Flyback converter has advantages of simple circuit configuration and easy control. However, it suffers two problems. One is the active switch is hard switching. The other is a very high voltage spike when the active switch is turned off. In order to solve these problems, this paper presents a novel dc-to-dc converter that mainly consists of two interleaved flyback converters. Both active switches can achieve zero-voltage switching on (ZVS) without the use of any active clamp circuit or snubber circuit. In addition, the leakage flux energy can be delivered to the output by using two added diodes. It helps to reduce the voltage spikes on the active switches and improve circuit efficiency. The steady-state analyses at different operation modes and the mathematical equations for parameters design are provided. Finally, a 200-W prototype circuit for driving high-brightness light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is built and tested to verify the feasibility of the proposed circuit. The LEDs are dimmed form 100% to 10% full power. Satisfactory performances are obtained from the experimental results.

This paper proposes a novel ac/dc light-emitting diode driver. The circuit configuration consists of a low-pass filter, a diode rectifier, and two flyback converters which are interleaved operated with 180° phase shift. Although both flyback converters lose the capability of galvanic isolation in this proposed circuit, the active switch of each converter can achieve zero-voltage switching without needing to use the additional active clamping circuit or snubber circuit. Also, the energy stored in the leakage inductance of the coupled inductor can be either recycled or supplied to the output load, resulting in high circuit efficiency and low product cost. Besides, high power factor and low total current harmonic distortion are obtained by operating the flyback converters in discontinuous current mode. The steady-state analyses of different operation modes and the design criteria for circuit parameters are provided. Finally, a 200-W prototype circuit was implemented. Satisfactory performances are obtained from the experimental results.

In this paper, a fast charging balancing circuit for LiFePO₄ battery is proposed to address the voltage imbalanced problem of a lithium battery string. During the lithium battery string charging process, the occurrence of voltage imbalance will activate the fast balancing mechanism. The proposed balancing circuit is composed of a bi-directional converter and the switch network. The purpose of bi-directional is that the energy can be delivered to the lowest voltage cell for charging mode. On the other hand, the energy stored in the magnetizing inductors of the transformer can be charged back to the higher voltage cell in recycling mode. This novel scheme includes the following features: (1) The odd-numbered and even-numbered cells in the string with the maximum differential voltage will be chosen for balancing process directly. In this topology, there is no need to store and deliver the energy through any intermediate or the extra storing components. That is, the energy loss can be saved to improve the efficiency, and the fast balancing technique can be achieved. (2) There is only one converter to complete the energy transfer for voltage balancing process. The concept makes the circuit structure much simpler. (3) The structure has bi-directional power flow and good electrical isolation features. (4) A single chip controller is applied to measure the voltage of each cell to achieve the fast balancing process effectively. At the end of the paper, the practical test of the proposed balancing method on LiFePO₄ battery pack (28.8 V/2.5 Ah) is verified and implemented by the experimental results.

This study presents a dc/dc converter featuring soft-switching characteristic, high conversion efficiency, and high step-up ratio. The proposed circuit is composed of two parallel-connected boost converters. Only one coupled inductor is used to replace inductors of the boost converters which are interleaved operated at discontinuous-conduction mode (DCM). The current ripples at the input and the output terminals are reduced due to the interleaved operation. By freewheeling the current of the coupled inductor to discharge the stored electric charges in the parasitic capacitors of the active switches, both active switches can fulfill zero-voltage switching on (ZVS). Owing to DCM operation, the freewheeling diodes can fulfill zero-current switching off (ZCS). Therefore, the power conversion efficiency is improved. The operation principle for each operation mode is analyzed in detail and design equations for the component parameters are provided in this report. Finally, a prototype 200 W 48–400 V converter was implemented and measured to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed circuit.

A novel single-switch single-stage high power factor LED driver is proposed by integrating a flyback converter, a buck–boost converter and a current balance circuit. Only an active switch and a corresponding control circuit are used. The LED power can be adjusted by the control scheme of pulse–width modulation (PWM). The flyback converter performs the function of power factor correction (PFC), which is operated at discontinuous-current mode (DCM) to achieve unity power factor and low total current harmonic distortion (THDi). The buck–boost converter regulates the dc-link voltage to obtain smooth dc voltage for the LED. The current–balance circuit applies the principle of ampere-second balance of capacitors to obtain equal current in each LED string. The steady-state analyses for different operation modes is provided, and the mathematical equations for designing component parameters are conducted. Finally, a 90-W prototype circuit with three LED strings was built and tested. Experimental results show that the current in each LED string is indeed consistent. High power factor and low THDi can be achieved. LED power is regulated from 100% to 25% rated power. Satisfactory performance has proved the feasibility of this circuit.

In this study, a bidirectional CL³C full-bridge resonant converter was developed using a bidirectional active bridge converter as the main framework to improve conventional LLC resonant converters. A resonant inductor and resonant capacitor were installed at the secondary side of the developed resonant converter. The bidirectional operation of this converter enables zero-voltage switching at the supply-side power switch and zero-current switching at the load side. The aforementioned phenomena enhance the overall circuit efficiency and enable the resonant tank voltage to be increased in the reverse mode, which cannot be achieved with conventional bidirectional LLC resonant converters. The electrical equipment isolation function provided by a transformer made electricity usage safer, and digital control technology was adopted to control electrical energy conversion and simulate bidirectional energy conversion. Specifically, the experiment and simulation emulated how the developed converter enables energy transmission from a DC grid to a battery energy storage system through constant current–constant voltage charging and energy transmission from a battery energy storage system to a DC grid through constant power discharging.