System and method for controlling a converter circuit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10658936-B2
Application number	US-201715587543-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 5, 2017
Priority date	May 5, 2017
Publication date	May 19, 2020
Grant date	May 19, 2020

Abstract

Controlling operation of a converter circuit regulating power transfer between first and second voltage sources includes comparing a detected power value in the converter circuit with a power command value; determining a converter gain based on detected first and second voltage levels of the first and second voltage sources; and determining operation signals for transmitting to switches in the converter circuit during a steady state to control switching time and duration. When the detected power value differs from the power command value, the method includes determining values of two or more variables associated with adjustment of switching time and duration based on the detected first and second voltage levels; and determining operation signals to transmit to the switches during a power transition state based on the determined values of the two or more variables to adjust switching time and switching duration of the switches, thereby regulating power transition.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for controlling an operation of a converter circuit adapted to regulate power transfer between a first voltage source and a second voltage source, the method comprising the steps of:
comparing a detected power value in the converter circuit with a power command value;
determining a converter gain based on a detected first voltage level of the first voltage source and a detected second voltage level of the second voltage source;
determining operation signals to be transmitted to switches in the converter circuit during a steady state to control switching time and switching duration of the switches;
determining values of two or more variables associated with adjustment of switching time and switching duration of the switches based on the detected first and second voltage levels when the detected power value differs from the power command value; and
determining operation signals to be transmitted to the switches during a power transition state based on the determined values of the two or more variables to adjust switching time and switching duration of the switches, thereby regulating power transition.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the power command value is adjustable.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of detecting the first voltage level comprises sampling the first voltage level.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of detecting the second voltage level comprises sampling the second voltage level.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the switches are semiconductor switches and the operation signals are gating signals of the semiconductor switches.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
generating and transmitting gating signals to the switches during the steady state; and
generating and transmitting gating signals to the switches during the power transition state.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the converter circuit comprises:
a first switching circuit in the form of a bridge circuit, the first switching circuit having a first pair of switches and a second pair of switches connected in parallel with each other;
a second switching circuit in the form of a bridge circuit, the second switching circuit having a third pair of switches and a fourth pair of switches connected in parallel with each other; and
an inductive component coupling the first switching circuit with the second switching circuit; wherein the method comprises:
controlling the first pair of switches, the second pair of switches, the third pair of switches, the fourth pair of switches so that they all have a substantially identical switching period 2T p during steady state.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising, during steady state and power transition state:
switching on and off the first pair of switches complementarily;
switching on and off the second pair of switches complementarily;
switching on and off the third pair of switches complementarily;
switching on and off the fourth pair of switches complementarily;
switching on and off one of the third pair of switches and one of the fourth pair of switches synchronously; and
switching on and off another one of the third pair of switches and another one of the fourth pair of switches synchronously.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising, during steady state:
switching on and off the first pair of switches complementarily such that each of the first pair of switches has a duty cycle of about 50% with a dead time therebetween;
switching on and off the second pair of switches complementarily such that each of the second pair of switches has a duty cycle of about 50% with a dead time therebetween;
switching on and off the third pair of switches complementarily such that each of the third pair of switches has a duty cycle of about 50% with a dead time therebetween;
switching on and off the fourth pair of switches complementarily such that each of the fourth pair of switches has a duty cycle of about 50% with a dead time therebetween.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the step of determining operation signals during steady state comprises:
determining a first duration T d1 from a switch-on time of one of the first pair of switches s 1u to a switch-on time of one of the second pair of switches s 2d ; and
determining a second duration T d2 between the switch-on time of the one of the first pair of switches s 1u and a switch-on time of one of the fourth pair of switches s 4u ;

wherein T p is half switching period of the switches,

D
1

=

T

d
⁢

⁢
1

T
p

,

D
2

=

T

d
⁢

⁢
2

T
p

,

O
<

D
1

<
1

,

and
⁢

⁢

D
1

-
1

2

<

D
2

<

D
1

+
1

2

.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the step of determining operation signals during power transition comprises:
controlling a switch-on duration of one of the second pair of switches s 2u to (1+d 1 ) T p −T x ;
controlling a switch-on duration of one of the third pair of switches s 3u and one of the fourth pair of switches s 4d to (1+d 2 ) T p −T x ; and
controlling a switch-on duration of one of the first pair of switches s 1u to T p −T x ,

wherein

T
x

=

(

d
2

-

d

Assignees

• Univ Macau Sci & Tech

Inventors

• Sun Chuan
• Li Xiao Dong

Classifications

• H02M3/33507

  with automatic control of the output voltage or current, e.g. flyback converters (H02M3/33561, H02M3/33569 take precedence) · CPC title

• H02M3/33584 Primary

  Bidirectional converters · CPC title

• H02M3/04

  by static converters · CPC title

• H02M7/44

  by static converters · CPC title

• H02M3/3376

  with automatic control of output voltage or current · CPC title