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1. INTRODUCTION TO DC CHOPPERS

A DC-to-DC converter or chopper, being a static device, is used to obtain a variable DC voltage
from a constant-voltage DC source. The average value of the output voltage is varied by
changing the proportion of the time during which the output is connected to the input.

This conversion can be achieved with a combination of an inductor or/and capacitor and a solid-
state device operated in a high-frequency switching mode.

In high-voltage and high-current applications, the switching devices used in chopper circuits are
thyristors. When power transistors (BJTs, or MOSFETS) or GTO & SCR thyristors are used,
they can be turned off easily by controlling the base or gate current. Thyristors used in DC
circuits must be turned off using forced commutation since they lack the facility of natural
commutation that is available in AC circuits.

The switching technique used in DC choppers is called pulse-width modulation (PWM). There
are two fundamental kinds of chopper circuits: the step- down or buck chopper and the step-up or
boost chopper. The buck chopper produces an output voltage that is less than or equal to the
input voltage; the boost chopper provides an output voltage that is greater than or equal to the
input voltage.

CHOPPERS APPLICATIONS:

Choppers are used in many industrial applications where a constant DC source is available: DC
motor control for electric traction, Switched Mode Power Supplies (SMPS), Power Supplies for
Electronic Equipment, inverters for uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), Robotics,
Automotive/Transportation, Switching Power Amplifiers, Photovoltaic Systems, etc

CHOPPERS CLASSIFICATIONS:

1. On basis of i/p-o/p voltage levels: 3. On basis of circuit operation:

- Step-down chopper - First quadrant
- Step-up chopper - Two quadrant
2. On basis of direction of output - Four quadrant
voltage and current: 4. On basis of commutation method:
- Class A - Voltage commutated
- Class B - Current commutated
- Class C - Load commutated
- Class D - Impulse commutated
- Class E

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2. The Basic Principles of DC Choppers

The fundamental principle of a basic chopper is illustrated in Figure below:

Figure1: Basic DC chopper

Where
V0 = average output voltage
Vi = input voltage
I0 = average output current
Ii = average input current

A switch is connected in series with the DC voltage source (Vi) and the load. The switch S can
be a power transistor, an SCR, or a GTO thyristor. It is assumed throughout this chapter that the
switching devices are ideal. Ideal switches have the following characteristics:

1) They have zero resistance (zero voltage drop) when on.

2) They have infinite resistance (zero leakage current) when off.
3) They can switch from either state in zero time.

Ideally, the power loss in the chopper is zero, so the output power is equal to the input power:

We assume that the output voltage is adjustable in a certain range from zero to the input level.
Let us operate the switch so that it is on (closed) for a time and off (open) for a time T ON in each
cycle with a fixed period T. The resulting output voltage waveform is a train of rectangular
pulses of duration TON

Figure2: Waveform of a basic chopper

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Figure above shows that the instantaneous voltage across the load is either zero (S off) or (S on).
The average (DC) output voltage over a cycle is given by:

Where, T is the period (TON + TOFF). The chopper switching frequency is f= 1/T. If we use the
idea of duty cycle (d), which is the ratio of the pulse width TON to the period of the waveform,

From Equation above, it is obvious that the output voltage varies linearly with the duty
cycle.

If the switch S is a transistor, the base current will control the on and off period of the transistor
switch. If the switch is a GTO thyristor, a positive gate pulse will turn it on and a negative gate
pulse will turn it off. If the switch is an SCR, a commutation circuit is required to turn it off.

The load current waveform is similar to Figure 9.2, and its average value is given by

The effective (RMS) value of the output voltage is

The average output voltage can be varied in one of the following ways:

a. Pulse-width modulation (PWM). In this method, the pulse width TON is varied while
the overall switching period T is kept constant.

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Figure3: Output voltage waveforms with fixed switching frequency

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b .Pulse-frequency modulation (PFM). In this method, TON is kept constant while the
period (frequency) is varied.

Figure 41: Output voltage waveforms with variable switching frequency

For either PWM or PFM control, the output voltage is zero when switch S is open and it is equal
to the input voltage when the switch is closed for a time longer than the normal switching cycle.

In the PFM method, it is necessary to reduce the chopper switching frequency to obtain a lower
output voltage. This may result in discontinuity at low frequencies. Moreover, a reduction in
frequency increases the output current ripple, thereby increasing losses and heating in the load.
On the other hand, the losses in the components become very high at higher frequencies The
PWM method has the advantage of low ripple, which means smaller filter components.

3. Step-down (buck) choppers

A buck chopper is shown below, but it is not very practical.

Figure5: Basic step-down chopper circuit

When the switch S is closed, the diode D is off, since it is reverse-biased. It will stay off as long
as S remains on. The equivalent circuit configuration is shown in Figure (b). The input current
builds up exponentially and flows through the inductor L and the load. The output voltage is
equal to Vi. The switch S is kept on for a time TON and then turned off.

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Figure 62: step-down chopper equivalent circuit for the on state

When the switch is opened, the current through the inductor starts decaying to zero (it cannot
change instantaneously). This causes an induced voltage with opposite polarity across the
inductor. The inductor voltage forward-biases the diode, and the current flowing through the
inductor now freewheels through the diode D and the load. The purpose of the diode therefore is
to provide a path for the load current when S is off.

Figure 73: step-down chopper equivalent circuit for the off state
Therefore, turning off S automatically turns on D. The new circuit configuration is shown in
Fig(c). The voltage across the load is zero, and the current decays toward zero as long as S
remains off, that is, for a period TOFF. The energy stored in L is delivered to the load. This circuit
arrangement permits the use of a simple inductance L to provide a satisfactory smooth DC load
current for many applications. When the switching frequency is high, a relatively small
inductance is sufficient to reduce the ripple to an acceptable degree.

a. Continuous Current Mode

Figure (a) below shows the waveform of the voltage across the load, which is also the voltage
appearing across the FWD (D). This voltage is equal to the input voltage Vi when the switch is
on and diode D is reverse-biased.

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Figure8: Voltage and current waveforms for TON = T0FF and T<<τ
(a) Output voltage (b) FWD current (c) source current (d) load current (e) voltage across
the inductor
When the switch is open, the output voltage is held at zero by the action of the FWD, which
provides a path for the load current. As the average voltage across inductor L is negligible when
it has no resistive component, the output voltage must be the average voltage across the diode.

Figure (b) shows the diode current. It is the same as the load current (Figure (d)) during TOFF.
During TON, the output current io is the same as the input current ii.

When the switch is open (TOFF), the load current falls from its maximum value Imax to a final
value Imin. During this interval, current flows through the inductor, the load, and the FWD. When
the- current has fallen to a value Imin, the switch closes. The current in the diode immediately
stops flowing, and the current supplied by the source is now 7min. The current then starts
increasing, and when it reaches the value Imax, after a time TON, the switch reopens. The FWD
again provides a path for the load current, and the cycle repeats. The load current therefore
oscillates between Imax and Imin. The ripple included in the output current reduces as the
chopper switching frequency increases.

The average value of the inductor current is given by:

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With the switch open (TOFF),

Now

From the previous two equations:

Therefore,

Similarly, Imin is given by

The average voltage across inductor is

The peak-to-peak ripple current is

The average diode current is

Although the load current of a chopper is basically constant, the input current still consists of a
train of sharp pulses. Figure (c) shows the waveform for the source current. A capacitor filter is
often used in parallel with the input power source to smooth the input current.

The current and voltage waveforms shown in Figure below assume a switching frequency and a
load such that T<<τ. Here τ is the circuit time constant, which depends on the ratio L/R. Note
that the output current variation is linear and the ripple is quite small due to the large time
constant. The output current io, is always present, so this mode of operation is called the
continuous current mode of operation. The output current is continuous since the inductor
absorbs energy during TON and discharges during TOFF. As a result, the average voltage across L
becomes zero in steady state, and the voltage across the load resistor must be equal to Vo (avg).

The average values of output voltage, output power, and input power are given by

and
Since we are considering ideal elements (with no losses), the DC power drawn from the source
must equal the DC power absorbed by the load.

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By changing the duty cycle in a step-down chopper, we can obtain output voltages that are less
than or equal to the input voltage. Furthermore, the output current is stepped up when we step
down the voltage.

b. Discontinuous Current Mode

For low values of a, especially with low inductance, the load current decreases and may fall to
zero during the part of each cycle when the switch is off. The current again builds up from zero
when the switch turns on in the next cycle. The load current is said to be discontinuous.

Figure 9.8 shows the current and voltage waveforms when TON is approximately equal to τ (τ =
L/R). When the switch (transistor) is off, the same current, flowing through the freewheeling
diode, decays to zero.

Figure9: Voltage and current waveforms with TON < TOFF and TON ≈τ
As can be seen in Figure above, the load current flows in pulses and the chopper operates in the
discontinuous mode. Such an operation is usually undesirable. This mode of operation can be
avoided by a proper choice of chopping frequency or by .choosing a suitable value of inductance.

The minimum value of inductance required to ensure continuous current is obtained by setting
Imin to zero.

Therefore, having a high inductance, in the load is desirable to avoid the discontinuous mode.
Moreover, the peak-to-peak ripple of the load current decreases as the value of the inductance

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increases. When the load inductance ideally becomes infinite, we get a current that is ripple-free
(pure DC).

Example1 In a buck chopper, the switching frequency is 25 Hz and TON = 3ms. If the average
value of the output current is 40 A, determine the average source current.
Solution

4. Step-up (boost) choppers

In the step-up circuit, the output voltage can be varied from the source voltage up to several
times the source voltage. Inductor L is used to provide a smooth input current. The solid-state
switch, which is operated in the PWM fashion, can be a transistor or an SCR. The basic circuit of
the step-up chopper is shown in Figure below:

Figure10: Basic step-up chopper circuit

When the switch S is turned on the inductor is connected to the supply. The voltage across the
inductor jumps instantaneously to the source voltage Vi but the current through the inductor ii
increases linearly and stores energy in the magnetic field.

Figure 11: Step-up chopper equivalent circuit (a) on state

When the switch opens, the current collapses and the energy stored in the inductor is transferred
to the capacitor through the diode D. The induced voltage VL across the inductor reverses,

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And the inductor voltage adds to the source voltage to increase the output voltage.

Figure 12: Step-up chopper equivalent circuit (a) off state

The current that was flowing through S now flows through D, and C to the load. Therefore, the
energy stored in the inductor is released to the load. When S is again closed, D becomes reverse-
biased, the capacitor energy supplies the load voltage, and the cycle repeats.

Thus, the diode current will pulsate as illustrated in Figure below:

Figure 13: Voltage and current waveforms (d = 0.5) for step-up chopper
The voltage across the load (and the capacitor) is:

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Vo will always be higher than Vi because the polarity of Vo is always the same as that of Vi

The voltage and current waveforms for d= 0.5 are shown in Figure below. The diode current i D
behaves as follows:

iD = 0 when the switch is closed (on)

iD = ii when the switch is open (off)

If the inductance L is quite large, the source current ii is ripple-free and considered constant. The
energy stored in the inductor during the interval (TON) when the chopper is on is

WON = Vi.Ii.TON

Similarly, assuming that the capacitance is large enough to neglect the voltage ripple, the output
voltage Vo can be considered constant. During the time (TOFF) that the chopper is off, the energy
transferred by the inductor to the load is:

WOFF = (Vo-Vi) x Ii x TOFF

Since we are neglecting losses, the energy transferred by inductance during T OFF must equal the
energy gained by it during the period TON

If the switch is open (d = 0), output voltage is equal to input voltage. As d increases, the output
voltage becomes larger than the input voltage. Therefore, the output or load voltage is always
higher than the input voltage if the switch S is operated at an appropriately high frequency.

The average value of source current can be obtained from:

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Capacitor C reduces the ripple in the output voltage and smoothes the current supplied to the
load. If the capacitor is large enough, the output current will have a negligible ripple component
and will equal the time average of the diode current. Therefore, the average value of the current
Io from Figure above is given by

Equations above clearly show that the circuit functions as a step-up DC transformer. As d (or
TON) approaches zero, the output voltage Vo equals Vi the source voltage. On the other hand,
when d approaches unity (or TON=T), the output voltage approaches infinity. In practice,
however, the maximum voltage cannot be infinite due to the power loss associated with the non-
ideal components. Because of these practical limitations, the output voltage is limited to around
five times the input voltage.

The chopping frequency is limited by the SCR and the forced commutation circuit. A higher
chopper frequency can be achieved by using power transistors or gate-turnoff thyristor (GTOs).

Let us determine the equations for the maximum and minimum input current.

The input power is Pi= Vi. Ii

The output power is Po=Vo2/R

Neglecting losses, the output power must be the same as the power supplied by the source:

Adding Imax and Imin previous equations:

From the IL equation, now IL=Ii.
Therefore,

The voltage across the inductor is

With the switch closed (TON),

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For continuous current conditions, the minimum value of inductance required is obtained by
setting Imin equal to zero.

Example1 The step-up chopper shown in is supplied from a 110VDC source. The voltage
required by the load is 440 V. If the switch is turned on for 0.25 ms find the chopper
frequency.
Solution

5. Buck-boost choppers

A buck-boost DC-to-DC chopper circuit combines the concepts of the step-up and step-down
choppers. The output voltage can be either higher than, equal to, or lower than the input voltage.
A reversal of the output voltage polarity may also occur. The switch can be any type of
controlled switching device such as a power transistor, a GTO thyristor, or an IGBT.

Figure 14: Buck-boost DC chopper

When S is on, the diode D is reverse-biased and ID is zero. The circuit can be simplified as
shown in Figure (b).

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Figure 15: Buck-boost DC chopper equivalent circuit with switch on

The voltage across the inductor equal to the input voltage and the current through the inductor it
increases linearly with time. When S is off, the source is disconnected. The current through the
inductor cannot change instantly, so it forward-biases the diode and provides a path for the load
current. The output voltage becomes equal to the inductor voltage. The circuit can be simplified
as shown in Figure (c).

Figure 16: Buck-boost DC chopper equivalent circuit with switch off

The voltage and current waveforms are shown in Figure below:

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Figure 4: Voltage and current waveforms for buck-boost chopper

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The output voltage can be controlled by changing the duty cycle d. Depending on the value of d,
the output voltage can be higher than, equal to, or lower than the input voltage. When d>0.5, the
output voltage is greater than the input voltage and the circuit operates in the step-up mode. If
d<0.5, the output voltage is less than the input voltage and the circuit acts like a step-down
chopper. The buck-boost chopper can transfer from operating in the step-down mode to
operating in the step-up mode very smoothly and quickly by changing only the control signals
for switch S.

From IL equation:

If we neglect power losses, the power input must equal the power output

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For continuous current conditions, the minimum value of the inductance required j is obtained by
setting Imin (above) equal to zero:

This value of the inductor determines the boundary between the CCM (continuous conduction
mode) and DCM (discontinuous conduction mode).

Example: The buck-boost chopper supplies power to a load 1.5Ω resistance and 0.8mH
inductance. The source voltage is 50 V DC load voltage is 75 V. If the on time is 1.5ms, find

a) the chopper switching frequency

b) Imax
c) Imin
d) the average value of the input current
e) the average value of the diode current
f) the peak-to-peak ripple in the input current
g) the minimum inductance required for continuous current operation
Solution

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6. Flyback Converter
A PWM flyback converter is a very practical isolated version of the buck-boost converter. The
circuit of the flyback converter is presented in figure below. The inductor of the buck-boost
converter has been replaced by a flyback transformer. The input dc source Vs and switch S are
connected in series with the transformer primary. The diode D and the RC output circuit are
connected in series with the secondary of the flyback transformer.

Figure 18: Flyback converter

When the switch S is on, the current in the magnetizing inductance increases linearly, the
diode D is off and there is no current in the ideal transformer windings. When the switch is
turned off, the magnetizing inductance current is diverted into the ideal transformer, the diode
turns on, and the transformed magnetizing inductance current is supplied to the RC load. The
dc voltage transfer function of the flyback converter is given by

Where n is the transformer turns ratio and n = N1/N2.

7. Cuk Converter

The circuit of the Cuk converter is shown in Figure 19.It consists of dc input voltage source VS,
input inductor L1,controllable switch S, energy transfer capacitor C1, diode D, filter inductor L2,
filter capacitor C, and load resistance R.

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Figure 19. Cuk converter

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An important advantage of this topology is a continuous current at both the input and the output
of the converter. Disadvantages of the Cuk converter include a high number of reactive
components and high current stresses on the switch, the diode, and the capacitor C1.

Figure 20: Main waveforms of the Cuk converter

When the switch is on, the diode is off and the capacitor C1 is discharged by the inductor L2
current. With the switch in the off state, the diode conducts currents of the inductors L1 and L2
whereas capacitor C1 is charged by the inductor L1 current.To obtain the dc voltage transfer
function of the converter, we shall use the principle that the average current through a capacitor
is zero for steady-state operation. Let us assume that inductors L1 and L2 are large enough that
their ripple current can be neglected. Capacitor C1 is in steady state if

For a lossless converter

Combining these two equations, the dc voltage transfer function of the Cuk converter is

This voltage transfer function is the same as that for the buck–boost converter. The inductors that
can determine the boundaries between the CCM and DCM are determined by

For L1 and

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For L2.

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The output part of the Cuk converter is similar to that of the buck converter. Hence, the
expression for the filter capacitor C is

8. Control principles

A dc-dc converter must provide a regulated dc output voltage under varying load and input
voltage conditions. Hence, the control of the output voltage should be performed in a
closed-loop manner using principles of negative feedback. The two most common closed-
loop control methods for PWM dc-dc converters are namely, the voltage-mode control and the
current-mode control.

a. The voltage-mode control

The converter output voltage is sensed and subtracted from an external reference voltage in an
error amplifier. The error amplifier produces a control voltage that is compared to a
constant-amplitude sawtooth waveform. The comparator produces a PWM signal that is fed to
drivers of controllable switches in the dc-dc converter. The duty ratio of the PWM signal
depends on the value of the control voltage. The frequency of the PWM signal is the same as
the frequency of the sawtooth waveform. An important advantage of the voltage-mode control
is its simple hardware implementation and flexibility.

Figure 21: Main control schemes for dc–dc converters: The voltage-mode control

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b. The current-mode control

An additional inner control loop feeds back an inductor current signal, and this current
signal, converted into its voltage analog, is compared to the control voltage. This modification
of replacing the sawtooth waveform of the voltage-mode control scheme by a converter
current signal significantly alters the dynamic behavior of the converter, which then takes on
some characteristics of a current source .

Figure 22: Main control schemes for dc–dc converters: The current-mode control

Exercises
1) A buck chopper circuit is operating with a frequency of 1 kHz. The source voltage is 110V,
and the load voltage is 75V. Calculate TON and TOFF,

2) A boost chopper circuit is operating with a frequency of 10 kHz. The source voltage is 50 V
and the load voltage is 70 V. Calculate TON and TOFF

3) A boost chopper circuit is connected to a 30 V DC source, and the load voltage is 50 V. If

switching frequency is 50 kHz, find

a) the duty cycle

b) the minimum value of L to ensure a continuous inductor current
4) A buck-boost chopper supplied from a 20V source is operating at a frequency of 50 kHz with
a duty cycle of 0.40. If the load resistance is 20Ω, find
a) the output voltage
b) the minimum value of L for a continuous inductor current

5) A buck-boost chopper circuit operating at 8 kHz supplies 100 W at 25 V to a load resistor. If

the source voltage is 15 V, find the value of L required for continuous current.

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9.8. Problems

1) What is meant by the term chopper? Give some typical applications

2) Explain the basic operating principle of a step-down chopper.

3) Explain the basic operating principle of a step-up chopper.
4) For a step-down chopper circuit, the following information is available Vi = 120V, L=0.8mH,
R= 0.1Ω, T=2ms, and TON =1ms. If the chopper operates in the continuous current mode, find
a) the average output voltage
b) the average output current
c) the maximum value of the output current
d) the minimum value of the output current
e) the minimum value of the current if the current is discontinuous
5) A buck chopper circuit is operating with a frequency of 1 kHz. The source voltage is 110V,
and the load voltage is 75V. Calculate TON and TOFF,

6) A buck chopper circuit is connected to 100 V DC source and has a load voltage of 50 V. If the
average output current is 10 A, find
a) the duty cycle
b) the average and RMS values of the input current
c) the average and RMS values of the current through the diode
d) the peak-to-peak ripple
7) The battery charger circuit shown in Figure below operates at a frequency of 2 kHz. Find.
a) the duty cycle and the on time
b) the average value of ID, and iL
c) the power delivered to the 12 V battery

8) For a step-up chopper circuit, the following information is available: Vi=20V, L= 10μH,
R=0.1Ω, T= 10μs, and d= 0.4. If the chopper operates in the continuous mode, find
a) the average output voltage
b) the maximum value of the output current
c) the minimum value of the output current

9) A boost chopper circuit is operating with a frequency of 10 kHz. The source voltage is 50 V
and the load voltage is 70 V. Calculate TON and TOFF

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10) A boost chopper circuit is connected to a 30 V DC source, and the load voltage is 50 V. If
switching frequency is 50 kHz, find

c) the duty cycle

d) the minimum value of L to ensure a continuous inductor current
11) A buck-boost chopper supplied from a 20V source is operating at a frequency of 50 kHz with
a duty cycle of 0.40. If the load resistance is 20Ω, find
c) the output voltage
d) the minimum value of L for a continuous inductor current

12) A buck-boost chopper circuit operating at 8 kHz supplies 100 W at 25 V to a load resistor. If
the source voltage is 15 V, find the value of L required for continuous current.

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