Resonance Parameter of Variable Mode LLC

Converter for Auxiliary Converter

XiaoQiong He2 , Yang Chen1 , Chen Chen1 , ZhiQin Zhao1 , PengCheng Han1
1
School of Electrical Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China
2
National Rail Transit Electrification and Automation Engineering Technology Research Center, Chengdu 610031, China

Abstract—A precise modeling and resonant calculation method converter model thoroughly. [3]– [4] adopts the traditional
are proposed for variable mode LLC resonant converter. With fundamental approximation method to construct the model of
normal operation of the converter, the redundancy of components resonant converter, which has been widely used in academic
is reduced. By establishing equivalent circuit model considering
device characteristics, DC gain function is deduced. The resonant and engineering circles. However, Traditional time average
parameters are solved by simulated annealing algorithm. The modeling and state space modeling are only suitable for low
DC gain obtained by the general algorithm and the proposed power applications. In reference [5], a generalized state space
algorithm are compared. The stable operation of the converter is averaging model is proposed to analyze the resonant converter.
realized by using the control strategy of digital voltage controlled In reference [6], the extended description function method is
oscillator and intermittent modulation strategy. The feasibility of
this research is verified by simulation and experiment. applied to study the resonant converter. Literature [7] Models
Index Terms—Large Power Occasions; LLC Resonant; Simu- LLC resonant converter with side synchronous rectification.
lated annealing; Digital Voltage Controlled Oscillation However, the above-mentioned modeling methods are mainly
suitable for small power applications, but not ideal for high
I. I NTRODUCTION power applications.
The auxiliary converter is the core part of the auxiliary Besides, LLC resonant converter has high voltage gain
power supply system of the subway vehicle. It converts the di- when load is cut off, which lead to high output voltage,
rect current imported from the DC traction network into three- slow dynamic response and control failure. To solve these
phase alternating current to provide electric energy for the problems, a dual-frequency LLC resonant converter analysis
auxiliary electric equipment of the subway vehicle. Therefore, and design method is studied in reference [8], which improves
the auxiliary converter plays an important role in ensuring the the dynamic response ability of the converter. [9] adopts the
stable operation of the subway vehicle and ensuring passenger mixed control mode of duty cycle control and frequency
comfort and personal safety. The topology of the auxiliary control, which improves the range of input and output voltage
power supply system for subway vehicles is shown in Fig. 1. to a certain extent, but the control algorithm is more complex.
Compared with traditional modeling method, a novel equiv-
alent circuit model is proposed in this paper, which is suitable
for the large power situations. The corresponding DC gain
function is derived and the resonance parameters is calculated
based on the simulated annealing algorithm. Using the control
strategy of digital VCO and light load Bang-Bang modulation,
the stable operation of LLC converter is realized. Finally,
simulation and experiment verified the proposed strategy.
II. C ONFIGURATION
The topology of full bridge LLC resonant DC-DC converter
is shown in Fig. 2.
Its circuit structure includes input DC power supply, primary
side inverting network, LLC resonator, medium and high
Fig. 1. Auxiliary Power Supply System. frequency transformer, secondary side rectifying network and
output load.
The design difficulties of the subway auxiliary converter
fr is defined as the first resonant frequency, fm as the
and the main problems are as follows [1] [2]: (1) Wide input
second resonant frequency and fs as the switching frequency.
voltage range. (2) Size and weight restricted greatly. (3) High
According to the relationship between fr and fs , it can be
power quality requirements.
known that the working mode of LLC resonant converter
The LLC resonant converter is a DC-DC converter structure
consists of three states.
with a wide input and output range. Due to its relatively
complex circuit, the resonator transmits energy through fun- 1 1
fr = √ , fm = (1)
damental wave. Thus, many experts have researched on the
p
2π Lr Cr 2π (Lr + Lm )Cr
 Fig. 5. Working Mode 3 (t2 –t3 ).
Fig. 2. Topology of LLC Resonant Converter.

Mode 3 [t2 –t3 ]: When t = t2 , resonant current is equal

When fs < fr , the circuit is in sub resonant state. When to magnetizing inductance current. The secondary current is
fs = fr , the circuit is in critical resonant state. When fs > fr , decreased to zero, which prepares for zero current switch
the circuit is in an over resonant state. Because the main work (ZCS). At this time, Resonant inductor, resonant capacitor
of the circuit is at the junction of the first state and the second and magnetizing inductance participate in the resonance. The
state, the sub-resonant state of the circuit is analyzed in this primary side and secondary side is isolated.
paper.

Fig. 6. Working Mode 4 (t3 –t4 ).

Fig. 3. Working Mode 1 (t0 –t1 ).
Mode 4 [t3 –t4 ]: When t = t3 , S1 and S4 is turned off.
Mode 1 [t0 –t1 ]: When t = t0 , inductance current iL1 con- Resonant current charge Cs1 and Cs4 to Vin , while charge
tinues through parasitic diodes, and resonant current decreases Cs2 and Cs3 to 0. Actually, the mode is the dead time of
gradually in the form of sine waveform. The voltage of S1 and working mode.
S4 is clamped to 0, which prepares for the zero voltage switch Mode 5 [t4 –t5 ]: When t = t4 , Cs1 –Cs4 is fully charged
(ZVS) of primary switches. At the time of t1 , the resonant and discharged, resonant current flow through DS2 and DS3 .
current is decreased to zero. DS6 and DS7 are turned on and the energy transfer process
begins in the second half of the cycle. At t5 , S2 and S3 are
turned on with zero voltage switch.
The working principle Mode 5–8 is similar with Mode 1–4
except for the direction of resonant current. Since the converter
is a completely symmetrical topology, the principle of Mode
6–8 will not be further elaborated.
As can be seen in Fig. 7, LLC resonant works in sub
resonant state. The primary side switches can receive ZVS
while the secondary side switches can receive ZCS. The
critical state has the same situation as sub resonant state, which
can be widely used in industry applications.
Fig. 4. Working Mode 2 (t1 –t2 ).
III. A NALYSIS OF R ESONANCE
Mode 2 [t1 –t2 ]: When t = t1 , the S1 and S4 is turned on In order to better analyze the operation characteristics of
with ZVS. Resonant current increase and flow through S1, S4 LLC resonant converter, the input/output voltage gain of
in the primary side and flow through the diode of S5, S8. At resonant converter is analyzed in this paper. Its definition is
this time, resonant inductor and resonant capacitor participate shown in Formula (2):
in the resonance. Resonant current is equal to magnetizing Vo
inductance current at t2 . Mnor = n (2)
Vin
 Fig. 9. Equivalent Circuit of Large Power LLC Converter.

switches. RL , RLm and RC are parasitic resistance of resonant

tank. Reqs is parasitic resistance of secondary switches. The
parasitic capacitance of secondary switches can be ignored
Fig. 7. Working wave of LLC Resonant Converter. because they are not resonant.
4 X 1
VAC (t) = 0 + Vg sin(n2πfs t) (3)
According to the foregoing, the working state of the con- π n=1,3,5 n
verter is related to the switching frequency, so the LLC
resonant converter should adopt frequency conversion control. Formula (3) is input voltage of resonant tank. Due to the
In addition, the converter has better switching characteristics full bridge topology, output voltage can get similar result.
in sub-resonant and quasi-resonant states. In order to improve
4 X 1
efficiency, the converter should be at the junction of sub- Vac (t) = 0 + Vo sin(n2πfs t) (4)
resonant and quasi-resonant states. In this paper, the funda- π n=1,3,5 n
mental approximation method (FHA) is used to analyze the
In Fig. 9, the equivalent resonance of output side can be
system. It is considered that the fundamental wave is the
expressed as:
main source of transmission power, and the power transmitted
by other waveforms besides the fundamental wave can be Vac (t) 8
neglected. Req = n2 = n2 2 Ro (5)
VAC (t) π
The equivalent circuit of the converter under FHA method
is shown in Fig. 8. It includes AC voltage source, resonant 16
tank Lr , Lm , Cr and equivalent load Req . Reqs = n2 Rs (6)
π2
According to the formula (4)–(6), transfer function H(s)
can be expressed as:

Vac1 (s) 1 iac · Req

H(s) = = · (7)
VAC1 (s) iLr DH
 
where DH = Rs + sLs + Rl + RLm // sLm //(Reqs + Req ) +
Rc + (sCr )−1 + (sCs )−1 .

(Reqs + Req )−1

iac = −1 iLr (8)
RLm + (sLm )−1 + (Reqs + Req )−1
Fig. 8. Traditional Equivalent Circuit of LLC Converter.
Simplify the formula (7), (8) and substitute them into (7),
However, this equivalent topology can only be applied separation of real and virtual parts:
to ideal resonant inductors, resonant capacitors and small
power transformers, ignoring the characteristics of inductance Req
(9)
resistance and power switching devices. Such equivalence is Ar + j A i
still applicable in the case of low power, but in the case of where:
medium and high power, the gain calculated by the converter ′ ′ ′ ′
will deviate. The equivalent circuit model presented in this λ(Req + RLm )Rsc1 + RLm Req RLm Req (1 + λ′ ) − λ′ Cs
Ar = −
paper is shown in Fig. 9. λRLm λRLm fn2
′ 2 ′ ′
In Fig. 9, Rs is defined as switch resistance plus DC voltage (Req + RLm )(Z0 − 1) Req Rsc1 1
Ai = fn − ·
internal resistance. Cs is parasitic capacitance of primary RLm Z0 λ fn
 2
in Fig. 10(b), the DC gain has obvious amplitude change and
Req
M= 2 (10) no maximum gain peak, which is beneficial to the stability of
Ar + Ai2 the system when the input and output voltage fluctuate.
where: Therefore, these two parameters are often used in engineer-
′ ′ ′ ′ ing, combining switching frequency, input and output voltage,
λ(Req + RLm )Rsc1 + RLm Req 1 RLm Req (1 + λ′ ) − λCs 1
Ar = − · rated power
· 2 and other parameters to form the traditional
λRLm λ RLm fn method of resonance parameters. For the other
calculation
′ 2 ′ ′
(Req + RLm )(Z0 − 1) Req Rsc1 1 parameters in formula (10), the results obtained by engineering
Ai = fn − ·
RLm Z0 λ fn experience are often inaccurate. The parameters redundancy of
The DC voltage gain function can be defined as for- components in the system is large, and output voltage of light
mula (10). fn is the ratio of fs to fr . λ is the ratio of Lm to Lr . load is uncontrolled.
λ′ is the ratio of Cr to CS . Fig. 10 illustrates the relationship For the multivariable non-linear model shown in equa-
between DC gain M and three parameters. tion (10), it is difficult to consider multiple variables at
the same time. This paper proposes a resonant parameter
calculation strategy based on simulated annealing algorithm.
According to the constraints of different load, the optimized
voltage gain curve and resonant parameters are more accurate.
The system runs stably under different load, reduces the
redundancy of components, and improves the transmission
performance.

IV. R ESONANCE C ALCULATION

A. Solution Space
In formula (10), fr , λ, λ′ , Z0 are main parameters of
solution space and other parameters are less important. The
solution space is expressed as formula (11).

R = fr , λ, λ′ , Z0 , Req , Req
′ ′

, RLm , Rsc1 (11)
The initial solution space can be calculated by traditional
strategy, based on the formula (12)–(13) and Fig. 10.

1 − Mmin f2
λ= · 2 n max (12)
Mmin fn max − 1
s
λ 1 M2
Z0 = + 2 max (13)
Mmax λ Mmax − 1
Mmin and Mmax are minimum DC gain and maximum DC
gain respectively. fn max is the maximum working frequency
of LLC converter.

B. Cost Function
Cost function is of great importance to calculation, which
can be defined by actual demand. Different loads need dif-
ferent DC gain. In this paper, the cost function is defined as
formula (14).
qX
f= (M − M ′ )2 (14)
Fig. 10. Relationship between Resonant Parameter and DC Gain.
C. Small Variable Perturbation
Fig. 10 visually describes the relationship between param- Through the perturbation of any variable δ in the solution
eters in the proposed model. From Fig. 10(a), it can be seen space R, the new solution space and the result of cost function
that the inductance coefficient is in the range of 3 to 10, and are calculated.
the DC gain is more suitable, which is beneficial to the design
of the controller. Similarly, when the quality factor is about 20 δ ′ = δ + dˆ (15)
 Fig. 12 shows the variation of gain curve in the optimization
′
∆f = f − f (16) process, and the algorithm cycle is a process of approaching
the optimal solution continuously.
Compared with the original solution, the new solution space V. C ONTROL S TRATEGY
is decided whether should be saved. The metropolis principle
is used to screen the solution space, which is defined as According to Fig. 10(a), the output voltage and transmission
formula (17). power of LLC resonant converter is directly related to the
switch frequency. Thus, Pulse Frequency Modulation (PFM)
( is adopted in this paper. The switch frequency is controlled
1 ∆f < 0 near the first resonant frequency fr while the duty cycle is
P = ∆f (17)
e− T ∆f > 0 fixed at 50%.

In formula (17), T is the annealing temperature under one

perturbation. It decreases gradually with the solution process
and decides the end of solution process. The diagram of
algorithm is illustrated in Fig. 11.

Fig. 13. Control and Modulation Strategy.

The control strategy is adopted by digital voltage controlled

oscillator. Its output is a sinusoidal wave whose frequency
varies with the input signal. The output wave can be expressed
as:

 Z t 
y(t) = A cos 2πkp v(t) + 2πki u(τ ) dτ + ϕ (18)
0
Fig. 11. Block Diagram of LLC Resonant Calculation Algorithm.
A is the signal amplitude while ϕ is the signal phase. The
frequency of output wave is controlled by PI controller.
The annealing process shown in Fig. 11 and Fig. 12. After
The modulation mode is intermittent voltage modulation. As
several cycle operations, when the parameter T in Fig. 11 is
can be seen from Fig. 14, the converter has different gain under
lowered to the lowest value, the system algorithm terminates
different power, higher voltage gains under light load and
and the resonant parameters of LLC converter are optimized.
lower voltage gain under heavy load. Therefore, in this paper,
intermittent voltage modulation (Bang-Bang modulation) is
used to reduce the DC gain with a certain hysteresis width,
which avoid overvoltage breakdown.
VI. S IMULATION AND E XPERIMENT
A. Simulation
Based on the MATLAB/SIMULINK, a simulation model of
on-board charger for high-speed train is built in this paper. The
related electrical parameters of CRH2 high-speed train charger
are shown in Table I.

TABLE I
E LECTRICAL PARAMETERS OF CHR C HARGER

Input Voltage Voltage Fluctuation Output Voltage M

600V ±30V 110V
Minimum Output Voltage Output Power Maximum Output Power Ma
Fig. 12. Algorithmic Optimization Process. 87.5V 15kW 20kW
 maximum gain with load less than 70%. It can meet the rated
gain with input fluctuates under full load conditions.

Fig. 16. Waveform of Resonant Current.

Fig. 14. Frequency and Intermittent Modulation.

According to proposed calculation algorithm, the resonant

parameters are shown in Table II.

TABLE II Fig. 17. Waveform of Output Voltage.

C OMPARISON B ETWEEN T WO A LGORITHM
Fig. 17 shows the output voltage and current waveforms
Algorithm Parameter
Lm Lr Cr f Rs in the closed loop. When t = 0.4 s, the load is cut off and
163mH 98uH 0.41uF 25kHz – the voltage gain increases. The controller moves from normal
Tradition Algorithm
Req Cs RLm R1 Rc mode to intermittent mode.
– – – – –
Lm Lr Cr f Rs B. Experiment
50.28mH 43.75uH 0.93uF 24.76Hz 0.17Ω
Proposed Algorithm In order to further verify the theoretical analysis, the LLC
Req Cs RLm RL Rc
0.81Ω 8nF 533Ω 0.06Ω 0.13Ω resonance experimental platform is built based on the FPGA
controller. The results are shown in Fig. 18.
A control modulation strategy based on digital VCO as Fig. 18 shows the working waveform of primary side
described in Chapter 3 is adopted. The simulation waveform voltage Uab , secondary voltage Ucd , resonant current iLr
can be obtained as shown in Fig. 15–17. and output voltage Uo . This Figure shows the Zero Voltage
Conduction (ZVS) with Primary Power Devices.
VII. C ONCLUSION
In this paper, an equivalent circuit model based on high
power LLC resonant converter is proposed. Considering circuit
characteristics, the corresponding DC gain function is derived.
On this basis, the simulated annealing algorithm is used to
analyze and solve variables in the model. The results of the
traditional method and the proposed method are compared
and analyzed. Digital VCO and Bang-Bang modulation are
designed to realize the stable operation.
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Fig. 18. Working Waveform of Resonant Current.