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This course is an introduction to a family of DC-DC power converters often referred to as "Push-Pull" topologies. We will explore some of the advantages and tradeoffs made as compared to the more common "Single-Ended" converters. Our main interest will be several topologies which apply to isolated DC to DC converters. You will see how a conventional Forward converter design is transformed into the Push-Pull converter and then get an introduction to the parts that National offers for these application. Push-Pull converters get their name from the fact that the transformer windings get used in a bi-directional manner (two quadrant operation), unlike Forward converters which operate in a single magnetic quadrant.
3. Push-Pull Topology 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 3.1 Push-Pull Topology 3.2 Push-Pull Switching Waveforms 3.3 Push-Pull Diode Currents 3.4 Core Utilization: Forward & Push-Pull Converters 3.5 Push-Pull Characteristics
4. Push-Pull Controller 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 4.1 LM5030 Push-Pull Controller 4.2 LM5030 Push-Pull Demo Board 4.3 LM5030 Push-Pull Demo Board Schematic 4.4 LM5030 3G Base Station RF Power Supply 4.5 LM5030 3G Base Station RF Supply Schematic
5. Cascaded Buck/Push-Pull 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 5.1 Cascaded Buck & Push-Pull 5.2 Cascaded Voltage-Fed Converter Benefits 5.3 Current-Fed Push-Pull Concept 5.4 Cascaded Current-Fed Converter Benefits 5.5 Current-Fed Switching Voltages 5.6 Current-Fed Push-Pull Switches 5.7 Current-Fed Switch Waveforms 5.8 Why is it important to reduce secondary rectification losses? 5.9 Comparison of Rectifier Stresses 5.10 Sync Rectifier Waveforms
6. Cascaded PWM Controller 1. 2. 3. 4. 6.1 LM5041 Cascaded PWM Controller 6.2 LM5041 Block Diagram 6.3 LM5041 Current-Fed Push-Pull Demo Board 6.4 LM5041 / LM5100 Demo Board Schematic
7. Half-Bridge Topology 1. 7.1 The Basic Half-Bridge 8. Half-Bridge Controller 1. 2. 3. 4. 8.1 LM5035 Half-Bridge Controller 8.2 LM5035 Demo Board Schematic 8.3 Cascaded Half-Bridge Concept 8.4 Cascaded Half-Bridge Characteristics
9. Full-Bridge
1. 2. 3. 4.
8.1 LM5035 Half-Bridge Controller 8.2 LM5035 Demo Board Schematic 8.3 Cascaded Half-Bridge Concept 8.4 Cascaded Half-Bridge Characteristics
9. Full-Bridge 1. 2. 3. 4. 9.1 Full-Bridge Concept 9.2 Full-Bridge Current Doubler 9.3 Cascaded Full-Bridge Concept 9.4 Cascaded Full-Bridge Characteristics
Course Navigation
1.1 Course Navigation
Course Navigation
This course is organized like a book with multiple chapters. Each chapter may have one or more pages. The previous and next arrows move you forward and back through the course page by page.
The left navigation bar takes you to any chapter. It also contains the bookmarking buttons, 'save' and 'go to.' To save your place in a course, press the 'save' button. The next time you open the course, clicking on 'go to' will take you to the page you saved or bookmarked. The 'Go to Final Test' button on the left navigation bar takes you back to the Analog University course listing, where you started. Take the course final test by clicking on 'Test Yourself.' The top services bar contains additional information such as glossary of terms, who to go to for help with this subject and an FAQ. Clicking home on this bar will take you back to the course beginning. Don't miss the hints, references, exercises and quizzes which appear at the bottom of some pages.
Single-Ended Review
We will start off with a brief review of common DC to DC power converter topologies. 2.1 Common One-Switch Power Converter Topologies 2.2 Buck Regulator Basics 2.3 Buck Converter Characteristics 2.4 Forward Converter 2.5 Forward Diode Currents 2.6 Forward Converter Characteristics 2.7 Common Two-Switch Power Converter Topologies
The Forward and Flyback topology are used in isolated converters where it is desirable to electrically isolate the Primary and Secondary grounds. A Forward converter is simply a Buck regulator with a transformer inserted between the buck switch and the load. The input to output transfer function is the same as a Buck regulator if the transformer's turns ratio is one.
The Flyback regulator is derived from the Buck-Boost regulator and the same logic applies with regards to transfer functions.
The advantage of the transformer coupled designs is that any output voltage can be produced from any input voltage with the proper choice of turns ratio.
The one-switch Forward and Flyback are both examples of single-ended converters.
Forward Converter
The first isolated topology we will look at is the Forward converter. A Forward converter is basically a transformer isolated Buck regulator. The output inductor current is still the composite of two alternating switch currents, in this case D1 and D2. D1's current is the secondary current from the transformer, which equals I(Q1) divided by the turns ratio (Ns/Np). The transfer function is the same as the Buck regulator with an additional transformer voltage gain term of Ns/Np. One problem with the Forward topology is that the primary switch voltage can rise essentially unconstrained. When the switch turns off, energy stored in the transformer primary wants to cause current to continue to flow toward the FET drain. Since the FET has been turned off, this causes the voltage on the drain to rise rapidly. The good news is this tends to help reset the transformer (more on this later). The bad news is it will radically increase the required breakdown voltage of the FET. The reset winding Nr helps keep this reset voltage under control.
transfer function that the output voltage is equal to the input voltage multiplied by the switch duty cycle, assuming a 1:1 transformer turns ratio. So for the general case, the transfer function becomes: Vout=VinDNs/Np. In all cases the primary switches are driven in such a sequence that the transformer windings get driven in alternate directions on each half cycle. In the case of the Push-Pull and Half-Bridge this means one switch at a time. For the Full-Bridge the transistors are driven in pairs across the diagonals, i.e. top right/bottom left followed by top left/bottom right.
The Push-Pull, Half-Bridge and Full-Bridge are all Buck derived topologies.
Push-Pull Topology
3.1 Push-Pull Topology 3.2 Push-Pull Switching Waveforms 3.3 Push-Pull Diode Currents 3.4 Core Utilization: Forward & Push-Pull Converters 3.5 Push-Pull Characteristics
Push-Pull Topology
The Push-Pull topology is basically a Forward converter with two primaries. The primary switches alternately power their respective windings. When Q1 is active current flows through D1. When Q2 is active current flows through D2. The secondary is arranged in a center tapped configuration as shown. The output filter sees twice the switching frequency of either Q1 or Q2. The transfer function is similar to the Forward converter, where "D" is the duty cycle of a given primary switch, that accounts for the "x 2" term. When neither Q1 nor Q2 are active the output inductor current splits between the two output diodes. A transformer reset winding shown on the Forward topology is not necessary, the topology is self-resetting. Keep in mind that with any transformer, the number of volts/turn is a constant across the entire structure, both primary and secondary windings. Therefore, when Q1 is on, Vin appears across of the primary winding. As such, Vin will also appear across the other half of the primary that connects to the drain of Q2. That forces the drain of Q2 to 2Vin.
Note that like the Forward converter, the drain voltage is inherently unconstrained. There's nothing related to the basic topology that acts to clamp the FET drains and limit the instantaneous voltage. As a result the FET's need to be over rated beyond the theoretical level that would be expected. It can be seen in the photo above that there can be significant overshoots beyond the expected 2Vin. These spikes are cause by the transformer's primary referenced leakage inductance. This inductance is cause by uncoupled flux linkages. This is magnetic field energy that does not get coupled into one of the windings of the transformer. This energy is released in the form of primary current continuing to flow for a time after the switch is turned off. The leakage energy in the form of LI /2 is transferred into the FET's output capacitance in the form CV /2. This can be limited with snubbers or Zener clamps, but there's the obvious cost of additional parts and board real estate, not to mention efficiency losses due to these efforts.
The uncoupled transformer leakage inductance contributes to drain voltage spikes.
2 2
that the area enclosed in the loop is proportional to the product of current, voltage and time and as such represents energy. This is the "Core Loss" of every switch cycle. The primary magnetizing inductance is proportional to the slope of the curve. This slope is known as the permeability of the core material, . Note that when the flux density reaches B the slope decreases
SAT
drastically. This corresponds to a significant reduction in the transformer's primary inductance. The Forward converter operates in a single quadrant of the B-H curve, moving up the right side of curve when the switch is active and resetting during the OFF time. Since there is no active reset the Coercive Force falls to zero and the residual flux drops to the Remanent Flux, B .
R
The Push-Pull converter operates in two quadrants of the B-H curve, see-sawing back and forth as each primary is activated. This important fact allows the maximum power capability of a Push-Pull transformer to be more than twice that of a Forward transformer.
Core Utilization
Which of the following are true statements? 1. The B-H curve represents stored energy. 2. The forward converter operates in one quadrant of the B-H curve. 3. At saturation, the core has reached it's maximum magnetization point. 1 Answer: They are all true.
Push-Pull Characteristics
A Push-Pull Converter is a Buck type converter with a bi-directionally driven Isolation Transformer. Push-Pull transformers and filters are much smaller than comparable Forward converter filters. Voltage Stress on the Primary Switches is > Vin2. Voltage Step-down or Step-up. Multiple Outputs Possible. Low Output Ripple Current. Lower Input Ripple Current. Simple Gate Drive (dual) . Large Achievable Duty Cycle Range. The better core utilization and the lack of a realistic duty cycle limit in the Push-Pull architecture allows them to operate at significantly higher power levels. For moderate input voltages (Telecom, 36-72 for instance) Push-Pull converters are useful to 500W and beyond. Above that power level the unclamped FET drains become a significant problem and force the FET breakdown voltage rating to be much higher than would be desirable. At that point, things like the Half-Bridge and Full-Bridge converters start to look more attractive. Let's look at a National implementation of a Push-Pull controller and a few typical applications built on that design.
Push-Pull Controller
4.1 LM5030 Push-Pull Controller 4.2 LM5030 Push-Pull Demo Board 4.3 LM5030 Push-Pull Demo Board Schematic 4.4 LM5030 3G Base Station RF Power Supply 4.5 LM5030 3G Base Station RF Supply Schematic
36V-75Vin to +3.3V @ 10A Shown here is the schematic for the 33W demo board. Note the controller connects directly to the input voltage to provide the initial bias power on Vcc. Once operational, the winding on the output inductor provides the bias power. There are very few components needed around the actual controller. A significant level of complexity gets added to the design when input-output isolation is required. The voltage loop's feedback signal needs to get communicated across the isolation barrier and is usually done with an optocoupler as is shown here. A significant portion of the control circuitry is related to the opto driver and control.
Cascaded Buck/Push-Pull
5.1 Cascaded Buck & Push-Pull 5.2 Cascaded Voltage-Fed Converter Benefits 5.3 Current-Fed Push-Pull Concept 5.4 Cascaded Current-Fed Converter Benefits 5.5 Current-Fed Switching Voltages 5.6 Current-Fed Push-Pull Switches 5.7 Current-Fed Switch Waveforms 5.8 Why is it important to reduce secondary rectification losses? 5.9 Comparison of Rectifier Stresses 5.10 Sync Rectifier Waveforms
A Voltage-Fed Push-Pull Converter is a Buck type converter consisting of a Buck Regulation Stage followed by (cascaded by) a Push-Pull Isolation Stage. The Push-Pull stage FET voltage stresses are reduced to VoutN2 over all line conditions. The output rectification can be easily optimized due to reduced and fixed voltage stresses. The output rectification is further optimized since the power is equally shared between the rectifiers over all load and line conditions. Favorable topology for wide input ranges. We will spend more time explaining the important features in blue on the following pages.
An example which we will look at next is a 2.5 Volt output, which has been designed with an 8 to 1 transformer turns ratio. Working from the output back from right to left yields a voltage at the Push-Pull primary of 20 Volts.
Removing the output capacitor from the Buck stage changes the Push-Pull from voltage-fed to current-fed.
Shown here are scope plots of the Push-Pull stage drain voltages and the voltage at the common junction of the Buck stage switches. Note that the Buck stage operates at twice the frequency of either the Push or Pull switch. This ensures that the Push-Pull stage currents are symmetrical. Each half cycle sees the same input conditions this way. Also note the overlap of the of the Push-Pull stage. This is done to ensure that the buck inductor current always has a path to ground. If there was any dead time where both FETs were off, the drain voltage would fly to damaging levels.
Why is it important to pick a topology which offers the best opportunities to reduce losses in the secondary synchronous rectifiers? A look at a typical power loss budget of a 3.3V power converter shows approximately 40% of the overall power conversion losses occur in the secondary rectification. The Cascaded topology provides for lower peak voltages and currents in the inductors. Since this area is the largest loss contributor, anything that can help reduce these losses will have a significant impact on the total system efficiency.
For low voltage outputs, the rectifier represents the largest loss element.
a 2.5 Volt output. Excluding the switching spikes, the voltage stress is as expected, 5 volts. Therefore, extremely low voltage MOSFETs can be used in these applications.
dead-time. The Buck stage outputs are logic level controls which work with the LM5100 family of Buck stage gate drivers. The bias, control and protection circuits used in this controller are very similar to the LM5030 controller, which is current-mode control. A unique LM5041 feature is a line under voltage lockout (UVLO) with adjustable hysteresis.
Half-Bridge Topology
7.1 The Basic Half-Bridge
Half-Bridge Controller
8.1 LM5035 Half-Bridge Controller 8.2 LM5035 Demo Board Schematic 8.3 Cascaded Half-Bridge Concept 8.4 Cascaded Half-Bridge Characteristics
Full-Bridge
9.1 Full-Bridge Concept 9.2 Full-Bridge Current Doubler 9.3 Cascaded Full-Bridge Concept 9.4 Cascaded Full-Bridge Characteristics
Full-Bridge Concept
Here is a basic Full-Bridge concept. Note that the transformer primary is inserted across the mid points of both sides of a bridge-configured set of MOSFETs, hence the name of the architecture. The drives to Phase A and Phase B will be 180 degrees out of phase and driven alternately. The FETs are driven across the diagonals of the bridge; in other words, Q1 and Q4 driven together followed by Q2 and Q3. Transformer primary
name of the architecture. The drives to Phase A and Phase B will be 180 degrees out of phase and driven alternately. The FETs are driven across the diagonals of the bridge; in other words, Q1 and Q4 driven together followed by Q2 and Q3. Transformer primary current flows in alternate directions so the core is fully utilized. The drain voltages of all four FETs get clamped between Vin and ground by the FET's body diodes. The FET's breakdown voltage rating does need to be raised to handle spikes or overshoots. All turn-off transitions are clamped. Note also that the transformer primary is a single winding with no center tap. This topology is particularly well suited for very high output power levels and is most economical above about 1kW. The cost of 4 primary switches and drivers makes this design less desirable at low power levels, but it will still work quite well. There's also the issue of having two FETs in series. This doubles the conduction losses but since the breakdown rating of the switches can be relatively low, the on-resistance can be made proportionally lower than would be possible with a Push-Pull design. The output rectifiers are synchronously driven MOSFETs for low losses. Note that the cross coupled drive really only works well for a 3.3V output. For lower output voltages the drive voltage gets pretty limited and for much higher voltages the gates are overdriven at high input lines. One disadvantage of the Full-Bridge is the center tapped secondary winding. High currents are forced to flow through only of the winding at a time, so the transformer secondary isn't optimally utilized. One solution to this is what's know as the current doubler secondary which will be seen next.
For the Full-Bridge, the MOSFET drain voltage is approximately equal to Vin.
B-H
Characteristic curve for a magnetic material, representing Flux Density B on the y-axis and Magnetic Intensity H on the x-axis.
Remanent Flux
SAT
Buck
A voltage regulator used to step down a higher input voltage to a lower output voltage.
Buck-Boost
A voltage regulator used to invert a voltage, such as positive input to negative output.
Cascaded
Buck-Boost
A voltage regulator used to invert a voltage, such as positive input to negative output.
Cascaded
Term used for a circuit that is made up of more than one circuit in series.
CCM
Continuous Conduction Mode, referring to an inductor where current is always flowing.
Coercive Force
The magnetizing force H which is required to reduce the remanent flux B to zero is called the coercive force.
R
Core Loss
Usually expressed in watts per pound or mW per cubic centimeter. The area enclosed by the B-H curve is proportional to the core loss.
Current-Fed
Circuit where the input is fed by a current source, usually with a inductor at the input.
Current-Mode
A dual loop control method with an inner loop that servos on the inductor current, and an outer voltage control loop.
D
Duty cycle. The ratio of on-time to period, t(on)/T.
DC-DC
A converter which accepts a DC input voltage and produces a DC output voltage.
Dead-Time
The time when actively driven switches are off.
FET
Field-Effect Transistor.
Flux Density
The flux density of a magnetic field B is expressed as voltsecond (weber) per square meter (tesla) or lines per square centimeter (gauss). There are 10,000 gauss per tesla.
Flyback
A transformer isolated Buck-Boost regulator. The transformer is also the energy storage inductor.
Forward
A transformer isolated Buck regulator.
Freewheel
Refers to the current in a rectifier which is allowed to "freewheel" when the rectifier is forward biased by the inductor voltage.
Full-Bridge
An isolated converter where the primary is diagonally driven between the input voltage and ground by four switches.
Half-Bridge
An isolated converter where the primary is diagonally driven between the input voltage and ground by four switches.
Half-Bridge
An isolated converter where one end of the primary is alternately driven to the input voltage and ground by two switches.
Magnetizing Inductance
Generally referenced to the transformer primary, which must be magnetized in order to transfer energy.
MOSFET
Metal-Oxide Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor.
OV
Over-Voltage
Permeability
Permeance is an expression of the ease with which a magnetic field is conducted. Permeability is represented by , where =B/H.
Push-Pull
A Forward converter with two primary switches and transformer windings. The primary switches alternately power their respective windings.
PWM
Pulse Width Modulation
Remanent Flux
The residual flux left in the core when the magnetic intensity H is returned to zero. This is the residual magnetism of the core after being driven into saturation, or maximum magnetization.
RF
Radio Frequency
Single-Ended
A converter which only drives one end of the primary or energy storage inductor. The term is usually applied to transformer isolated converters.
Synchronous
Used to describe a converter which has active devices for the output rectifiers which are synchronously driven.
UVLO
Under-Voltage Lockout
Voltage-Fed
Circuit where the input is fed by a voltage source, usually with a capacitor at the input.
Voltage-Mode
A control method with a single control loop which regulates the output voltage.
VoltSecond
Proportional to the flux density of a magnetic field B which is expressed as voltsecond (weber) per square meter (tesla) or lines per square centimeter (gauss). There are 10,000 gauss per tesla.
Proportional to the flux density of a magnetic field B which is expressed as voltsecond (weber) per square meter (tesla) or lines per square centimeter (gauss). There are 10,000 gauss per tesla.
Push-Pull Power Converter Topologies Copyright 2010 by National Semiconductor All rights reserved