at turn-off. of the active snubber (no spike killer is used) compared to The amount of loss reduction achieved will depend largely the conventional snubber and to the case without snubber in on the snubber capacitor value and the device characteristics discontinuous conduction mode. The losses in the snubber (lifetime, recombination rate, internal layout, technology (PT components (diode 0 2 and 03,snubber inductor L,, auxiliary or NPT), etc.). switch S2, and snubber capacitor C,) are accounted for in The oscillations found in the voltage and current waveforms the snubbing losses. It can be concluded that the overall with the soft-switching snubber are mainly due to the stray characteristics of the converter are improved with the use of the snubber capacitor. Optimum of the active snubber. Of particular importance is the net inductances and to the packaging and short connections between the main switch and reduction of the turn-off losses to about 20% of the hard the rest of the snubber will reduce these oscillations. These turn-off losses. Note also the large d i / d t at turn-off under

ELASSER AND TORREY: SOFT SWITCHING ACTIVE SNUBBERS FOR Dc/DC CONVERTERS

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turn-on of switch 5'1, diode 0 1 , and the reverse recovery of diodes 0 1 and 0 2 at their turn-off. Dynamic saturation due to conductivity modulation lag in the IGBT's and diodes is the main attribute responsible for the high turn-on losses. A soft-switching turn-on snubber similar to the proposed turn-off snubber can be used to reduce these losses by slowing down the rise of the current at turn-on.
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VI. CONCLUSION Experimental results show that the active snubber configuration proposed in this paper is useful for IGBT's in dc/dc converters. The use of a large snubber capacitor enables the IGBT to operate at zero-voltage during turn-off. Hence, switching losses due to current tailing are considerably reduced. The generic snubber cell identified for each converter is useful in designing new and more complex soft switching snubbers for converters that are composed of basic dc/dc converters. The low voltage and low current imposed on the auxiliary switch makes this snubber a good alternative to its passive low-loss counterpart. Thus, the auxiliary switch can be replaced by a low voltage MOSFET. Finally, the efficiency of the converter is improved due to the reduction in switching and snubbing losses at turn-on and turn-off. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors gratefully acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for their constructive criticism and for their excellent suggestions for making this paper clear and concise.

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soft-switching. The tail current duration is smaller under hard switching because of the large driving voltage across switch S1 at turn-off. The overall efficiency of the soft-switched buck converter under discontinuous conduction mode varies between 88% and 92% for an input power between 200 W and 800 W. Table IV gives the list of components used in the experimental prototype of the soft switched buck converter under discontinuous conduction mode. The main inductor value is increased to 230 p H for the continuous conduction mode case. All the other parameters and values are the same as in the discontinuous conduction mode case. In continuous conduction mode, turn-on losses of switch S1, diode 0 1 , and turn-off losses of diode 0 2 and 0 3 are expected to be higher than the DCM case because of the hard switching

REFERENCES
[ 11 W. McMurray, "Selectionof snubbers and clamps to optimize the design

of transistor switching converters," in Con$ Rec. PESC, 1979, pp. 62-74. [2] X. He, S. J. Finney, B. W. Williams, and T. C. Green, "An improved passive lossless tum-on and tum-off snubber," in Con$ Rec. APEC, 1993, pp. 385-392.

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[3] J. C. Bendien, H. V. Der Broeck, and G. Fregien, Recovery circuit for snubber energy in power electronic applications with high switching frequencies, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 3, no. I , pp. 2 6 3 0 , Jan. 1988. [4] M. Domb, R. Redl, and N. 0. Sokal, Nondissipative tum-off snubber alleviates switching power dissipation, second breakdown stress and V,, overshoot: Analysis, design procedure and experimental verification, in Conf: Rec. PESC, 1982, pp. 445454. [5] A. Ferraro, An overview of low-loss snubber technology for transistor converters, in Con$ Rec. PESC, 1982, pp. 46-77, [6] K. Chen, A. Elasser, and D. A. Torrey, A soft switching active snubber optimized for IGBTS in single switch unity power factor three phase diode rectifiers, IEEE Trans. Power Elecrron., vol. IO, no. 4, pp. 44-52. July 1995. [7] G. Hua, C. S. Leu, Y. Jiang, and F. C. Y. Lee, Novel zero-voltagetransition PWM converters, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 213-219, Mar. 1994. [8] G. Hua, E. X. Yang, Y. Jiang, and F. C. Lee, Novel zero-currenttransition PWM converters, in Con$ Rec. PESC, 1993, pp. 538-544. 191 C. P. Henze, H. C. Martin, and D. W. Parsley, Zero-voltage switching in high frequency power converters using pulse width modulation, in Con$ Rec. APEC, 1988, pp. 3 3 4 0 . [ 101 A. Petterteig, J. Lode, and T. M. Undeland, IGBT tum-off losses for hard switching and with caoacitive snubbers. in Conf Rec. IAS Meet., 1991, pp. 1561-1507. [ 1 I ] J. G. Kassakian, M. F. Schlecht, and G. C. Verghese, Principles of Power Elecrronics. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1991.
I

David A. Torrey (S8O-M88) received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, and the S.M., E.E., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from M.I.T., Cambridge, MA. He spent three and a half years on the faculty at Worcester Polytechnic Institute before joining the faculty at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he is the holder of the Niagara Mohawk Power Electronics Research Chair and an Associate Professor in the Departments of Electric Power Engineering and Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering. His research activities are for wind leading to the development of altemative generator/utility-interfaces energy systems, the realization of single- and three-phase active power filters, and practical control techniques for motor drives. Dr. Torrey has been involved in IEEE activities that support power electronics. He was Assistant Program Chair for APEC96, is the Technical Program Chair for APEC97, and will become the General Chair for APEC98. He is also the Finance Chair for PESC97. He is an at-large member of the Administrative Committee of the IEEE Power Electronics Society, secretary for the Meetings Committee of the Power Electronics Society, and is serving ON POWER ELECTRONICS. as an Associate Editor of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS He regularly serves on PESC and APEC program committees and is a ON POWER ELECTRONICS and regular reviewer for the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS through the Industrial the IEEE TRANSACTIONS Drives, Industrial Power Converter, and Electric Machines Committees. He is a registered professional engineer in New York State and a member of Sigma Xi, Tau Beta Pi, and Eta Kappa Nu.

Ahmed Elasser (S92) was bom in Demnate, Morocco in 1963. He received the B.S. degree with honors from Mohammadia School of Engineering, Rabat, Morocco, in 1985. In 1992 he joined Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy, NY, as a Fulbright Scholar. He received the M.S. degree from RPI in electric power engineering in August 1993. Since 1993, he has been working towards the Ph.D. degree in power electronics at RPI. From 1985 to 1986, he was working as a Maintenance Engineer in SACEM, a mining company in Imini, Morocco From 1986 to 1992 he worked as a Laboratory Engineer in Ecole Nationale Sup6neure dElectncitC et de Mkcanique, Casablanca, Morocco. His current research is focused on the design and generalization of soft switching active snubbers for dc/dc and dc/ac converters, He also worked on the characterization and mixed-mode simulation of punch-through and non punch-through IGBTs under zero-current switching as part of his 1995 summer job in General Electric, Corporate Research and Development, in Schenectady, NY.

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