POWER SUPPLAY SOLUTION

CONVERTER UNIT

2008
 Abstract

A novel concept that utilizes a modified AC to DC or DC to DC

topology is to be presented with this paper. The concept is a
fundamentally different method of distributing and converting electrical
power that is well suited to any power distribution topology, in particular
directed energy applications such as the Active Denial System. The
topology provides through the use of the modified AC-Link™ topology,
which had been previously coined as Pulse Frequency Modulator
Transformer or PFM-X, the capability of powering large microwave beam
tubes from very compact packages.
This paper will concentrate on the development and testing of the
AFRL ADT HV DC-DC 250 kW converter that provides the ADT Gyrotron
Collector power supply with the required -50kV, -5Adc highly regulated
output from a Li-Ion battery bank. The system has been designed for a
minimum input voltage of 300Vdc in a package with a power density of
1MW/m . 3

Introduction to AC-Link™ Technical Concepts

The AC-Link™ is a new inverter topology that is reconfigurable for

direct AC-AC, AC-DC, DC-AC and DC-DC power conversion in which no DC
Link is required. This topology can be configured to accommodate large
voltage differences between the input and output ports through the use of
high frequency step-up or step-down transformers. Since the output
transformer will be operated at the inverter frequency, their weight and
volume are significantly reduced.
The basic AC-Link™ AC-AC operation is described in detail in
reference [4]. This reference will give a good understanding of the
topology and its operation in its most demanding AC-AC configuration, all
other configurations can be described as subsets of this basic topology.
The circuit draws nearly harmonic-free power from the AC input and
directly reconstructs an AC output at the required frequency and phase for
such applications as variable speed drives. The output section can be
modified to reconstruct a regulated DC, without the typical 360 Hz ripple
and the filter sections associated with typical six pulse rectifiers. Figure 1,
show a dual module AC-Link™ system in an AC-XtrDC configuration. The
high frequency transformer design can incorporate either step-up or
stepdown voltage ratio. This circuit uses two AC-Link™ modules that draw
power from the AC grid and discharges into the high frequency
transformer primary.
The operation is identical to that of two parallel modules operating
in an AC-to- DC configuration except that the output inductor is replaced
by the leakage inductance of a high frequency transformer. As the central
capacitor of the first module is charged from the AC input, the energy
stored in the second module central capacitor is discharged. The central
capacitor and the leakage inductance form a resonant circuit and produce
a half sine wave on the transformer secondary. The transformer secondary
current waveforms can than be rectified and dumped into the output filter
capacitor. With that cycle completed, the role of the two modules reverse
and the second module recharges while the first module pulsed an
identical energy and current pulse into a second primary winding. For the
second pulse, the magnetic flux is reversed to produce a second half-sine
wave with opposite polarity onto the secondary winding to complete a full
sine wave. By operating the inverter at a frequency of 20 kHz, not only the
40 kHz ripple can be effective filtered, but also the transformer size is
significantly reduced.
The electronic transformer approach was used for the design of the
ADT power supply. However, the input section was reconfigured from an
AC port to a DC port to accommodate for the battery power source
requirement.

Figure 1.
Dual module AC to DC electronic transformer 250 kW DC to DC Inverter with
regulated High Voltage DC.

For the ADT power supply, a dual-module approach was used that
would operate directly from a battery pack of the appropriate size. The
modified circuit with all of its components and their values identified is
shown in Figure 2. The system was designed to operate at 20 kHz in the
dual-module operation, producing a rectified output with a ripple of 40
kHz. In this application, 1700V IGBTs were used with series blocking
diodes to produce asymmetric switches.

The key operating parameters are:

a. Battery Operation : 375 VDC max to 300 VDC min
b. Output Voltage : -30 kV to -50 kV (adjustable, depends on the
microwave tube)
c. Output Current : -5A DC
d. Output Voltage Ripple: +/-2% p-p
e. Duty Cycle : 6 minutes operation/hour
f. Minimum Efficiency Req. 85%
g. Cooling : De-ionized water

In addition, the system has a requirement to limit the output energy

delivered during a tube arc fault to less than 10 joules. The AC-Link™
topology is based on a soft resonant operation. In this case, the charging
period is defined by the value of the charging inductor (Lcm), the
inversion inductor (Lc) and the central capacitor (Co). The charging period
is given by equation

Energy is extracted from the input filter capacitor bank (Cif) when
the charging switch C1 is triggered. This charges the central capacitor
(Co) to approximately twice the input voltage in a period dictated by
equation 1 or 21μsec. Following the charge cycle, the energy stored in the
central capacitor is discharged into the transformer primary in a similar
resonant discharge as the charge. Equation 1 holds for the discharge with
the modification that the charging inductor element is replaced with the
transformer leakage inductance and the inversion inductor is replaced
with the lead inductance between the discharge switch and the
transformer as depicted in Figure 2. The discharge period is approximately
17 μsec. Since the design incorporates the use of opening switches such
as IGBTs, the control system has to insure that the switches remain closed
until the current flowing through them becomes zero. Also, as the central
capacitor (Co) is discharged into the output, its voltage will reverse before
the discharge current goes to zero. This voltage reversal (Vr) is a function
of the output filter capacitor voltage.
 Figure 2.
Dual module DC to XtrDC ADT power supply

On the next charge cycle, the central capacitor will start with a residual
voltage (- Vr) and charge to a final charge voltage as dictated by equation
2 below.

Vc = 2*Vin −Vr (2)

With a net input energy of drawn of,
Ec = 2Co(Vin2 −VinVr) (3)
Equations 2 and 3 clearly indicate that since the residual voltage is
negative, both the charge voltage and net energy drawn will be higher
than if no or a positive residual voltage was present. The system power
throughput is defined by the net energy per pulse times the operating
frequency and since it is advantageous to maintain the operating
frequency as high as possible at all time to reduce the output ripple
voltage, then a means of controlling the energy per pulse drawn from the
input must be achieved. This function is achieved with the inversion mode
or process. To control the energy per pulse, inversion switch (I1) is
triggered as part of the charge cycle. It is clear that if the inversion
process was allowed to proceed to completion, the voltage on the central
capacitor would flip its polarity from –Vr to +Vr and follows the function
defined in equation 4.

Vc(t) Vr cos( t) i ω = , 0 <ωi t < π (4)

In order that the correct energy is drawn from the input and
delivered to the output on every pulse, the inversion switch (I1) must be
triggered at t=0 followed by the charging switch (C1) at a predetermined
time t during the inversion period.
This will commutate and stop the inversion and allows the charge
cycle to continue with a new and controlled initial condition. The triggering
of the charging switch during the inversion cycle results in an effective
residual voltage in the range of -|Vr|<Vr’<+|Vr|. It follows that the energy
per pulse can be controlled between 2(Vin2 - |Vr|Vin)<Ec’<2(Vin2 + |Vr|Vin)
with the correct charge trigger pulse timing. This coupled with the inverter
frequency allows for a large power throughput adjustment over a large
input voltage range. A turn ratio of 175 was selected to obtain an output
voltage of -50kV at an input voltage level of 300V. Experimentally, the
system operated at -51kV as compared to the theoretical value of -52.5kV.
The discrepancy is a result of the circuit component losses.

System Design
Since the transformer and its leakage inductance is a critical circuit
element, it was the first component that was designed. Once a good
estimate of the leakage inductance was obtained, the inverter frequency
was selected and the rest of the inverter was designed.
The transformer was designed and built by Jim O’Loughlin from
AFRL-DEHA. For 20 kHz operation, an amorphous nanocrystalline core was
selected to minimize losses. Each primary coil was wound using 8 turns of
bifilar Litz wires to yield a Q of over 100. One of the primary windings is
reverse-wound to simplify the electrical interconnections to the power
circuit. Each transformer leg contains two primary coils.
 Figure 3.
Cross section construction of output transformer

Figure 3 shows the construction technique used on the output

transformer. The secondary winding is split into twenty individual coils
with 70 turns each and constructed using Litz wire. Ten coils each are
placed on each of the transformer legs. The total transformer weight is 26
lbs.
Each secondary winding output is rectified with a full wave bridge
rectifier (FWB) using very fast individual diodes. A 1.35μF filter capacitor is
connected across
each of the twenty FWB rectifiers and all of these assemblies are
connected in series to form a high voltage source with an effective
capacitor bank of 67.5nF. The size of the output filler capacitors was
selected to reduce the output ripple to +/-2% p-p. Figure 4 shows the
finished transformer and the output rectifier sections.
 Figure 4.
Transformer and rectifier assembly
At full output voltage of -50kV, the output filter capacitor stores 84.37
Joules. In order to meet the tube arc limit of 10 Joules, a 20mH inductor
and a 100 Ohm resistor was selected and placed in series with the FWB
and output load. In event of a tube arc, the capacitor energy rings into the
inductor followed by an L/R current decay. Since this arc current flows
though the rectification diodes, the inductor limits the arc current to 92 A,
while the resistor dissipates most of the stored energy and limits the
action of the diodes and tube to 18mC. Since the voltage across a tube arc
is less than 200 V, this limits the energy into the tube to less than 4
joules. This circuit therefore does not require an active crowbar circuit.
The inductor was designed as an air-core inductor using #18 magnet wire
and can bee seen in the Figure 5 CAD layout.
The whole 250 kW power supply was designed as part of the oil tank
lid with
dimensions of 29” x 21.75”. The oil tank has a height dimension of
17.625” to yield a total volume of 0.182m3 is shown in Figure 4. All the
electrical connections (Input and Output) and cooling connections are
made through the oil tank lid. The IGBT heatsink is made of two copper
halves brazed together to form a cold plate to which the IGBT can be
attached and cooled. This cold plate is placed on edge and attached to the
oil tank lid as shown in Figure 4. The two AC-Link™ modules shown in Figure
2 are arranged on either side of the cold plate, including their
corresponding IGBT, diodes and central capacitor banks. Each module
27μF central capacitor consists of a bank of 18 1.5μF capacitors, while the
charging (Lcm) and inversion (Lc) inductors consist of a single turn of Litz
wire through a split nanocrystalline cores.
The power total weight is 375lbs including 150lbs of transformer oil
(Diala AX). In future units it is envisioned that the oil can be replaced with
SF6 to provide all the high voltage insulating needs of the output section
and the copper heat sink will be replaced with one out of aluminum. The
tank weight will be also reduced, since it is not necessary to pull full
vacuum on the assembly.

Figure 5.
Layout of the ADT Power Supply
As part of the control and diagnostics, each module includes a high
frequency, compact current transformer made of 1000T wound on a
nanocrystalline toroid core. The current transformers are used to measure
both the charging and discharging currents on each module. The output
current is measured as the IR drop across the output current limiting 100
ohm resistor. All voltage measurements are made with appropriately sized
voltage dividers such that all signal levels are down to approximately 30V
before going into the control system EMI shielded enclosure on top of the
oil tank lid. Inside the control enclosure, these signals are further
processed such that the signal connected to the Princeton Power System
V2.0 control board receives a signal in the range of ±10V at full scale. All
signals are buffered and are available for diagnostics outside the shielded
enclosure. In future units, the shielded enclosure will be reduced in size,
since most of the diagnostic channels available in this prototype will be
removed.

Figure 6.
Assembled ADT power supply in an upside-down position

As previously described, all the power supply components were

assembled onto the oil tank lid such that in the event that maintenance
had to be performed on the system, the oil tank and all the oil in it would
simply be lowered away. The assembled power supply, in the upside-down
orientation, is shown in Figure 6. Most the electrical interconnections were
made using Litz cables and specifically those in the switching section to
the transformer were kept relatively short to minimize inductance. In other
areas, the connections were less critical, since inductance was to be
added as part of the resonant circuit. The additional inductors were made
out a single turn on nanocrystalline split cores, which were tuned
experimentally to provide the required charging and inversion periods.

Electronics and controls

 All the components needed to control and monitor the 250KW ADT
power supply are enclosed inside the EMI shielded control enclosure,
shown in the bottom of Figure 6. Inside the enclosure the components are
arranged in three separate decks. In the lower deck, the six IGBT drivers
are located. The output of these drivers are connected directly to the
gates of the six IGBTs. The trigger pulses for each of these drivers are
derived and sent from the Princeton Power Systems (PPS) v2.1 control
board via fiber optic fibers to provide the necessary electrical isolation.
Figure 7 show the three component layers of the control enclosure.
The Princeton Power control board uses the system buffered signals
from the signal conditioning board to determine the correct timing pulses
that are sent via fibers to the IGBT driver boards. The control algorithms
use these signals to insure that the correct energy per pulse is drawn from
the input and maintain a tight regulation on the output voltage. In
addition, a number of measurements are made to determine key fault
conditions. This was processed by the Princeton Power board to terminate
the run.

Fig. 7a IGBT drivers Board

Fig.7b Signal Conditioning Board

 Fig. 7c Controls Board

Figure 7.
IGBT Drivers, Signal Conditioning, and PPS V2.1 Control Board

The Princeton Power board also received the analog signals from the
voltage and current measurement that comes from the signal conditioning
board. For user interface, the control system has a RS-232 text-based
serial interface, sixteen discrete digital inputs and outputs, and four 0-10V
analog user inputs and outputs. It also has the upgrade option of a
dynamic, Java-based graphical user interface.

Control Loop
The Princeton Power control system controls inversion switching time
and pulse frequency to control the power supply. During a charge pulse,
the central capacitor starts at some negative voltage, and at a time t = 0
the inversion IGBT is fired, causing positive current to flow in the
capacitor, and the capacitor voltage rises. At the calculated inversion
triggering time, the charging IGBT is fired, which reverse biases the
inversion IGBT, and the central capacitor continues to charge, but now
with a the positive battery voltage in series with the LC circuit.
Reducing the inversion time causes the central capacitor to charge up
more (the full battery voltage is applied for a larger portion of the charge
pulse), which results in greater charge flow to the output, and in turn a
higher output voltage. Increasing the inversion time has the opposite
effect, and results in a lower output voltage. The control system runs a
proportional-integral loop on inversion triggering time with the error
between the target and measured output DC voltage as the feedback.
The pulse frequency is made to go as fast as possible, up to 20kHz.
For a given amount of current throughput in the system a lower pulse
frequency means that more charge must flow per pulse, and this produces
higher peak and rms currents in the IGBTs and higher voltages on the
central capacitor. The fastest pulse frequency possible is also necessary
for producing the lowest voltage ripple possible on the output.
Because pulses with significant values for inversion time can last
longer than their allotted ~25us, it is not always possible to set the pulse
frequency at 20kHz. The control system monitors the central capacitor
current. It uses this measurement, when the current reaches zero, to
detect the end of the charge pulse and record the duration of the pulse. It
uses this data to predict the duration of the next pulse and time the
triggering appropriately to avoid overlapping charge and discharge pulses.
This allows the pulse frequency to go as fast as possible, but without
overlapping when pulses last longer than the allotted 25us.

Triggering Fault Prevention

The Princeton Power has two fault methods, through a digital input
from the signal conditioning board and an internal current monitor.
Whenever the signal conditioning board detects an out-of-bounds current
or voltage, it raises the fault signal and the control system stop triggering
within one pulse. The control system also monitors both central capacitor
currents while it is triggering an IGBT. The system has predetermined
trigger durations during which the IGBT trigger signal will remain on. If the
control system detects that current is still flowing at the end of the trigger
period, it forces the trigger signal to remain on and postpones triggering
any other IGBTs until the sensor indicates that current has stopped
flowing. This method prevents any premature trigger turn-offs that could
damage the IGBTs.

Test and Evaluation

For a power source, two battery banks connected in parallel were
used to deliver the constant voltage source for the final six minute test.
Each battery bank is comprised of deep discharge batteries arranged in
string of four in series. Eight such strings are connected in series through
heavy duty contactors before each test run. This arrangement made it
possible to test the power supply in increments of 48V up to the full input
voltage of 410Vdc.
The battery banks are shown in Figure 8a. As a load, a high power
resistive load was purchased from Heat Incorporated capable of
dissipating 250kW with the appropriate cooling fan attached. The load was
designed to sustain the full 50kV and connections at different impedances
to support the 5A continuous load current. Tabs were included for
10kohms and 6kohms to support the 50kV and 30kV test configurations.
Full power testing occurred at (375 Vin – 30 kVout, 375 Vin – 50 kVout, 300
Vin – 30 kVout & 300 Vin – 50kVout). The load bank and cooling fan are
shown in Figure 8b.

Figure 8. a) 384 V battery bank, b) test setup with air cooled load resistor
Figure 8 shows the time interleaved inverter operation of the two-module
power supply. The system startup is shown on the left. The startup
sequence requires that the pulse frequency is low and quickly raised to
20kHz. The right side shows the end of a long duration run and how
energy in the output section dissipates while the system had been
operating at 20 kHz before the system was shutdown. The green trace
shows the regulated output voltage. The upper traces are the central
capacitor voltages, while the lower traces are the corresponding currents.
The operation is in full agreement with the circuit modeling.

Figure 8; Inverter test result showing startup and shutdown

Figure 9 shows the input filler capacitor voltage and startup for the
system operation. The mode of operation has an open loop startup were
the inverter frequency is ramped up to 20 kHz. At that point, it is
transitioned to closed-loop operation with a selected ramp-up rate. In
Figure 9, the close loop operation was delayed to identify the two ramp-up
modes. As soon as the system reaches the voltage set point, the voltage
is maintained even as the voltage droops in the battery bank. With the
present transformer turns-ratio, the system voltage of 50 kVdc output can
be maintained until the voltage droops to about 295 Vdc. For the lower
output voltage requirements of 30 kVdc the system can deliver full 5 A
with a supply voltage as low as 200 Vdc.

Figure 9. Inverter test result showing startup and shutdown Conclusion

 A new inverter topology was tested with an output power requirement
of 250 kW and an output voltage of -50 kV in a high density package. The
experimental performance matches closely the theoretical modeling
results. Simulated tube arcs shows reliable power supply shutdowns to
protect the microwave tubes, without an active crowbar. Proper operation
was obtained over the specified input voltage and required output voltage
range. The power density of this oil insulated system is 1.4 MW/m3 and
2.45 kW/kg. Future modification will replace the oil with SF6 isolation and a
480 Vac power source. That will increase the projected power density to
2.8 MW/m3 and 2.45 kW/kg. The system was designed for regulated DC
output operation. However, it also can be adopted as a PFN capacitor
charger or to produce a pulse train to power pulse microwave sources.