An improved full-bridge zero-voltage-transition PWM DC/DC converter with zero-voltage/zero-current switching of the auxiliary switches

In this paper, a novel full-bridge (FB) zero-voltage-transition (ZVT) pulsewidth modulation (PWM) DC/DC converter topology is proposed. The proposed FB-ZVT PWM DC/DC converter has zero-voltage switching (ZVS) of main switches for the entire line and load range and an advantage of achieving ZVS and zero-current switching of the auxiliary switches using the auxiliary network. The auxiliary network is simply composed of a saturable inductor, auxiliary capacitors, and auxiliary diodes. With the help of the proposed auxiliary network, the improved FB-ZVT PWM DC/DC converter has such characteristics as higher overall system efficiency and better utilization of the auxiliary switches compared with the conventional FB-ZVT PWM DC/DC converter. The operation principles are explained in detail and the several interesting simulation and experimental results verify the validity of the proposed circuit with an 83 kHz 1 kW prototype converter using insulated gate bipolar transistors.