• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.779-784
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• 2003

Nickel powders were obtained by various preparation methods, and their sintering characteristics were investigated. Nickel powders made by wet chemical process (WCP) had a higher surface area and more narrow size distribution than that of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. Nickel-oxide powders by the WCP method were prepared at $200^{\circ}C$ for 3 hr. The oxidation behaviour of nickel-oxide powder is similar with that of the CVD method. Nickel powders made by the WCP method showed a higher shrinkage in the range of $600^{\circ}C$∼$900^{\circ}C$ than that of commercial powder made by the CVD method. The similar results were observed on the surface microstructure of sintered bodies by SEM measurements.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.389-396
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• 2003

This paper describes a novel ac/dc power converter suitable for frequent output short-circuit faults. The output dc power of the proposed converter can be disconnected from the load within several hundred microseconds at the instant of short-circuit fault. The rising time of the dc load voltage is as small as several hundred microseconds, and there Is no overshoot of the dc voltage because the dc output fillet capacitors stay at a undischarged state. The proposed converter has the characteristics of a simplified structure, reduced cost, weight, and volume compared to the conventional power supplies for frequent output short-circuit. Analysis, simulations, and experiments are carried out to investigate the operation and usefulness of the proposed scheme.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.584-597
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• 2016

This paper focuses on an improvement in the transient performance of Boost converters when the load changes abruptly. This is achieved on the basis of the nature trajectory in Boost converters. Three key aspects of the transient performance are analyzed including the storage energy change law in the inductors and capacitors of converters during the transient process, the ideal minimum voltage deviation in the transient process, and the minimum voltage deviation control trajectory. The changing relationship curve between the voltage deviation and the recovery time is depicted through analysis and simulations when the load suddenly increases. In addition, the relationship curve between the current fluctuation and the recovery time is obtained when the load suddenly decreases. Considering the aspects of an increasing and decreasing load, this paper proposes the transient performance synthetic optimized trajectory and control laws. Through simulation and experimental results, the transient performances are compared with the other typical three control methods, and the ability of proposed synthetic trajectory and control law to achieve optimal transient performance is verified.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.425-435
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• 2016

This paper presents a comprehensive theoretical analysis and an accurate calculation method of the dead-time required to achieve zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) in a battery charger with the phase-shifted full-bridge (PSFB) topology. Compared to previous studies, this is the first time that the effects of nonlinear output filter inductance, varied Miller Plateau length, and blocking capacitors have been considered. It has been found that the output filter inductance and the Miller Plateau have a significant influence on the dead-time for ZVS when the load current varies a lot in battery charger applications. In addition, the blocking capacitor, which is widely used to prevent saturation, reduces the circulating current and consequently affects the setting of the dead-time. In consideration of these effects, accurate analytical equations of the dead-time range for ZVS are deduced. Experimental results from a 1.5kW PSFB battery charger prototype shows that, with the proposed analysis, an optimal dead-time can be selected to meet the specific requirements of a system while achieving ZVS over wide load range.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.436-446
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• 2016

A novel step-up DC-DC converter with a switched-coupled-inductor-capacitor (SCIC) which successfully integrates three-winding coupled inductors and switched-capacitor techniques is proposed in this paper. The primary side of the coupled inductors for the SCIC is charged by the input source, and the capacitors are charged in parallel and discharged in series by the secondary windings of the coupled inductor to achieve a high step-up voltage gain with an appropriate duty ratio. In addition, the passive lossless clamped circuits recycle the leakage energy and reduce the voltage stress on the main switch effectively, and the reverse-recovery problem of the diodes is alleviated by the leakage inductor. Thus, the efficiency can be improved. The operating principle and steady-state analyses of the converter are discussed in detail. Finally, a prototype circuit at a 50 kHz switching frequency with a 20-V input voltage, a 200-V output voltage, and a 200-W output power is built in the laboratory to verify the performance of the proposed converter.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2011

This paper describes a two quadrant bidirectional soft switching converter for ultra capacitor interface circuits. The total efficiency of the energy storage system in terms of size and cost can be increased by a combination of batteries and ultra capacitors. The required system energy is provided by a battery, while an ultra capacitor is used at high load power pulses. The ultra capacitor voltage changes during charge and discharge modes, therefore an interface circuit is required between the ultra capacitor and the battery. This interface circuit must have good efficiency while providing bidirectional power conversion to capture energy from regenerative braking, downhill driving and the protecting ultra capacitor from immediate discharge. In this paper a fully soft switched two quadrant bidirectional soft switching converter for ultra capacitor interface circuits is introduced and the elements of the converter are reduced considerably. In this paper, zero voltage transient (ZVT) and zero current transient (ZCT) techniques are applied to increase efficiency. The proposed converter acts as a ZCT Buck to charge the ultra capacitor. On the other hand, it acts as a ZVT Boost to discharge the ultra capacitor. A laboratory prototype converter is designed and realized for hybrid vehicle applications. The experimental results presented confirm the theoretical and simulation results.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.249-257
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• 2012

An interleaved PWM converter is proposed to implement the features of zero voltage switching (ZVS), load current sharing and ripple current reduction. The proposed converter includes two ZVS converters with a common clamp capacitor. With the shared capacitor, the charge balance of the two interleaved parts is automatically regulated under input voltage and load variations. The active-clamping circuit is used to realize the ZVS turn-on so that the switching losses on the power switches are reduced. The ZVS turn-on of all of the switching devices is achieved during the transition interval. The interleaved pulse-width modulation (PWM) operation will reduce the ripple current and the size of the input and output capacitors. The current double rectifier (CDR) is adopted in the secondary side to reduce output ripple current so that the sizes of the output chokes and capacitor are reduced. The circuit configuration, operation principles and design considerations are presented. Finally experimental results based on a 408W (24V/17A) prototype are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed converter.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.344-356
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• 2012

In recent years, multilevel technology has become an effective and practical solution in the field of moderate and high voltage applications. This paper discusses an APF with a three-level NPC inverter. Obviously, the application of such converter to APFs is hindered by the problem of the voltage unbalance of DC capacitors, which leads to system instability. This paper comprehensively analyzes the theoretical limitations of the neutral-point voltage balancing problem for tracking different harmonic currents utilizing current switching functions from the space vector PWM (SVPWM) point of view. The fluctuation of the neutral point caused by the load currents of certain order harmonic frequency is reported and quantified. Furthermore, this paper presents a close-loop digital control algorithm of the DC voltage for this APF. A PI controller regulates the DC voltage in the outer-loop controller. In the current-loop controller, this paper proposes a simple neutral-point voltage control method. The neutral-point voltage imbalance is restrained by selecting small vectors that will move the neutral-point voltage in the direction opposite the direction of the unbalance. The experiment results illustrate that the performance of the proposed approach is satisfactory.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.499-506
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• 2011

This paper presents an interleaved active-clamping zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) forward-flyback converter without an output choke. The presented topology has two active-clamping circuits with two separated transformers. Because of the interleaved operation of the converter, the output current ripple will be reduced. The proposed converter can approximately share the total load current between the two secondaries. Therefore, the transformer copper loss and the rectifier diodes conduction loss can be decreased. The output capacitor is made of two series capacitors which reduces the peak reverse voltage of the rectifier diodes. The circuit has no output inductor and few semiconductor elements, such that the adopted circuit has a simpler structure, a lower cost and is suitable for high power density applications. A detailed analysis and the design of this new converter are described. A prototype converter has been implemented and experimental results have been recorded with an ac input voltage of 85-135Vrms, an output voltage of 12V and an output current of 16A.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.37-44
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• 2011

In this paper, a four-phase 8/6-pole 4-kW SR motor drive model is presented. Based on experimental data, the model allows an accurate simulation of a drive in dynamic operation. Simulations are performed and a laboratory type set-up is built based on a TI TMS320F2812 platform to experimentally verify the theoretical results obtained for a SR motor. To reduce acoustic noise and to correct the power factor of this drive, a two-stage power converter is proposed that uses a current source rectifier (CSR) as the input stage for the asymmetrical converter of the studied SRM. Employing the space-vector modulation (SVM) method in matrix converters, the CSR switching allows the dc link's capacitors to be eliminated and the power factor of the SRM drive to be improved. As the electrical motive force (emf) is directly proportional to the rotor speed, the input voltage to the machine can be programmed to be a function of the speed with the modulation index of the CSR, leading to a reduction in the acoustic noise of the SRM drive. Simulation of the whole SRM drive system is performed using MATLAB-Simulink. The results fully comply with the required conditions such as power factor correction with an improvement in the THD.