Thispaper i submitted to IEEE IECON '99 s

Comparison of the Characteristics between Buck and Buck-Boost High-Power-FactorConverters with Pulse-Space-Modulation
Atsushi NAKAJIMA, Shin-ichi MOTEGI and Akeshi MAEDA Power Electronics Lab., Dept. of Electronic and Computer Eng., Tokyo Denki University Hatoyama, Saitama, 350-0394 JAPAN FAX: (+81)-492-96-6413Phone: (+81)-492-96-2911 E-mail: atsushi@ape.f.dendai.ac.,jp
ABSTRACT The current-fed high-power-factor converters (buck and buck-boost converters) have several advantages, such as no lower-limit of the output-voltage control range and no rushcurrent of the input-current. However, the single-phase current-fed high-power-factor converter with PWM (PulseWidth-Modulation) produces undesirable lower order harmonics in the input-current. Thus, the PWM requires a bulky and costly inductor connected in the dc-side of the current-fed converter to reduce the dc-inductor-current ripples. To overcome the problem, the authors have proposed PSM (Pulse-Space-Modulation). This paper describes a comparison of the characteristics (THDI (Total Harmonic Distortion of the input-current), the power factor and reducing dc-inductor's inductance) between Buck and Buck-Boost high-power-factor converters applying PSM. The buck-boost converter has many advantages over the buck converter in the input current waveform, power factor and reducing dc-inductor's inductance. To illustrate the validity of the theory, experimental results obtained from a 12[kWj setup and computer simulation results are shown. have several advantages, such as no lower-limit of the output-voltage control range and no rush-current of the input-current. However, there seem to be few comparative examples of THDi (Total Harmonic Distortion of the inputcurrent) and input power-factor on the current-fed converters. In this paper, the authors compare the THDi, power-factor and reducing dc-inductor's inductance on the buck converter and the buck-boost converter with PSM

(Pulse-Space-Modulati~n)~~~~[~'~.

I. Introduction The harmonic pollution caused by ac-to-dc converters has been a great concern. To solve the problem, variety of highpower-factor converters have been proposed and developed in recent yearS'11*[4. general, there are roughly three type In single-phase high-power-factor converters into boost, buck, and b~ck-boost In particular, the current-fed high-powerfactor ac-to-dc converters (buck and buck-boost converters)

The PSM modulation generates a switching-pattern for switch (SWs) to obtain the PFC (Power Factor Correction) operation. A modified camer-signal is employed and the space (or time-integral-value) in each modulation period of input-pulse-current is controlled to be kept equal to the input-current reference. Therefore, the pulse-current is modulated appropriately, even if the dc-inductor-current contains large low-frequency ripples. Thus, the dcinductor's inductance is greatly reduced and the method provides an economical solution, although the dc-inductor is very costly. In the following, the theory and the implementation are briefly described. To illustrate the validity of the theory, experimental results obtained from a 1.2[kW] setup and computer simulation results are shown.
1 . Topology and Power Circuit Operation 1

A. Topology Fig. 1 and 2 show the single-phase current-fed highpower-factor converter systems. In Fig. 1,the buck converter consists of a single-phase acSource vs, a single-phase diode-bridge D1-D4, a harmonic

I
Fig. 1 A Single-phase Buck converter. .

Fig. 2. A Single-phase Buck-Boost converter.

'4 '

Controller/Modulator

0-7803-5735-3/99/$10.00 Q 1999 IEEE

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This paper i submitted to IEEE IECON 99 s

filter &, CF), a buck dc-to-dc converter, a dc-smoothing capacitor CO and a resistive load I, The buck dc-to-dc Q. converter yields lower output-voltage than the input-voltage. It has a switch (SWs), dc-inductor (Ld) and freewheeling diode.@ ), In Fig. 2, the buck-boost converter consists of a singlephase ac-source vs, a single-phase diode-bridge D1-D4, a harmonic filter (h, a buck-boost dc-to-dc converter, a CF), dc-smoothing capacitor CO and a resistive load &. The buck-boost dc-to-dc converter yields a wide-ranging outputand voltage. It has a switch (SWs), dc-inductor (4) outputdiode 00). B. Power Circuit Operation To describe the power circuit operation simply and clearly, the ac-source vs, the single-phase diode-bridge DI-D4 and , the harmonic filter (LF, C) are neglected in the following discussion. (1) buck converter The buck converter has three operation modes and the equivalent circuit in each mode is shown Fig. 3. In initial condition, the switch SWS is OFF, the dcinductor-current iLis fed to the output-side of the converter through the freewheeling diode D m , as shown in Fig. 3 (b) (mode II). a) Mode I (Fig. 3 (a)): The switch SWs turns on in mode II, the dc-inductor is connected to the V B (absolute value of the ac-source voltage vs) and output-side of the converter. Therefore, the dc-inductor-current iL flows through the switch SWs and dc-inductor. This mode ends when switch SWs turns off. b) Mode I1 (Fig. 3 (b)): The switch SWS turns off in mode I, The dc-inductor is cut off from the VB, and its current is fed to the output-side of the converter through the freewheeling diode D,. Therefore, the dc-inductorcurrent i L decreases. This mode ends when switch SWs turns on, and return to the Mode I. c) Mode 111 (Fig. 3 (c)): If keeps mode 11, the dc-inductorcurrent i, is equal to zero before long. This circuit condition is mode 111. This mode is avoided to use for the reason that described later ((2) buck-boost converter). The proposed converter employs two modes (mode I and mode 11, shows Fig 3. (a) and (b)). (2) buck-boost converter The buck-boost converter has three operation modes and the equivalent circuit in each mode is shown Fig. 4. In initial condition, the switch SWs is OFF, the dcinductor-current i~ is fed to the output-side of the converter through the dc-diode Do, as shown in Fig. 4 (b) (mode 11). a) Mode I (Fig. 4 (a)): The switch SWS turns on in mode 11, The dc-inductor is connected to the vB of the converter. Therefore, the dc-inductor-current iL increases and flows through the switch SWS and dc-inductor. This mode ends when switch SWs turns off. b) Mode I1 (Fig. 4 @)): The switch SWs turns off in mode I, The dc-inductor is cut off from the YB, and its current is fed to the output-side of the converter through the dcdiode Do. Therefore, the dc-inductor-current i~ decreases in this mode. This mode ends when switch SWs turns on, and return to the Mode I. c) Mode 111 (Fig. 4 (c)): If keeps mode 11, the dc-inductorcurrent iL is equal to zero before long. This circuit condition is mode 111. Utilization of the mode 111, does not obstruct PFC operation on conventional converters. Furthermore, the PFC operation is greatly simplified on conventional Discontinuous-Conduction-ModeOperation w* using the mode 111 appropriately. On by the other hand, the Discontinuous-Conduction-ModeOperation generates iLwith higher maximum value. Thus, the Discontinuous-Conduction-Mode-Operation scheme is limited in lower power applications in practice. TO employ the proposed high-power-factor converters in higher power application, the mode 111 is avoided to use by selecting constants, such as the dc-inductors inductance and switching (or carrier) frequency,

(a)

Mode I (SWs: ON, D,:

OFF)

(b) Mode I1 (SWs: OFF, DFW: ON) (c) Mode Ill (SWs: OFF, DFW:OFF, i ~ = 0 ) Fig. 3. Operating modes of the buck converter.

(c) Mode 111 (SWs: OFF, Do: OFF, iL=O) @) Mode I1 (SWs: OFF, Do: ON) (a) Mode 1(SWs: ON, Do: OFF) Fig. 4. Operating modes of the buck-boost converter.

This paper is submitted to IEEE IECON '99

appropriately. As described above, the proposed converter employs two modes (mode I and mode 11, shows Fig 4. (a) and (b)).

III. Modulation and control scheme To obtain PFC operation, the conventional PWM control method is widely used. However, PWM does not consider dc-inductor-current low frequency ripples, therefore PWM has modulating error in the carrier signal between the dcinductor-current. As a result, the PWM produces undesirable lower order harmonics in the input-current. To solve the problem, the authors have proposed PSM. Besides, some improvement methods are proposed r131-r151. Even if these methods are used or PSM is used, the comparison result of the buck and buck-boost converter is the same. In the followings, the control scheme is described with model waveforms in Fig. 5. The input-current reference iB * is absolute value of sinusoidal waveform in phase with the source-voltage vs. The pulse-space-reference U is obtained to multiply the * , iB* by the one switching interval Tcm.

To generate the triangular-carrier-signal YcAR, the dcinductor-current iLis detected by current detector. The VCAR is generated to integrate the dc-inductor-current iL with resetting. The resetting timing is decided by the resetting pulse v ~ Ifp adjust the V M T frequency, adjusting the carrier frequency is easy. The voltage comparator compares the pulse-spacereference usW*and the carrier-signal v c m If the pulsespace-reference Usw* is higher than the carrier-signal vCAR, the switching-pattern VGS is controlled to ON. If the pulse-space-reference USW * is lower than the carriersignal vcm, the switching-pattern VGS is controlled to OFF. The switch SWs is operated by the switching-pattern V G S . The switch current isw draws chopped waveforms (Fig. 5). The area of the switch current isw at the each switching interval is controlled to be equal to the voltage value of the pulse-space-reference USW*.Therefore, the input current is obtains sinusoidal waveforms in phase with the sourcevoltage vs. As shown in Fig. 6, the PFC controller consists of absolute-value-operating-circuitry ABS, an integrator with resetting function (Resettable-Integrator), and a voltage comparator. The switching-pattern VGS for the switch SWS is generated by comparing the pulse-space-reference usw* and the triangular-carrier-signal VCAR produced by the resettable-integrator. The reference USW* is obtained through a transformer (not shown in Fig.6) and the ABS. On the other hand, the resettable-integrator generates the singleedge triangular-carrier-signal by integrating the dc-inductorcurrent and resetting its output in every initial-instant of the modulation period. The carrier-frequency is simply selected by adjusting the pulse frequency in the resettable-integrator.
IV. Experimental results To confirm the superiority of the buck-boost converter with PSM, experimental waveforms obtained from a 1.2[kW] prototype setup are shown in Fig.7. The power circuits are shown in Fig. 1; its constants and the major measurement data are shown in Tables 1 and 2, respectively. In the following experiment and simulation, the outputvoltage is 5 0 [ q constant. Fig. 7 (a), (b) show static characteristics obtained from 1.2[kW setup, in experiments. Fig. 7 (a) and (b) are outputpower Po-Total-Power-Factor TPF characteristic and POTHDi characteristic, respectively. The PSM achieves better results in THDi and TPF over the PWM in all circuit situations. PWM does not consider the dc-inductor-current low frequency ripples, therefore PWM has modulating error in the carrier signal between the dc-inductor-current. As a

-4
' G S
ON OFF

---

vRsr pulse

Mode 1 I n t i b T ~ + l ) Fig. 5. Model waveforms.

Resettable- VW Inteizrator

Fig. 6. Block Diagram of controller/modulator.

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result, the PWM produces undesirable lower order harmonics in the input-current. In comparison between buck and buck-boost converters applied PSM, both converters achieve high TPF and low THDi in the higher output-power range. However, on the buck converter both TPF and THDi grow worse, in proportion to be lower output-power ranges,. In the following, how to be yielded this distortion briefly describe. In the higher output-power range (Fig. 7 (b) area A), the dcinductor-current iL enough flows dc-inductor, the inputcurrent is is controlled to sinusoidal waveform with PSM. In the middle output-power range (Fig. 7 (b) area B), the dcinductor-currenti L is all the time continuous but not enough to modulate appropriately. In the lower output-power range (Fig. 7 (b) area C), there is iL=O interval in the one source period. The buck-boost converter has enough dc-inductorcurrent i~ all the time. Fig. 8 (a) and (d) show experimental waveforms of the input-current is and dc-inductor-current i L on the currentfed converters (buck and buck-boost converters) with PWM. The input-current is has a large distortion. Fig. 8 (b), (c), (e) and ( f ) show experimental waveforms of the input-current is and dc-inductor-current i L on the current-fed converters (buck and buck-boost converters) with PSM. AS shown in Fig. 8 (b) and (e), both converters draw a fine waveform on the input-current is at 1.2[kw]. However, at 600[w], the waveform of the input-current is has a large distortion on the buck converter (Fig. 8 (c)). The buck-boost converter draws fine waveforms on the input-current is not only in the higher output-power range but also in the middle or lower output-power ranges (Fig. 8 (0). V. Simulation results To confirm capability of reducing the dc-inductor's
-

Table. 2 Maior experimental data.

Control PWM PSM PSM Scheme iP0=1.2[kWI i PO=1.2[kW$ Po=600[W]

......... .............
I

Circuit

i %26.1 ...Buck m [ ] ......... 97.8 Buck- TPF[%l Boost THDi[%] 14.5

loo-

nF[%1

93.8

99.8 0.48 99.7 0.56

98.2 15.7 99.7 0.75

Table. 1 Constantsand Ratings of the Power circuits. DC-inductor Harmonic-Filter DC-capacitor Diode-bridge
Switch
Ld

LF

'

CF
CO

7.75[mH] 0.9 [mH] 9.4 [ D F I

)9-

Diode Switchingfrequency

2200[ LL F l D1-D.q 600M, 5O[A] SWs: IGBT 600~],50[A] D m , Do: FRD 6 0 0 M , 5O[Al

EW.

fcm

1o[=l

(a) Total Power Factor (TPF) (b) Total Harmonic Distortion Fig. 7. Static characteristics.

O W W parr P &Wl

. -

Oulpul power Po[kWl

(a) buck PWM P0=1.2[kWI

(b) buck PSM Po=l.2[ kw]

(c) buck PSM P0=0.6[kWI

(f)buck-boost PSM Po=0.6[kwJ (d) buck-boost PWM'Po=1.2[kw) (e) buck-boost PSM Po=1.2[kWI Fig. 8. experimental waveforms (upper :iL under :is, vertical : lO[A/div], Horizontal :2[msec/divl) ,

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Thispaper is submitted to IEEE IECON 99

inductance on the buck-boost converter applied PSM, computer simulation results are shown in Fig. 9 (a) and (b). The waveforms obtained from computer simulation are shown in Fig. 10 (a)-(h). The simulation condition and major simulation data are shown in Table 3 and 4, respectively. The effective input current and THDi are calculated in 2 [ W ] and under. The buck converter obtains low-level THDi and fine waveforms with enough dc-inductors inductance, in case of P0=1.2[ku7 and LdrS[mH] (Fig. 9 (a) and Fig. 10 (a)) or P0=600[Wl and LdzlO[mH] (Fig. 9 (b) and Fig. 10 (c)). However, if dc-inductors inductance is more reduced, the THDi is increased (Fig. 9 area B and C) and the inputcurrent waveforms are distorted (Fig. 10 @) and (d)). Fig. 9 area A show if dc-inductors inductance is enough large, dcinductors minimum value is higher than the required bare necessity value to modulate appropriately. As shown in Fig. 9 area B, dc-inductors inductance is middle reduced, the dc-inductor-current iL is all the time continuous but not

Table. 4 Major simulation data.

Circuit ........... ........................... L,[mH1
lo

Control Scheme TPF[%]

THDil%l

I
I

PSM f PSM Po=1.2[kW]i Po=600[Wl

100 0.51

1
I

100

Buck

...........................
0.3 ...........................

...........
BuckBoost

..............
c

lo

TPF[%] THDi[%] TPF[%l THDi[%] TPF[%] THDi[%] IFF[%]

100

0.67 99.0 13.9

100

0.67 98.8 15.7 99.1 13.8

100

0.33
100

0.35 100

THDil%l

0.36

0.39

a b l e . 3 Simulation condition.
~ ~ ~~~~~

Source voltage Output voltage DC-capacitor DC-inductor Diode-bridge Switch Diode Switching frequency

(Sinusoidal) VO (constant) CO(ideal) Ld (ideal) DI-D4 (ideal) SWs (ideal) D m , Do (ideal)

VS

l OVd Ol,
5OM

variable

=wFl

Induetanectd

[mW

Indudsna

[mH]

fern

12.8lkHzl

(b) THDi (Po=60O[W]) (a) THDi (P0=1.2[kWJ) Fig. 9. Simulation results.

(a) Buck b=S[mH] P0=1.2[kV

(b) Buck b=0.3[mH] Po=1.2[kW]

(c) Buck b=lO[mH] P0=600[W]

(d) Buck b=0.3[mH] P0=600[W]

(e) Buck-Boost b=S[mH] Po=l.2[kW]

Q=0.3[mH] Po=1.2[kWJ

( Buck-Boost 9

(g) BuCk-Boost b=lO[mH] P0=600[W]

(h) Buck-Boost h=0.3[rnH] P0=600[W]

Fig. 10. Simulation waveforms.

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Thispaper is submitted to IEEE IECON 99

enough to modulate appropriately. In Fig. 9 area C, there is iL=O interval in the one source period. For this reason, dcinductors inductance deciding is need to fulfil the relation; dc-inductor-current 2 the needful input-current to obtain PFC operation. Thus if dc-inductors inductance is reduced, buck converter draws distorted the input-current (Fig. 10 (b) and (d)). The buck-boost converter has enough dc-inductorcurrent value to modulate appropriately, even if quite dcinductors inductance is reduced. For the reason, in the all output-power ranges, the buck-boost converter obtains lowlevel THDi (Fig. 9 (a) and @)) and fine waveforms (Fig. 10 (e)-(h)) even if dc-inductors inductance is quite reduced. [6] K. Water, S. Motegi and A. Maeda, Characteristics of Single-phase Buck PFC Converter with Pulse-SpaceModulation, National Convention Record IEE of Japan, -INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS SOCIETY- Vol. 1, pp. T-25 (1997) (in Japanese) [7] K. Water, S. Motegi and A. Maeda, Characteristics of Single-phase Buck PFC Converter with Pulse-SpaceModulation, National Convention Record IEE of Japan, No. 776, Vol. 4, pp. 107-108 (1998) (in Japanese) [8] K.Water, S . Motegi and A. Maeda, Characteristics of Single-phase Buck PFC Converter with Pulse-SpaceModulation, IEE of Japan, SPC-98-114, pp. 45-49 (1998) (in Japanese) [9] A. Nakajima, S . Motegi and A. Maeda, Comparison of the Characteristics between Buck and Buck-Boost High-Power-Factor Converters with Pulse-SpaceModulation, National Convention Record IEE of Japan, -INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS SOCIETY- No. 11, pp. T-27 (1998) (in Japanese) 101A. Nakajima, S. Motegi and A. Maeda, Comparison of the Characteristics between Buck and Buck-Boost High-Power-Factor Converters with Pulse-SpaceModulation, National Convention Record IEE of Japan, No. 4, pp. 210-211 (1999) (in Japanese) 11]A. Nakajima, S Motegi and A. Maeda, Comparison of . the Characteristics between Buck and Buck-Boost High-Power-Factor Converters with Pulse-SpaceModulation, The Transaction IEE of Japan, A publication of Industry Applications Society, Vol. 119, No. 4, pp. 546-547 (1999) (in Japanese) [12]G. Hsieh, J. Tsai and J. Li, Design of Power Factor Corrector for the Off-Line Isolated Buck/Boost Converter by a Voltage-Follower Technique, IEEE IECON93, pp. 959-964 [13jS. Nonaka and Y. Neba, A Investigation of Input Current Harmonics in Single-phase Converter,, National Convention Record IEE of Japun, INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS SOCETY- NO. 66, pp. 271-274 (1990) (in Japanese) [14]A. Mechi and S. Funabiki, Three-phase PWM AC-to DC Converter with a Wide Control Range of DC Voltage, The Transaction IEE of Japan, A publication of Industry Applications Society, Vol. 114, No. 6, pp. 638-646 (1994) [15]T. ohnuki, 0. Miyashita, T. Haneyishi and E. Ohtsuji, High Power Factor PWM Rectifiers with an Analog Pulsewidth Prediction Controller, The ZEEE Transactions on POWER ELECTRONICS SOCIETY Vol. 11, NO. 3, pp. 460-465 (1996)

VI. Conclusion Through experiments and simulations, The authors have proved the advantages of the buck-boost converter applied PSM. The buck converter shows large distortion in the waveform of the input-current is in the middle and lower output-power ranges. The PFC combined with PSM achieves a low-distortion operation on the buck-boost converter in the all output-power ranges. Thus in the middle or lower output-power ranges, the buck-boost converter with PSM has the most advantages. The buck-boost converter with PSM obtain low-level THDi, even if the dcinductors inductance is quite reduced. If use the buck-boost converter with PSM, it is possible to achieve little s u e and lightweight converter. The buck-boost converter with PSM is useful for a wide variety of applications such as low kilowatt and little size applications requiring high quality input current.
References [l] P. Tenti and G. Spiazzi, Harmonic Limiting Standards and Power Factor Correction Rechniques, Textbook of EPE95 Tutorial. [2] F. C. Lee, Analysis and Design of Power Factor Correction Circuits, Textbook of InTeZEC95 Tutorial. [3] N. Mohan, T M. Undeland and W. P. Robbins: . POWER ELECTRONICS JOHN WILEY & SONS, INC.(1995) . [4] S . Motegi, Y Nishida and A. Maeda, National Convention Record IEE of Japan, No. 521, pp. 44-45 (1994) (in Japanese) [5] S. Motegi and A. Maeda, A single-phase Buck-Boost PFC Converter with Output-Voltage-Ripple-Reducing Operation, The Transaction IEE of Japan, A publication of Industry Applications Society, Vol. 117, No. 7, pp. 846-855 (1997) (in Japanese)

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