I,

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS, VOL.

436

31, NO. 3, MARCH 1990

REFERENCES

Fig. 7.

7-fold voltage multiplier circuit supplied by VMD (isolated

input/output, minimum output resistance).

tor voltages are the primary criterion, the circuits shown in Fig. 6
are the best. For the four circuits shown in Fig. 6, the capacitor
voltages are charged to [ E ,E,2E,2E,2E,2E,7E]. The output
resistance for all of these circuits is 12/fC. If minimum output
resistance is the primary criterion, the circuit shown in Fig. 7,
which has an output resistance of 6 / f C , is the best.
The conventional circuit is a good choice if the capacitor
voltages and the common ground are the only concerns. If the
isolation of input and output terminals, or the minimization of
output resistance to improve voltage regulation, becomes an
important design issue, then the circuits provided by VMD would
provide better choices. By specifying the appropriate values for
C,, and C,, VMD can be used to generate circuits with the
desirable tradeoff between capacitor voltages and output resistance, with or without a common ground.

M. E. Buechel. High voltage multipliers in TV receivers, I Truns.

Broudcusr Telec. Receioers, vol. BTR 16 pp. 32-36, Feb. 1970.
J. R. Woodyard. Cockcroft- Walton accelerations in Enqvclopediu of
Electronics, C. Susskind. New York: Reinhold. 1962.
D. C. Ray and M. L. Lampton, A high voltage power converter for
space astronomy applications, in Proc. I988 1ntersociet.v Energv Conoersion Engineering Con/., Denver, vol. 3, pp. 767-773, 1988.
W. F. Clocksin and C. S. Mellish, Progrumming in Prolog. Berlin,
Germany: Springer-Verlag, 1984.
P. M. Lin and L. 0. Chua, Topological generation and analysis of
voltage multiplier circuits, I Truns. Circuits Syst.. vol. CAS-24, pp.
517-530, Oct. 1977.
N. Deo, Gruph Theorv with Applicutions to Engineering and Computer
Sciences. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall 1974, ch. 10.

Class E Zero-Voltage-Switching and

Zero-Current-Switching Rectifiers
MARIAN K. KAZIMIERCZUK

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors acknowledge Michael Bessos contribution to the
first version of VMD. Suggestions and comments from the reviewers are appreciated.

I. INTRODUCTION
In recent years, the growing demand for smaller and lighter
power supplies has initiated the development of high-efficiency
high-frequency resonant dc/dc power converters. Resonant dc/dc
converters operate efficiently at switching frequencies above 1
M E . Such high frequencies permit a significant miniaturization
of converter components such as magnetics and capacitors, yielding a higher power density of converters. Smaller filter components increase the availabile control-loop bandwidth, resulting in
a faster transient response to variations in the dc input voltage
and the load resistance. Because of smooth current and voltage
waveforms, resonant converters have lower device switching losses
and stresses, lower electromagnetic interference (EMI), and lower
noise than PWM converters.
A typical resonant converter consists of a dc/ac inverter (e.g.,
a Class E or a Class D tuned power amplifier) and an ac/dc
converter, i.e., a rectifier circuit. Common problems encountered
in high-frequency rectifiers are as follows:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)

conduction and switching losses,

parasitic oscillations,
incompatibility with ac sources, e.g., inverters,
low power factor,
high harmonic content of the input current or voltage.

Manuscript received December 5. 1988: revised April 17, 1989. This work
was supported by the State of Ohio under the Research Challenge Grant
660-763. This paper was recommended by Associate Editor C.A.T. Salama.
The authors are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Wright State
University, Dayton, OH 45435.
IEEE Log Number 8933459.

OO98-4094/90/0300-0436$01 .OO 01990 IEEE

.
...

JACEK JOZWIK

Abstract -A number of Class E half-wave and full-wave, zero-voltageswitching (low du/dr), zero-current switching (low d1 /df), and mixed-mode
rectifiers are introduced and verified experimentally. The rectifiers are
derived from conventional rectifiers by adding reactive components. New
conventional rectifiers are also introduced. The rectifiers are presented in
a systematic manner. The principle of the Class E rectifier operation is
explained using current and voltage waveforms. The Class E rectifiers
offer a new means of rectification suitabile for high-frequency applications, e.g., in resonant dc/dc power converters. A new general approach to
synthesis of resonant dc/dc converters is presented.

IV. CONCLUSIONS
This paper demonstrates the feasibility of using computers to
perform the generation of alternative circuits (that have different
topologies), the evaluation of these alternatives, and the selection
of the best solution according to a given set of criteria. This
approach is especially useful if the circuit to be designed has a
large number of alternatives. Based on this idea, an expert system
VMD has been developed to automate the design of voltage
multipliers. Given the multiplicity, VMD can generate circuits of
different topologies, evaluate them, and select the best solution
based on a given set of criteria. Some unconventional circuits
that have better performance than the conventional circuits for
some applications has been generated by VMD.
By systematically searching through the feasible design space,
computer programs developed based on this approach can be
used to enhance productivity of circuit designers as well as to
improve the quality of design. The proposed approach is intended for high level conceptual design or preliminary design.
The emphasis is on the basic structures of the alternative circuits.
Depending on the type of circuits, there exist computer software
tools that are specialized in performing analysis and parameter
optimization on given circuits. Schemes can be developed so that
programs implementing the proposed approach can be integrated
with one or more of the existing CAD tools so that the alternative analysis and evaluation process can be enhanced.

AND

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS, VOL.

The conduction losses are proportional to the diode forward

voltage. They can be reduced by applying Schottky diodes,
germanium diodes, or synchronously driven transistor switches.
Switching losses are caused by losing the capacitive energy stored
in diode-junction capacitances or losing the inductive energy
stored in parasitic inductances. The reverse recovery of p-n
diodes becomes particularly detrimental when the area enclosed
by the negative part of the diode current becomes significant
compared with the area enclosed by the positive part, degrading
the diode rectifying property. These effects increase with frequency. Parasitic oscillations may occur when the diode-junction
capacitance or other capacitances form a parasitic resonant circuit with an inductance intentionally included in the circuit or
with a parasitic inductance, e.g., a lead inductance or a transformer leakage inductance. DC/AC converters usually contain a
series or parallel resonant circuit. Therefore, the output of these
inverters behaves as a sinusoidal current or voltage source. The
rectifier must be compatible with a given ac source. To achieve
this compatibility, the designer should choose a proper rectifier
or insert an interface between the source and the rectifier. The
power factor is defined as the ratio of the real power to the
apparent power at the output of the ac power source and is
expressed as
m

437

37, NO. 3, MARCH 1990

IC-v

T V C?

(4

(4

-- - - - --

n-1

n=l

where Pn is the power of the nth harmonic, I,,, and V,,, are the
rms values of the source current and voltage, Inand V, are the
rms values of the n th harmonic of the source current and voltage,
and +n is the phase shift between the current and voltage of the
nth harmonic. For example, if the source voltage is sinusoidal
and the source current is nonsinusoidal, the source delivers power
at the fundamental frequency only and, therefore, (1) becomes

n=l

where

is the content of the fundamental component in the source

current. The power factor increases to 1 if 1) higher harmonics
are reduced to zero and 2) the phase shift (pl between the source
voltage and the fundamental component of the source current
decreases to zero. In commonly used peak rectifiers, the conduction angle of the rectifier diode(s) is very small (e.g., 10'). Such
narrow current pulses contain a small fundamental component
and generate substantial amounts of harmonics which reduce the
power factor and are difficult to filter out. In addition, the high
ratio of peak-to-average current may require larger diodes with
larger parasitic capacitances, leading to higher switching losses. A
low power factor and a high harmonic content of the input
current are serious problems in rectifiers driven by 50/60 Hz or
higher frequency power lines.
Synthesis of new topologies of resonant dc/dc converters
requires new circuits of rectifiers. Recently, resonant rectifiers

(b)

(4

Fig. 1 . Class E rectifiers. (a) Class E zero-voltage-switching rectifier. (b)

Waveforms in the rectifier of Fig. l(a). (c) Class E zero-current-switching
rectifier. (d) Waveforms in the rectifier of Fig. l(c).

[1]-[4] have been derived from Class E zero-voltage-switching

and zero-current-switching tuned power amplifiers [5]-[8]. The
purpose of this paper is to introduce a large number of Class E
zero-voltage-switching (low dv/dt) and zero-current-switching
(low di/dt) rectifiers. These rectifiers are related to Class E
zero-voltage-switching [5]-[8] and zero-current-switching [4],
[9]-[ll] amplifiers. The new rectifiers may be applied in resonant
dc/dc converters. For example, new resonant dc/dc converters
may be obtained by replacing conventional rectifiers with Class E
rectifiers in Class E [12]-[17] or Class D converters, leading to
Class E2 [18], [19] or Class D-E [19] converters.
OF OPERATION
11. PRINCIPLE

A . Class E Zero- Voltage-Switching Rectifier

A Class E zero-voltage-switching(low dv/dt) rectifier is shown

in Fig. l(a). It consists of a diode, a resonant capacitor C, a
resonant inductor L , and a large filter capacitor C,. The circuit is
driven by a sinusoidal voltage source v. The resistor R , is a load
to which the dc power is delivered. An important advantage of
this topology is that the diode-junction capacitance is included in
the resonant capacitor C and therefore does not adversely affect
the circuit operation.

43 8

The idealized current and voltage waveforms are depicted in

Fig. l(b). The filter capacitance C, is assumed to be sufficiently
large that the output voltage V, is constant. When the diode is
off, the inductor L and the capacitor C form a series-resonant
circuit driven by the difference between the sinusoidal input
voltage U and the constant output voltage V,. Therefore, the
current i through L and C is part of a sine wave, but this sine
wave is shifted up by a dc component. Thus the capacitor voltage
U , ( = U , ) has a sinusoidal component and a ramp component.
When the capacitor voltage reaches zero, the diode turns on. The
derivative dv,/dt of the voltage across the capacitor and diode
at turn-on is low.
When the diode is on, the voltage across the inductor L is the
difference between the sinusoidal input voltage U and the dc
output voltage V,. Therefore, the inductor current, equal to the
diode current i , , is a superposition of a sinewave and a ramp
function. When i , reaches zero, the diode turns off. The inductor
current i , is a continuous wave. This current is diverted from the
diode to the capacitor when the diode turns off. Since the
inductor current at this time is zero, the capacitor current is also
zero. Consequently, according to the equation i , = Cdv,/dt, the
derivative of the capacitor/diode voltage is zero at turn-off. The
dc output current I, is equal to the average diode current
because the average capacitor current is zero. The diode-voltage
waveform has no step changes, i.e., the diode turns on at low
dv,/dt and turns off at zero du,/dt. Therefore, switching losses
and noise are minimized. The absolute value of the current
derivative Idi,/dt( at turn-off is small, reducing the reverserecovery effect. The step change of the diode current at turn-on
produces switching noise and loss of the inductive energy stored
in the diode parasitic inductance. The waveform of the input
current i is close to a sine wave. Therefore, the harmonic content
of the input current is nearly zero. However, the phase shift
between the voltage U and the current i is not zero. It may be
compensated for a given load by adding a capacitor in parallel
with the input source, resulting in the power factor close to 1.
The circuit may be used in aerospace applications to rectify the
new standard 20-kHz power-line voltage. Its advantage is passive
(therefore, reliable) power-factor correction.

B. Class E Zero-Current-SwitchingRectifier
A Class E zero-current-switching(low d i , / d t ) rectifier is shown
in Fig. l(c). It is similar to the rectifier of Fig. l(a), but the
resonant capacitor C is connected in parallel with the series
combination of the diode and the inductor L. A drawback of the
circuit is that the diode-junction capacitance is not included in
the rectifier topology.
The idealized current and voltage waveforms in the rectifier of
Fig. l(c) are depicted in Fig. l(d). When the diode is on, the
capacitor C and the inductor L form a resonant circuit. The
voltage across the resonant circuit is equal to the difference
between the sinusoidal input voltage U and the dc output voltage
V,. Therefore, the current i , through the capacitor C is sinusoidal and the current i , through the inductor and diode is a
superposition of a sinusoidal function and a ramp function. The
input current i is a sum of the currents i , and i , . The derivative
of the diode current at turn-on is zero. When the diode current
reaches zero, the diode turns off.
When the diode is off, the inductor current, equal to the diode
current, is zero. Therefore, the voltage across the inductor is zero.
Consequently, the capacitor voltage U, and the diode voltage U ,
are equal to the sinusoidal input voltage shifted by the dc

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS, VOL.

37, NO.
Class E
Zero Voltage
Rectifiers
Switching

Conventional Rectiliers

la1

L,

<

3, MARCH 1990

Class E
Zero-Current-Switching
Rectifiers

191

101

In]

1"l

1
0

Fig. 2. Conventional, Class E zero-voltage-switching, and Class E zerocurrent-switching half-wave rectifiers.

component Vo. When the negative diode voltage reaches zero, the
diode turns on. The diode turns on at zero di,/dt and turns off
at low di,/dt.
The waveforms in Class E rectifiers are mirror images of the
corresponding waveforms in Class E amplifiers [5]-[ll]. This
property for Class E zero-voltage-switchingrectifiers and amplifiers was indicated in [2].
OF RECTIFIERS
111. A FAMILY

A . Half- Wave Rectifiers

Fig. 2(a)-(f) shows a family of conventional half-wave rectifiers with a single-pole low-pass filter. The family contains voltage-driven and current-driven rectifiers ended with a voltage load
(capacitive filter) or a current load (inductive filter). Therefore,
the circuits are classified as voltage-to-voltage (V/ V ) , currentto-current (I/Z), current-to-voltage (I/ V ) , and voltage-to-current ( V / Z ) rectifiers. The circuits of Fig. 2(a), (b), (e), and (f)
may be called peak rectifiers because either the dc output voltage
is almost equal to the ac-input peak voltage or the dc output
current is equal the ac-input peak current. They operate similarly
as Class C amplifiers with a small conduction angle of the drain
or collector current. Therefore, the peak rectifiers may be called
"Class C rectifiers."
Fig. 2(c) shows a half-wave current-to-voltage rectifier. If the
input current i is sinusoidal, the input voltage is ideally a square

IEEE TRANSACTIONSON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS,VOL.

31, NO.

439

3, MARCH 1990

wave whose low level is - V, and high level is (V, + VF),where

V, is the diode forward voltage. Thus the power factor is quite
high, equal to PF = 2fi/lr
0.9. The voltage across each of the
diodes is ideally a square wave. Fast recharging of the diodejunction capacitances produces switching losses at turn-on and
turn-off, and the switching times may be significant. Expenmental waveforms at 1 MHz are shown in [16]. The current through
each of the diodes is a half-sine wave. Consequently, the diodes
turn on and off at low di,/dt, reducing inductive switching
losses and the reverse-recovery effect. This rectifier is preferred if
the dc output voltage V, is low (e.g., V, = 5 V) and the dc output
current I , is high.
Fig. 2(d) shows a half-wave voltage-to-current rectifier. If the
input voltage v is sinusoidal, the input current i is a square wave.
This results in a high power factor, P F = 2 f i / r = 0.9. The diode
currents are square waves and the diode voltages are half-sine
waves. Thus the diodes turn on and off at low dv,/dt, yielding
low capacitive switching losses, but inductive switching losses are
high. The reverse-recoveryeffect is quite large because the derivative Idi,/dtl at turn-off is large. The reverse-recovery charge may
significantly reduce the average value of the diode current at high
frequencies. Experimental waveforms in the actual rectifier operating at 1 MHz are shown in [17]. This rectifier is preferred if the
dc output voltage V, is high and the dc output current I, is low.
The waveforms in the rectifiers of Fig. 2(c) and (d) are the same
as those in Class D tuned power amplifiers. Therefore, the
circuits of Fig. 2(c) and (d) may be called Class D rectifiers.
The two circuits are average-value rectifiers. For example, in the
circuit of Fig. 2(c), the dc output current I, = I,/r is determined by the average value of the half-sine wave of the input
current whose amplitude is I,. In turn, the dc output voltage
V, = I, R , is determined by the current I , and the load resistance R , . The circuits of Fig. 2(a)-(f) are mutually dual.
Class E zero-voltage-switching rectifiers are shown in Fig.
2(g)-(n). They are derived from the conventional rectifiers by
adding a resonant capacitance C in parallel with the diode and a
resonant inductance L in series with the diode/capacitance combination or, in Fig. 2(m) and (n), by replacing a filter capacitor
by a small capacitor. The first concept was proposed in [l], [2].
Note that the diode-junction capacitance is included in the
resonant capacitance C and a lead inductance and a transformer
leakage inductance (if any) are included in the resonant inductance L. Since the capacitor C is connected in parallel with the
diode, the diode voltage is jumpless. Hence, the diode turns on at
low dv,/dt and turns off at zero du,/dt, reducing switching
losses. These circuits are called Class E rectifiers because their
operation is similar to that of Class E amplifiers [2]-[4]. The
rectifiers of Fig. 2(g)-(j) are essentially the same as those presented in [2], the rectifier of Fig. 2(m) was introduced in [3], while
the others are introduced in this paper, The resonant inductance
L can be shifted to the input-source branch in Fig. 2(h), (j)-(l),
and even removed in Fig. 2(h) and (k). This is because the
inductance L is a short circuit for the dc component and the
choke is an open circuit for the ac component. Therefore, it is not
important to which terminal of L one connects the choke. On the
other hand, the inductance connected in series with a sinusoidal
current source is equivalent to the current source itself.
Fig. 2(0)-(v) shows Class E zero-current-switching rectifiers.
The circuit of Fig. 2(u) was introduced in [4], and the others are
introduced in this paper. These circuits are derived from the
conventional rectifiers by adding a resonant inductance L in
series with the diode and a resonant capacitance C in parallel
with the combination of the diode and the inductance L , or by

replacing the choke L, in Fig. 2(b) and (e) by a finite inductor L.

Since the inductance L is connected in series with the diode, the
diode current is jumpless, reducing switching losses. The reverserecovery effect is also alleviated. Unfortunately, the diode-junction capacitance is not included in the resonant capacitance C.
When the diode is off, its junction capacitance forms a resonant
circuit with C and L , causing parasitic oscillations. The frequency of the oscillations is determined by the inductance L and
the series combination of the diode-junction capacitance and the
resonant capacitance C. These oscillations can be damped by a
snubber. Instead of the snubber, an external capacitance can be
connected in parallel with the diode, leading to the mode of
operation which is intermediate between the zero-current- and
zero-voltage switching [4]. The resonant capacitor C may be
connected to the other terminal of the filter capacitor in Fig. 2(0)
and (t), and since C appears across the voltage source, it may be
even deleted. This is because the capacitor C is an open circuit
, is a short
for the dc component, while the large filter capacitor C
circuit for the ac component, and a sinusoidal voltage source with
a parallel capacitor is equivalent to the voltage source itself.
Note that the rectifiers of Fig. 2(g) and (p), (h) and (o), (i) and
(r), (j) and (q), (k) and (t), (1) and (s), and (m) and (U) are
mutually dual.
The two-diode rectifiers of Fig. 2(i), (j), (q), and (r) may be
modified in many ways. Possible modifications of the circuits of
Fig. 2(j) and (r) are shown in Fig. 3. Four cases may be
distinguished: (a) both diodes are switched at zero voltage (Of,-O[,),
(b) both diodes are switched at zero current (0, -O,), (c) one
diode is switched at zero current and the other at zero voltage
(0, -Of,), and (d) vice versa to (c) (O[, - O r ) . In cases (a) and (b),
the number of resonant elements may be reduced to three: two
capacitors and one inductor, or one capacitor and two inductors,
respectively. In cases (c) and (d), the minimal number of resonant
components is two: one inductor and one capacitor. The minimum number of components results from the fact that zero-voltage-switching of a diode requires a parallel capacitor, and zerocurrent-switching of a diode requires a series inductor, and a
resonant circuit requires at least one capacitor and one inductor.
The conduction angle of the diode current in the Class E
rectifiers depends on the load resistance. The input impedance of
the Class E rectifiers is complex and both the resistive and
reactive components of this impedance are functions of the load
resistance. The rectifier diodes can be replaced by controlled
switches, e.g., MOSFETs or BJTs with antiparallel or series
diodes, which results in synchronous rectifiers. In such a case, the
dc output voltage may be controlled by varying the switch-conduction angle, while the frequency may be constant.
B.

Wave Transformer Center-TaPPed

Rectifiers

Fig. 4 shows a family of full-wave transformer center-tapped

rectifiers. The circuits are full-wave counterparts of the half-wave
rectifiers of Fig. 2. Therefore, all the principles presented for
half-wave rectifiers can he applied to full-wave rectifiers as well.
Note that the transformer leakage inductances are included in the
resonant inductances of the Class E zero-voltage-switchingrectifiers. The circuit of Fig. 4(g) was introduced in [2], while all other
resonant rectifiers of Fig. 4 are introduced in this paper.
It is also possible to apply one zero-voltage-switchingrectifier
and the other zero-current-switching rectifier in one circuit as
shown in Fig. 5. In these mixed-mode rectifiers, the phase shift
between the fundamental components of the input current and
voltage may be reduced to zero (at least for a nominal load) by

440

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS, VOL.

Fig. 3.

Conventional Rectifiers

Class E
Zero-Voltage-Switching
Rectifiers

vo@

31, NO. 3, MARCH 1990

Modifications of the rectifiers of Fig

Class E
Zero-Current-Switching
Rectifiers

Conuen t i o n o !

Class E

Class E

Zero-VoltageSuitchlng
Rectifiers

Sui tching

Zero-Current

DouBLE(m
mm
Rec t l f l e r s

OUTPUT

( f l

Rectifiers

I n 1

[ e !

(e)

(
I t

FULL-

c
10

BRIDGE

~,
, \

( c 1

if!

a
I n !

ik!

Fig. 4. Conventional, Class E zero-voltage-switching, and Class E zerocurrent-switching transformer center-tapped rectifiers.
Fig. 6.

Fig. 5 .

Mixed-mode zero-voltage/zero-current-switchingfull-wave rectifiers.

compensating the phase shifts introduced by the zero-voltageswitching and zero-current-switching parts of the circuit.
C. Other Full- Wave Rectifiers

Other full-wave rectifiers, including double-output, full-bridge,

and center-coupled rectifiers, are shown in Fig. 6. The conventional center-coupled rectifiers and all Class E rectifiers are
introduced in this paper. The rectifiers of Fig. 6(f) and (m) can
be modified in a similar way as indicated in Fig. 3. In the
rectifiers of Fig. 6(g) and (h), two of the four capacitors may be

I 1 1

Double-output. full-bridge. and center-coupled full-wave rectifiers.

deleted: one of the two upper capacitors and one of the two
lower capacitors. In the rectifier of Fig. 6(i), only one of the two
capacitors is necessary. In the rectifiers of Fig. 6(j) and (k). two
capacitors may be added as in Fig. 6(g). The center-coupled
rectifiers need two coupling capacitors instead of one if the
transformer-center tap is'directly connected with the load ground.
In all the rectifiers, the diodes can be reversed to obtain a
negative dc output voltage. The output filters can be more
complex, e.g., second or third order. The first component of an
output filter in conventional rectifiers may be reduced to a small
reactive component, resulting in low du/dt or low di/dr rectifiers, as indicated in Section IV. Some rectifiers may operate even
without filters. Also, dc voltage and current multipliers can be
derived from the rectifier circuits. Topologies of the full-wave
rectifiers of Figs. 4-6 are the same for the ac current and voltage
sources, but their operation is different.

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS, VOL.

37.

NO.

441

3 . .MARCH 1990
Interface

D. Interface
An interface between an ac source and a rectifier is necessary
when the designer wants to connect a voltage-driven rectifier to
an ac current source or a current-driven rectifier to an ac voltage
source. Both V / I and I / V interfaces are shown in Fig. 7. Class
D rectifiers have been chosen as an example of the interface
application in order to obtain V / V and I / I average-value rectifiers. These circuits may be used instead of conventional V / V
and I / I peak rectifiers. If the loaded quality factor of the
interface circuits is sufficiently high, the waveforms of both the
source voltage and the source current can be sinusoidal, reducing
the harmonic content to nearly zero. Furthermore, the component values of the interface circuits can be adjusted so that the
phase shift between the source voltage and the source current is
zero at least at a given load, yielding the power factor close to 1.
These interface circuits are therefore passive power-factor correctors. Other interface circuits are given in Section IV.

IV. SYNTHESIS
OF RESONANT
DC/DC CONVERTERS
In general, a resonant dc/dc converter consists of a resonant
dc/ac inverter and a rectifier. Fig. 8 illustrates a method of
synthesis of resonant dc/dc converters with current-driven rectifiers. Three parts of an inverter can be distinguished: an active
part, a resonant circuit, and a load. Fig. 8(a) shows different
active parts of resonant dc/ac inverters. Fig. 8(b) contains different resonant circuits that are compatlble with the active parts of
Fig. 8(a). By connecting any active part of Fig. 8(a) with any
resonant circuit of Fig. 8(b) and a load resistance, one obtains a
resonant dc/ac inverter. (The circuits b,, and b,, of Fig. 8 are
not always applicable.) In this way, many different inverters are
obtained. The active part a, or az and the resonant circuit b,
produce a Class E zero-voltage-switching inverter with a parallel
capacitor (Class E,,), a3 or a, and b, produce a Class E
zero-current-switching inverter with a parallel inductor (Class
E,,), while u s and b, produce a Class D zero-current-switching
inverter (Class DI). Other resonant circuits of Fig. 8(b) may also
be applied. If a load resistance of an inverter is replaced by any
current-driven rectifier from Figs. 2, 4, and 6, one obtains a
resonant dc/dc converter with a current-driven rectifier. The
appropriate rectifiers are depicted in Fig. 8(c)-(f). For example,
the Class E-D converter described in [17] is obtained by connecting parts a,-h,-e,,and the Class E' converter described in [18]
consists of the parts a,-h,-d,. Each transformerless converter
without a dc-energy flow between its input and output has
transformer versions. The bridge rectifiers can be used without
transformer as well. When different parts of a converter are
connected, certain elements may become redundant. Some of
them are pointed out in the remarks below. Other redundancies
as well as possible modifications of the circuits are obtained by
applying the rules given in [20].
Detailed remarks to Fig. 8 are as follows:
capacitors are optional; zero-voltage-switching is
achieved by applying the capacitors and a deadtime driver;
equivalent circuits; the coupling capacitor is necessary only for rectifiers e,, c3,d,, d,, e,,e,, e5,
f19f2;

see b,, b,;

the coupling capacitor is not necessary for active
parts u 2 ,a,; for a,,a,, the capacitor may be
removed by connecting the inductor to the positive terminal of the power supply instead of

Interface

Fig. 7.

Interface. (a) Between a voltage source and a current-driven rectifier.

(b) Between a current source and a voltage-driven rectifier.

Class
ECP

UT

Fig. 8. Resonant dc/dc converters with current-driven rectifiers. (a)

DC/AC-inverter active parts. (b) Resonant circuits. ( c ) Conventional rectifiers. (d) Class E zero-voltagc-switching rectifiers. (e) Class E zero-currentswitching rectifiers. ( f ) Class E mixed-mode rectifiers.

ground: the choke in a,,U ? becomes redundant:

the capacitor may also be connected as in h?:
the coupling capacitor may be deleted if dc coupling is not harmful, e.g,. between a, or u 4 and
c? or transformer rectifiers, or between U , and c,
operating as a buck converter:
may be applied if a resonant capacitor is introduced by an active part or by a rectifier, e.g., by
U , or d,;
may be applied if a resonant inductor is introduced by an active part or by a rectifier, e.g., by
d,:
the choke should be removed if applied with
h z , h,, h9,h,,,, h , , , h,, without a coupling capacitor:
if the filter capacitor is replaced by a small capacitor and an inductive filter is added, two other
zero-voltage-switching rectifiers are obtained:

442

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS, VOL.

DC/RC

INVERTER

RECTIFIER

Gf-z2ram

l o 1

Fl

PRnT

l b l

37, NO. 3, MARCH 1990

( c l

I d 1

( e l

I f 1

Rectifiers

Inuer ters

Fig.

Closs

ELS

Fl
Rectifiers

Class

EC 5

(b)
Fig. 10. Resonant dc/dc converters with interface circuits

c 1ass
OV

Fig. 9. Resonant dc/dc converters with voltage-driven rectifiers

d,* the resonant inductor may be removed, unless

applied with bl,; it may be shifted to the
diode/capacitor branch;
d,, d4,* modifications as in Fig. 3 are applicable;
e5,e,,
f l ? f2, f 3

d,, d6,* the resonant inductors may be removed if prof4, fs vided by the transformer;
d,, d,, d9,* see the comments in Section 111-C;
dl19 dl2
e3,e4* the resonant capacitor may be removed if its function is provided by a resonant part of an inverter.
Fig. 9 illustrates a similar method of synthesis of resonant
dc/dc converters with voltage-drivenrectifiers. Remarks to Fig. 9
are :

a,* the coupling capacitor is not necessary with b,, b9

without a choke, or with b,,, b,, in a converter
with a dc-energy flow between its output and
input;
as* this active part already contains a resonant circuit and may be directly connected with a load
resistance or a rectifier;
b2,b6, b,* the choke is required only for c,, c3,d,, d 3 ,e2,e 3 ,
e5,fl,f 2 ;
b,, b9* the choke is required only for a,, a,;

the choke is required for a, or a, connected with

cl,c3,4,
d3,e2,e3,es,fl,or f2 if no dc-energy
flow is allowed from input to output of a converter;
may be applied only if the missing resonant
component is introduced by an active part or a
rectifier;
if the filter capacitor is replaced by a small
capacitor and an inductive filter is added, different zero-voltage-switching rectifiers are obtained;
if the filter inductor is replaced by a small inductor and a capacitive filter is added, different
zero-current-switchingrectifiers are obtained;
the coupling capacitor is not required if applied
with b2, b6,6, without the choke;
the resonant inductor may be shifted to the
diode/capacitor branch;
the resonant inductor may be removed if its
function is provided by a resonant part of an
inverter, e.g., b3;
modifications as in Fig. 3 are applicable;

the resonant inductors may be removed if provided by the transformer;

see the comments in Section 111-C.

The family of the converters with voltage-driven rectifiers may

be extended by connecting the active parts of Fig. 8(a), interface
circuits, and voltage-driven rectifiers of Fig. 9(c)-(f), as shown in
Fig. lO(a). Likewise, the family of the converters with currentdriven rectifiers may be extended as shown in Fig. 10(b).

V. EXPERIMENTALRESULTS

The Class E zero-voltage-switchingrectifier of Fig. l(a) and the

Class E zero-current-switching rectifier of Fig. l(c) were constructed and tested, using 1N914 diode, R, = 50 a, C = 10 nF,
and L = 26 pH. The rectifiers were driven by a sinusoidal voltage
source with an amplitude of 8.5 V and a frequency of 300 kHz.

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CIRCUITSAND SYSTEMS, VOL.

3 1 , NO. 3, MARCH 1990

443

into Classes C, D, and E has been proposed. The classification is

based on the similarity of operation between amplifiers (dc/ac
inverters) and rectifiers.
Class E rectifiers offer a new means of rectification. Compared
with Class C (peak) rectifiers, they offer lower device stresses,
lower reverse-recovery effect, and lower harmonic content of the
input current or voltage. Compared with Class D (average)
rectifiers, they feature reduced switching noise and switching
times of the diodes. The circuits are especially useful at high
frequencies. The current and voltage waveforms in Class E rectifiers are mirror images of the waveforms in Class E amplifiers.
The diode-conduction angle can be large (e.g., lSO), reducing
the diode stresses. The conduction angle and the dc output
voltage depend on the load resistance and the values of resonant
components L and C. However, this angle may be controlled to
regulate V, if diodes are replaced by controlled switches, resulting in synchronous rectifiers. The input current and voltage
waveforms in some of the rectifiers are close to sine waves. The
Class E rectifiers represent an inductive or capacitive load to the
ac source. The full-wave mixed-mode rectifiers can be designed
Fig. 11. Waveforms at f = 300 kHz, R , = 50 Cl, C = 10 n F and L = 26 pH.
so that their input impedance at the fundamental component is
(a) In the rectifier of Fig. l(a) at Vo = 4.01 V. (h) In the rectifier of Fig. l(c)
at Vo = 2.35 V. Vertical: 0.1 A and 5 V/div.; horizontal 0.5 ps/div.
resistive. If the rectifiers are used in a sine-wave power-distribution network, the zero phase shft between the line voltage and
Fig. 11 shows the input current and voltage waveforms of the current may be obtained by applying balanced numbers of differrectifier and the current and voltage waveforms of the rectifier ent types of the rectifiers or connecting a proper reactance at the
output of the power source, providing passive power-factor cordiode in both circuits. In the rectifier of Fig. l(a), the diode
turned on and off at low du,/dt. Hence, the diode-junction rection.
The diode-junction capacitance is absorbed into the resonant
capacitance did not adversely affect the circuit operation. The
turn-on and turn-off switching losses in the diode were reduced. capacitance in the zero-voltage-switching rectifiers. Therefore,
these rectifiers perform better at high frequencies than their
In addition, Idi,/dtl at turn-off was small and the diode voltage
decreased slowly after turn-off. Therefore, the reverse-recovery zero-current switching counterparts. Experimental results have
been given for two selected Class E rectifiers. The experimental
effect was significantly reduced. The conduction angle of the
and theoretical waveforms were in good agreement. The Class E
rectifier diode was approximately 150. The ratio of the peakrectifiers can be applied in resonant dc/dc power converters, e.g.,
to-average values of the diode current was relatively low ( = 4.5).
Thus the ripple current through the filter capacitor Cr was low, Class E converters [12]-[19]. A new method of synthesis of
resulting in a low ripple voltage at the output. Therefore, Cr may resonant dc/dc converters has been presented. It generates a
be smaller than that in peak rectifiers. The ratio of the peak-to- large number of new converters. A complete characterization of
average values of the diode voltage was 3.75. The input current the rectifiers and converters is recommended for future research.
was almost sinusoidal. The input-voltage waveform led the
REFERENCES
input-current waveform and therefore the rectifier represented an
W. C. Bowman, F. M. Magalhaes, W. R. Suiter. and N. G. Ziesse.
inductive load for the input voltage source. This phase shift can
Resonant rectifier circuits, U.S. Patent 4 685 041, Aug. 4. 1987.
be compensated by adding a capacitor in parallel with the input
W. A. Nitz. W. C. Bowman. F. T. Dickens, F. M. Magalhaes. W.
voltage source U .
Strauss, W. B. Suiter, and N. G. Ziesse, A new family of resonant
rectifier circuits for high frequency dc-dc converter applications, in
In the rectifier of Fig. l(c), the diode turned on and off at low
Proc. I E Applied Pouer Electron. Conf.. New Orleans, LA. pp. 12-22.
Idi, / d t 1, reducing the switching losses and the reverse-recovery
1988.
effect. The diode conduction angle was 210. The ratio of the
M. K. Kazimierczuk and J. Jhiwik, Class E zrro-voltage-switching
rectifier
with a series capacitor. I Truns. Circuits S w . , vol. CAS-36,
peak-to-average values of the diode current was 3.2. The ratio of
pp. 926-928, June 1989.
the peak-to-average values of the diode voltage was 6.4. The
J. Jhiwik and M. K. Kazimierczuk, Class E zero-current-switching
input current of the rectifier was not sinusoidal. The fundamental
rectifier with a parallel inductor. in Proc. l E E E Nut. Arrospoce arid
Electron. Conf. ( N A E C O N R V ) , Dayton, OH. vol. 1. pp. 233-239. May
component of the current led the sinusoidal input voltage; there22-26. 1989.
fore, the circuit represented a capacitive load for the input
N . 0. Sokal and A. D. Sokal. Class E-A new class of high-efficiency
source. This phase shift can be compensated by connecting an
tuned single-ended switching power amplifiers. I J . Solid-State
Circuits, vol. SC-10. pp. 168-178. June 1975.
inductor in parallel with the input source U .

VI. CONCLUSIONS
A large family of Class E rectifiers has been presented. The
family comprises half-wave and full-wave, zero-voltage-switching,
zero-current-switching, and mixed-mode rectifiers. All the zerocurrent-switching and mixed-mode rectifiers, most of the zerovoltage-switching rectifiers, and a few conventional rectifiers
have been introduced in this paper. The rectifiers have been
presented in a systematic manner. Classification of the rectifiers

F. H. Raah, Idealized operation of the Class E tuned power amplifier,

I Truns. Circuirs Spsr.. vol. CAS-24, pp. 725-735, Dec. 1977.
M. K. Kazimierczuk and K. Puczko, Exact analysis of Class E tuned
power amplifier at any Q and switch duty cycle, I E E E Truns. Circuits
Syst., vol. CAS-34, pp. 149-159. Feb. 1987
R. E. Zulinski and J. W. Steadman, Class E power amplifiers and
frequency multipliers with finite dc-feed inductance, I Truns. Circuits S.W., vol. CAS-34. pp. 1074-1087, Sept. 1987.
M. K. Kazimierczuk, Class E tuned power amplifier with shunt inductor, I E J . Solid-Srure Circuits, vol. SC-16. pp. 2-7, Feb. 1981.
N. C. Voulgaris and C. P. Avratoglou, The use of a thyristor as a
switching device in a Class E tuned power amplifier. I Truns.
Circuirs Spw, vol. CAS-34. pp 1248-1250, Oct. 1987.

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS, VOL.

C. P. Avratoglou and N. C. Voulgaris, A Class E tuned amplifier

configuration with finite dc-feed inductance and no capacitance in
parallel with switch, IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst., vol. CAS-35, pp.
416-422, Apr. 1988.
R. J. Gutmann, Application of R F circuit design to distributed power
converters, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron. Contr. Instrum., vol. IECI-27,
pp. 156-164, Aug. 1980.
R. Redl, B. MolnL, and N. 0. Sokal, Class E resonant dc/dc power
converters: Analysis of operation and experimental results at 1.5 MHz,
IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. PE-1, pp. 111-120, Apr. 1986.
-,
Small-signal dynamic analysis of regulated Class-E dc/dc converters, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. PE-1, pp. 121-128, Apr.
1986.
M. K. Kazimierczuk and X. T. Bui, A family of Class E resonant
dc/dc power converters, in Proc. 16th Int. Power Electron. Con/.
(SATECH?), Dearborn, MI, pp. 69-93, Oct. 3-6,1988.
-,
Class E converter with an inductive impedance inverter, IEEE
Trans. Power Electron., vol. PE-4, pp. 124-135, Jan. 1989.
-,
Class E converter with a capacitive impedance inverter, IEEE
Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. IE-36, pp. 425-433, Aug. 1989.
M. K. Kazimierczuk and J. JMwik, DC/DC converter with Class E
inverter and rectifier, in Proc. High Frequency Power Converter Con/.,
Naples, FL, M a 14 18, 1989, pp. 383-394.
-,
Class EnGow-band dc/dc converters, IEEE Trans. Instrum.
Meas., vol. IM-38, pp. 1064-1068, Dec. 1989.
-,
Optimal topologies of resonant dc/dc converters, IEEE Trans.
Aerosp. Electron. Syst., vol. AES-25, pp. 363-372, May 1989.

A Generalized Approach for the Absolute Stability of

Discrete-Time Systems Utilizing the Saturation
Nonlinearity, Based on Passivity Properties

where a,,PI, i = 1,2,. . . ,m , are real numbers satisfying

a,>O, & > O ,

(all a, s and 8, s not simultaneously zero)

I. INTRODUCTION
Consider a discrete-time system characterized by a linear part
G(z):

z+(a,

+ h,)z-l+(U,-, + hn-1)Z-2+

+ u,z-l+

forall Iz1>1 (4)

holds true. This criterion is based on the passivity properties

associated with the saturation nonlinearity [2].
A novel generalization of (2) is discussed presently. The present generalization involves certain parameters I,, i = 1,2,. . .,m,
such that, with z, = 0, i =1,2; . ., m, it reduces to (2). To the
best of the authors knowledge, this generalization was not explicitly mentioned previously to this paper.

11. GENERALIZED
CRITERION
Theorem 1: Assume that (4) holds true. Assume further that
there exist real numbers a , ,/3, i = 1,2,. . ., m, satisfying (3) and
real numbers z,, i = 1,2,. . .,m, satisfying
lzil <1,

(5 )

i = 1 , 2 ; - . , rn

such that the inequality given by

1-

{alRe[

i-1

l+G(z)

]+&Re[

1+

(z+zj)-i

>O,

(z+Zi)-

l+G(z)

]]

forall 1z1=1 ( 6 )

is satisfied. Then the null solution of the feedback system described by (1) is asymptotically stable in the large (ASIL).
Proof The underlying difference equation is
n+l

+ . . . + h,z + h,
un_,z-2 + . . . + a,z + a, (14

having output y ( r ) and input - f ( y ( r ) ) .We assume the saturation nonlinearity:

... + ( U, + h2)z

+(u,+h,) zO,

h,z-l+ hn-,Z-2
G( z)

(3)

and it is assumed that the condition given by

VIMAL SINGH
Abstract -A criterion for the absolute stability of discrete-time feedback systems utilizing the saturation nonlinearity is presented. The criterion is based on the passivity properties associated with the saturation
nonlinearity. The present approach is essentially a generalization of an
earlier one due to Mitra 121 (see also 111).

i=1,2;-.,m

a,y(r+z-n-1)+
=1

h,f(y(r+i-n-1))

=O.

(7.1)

1=l

Advancing in (7.1) the integer r by 1, splitting U , into two parts

a,
z, and - z,, and utilizing (7.1), we obtain [3]

ni 2

( ul-l + a l z , ) y ( r + i - n - 1)
I

The system described by (1) includes, among others, a class of

digital filters (e.g., a, = a2 = . . . = a, = 0) employing saturation
arithmetic [l].
In [2] (see [l] also), a criterion for the absolute stability of (1)
was presented, which takes the form of the inequality

=1

n+l

(h,-,+h,z,)f(y(r+i-n-1))
I

=O.

(7.2)

=1

Next, advancing in (7.2) the integer r by 1 yields, after some

rearrangement (i.e., utilizing (7.2)) [3]:
n+3

[u,~2+u,~1(~,+zm~1)+u,~m~m~l]y(r+z-n-~)
I

=1
n +2

+
Manuscript received February 16, 1989. This paper was recommended by
Associate Editor R. Ansari.
The author is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, M.N.R. Engineering College, Allahabad 211004, India.
IEEE Log Number 8933450.

C [ h i - 2 + hz-l(zm tzrn-1) + h z ~ r n ~ r n - 1 1

r=l

.f( y ( r + I

n -1))

=o.

(7.3)

Continuing with this process, one obtains, at the ( m - 1)th stage,

OO98-4094/90/03OO-0444$01 .OO 01990 IEEE