Design of High Efficiency Flyback Converter with
Energy Regenerative Snubber
Chih-Sheng Liao and Keyue M. Smedley
Power Electronics Laboratory, Dept. of EECS
University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
smedley@[Link]
snubber. In this paper, design and optimization of energy
regenerative snubber was performed. Engineering design
guidelines are provided. An experimental prototype was built
to verify the theoretical findings.
Abstract-The Flyback converter is frequently used for
multiple outputs and low power application due to its simplicity
and both step-up and step-down characteristics. However, the
high leakage inductance of the flyback transformer can causes
high voltage spike and could damage the main transistor when
the switch is turned off. Therefore, a turn-off snubber is needed
to limit the peak voltage stress. In this paper, some common
snubbers are discussed in comparison with the energy
regenerative snubber. The operation of the energy regenerative
snubber is analyzed and the design procedures are optimized for
energy efficiency followed by experimental verification.
I. INTRODUCTION
(a)
Low component count has been a notable advantage of the
Flyback. In this converter, only one magnetic [Link]
required to perform both the islation and filter functions. One
challenge in design the Flyback converter is handling the high
leakage inductance of flyback transformer that causes high
voltage spike and could damage the main transistor when it is
turned off. A variety of turn-off snubbers were reported to
limit the rate of rise voltage across the switching device, such
as the conventional dissipative RCD snubbers and some nondissipative snubbers. The RCD snubber is simple, but the
power stored in snubber capacitor dissipates on the resistor,
thus the efficiency suffers. The LC snubber proposed in [1]
achieves lossless operation, but requires an additional inductor
that increases the component cost. The energy regenerative
snubber developed at UCI Power Electronics Labortory [4]
uses the same number of component as RCD yet allows the
clamp voltage to be much lower. It can recover leakage energy
from snubber capacitor to the dc bus, thus improving energy
efficiency.
In Fig.1 (a) a RCD snubber is in parallel with the primary
winding. The power stored in the capacitor during turn off
period is dissipated on the resistor when switch is turned on.
As a result the power loss of dissipative snubbers is significant
that cannot meet high efficiency requirement for modern
power supply. Fig. 1 (b) shows a non-dissipative LC snubber.
It uses combination of diode, inductor and capacitor to
transport and store energy without dissipating it. The turn off
switching loss can obviously be decreased. Article [3]
proposed energy regenerative snubber that has low component
count in addition to the advantage of the non-dissipative LC
978-1-4244-1874-9/08/$25.00 2008 IEEE
(b)
Fig 1. (a) Dissipative RCD snubber
(b) Non-dissipative LC snubber
II. ANAYSIS OF ENERGY REGENERATIVE SNUBBER
Fig. 2. Flyback with energy regenerative snubber
Table I Devices conduction modes
MOSFET
Diode 1
Diode 2
Diode 3
t0 ~ t1
t1 ~ t2
t 2 ~ t3
t3 ~ t4
ON
OFF
OFF
ON
ON
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF
ON
ON
OFF
OFF
ON
OFF
OFF
Fig. 2. shows a flyback converter with energy regenerative
snubber. Although only one output is studied, the energy
saving principle is applicable to multiple windings. This
796
converter has four switching operating modes as highlighted
in Table I. Note that the transformer has three windings with
turns ratio Np: Ns: Nr and magnetizing inductance Lm is large
compared with the leakage inductance LLK.
In interval t0~t1: When Q1 is turned on, D3 conducts and C2
discharges through Q1 and reset winding Nr. Vg is applied on
Lm and LLK. The equivalent circuit during this interval is
shown in Fig.3. (b)
Zo =
Nr
Np
LLK
C2
It is easy to see from Fig.3. (c) that Vc
resonant cycle
0t =
min
occurs at half
Substitute this condition to (1)
results following equation.
Vc min = 2Vg
id 1
ii
(4)
Nr
Vc max
Np
(5)
In interval t1~t2: After t1, D3 ceases conducting once ic2
flows toward reverse direction. Lm is charged by dc bus and
the voltage of C2 remains to be Vc min until Q1 is turned off.
id 2
vC 2 i
C2
id 3
iLK
v ds
id 1
ii
i ds
id 2
vC 2 i
C2
iLK
(a)
id 3
Vc max
LLK
N r2
N p2
iL
ic 2
C2
PWM
vc 2
t0
(b)
Fig. 4. Interval t1~t2 sub-circuit
Vc min
In interval t2~t3: Q1 is turned off and D2 conducts. The
energy stored in LLK transfers to C2 and the peak voltage stress
of switch is limited by the clamp voltage of C2.
Equations during t2 ~ t3 for this resonant circuit is
Vo
t2
t1
iL (t ) = iL cos 0 t +
(c)
Fig. 3. (a) Interval t0~t1 sub-circuit
vc (t ) = Vo
(b) Equivalent circuit of interval t0~t1
(c) Voltage and current waveforms of C2
i L (t ) =
Nr
Vc max )
Np
Z0
1
Nr
Np
Ns
(Vo
v c (t ) = V o
sin 0 t
(2)
Np
Ns
Vc min
Ns
sin 0 t
Z0
(6)
Vc min ) cos0 t + Z 0 iL sin 0 t (7)
Np
Ns
+ Z 0 I m sin 0 t
(9)
From (8), the current in leakage inductance drops to zero at
/2. At this moment, vc(t) reaches the maximum clamp
voltage Vc max.
Np
LLK (10)
Vc max = Vo
+ Z 0 I m = Vc min + I m
Ns
C2
Substitution of (5) and (10) yields
N
I
LLK
(11)
Vc min = V g r m
Np
2 C2
Where angular resonance frequency is
0 =
Np
Np
Where iL in (7) is the magnetizing current Im. The capacitance
of C2 should be selected to have Vc min equal Vo*Np/Ns.
Substitute those quantities into (6) and (7) yields following
relationships.
(8)
iL (t ) = I m cos 0 t
From the equivalent circuit, the capacitor voltage and inductor
current of this resonant circuit can be expressed as
N
N
(1)
vc 2 (t ) = V g r (Vg r Vc max ) cos 0 t
Np
Np
(V g
i ds
Vc max
ic 2
N
Vg r
Np
v ds
ton
(3)
LLK C 2
Characteristic impedance is
797
ii
and D1 are reverse biased. Diode D3 is on until Vc2 drops to the
reflected input voltage, Vg*Nr/Np. During the transistor-on
period, Vc2 is approximately equal to the voltage of the clamp
winding Nr.
id 1
VC 2 =
id 2
iC 2
iLK
id 3
vds
VC 2 >
(a)
Vo
t off
Ns
Vc max
vc 2
ic 2
ic 2
LLK
Vc min
Nr >
Vc min
t4
(c)
Fig. 5. (a) Interval t2~t3 sub-circuit
(b) Equivalent circuit of interval t2~t3
In interval t3~t4: After t3, the current in the leakage
inductance decreases to zero until the next turn-on state. The
whole processes of four intervals repeat in each cycle.
The analysis shows that the snubber capacitor C2 and reset
winding Nr are two crucial parameters to the operation of
circuit. The design procedures will be depicted in the next
section.
Ns
Np
Lm
Vo N p2
Vg N s
(14)
IV. SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
PSIM simulation program was used to emulate the
performance and a prototype of flyback converter was built as
shown in Fig. 7.
i d 1 D1
C1
(13)
Timing limitation: It is required that during transistor-on
time the half cycle of the LC resonant should be completed.
This gives a constraint on the maximum value of clamp
capacitance.
2
T on N p
1
(16)
C 2 <
L
N
r
LK
(c) Voltage and current waveforms of C2
ii
Ns
Choice of the clamp capacitance: To meet the requirement
of (13), the minimum voltage level of C2, Vc min , in (11) needs
to be greater than Vo*Np/Ns. Solving the inequality, the
capacitance is given as follows
I m2 LLK
(15)
C2
N
N
D
1
p
4 Vo2 ( r
)2
Ns D
Ns
Im
t 2 t3
(b)
Vo N p
Substituting (12) into (13), the turns of clamp winding can be
determined by the inequality
Np
iL
(12)
Voltage Vc2 must be greater than the reflected output
voltage so that D1 will not be reverse biased during the
transistor-off period, otherwise the energy stored in Lm will be
totally transferred to the capacitor instead of the output
winding. Therefore,
i ds
vC 2
Nr
Vg
Np
Vo
D2
id 2
iC 2
Vg
C2
D3
id 3
LLK
iLK
i ds
vC 2
vds
Nr
Fig. 6. Interval t3~t4 sub-circuit
III. DESIGN PROCEDURES
Fig. 7. 50W prototype of flyback with energy regenerative snubber
Turns of reset winding: When the transistor is on, diode D2
798
The experiment conditions are:
Input voltage range:
Output voltage:
Maximum output power:
Switching frequency:
300V ~ 400V
24V
50W
100kHz
The figures shown below are in the same time scale. It can
be observed from Fig. 8 ~ Fig. 13. that t0~t1 is the period
when clamp capacitor C2 discharges through Q1 and Nr while
D3. C2 and LLK resonant . The current of C2 is a half sine wave
and the voltage of C2 is a half cosine wave. Between t2 to t3,
the snubber is in clamp mode. The energy stored in leakage
inductance is transferred to C2 during this time. The leakage
current dropped to zero quickly. In Fig. 9, a gradual drain-tosource voltage-rise is visible when the MOSFET is turned off.
Fig. 9, Fig. 11 and Fig. 13 are experimental waveforms which
are in accordance with the theoretical analysis and simulation.
For efficiency study, a comparison is made with the
traditional RCD method and the LC lossless snuber method.
The power efficiencies were measured on the same flyback
prototype with different snubbers. The designed parameters of
RCD, non-dissipative LC and energy regenerative snubber are
given in Table II, Table III and Table IV, respectively. The
curves of efficiency of three different snubbers under the same
voltage stress are shown in Fig.13. It is observed that the
overall efficiency of energy regenerative snubber is about 8%
higher than that of RCD and about 2 % higher than that of the
non-dissipative LC snubber,
Fig. 8. Simulated voltage waveform of transistor
ton
toff
vds
t2
t3
Table II The parameters of flyback with RCD snubber
Np
Ns
Lm
LLK
Rsnubber
Csnubber
74
11
2.33mH
36.3uH
20kohm
100nF
Fig. 9. Experimental voltage waveform of transistor
Table III The parameters of flyback with Non-dissipative LC snubber
Np
Ns
Lm
LLK
Lsnubber
Csnubber
74
11
2.33mH
36.3uH
4.5uH
1nF
Table IV The parameters of flyback with energy regenerative snubber
Np
Ns
Nr
Lm
LLK
Csnubber
74
11
48
2.33mH
36.3uH
10nF
Fig. 10. Simulated current waveform of transistor
799
V. CONCLUSION
With an RCD snubber, the voltage stress of the switch and
the power dissipation of the snubber are a trade-off. They are
determined by the value of snubber resistor. The high power
dissipation has long been its drawback. The non-dissipative
LC snubber can significantly reduce the loss of snubber circuit.
However, an extra inductor for the snubber increases the cost
and makes design more complicated. In comparison, the
voltage stress of the energy regenerative snubber is set by the
turns of reset winding Nr without sacrificing efficiency.
Moreover, the clamp winding shares the same core with the
transformer, which is cost effective and easier to design. The
experimental efficiency in Fig. 14. shows that under the same
voltage stress the efficiency of energy regenerative snubber
has 8% improvement in average over RCD snubber and 2%
improvement over nondispative LC snubber.
ids
Fig. 11. Experimental current waveform of transistor
0.9
)
%
( 0.85
cyn 0.8
ei 0.75
icff
E 0.7
Energy Reg.
RCD
LC
0.65
20
30
40
50
Output Power (W)
Fig. 14. Experimental efficiency measured with RCD, non-dissipative snubber
and energy regenerative snubber.
REFERENCES
[1] Moshe Domb, Richard Redl, and Nathan O Sokal Non-dissipative Turn
Off Snubber Alleviates Switching Power Dissipation, SecondBreakdown Stress and VCE Overshoot: Analysis, Design Procedure and
Experimental Verification.
[2] Moshe Domb, Richard Redl, and Nathan O Sokal Non-dissipative TurnOff Snubber in a Forward Converter: Analysis, Design Procedure, and
Experimental Verification PCI Proceeding 1985.
[3] K. M. Smith, Chuanwen Ji, and K. M. Smedley, Energy regenerative
clamp for flyback Converter, UCI, invention disclosure, Sept. 1998.
[4] Chuanwen Ji, K. Mark Smith, Jr., and Keyue M. Smedley Cross
Regulation in Flyback Converters: Analytic Model and Solution IEEE
Trans. On Power Electronics, Vol. 16, No.2, March 2001.
[5] Alenka Hren, Joze Korelic, and Miro Milanovic RC-RCD Clamp
Circuit for Ringing Losses Reduction in a Flyback Converter IEEE
Trans. On Circuits and systemsII:Express Briefs. Vol. 53. No. 5 May
2006.
[6] Tsu-Hua Ai, A Novel Integrated Non-dissipative Snubber for Flyback
Converter
[7] Robert W. Ericson, and Dragon Maksimovic, Fundamentals of Power
Electronics Second Edition.
[8] N. Mohan, T. M. Undeland, and W. P. Robbins, Power Electronics;
Converter, Applications and Design Third Edition.
[9] Snubber Circuits Suppress Voltage Transient Spikes in Multiple Output
DC-DC Flyback Converter Power Supplies, Application note 848,
[Link]
Fig. 12. Simulated voltage and current waveforms of C2
vc 2
ic 2
Fig. 13. Experimental voltage and current waveforms of C2
800