POWER ELECTRONICS AND MACHINES ASSIGNMENT

BUCK CONVERTER DESIGN

2012

APIIT UCTI

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)

OBJECTIVES CONVERTER THEORY DESIGN PHILOSOPHY HAND CALCULATION MATLAB SIMULATION DISCUSSION PROPOSAL FOR FUTURE IMPROVEMENT AND CONCLUSION

(8)

REFERENCES

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am thankful to Mr. Ahamed Khan for his lectures and patience with us throughout the semester.

1.0 OBJECTIVE:

The simplest way to reduce the DC voltage supply is to use a linear regulator (e.g. 7805). However linear regulators dissipate too much heat implying more energy losses. Buck converters on the other hand are very efficient. The specifications for the design of the Buck converter are as follows:

i) Input voltage is 48 V DC

ii) Output voltage is 15 V DC and its ripple must be no greater than 0.5 % iii) The Load is 8

iv) It has to be as light as possible.

2.0 CONVERTER THEORY:

A buck converter is another name for none other than a DC to DC converter. Though linear regulator like the IC chip 7805 can do the same, a buck converter is best when it comes to efficiency though the system is a bit noisier. A buck converter is said to be operating in continuous mode if the current through the inductor never falls to zero during the commutation cycle. The theory of the buck converter is quite simple to explain as may suggest figure 1.

Figure 1: Buck converter basic schematic

When the switch in figure 1 is closed, the current I L increases linearly through the inductor. The voltage across the inductor is given as VL= Vin Vout. The diode is reversed biased and therefore no current flows through it.

When the switch is opened, the diode is forward biased. The voltage across the inductor is VL = Vo (neglecting diode drop). Current IL decreases. Furthermore since we are assuming that the buck converter is always working in the continuous mode, the inductor current never falls to zero as shown in figure 2.

Thus as we may deduce, the longer the switch is kept on, the higher the duty cycle and in turn the higher is the voltage across the load, V0. The switch in figure 1 is to be replaced by a MOSFET whose gate is to be triggered by a PWM block. This is mainly how the switching frequency of the circuit is mainly controlled.

Figure 2: Graph of voltage and current against time in continuous mode

Where:

VD: Voltage across diode VL: Voltage across inductor V0: Voltage across load IL: Current across inductor

3.0 DESIGN PHILOSOPHY:

Figure 3: Design of Buck converter

As shown in figure 3, the switch has been replaced by a MOSFET which in turn is connected to a PWM generator whereby the duty cycle will be set. In addition to the previous explanations, there is also the problem of ripple current and voltage which is found at the output. In order to avoid or reduce this phenomenon, a capacitor, C out has been inserted in parallel to the load. The capacitor is used to filter the ripple in the voltage while the inductor is also used to filter the ripple in current.

The diode is also known as a free-wheeling diode or sometimes as a catch diode. The purpose of this diode is not to rectify, but to direct current flow in the circuit and to ensure that there is always a path for the current to flow into the inductor. It is also necessary that this diode should be able to turn off relatively fast.

4.0 HAND CALCULATION:

5.0 MATLAB SIMULATION:

Figure 4: Design of Buck converter in simulink

The circuit was drawn on simulink in MATLAB software as shown above. The simulation of the above gave the results as per the objectives as shown below and correlate perfectly with calculated values in hand calculation part.

Figure 5: Simulation results of Buck converter

As seen above in figure 5, the output current is 1.875 A, and output voltage as 15V DC, the same as calculated previously. As for the ripple current which should be less or equal to 0.5 %, it can be seen from figure 6 that the ripple current is less than the calculated ripple current. The same for the output voltage ripple which can be seen from figure 7 as less than the maximum allowable ripple in the hand calculations part.

Figure 6: Output ripple in current

As we can see the maximum output current is 1.87 A which is very close to the calculated hand calculations. It is slightly lower than the calculated value due to losses in the circuit. The output peak to peak ripple is give as: I ripple = 1.87 1.867 = 0.003 A. Thus we can see that the output peak is indeed less than the maximum calculated ripple output current.

Figure 7: output voltage with ripples

As we can see from figure 7, the output voltage ripple peak to peak is given by: 14.96 14.937 V ripple= 0.023 V. As per the calculation where the maximum output ripple must be no greater than 0.5 %, calculated as 0.075V, we can see that the ripple obtained here is much smaller than the maximum and therefore abide as per the requirements of the system.

6.0 DISCUSSION:

Simulation results confirm the theory that losses exist inside the buck converter. Most common sources of these losses are conduction losses, switching losses, reverse recovery losses, and gate drive losses and controller power mainly [ Modak.R, 2007]. In order to get the required dc voltage at the output, a close loop buck converter may be used. However, there exists a more simple solution that is to increase the duty cycle of the PWM block to 0.324 instead of 0.3125 as calculated. This increase in duty cycle cancels the effect of the losses and thus providing us with the required DC output voltage as shown in the simulation results.

7.0 PROPOSAL FOR FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS AND CONCLUSION:

As previously stated, a close loop circuit, in the form of the below design is another way of solving the assignment which previously we increased slightly the duty cycle to optimize output. In here, the feedback is what keeps the output at 15V with a reference voltage. Furthermore, other switching devices can also be looked upon such as the IGBT and GTOs. To conclude, this assignment was helpful in understanding converter concepts and working with simulink in matlab.

REFERENCES:

1. Kashif, S.A.R, 2010, Buck converter -- open loop, Matlab central, [online] available from: http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/27379-buck-converteropen-loop, accessed on 08.02.2012

2. Dasgupta, A., Study and design of buck converter, Scribd,[online], available from : http://www.scribd.com/doc/18289602/Buck-Converter, accessed on 08.02.2012

3. Step down SMPS/ Buck converter: ideal circuit,[online], available from: http://services.eng.uts.edu.au/~venkat/pe_html/ch07s1/ch07s1p1.htm, accessed on 08.02.2012

4. Thilina, S., Switch mode power supplies matlab simulation 1.0, [online], available at:http://thilinasameera.wordpress.com/2011/01/16/switch-mode-power-suppliesmatlab-simulation-1-0/, accessed on 08.02.2012

5. Buck converter design example,[online],microchip webseminars, available at: http://satcom.tonnarelli.com/files/smps/SMPSBuckDesign_031809.pdf, accessed on 08.02.2012

6. Schelle, D., Buck- converter design demystified, [onnline], available at: http://my.ece.ucsb.edu/Bobsclass/194/References/NonIsolated/Buck/Buck%20Conv erter%20Design%20Demystified%20606PET25.pdf, accessed on 08.02.2012

7. Buck switching converter design equations, [online], Daycounter Inc Engineering services, available at: http://www.daycounter.com/LabBook/BuckConverter/BuckConverter-Equations.phtml, accessed on 08.02.2012

8. Modak, R., Buck converter,[online], VLSI research consortium Indian institute of technology, available at: http://www.ee.iitb.ac.in/vlsi/wb/pages/slides/MSB-BC.pdf