IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS LETTERS, VOL. 3, NO.

4, DECEMBER 2005

121

Single-Phase Z-Source PWM AC-AC Converters

Xu Peng Fang, Zhao Ming Qian, Senior Member, IEEE, and Fang Zheng Peng, Fellow, IEEE

AbstractThe letter proposes a new family of simple topologies

of single-phase PWM ac-ac converters with a minimal number of
switches: voltage-fed Z-source converter and current-fed Z-source
converter. By PWM duty-ratio control, they become solid-state
transformers with a continuously variable turns ratio. All the
proposed ac-ac converters in this paper employ only two switches.
Compared to the existing PWM ac-ac converter circuits, they have
unique features: providing a larger range of output ac voltage
with buck-boost, reversing or maintaining phase angle, reducing
in-rush and harmonic current, and improving reliability. The
operating principle and control method of the proposed topologies
are presented. Analysis, simulation, and experimental results
are given using the voltage-fed Z-source ac-ac converter as an
example. The analysis can be easily extended to other converters
of the proposed family. The proposed converters could be used in
voltage regulation, power regulation, and so on.
Index TermsACAC converter, power-line conditioning,
PWM converter, solid-state transformer.
Fig. 1. Single-phase Z-source acac converter: (a) voltage-fed and (b)
current-fed.

I. INTRODUCTION
OR acac power conversion that normally requires variable output voltage and variable frequency, the most popular topology is the voltage-source inverter with a dc link, i.e.,
a pulse width modulation (PWM) inverter with a diode-rectifier front end and dc capacitor link. However, for applications
where only voltage regulation is needed, a direct PWM acac
converter is a better choice to achieve smaller size and lower
cost. ACAC converters, or acac line conditioners, can also
perform conditioning, isolating, and filtering of the incoming
power in addition to voltage regulation [1]. The use of self-commutated switches with PWM control can significantly improve
the performance of acac converters. This has been presented
in a number of technical publications [1][9], where different
ac-ac converters were proposed. Some simulation results were
given to illustrate performance in the presence of voltage sags,
surges, and load fluctuations.
The Z-source inverter is a novel topology [10], [11] that overcomes the conceptual and theoretical barriers and limitations
of the traditional voltage-source converter and current-source
converter. Its operating principle and applications for fuel cell
inverters and ASD (adjustable speed drive) systems have been

Manuscript received Janaury 3, 2005; revised June 22, 2005. This work
was supported by the National Science Foundation of China under Contract
50377038 and by the National Science Foundation under NSF Award ECS
0424039. Recommended by Associate Editor L. M. Tolbert.
X. P. Fang is with the Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China and also
with the Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266510,
China (email: xpfang69@yahoo.com.cn).
Z. M. Qian is with the Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
F. Z. Peng is with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 USA.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/LPEL.2005.860453

presented in [10][13]. This paper extends the Z-source concept

to acac conversion. Although the Z-source acac converters
given here are quite similar to those published in [1], some
unique features revealed in this paper, such as phase reversing
and buck-boosting are interesting for certain applications.
II. PROPOSED Z-SOURCE ACAC CONVERTER TOPOLOGIES
Fig. 1(a) and (b) show the proposed single-phase Z-source,
PWM voltage-fed, buck-boost converter and current-fed buckboost converters, respectively. Both converters utilize only two
active devices (S1 and S2), each combined with a full diode
bridge for bidirectional voltage blocking and bidirectional current paths. All the inductors and capacitors are small and used
to filter switching ripples. The symmetrical Z-source network,
which is a combination of two inductors and two capacitors, is
the energy storage/filtering element for the Z-source acac converter. Since the switching frequency is much higher than the ac
source (or line) frequency, the inductor and capacitor requirements should be low.
The proposed acac converters can operate with PWM dutyratio control in exactly the same way as for conventional dc-dc
converters. Fig. 2 shows the switching functions common to
both proposed ac-ac converters. As shown in Fig. 2, S1 and S2
are turned on and off in complement. A small snubber circuit
may be needed for each switch to suppress switching surges and
to provide commutation paths. Table I shows the steady-state
input-output voltage gains of these converters as a function of
duty ratio D. By controlling the duty ratio, the output voltage
can be regulated as desired.

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Fig. 2.

IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS LETTERS, VOL. 3, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2005

Duty-ratio control of Z-source acac converters.

TABLE I
VOLTAGE TRANSFER RATIO OF Z-SOURCE ACAC CONVERTERS

Fig. 3. (a) State 1: S2 is on and S1 is off. (b) State 2: S2 is off and S1 is on.

III. ANALYSIS, SIMULATION, AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

OF THE PROPOSED ACAC CONVERTER
For the Z-source PWM acac converters, the control scheme
described in Fig. 2 is simple and easy to implement. As an
example, the voltage-fed, Z-source ac-ac converter shown in
Fig. 1(a) is analyzed. A similar analysis can be extended to the
current-fed, Z-source ac-ac converter. The switches S1 and S2
are gated on and off in complement as shown in Fig. 2. Two
states exist in this circuit; Fig. 3(a) and (b) show their equivalent circuits. Since the inductors and capacitors of the Z-network
have the same inductances (L) and capacitances (C) in Figs. 3(a)
and (b) respectively, the Z-source networks become symmetrical. Then we have

In State 2, the bidirectional switch S2 is turned off and S1

turned on. The Z-network capacitors discharge, while the inductors charge and store energy. The interval of the converter
operating in this state is DT, as shown in Fig. 3(b). Thus
(4)
The average voltage of the inductors over one ac line period
in steady state should be zero, ignoring the fundamental voltage
drop. Thus, from (3) and (4) we have
.

(5)
Assuming that the filter inductor and the inductor in the Z-network are very small and there is no line frequency voltage drop
across the inductor, the voltage across the load should equal Vc,
the voltage across the capacitor of the Z-network, that is
and

(1)

(6)

and the input and output voltages are, and

In summary, we have
(2)

(7)
, , are phase angles of the Z-network inductor
where ,
current, Z-network capacitor voltage, and output voltage, respectively.
In State 1, the bidirectional switch S1 is turned off and S2
turned on. The ac source charges the Z-network capacitors,
while the inductors discharge and transfer energy to the load.
,
The interval of the converter operating in this state is
where D is the duty ratio of switch S1, and T is the switching
cycle, as shown in Fig. 3(a). As a result, one has,
(3)
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Evidently, by controlling the duty ratio D, the output voltage

of the proposed ac-ac converter can be bucked or boosted. In
addition, the output voltage can be in-phase or out-of-phase
with the input voltage depending on operating regions of the
duty cycle. This is a unique feature of the Z-source converter.
Fig. 4(a) shows the voltage gain versus the duty cycle. It clearly
shows that there are two operating regions. When the duty
cycle is greater than 0.5, the converter enters negative gain
region, i.e., the output voltage is 180 out-of-phase with the
input voltage. When the duty cycle is less than 0.5, the output

FANG et al.: SINGLE-PHASE Z-SOURCE PWM AC-AC CONVERTERS

123

Fig. 4. Voltage gain of the Z-source acac converters: (a) voltage-fed and (b)
current-fed.

voltage is in-phase with the input voltage. Similar analysis

can be applied to the current-fed, Z-source converter. Fig. 4(b)
shows the voltage gain curve. Again, it is noticeable that the
unique phase-reserving feature happens at the duty cycle of 0.5.
This unique phase-reversing feature suggests that an inverter
can be implemented for a dc source using two unidirectional
voltage and bidirectional current switches.
Simulation results for the voltage-fed, Z-source acac converter are shown in Fig. 5. The parameters used were
,
and
,
. When the line input voltage has the nominal
value of 220 V rms and has 110 V rms at 50% voltage sag, by
PWM duty-ratio control we can keep the output voltage constant
at 165 V rms. The converter operates in buck mode when the
input voltage is normal at its nominal voltage. The output and
input voltages are inverted. The converter then operates in boost
mode during the voltage sag. In the simulation, the switching
frequency is 10 kHz and the output power is 3 kW.
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Fig. 5. Simulation results.

Experiments were done and the same circuit parameters were

,
, and
used:
,
. Experimental results at input voltage
,
and
,
are
shown in Fig. 6. The experimental results verify the rationality
of the Z-source acac converter.
IV. CONCLUSION
A new family of simple topologies of single-phase, Z-source,
acac converters was proposed in this paper. By duty-ratio
control, the Z-source acac converters become solid-state
transformers with a continuously variable turns ratio. The
acac converters can be used for acac line conditioning to
overcome voltage sags, surges, and load fluctuations. Because
the proposed converters employ only two active devices, they

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IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS LETTERS, VOL. 3, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2005

Fig. 1, by replacing both switch-diode bridges with a traditional

voltage-source inverter phase-leg switch (i.e., a combination of
switch and antiparallel diode).
REFERENCES

Fig. 6. Experimental results of the proposed converter. (a) Input voltage: 22

Vrms, D = 0:7; (b) input voltage: 110 Vrms, D = 0:25.

can reduce cost and improve reliability. Steady-state analysis,

simulation, and experimental results were illustrated using
the buck-boost converter as an example. In the same manner,
other Z-source, acac converter topologies can be derived. The
unique phase-inversing feature teaches us that inverter circuits
can be easily derived, according to both circuits shown in

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