Stanimir Valtchev

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Series connection of power devices has evolved into a mature technique and is widely applied in HV dc systems. Static and dynamic voltage balance is ensured by shunting individual devices with dissipative snubbers. The snubber losses become pronounced for increased operating frequencies and adversely affect power density. Capacitive snubbers do not exhibit these disadvantages, but they require a zero-voltage switching mode. Super-resonant power converters facilitate the principle of zero-voltage switching. A high-voltage dc-dc power converter with multiple series-connected devices is proposed. It allows the application of nondissipating snubbers to assist the voltage sharing between the multiple series-connected devices and lowers turn-off losses. Simulation results obtained with a circuit simulator are validated in an experimental converter operating with two series-connected devices. The behavior of the series connection is examined for MOSFET's and insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT's) by both experimental work with a 2-kW prototype and computer simulation. Applications can be found in traction and heavy industry, where the soft-switching converter is directly powered from a high-voltage source.

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This new chapter of the PhD thesis was an addition to the presented already material at TU Sofia, Bulgaria. This was necessary to obtain the permission to prepare the thesis for its final version. Unfortunatelly this thesis was never presented but it served for the core to the presented in IST, Portugal, later on.

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VEEM93A13

Mode of operation and area of rnhanced efficiency for series-resonant converters is presented. Frequency control on voltage source DC-DC converters is discussed and other principles of control are introduced. Optimum modes of operation for power transistor resonant converters are also considered. For even better efficiency a resonant current shaping is discussed.

The DC analysis of a series-resonant converter operating above resonant frequency is presented. The results are used to analyze the current form factor and its effect on the efficiency. The selection of the switching frequency to maximize the efficiency is considered. The derived expressions are generalized and can be applied to calculations in any of the switching modes for a series-resonant circuit. For switching frequencies higher than the resonant frequency, an area of more efficient operation is indicated which will aid in the design of this class of converters and power supplies. It is pointed out that (especially for power MOSFETs where ohmic losses dominate) it is more attractive to select switching frequencies that are higher than the resonant frequency because of the possibility of nondissipative snubbers. Slowing down the rise of the gate voltage and, hence, the slow decrease of ON resistance during turn-on is also not a drawback to high-frequency switching. Because of this safer operation, the standard intrinsic diode of the power MOSFET could be used at high frequencies instead of the more expensive FREDFET

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