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A Cascaded High Step-Up DCDC Converter With Single Switch for Microsource Applications
Shih-Ming Chen, Student Member, IEEE, Tsorng-Juu Liang, Member, IEEE, Lung-Sheng Yang, and Jiann-Fuh Chen, Member, IEEE

AbstractThis paper proposes a new high step-up dcdc converter designed especially for regulating the dc interface between various microsources and a dcac inverter to electricity grid. The guration of the proposed converter is a quadratic boost converter with the coupled inductor in the second boost converter. The converter achieves high step-up voltage gain with appropriate duty ratio and low voltage stress on the power switch. Additionally, the energy stored in the leakage inductor of the coupled inductor can be recycled to the output capacitor. The operating principles and steady-state analyses of continuous-conduction mode and boundary-conduction mode are discussed in detail. To verify the performance of the proposed converter, a 280-W prototype sample is implemented with an input voltage range of 2040 V and an output voltage of up to 400 V. The upmost efciency of 93.3% is reached with high-line input; on the other hand, the full-load efciency remains at 89.3% during low-line input. Index TermsBoostyback converter, coupled inductor, high step-up voltage gain, microgrid, microsource, single switch.

I. INTRODUCTION

ENEWABLE energy is becoming increasingly important and prevalent in distribution systems, which provide different choices to electricity consumers whether they receive power from the main electricity source or in forming a microsource not only to fulll their own demand but alternatively to be a power producer supplying a microgrid [1], [2], [31][33]. A microgrid usually includes various microsources and loads, which operate as an independent and controllable system when they are either grid-connected or islanded, as well as when they can reliably connect or disconnect [2], [33]. The microsource is classied either as a dc source or as a highfrequency ac source [3]. These two microsource categories are comprised of diverse renewable energy applications, such as solar cell modules, fuel cell stacks, wind turbines, and reciprocating engines [4], [31], [32]. Fig. 1 shows a regular schematic of a microgrid unit supplied by various microsources; the high step-up converter is used to increase the output voltage of the microsource to 380400 V for the dc interface to the main elec-

Manuscript received June 30, 2010; revised September 27, 2010; accepted October 23, 2010. Date of current version June 10, 2011. This work was supported by the National Science Council of Taiwan under project NSC 98-2220-E-006-014, and by the Bureau of Energy, Ministry of Economic Affairs 98-D0204-2. Recommended by the Associate Editor F. L. Luo. The authors are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, National Cheng-Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan (e-mail: orion.chen@ msa.hinet.net; tjliang@mail.ncku.edu.tw; yanglungsheng@yahoo.com.tw; chenjf@mail.ncku.edu.tw). Digital Object Identier 10.1109/TPEL.2010.2090362

tricity source through the dcac inverter [2], [4], [31]. Both the single solar cell module and the fuel cell stack are essentially low-voltage sources, and thus, a high step-up voltage gain dc dc converter is required to regulate the voltage of the dcdc interface. Previous research on various converters for high step-up applications has included analyses of the switched-inductor and switched-capacitor types [5], [6], [24], [25], the boost type integrating with the switched-capacitor technique [7], [25], the voltage-lift type [8], [9], the capacitor-diode voltage multiplier type [10], and the transformerless dcdc converters [11], [23]. In these converters the voltage gain is not enough to convert to a suitable ac source as a model microsource [1], in case of extremely high voltage gain is required, to using series connection of converter is able to reach much higher voltage gain. As known, the efciency and voltage gain of dcdc boost converter are restrained by either the parasitic effect of power switches or the reverse-recovery issue of diodes. In addition, the equivalent series resistance (ESR) of capacitor and the parasitic resistances of inductor are also affecting overall efciency [5][26]. Although an alternative solution is the dcdc yback converter along with some advantages such as simple structure, easy control, and cost effective, the energy of leakage inductor of the transformer leads to low efciency and high-voltage stress across the active switch. To employ an active clamp technique not only to recycle the leakage inductor energy of the transformer but to constrain the voltage stress is the crossed active switch [12][14], however, the tradeoff is of higher cost and a complex control circuit. Some converters effectively combined both boost and yback converters as one or other different converter combinations are developed to carry out high step-up voltage gain by using the coupled-inductor technique [15][17]. Due to voltage gain has restricted by the voltage stress on the active switch, once the leakage inductor energy of the coupled-inductor can be recycled that reduced the voltage stress on active switch, this leads to the coupled inductor and the voltage-multiplier or voltage-lift techniques are successfully accomplished the goal of higher voltage gain [18][26]. This paper presents a cascaded high step-up dcdc converter to increase the output voltage of the microsource to a proper voltage level for the dc interface through dcac inverter to the main electricity grid. The proposed converter is a quadratic boost converter with the coupled inductor in the second boost converter. The circuit diagram of the proposed converter is shown in Fig. 2; the proposed circuit can be divided as a conventional boost converter and a boostyback converter [15]. These two segments are named rst boost stage and second boost stage. The rst

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Fig. 1.

Basic schematic of the microgrid consisted of diversely microsources and power converters.

Fig. 2.

Circuit conguration of the proposed converter.

respectively. In order to simplify the circuit analysis of the proposed converter, some assumptions are stated as follows. 1) All components are ideally considered except the leakage inductor of the coupled inductor. The ON-state resistance RD S (ON) and all parasitic capacitors of the main switch S1 are neglected; in addition, the forward voltage drop of the diodes D1 D4 is ignored. 2) All capacitors are sufciently large, and the voltages across capacitors are considered as constant during one switching period. 3) The ESRs of all capacitors C1 , CO 1 , and CO 2 are neglected. 4) The turn ratio n of dual-winding coupled inductor T1 is equal to N2 /N1 . The operating principle of continuous-conduction mode (CCM) is presented in detail later. A. CCM Operation Fig. 4 shows several typical waveforms during ve operating modes at one switching period TS while both the input inductor Lin and the magnetizing inductor Lm are operated in CCM. The operating modes are described as follows. 1) Mode I [t0 , t1 ]: In this transition interval, switch S1 is turned ON. Diodes D1 and D3 are conducted but diodes D2 and D4 are turned OFF. The path of the current ow is shown in Fig. 5(a). The energy of the dc source Vin is transferred to the input inductor Lin through the diode D1 , and the voltage across the input inductor Lin is Vin ; the input current iin is equal to iD 1 and is increased. The capacitor C1 delivers its energy to the magnetizing inductor Lm and the primary leakage inductor Lk 1 . The voltage across the magnetizing inductor Lm and the primary leakage inductor Lk 1 is VC 1 , but the magnetizing inductor Lm keeps on transferring its energy through the secondary leakage inductor Lk 2 to the charge capacitor CO 2 so that both currents iL k 2 and iL m decrease, until the increasing iL k 1 reaches and equals to decreasing iL m ; in the meantime, the current iL k 2 is down to zero at t = t1 this mode is ended. The energies stored in capacitors CO 1 and CO 2 are constantly discharged to the load R. 2) Mode II [t1 , t2 ]: During this interval, the switch S1 is remained ON. Only the diode D1 is conducted and rest of other diodes D2 , D3 , and D4 are turned OFF. The path of the current ow is shown in Fig. 5(b). The energy of the dc source Vin is still stored into the input inductor Lin through the diode D1 . The energy that has charged the capacitor C1 is still delivered to the magnetizing inductor Lm and primary leakage inductor Lk 1 . The voltage across

Fig. 3.

Simplied circuit model of the proposed converter.

boost stage is like a boost converter that includes an input inductor Lin , two diodes D1 and D2 , and a pumping capacitor C1 . The second boost stage is a boostyback converter that includes a dual-winding coupled inductor T1 , two diodes D3 and D4 , and two output capacitors CO 1 , and CO 2 . In particular, these two stages are driven by a single switch S1 . The features of this converter are as follows: 1) the quadratic boost converter is effectively extended to a voltage conversion ratio and the rst boost stage also beneted the input current ripple reduction; 2) the leakage inductor energy of the coupled inductor can be recycled, which reduces the voltage stress on the active switch, and also the conversion efciency is signicantly improved. II. OPERATING PRINCIPLE OF THE PROPOSED CONVERTER The simplied circuit model of the proposed converter is shown in Fig. 3. The dual-winding coupled inductor consisted of a magnetizing inductor Lm , primary leakage inductor Lk 1 , secondary leakage inductor Lk 2 , and an ideal transformer, which constituted the primary and secondary windings, N1 and N2 ,

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and D4 are still conducted. The path of the current ow is shown in Fig. 5(d). Almost statuses are remained as Mode III except the condition of primary leakage inductor Lk 1 is in series with capacitor C1 as a voltage source VC 1 through magnetizing inductor Lm then discharged or released their energies to load. Thus, currents iin , iD 2 , iD 4 , iL m , and iL k 1 are persistently decreased, but currents iC O 2 , iL k 2 , and iD 3 are still increased. The energy stored in capacitors CO 1 and CO 2 is discharged to the load R. This mode is ended when current iL k 1 is decreased until zero at t = t4 . 5) Mode V [t4 , t0 ]: During this interval, switch S1 and diode D1 are remain OFF; diode D4 is turned OFF and diodes D2 and D3 are keep conducted. The path of the current ow is shown in Fig. 5(e). The dc source Vin and input inductor Lin are connected serially and still charged to capacitor C1 with their energies. The magnetizing inductor Lm continuously transferred its own magnetizing energy through coupled inductor T1 and diode D3 to the secondary leakage inductor Lk 2 and to the charge capacitor CO 2 . Thus, currents iin , iD 2 , iD 3 , iL k 2 , and im are decreased. The energies stored in capacitors CO 1 and CO 2 are discharged to the load. This mode is end when switch S1 is turned ON at the beginning of the next switching period. III. STEADY-STATE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPOSED CONVERTER A. CCM Operation Since the time durations of Modes I and IV are transition periods, only Modes II, III, and V are considered at CCM operation for the steady-state analysis. During the time duration of Mode II, the main switch S1 is conducted, and the coupling coefcient of the coupled inductor k is considered as Lm /(Lm +Lk 1 ). The following equations can be written from Fig. 5(b): vL in = Vin vL m Lm = VC 1 = kVC 1 Lm + Lk 1 (1) (2) (3) (4)

Fig. 4. Some typical waveforms of the proposed converter both L m and L in are CCM operation.

magnetizing inductor Lm and primary leakage inductor Lk 1 is VC 1 . Thus, currents iin , iD 1 , iL m , and iL k 1 are increased. The energies stored in capacitors CO 1 and CO 2 are still discharged to the load R. This mode is ended when switch S1 is turned OFF at t = t2 . 3) Mode III [t2 , t3 ]: During this interval, switch S1 and diode D1 are turned OFF; the diodes D2 , D3 , and D4 are conducted. The path of the current ow is shown in Fig. 5(c). The dc source Vin and input inductor Lin are connected serially to the charge capacitor C1 with their energies. Meanwhile, the primary leakage inductor Lk 1 is in series with capacitor C1 as a voltage source VC 1 through magnetizing inductor Lm then delivered their energies to the charge capacitor CO 1 . The magnetizing inductor Lm also transferred the magnetizing energy through coupled inductor T1 to secondary leakage inductor Lk 2 and to charge capacitor CO 2 . Thus, currents iin , iD 2 , iD 4 , iL m , and iL k 1 are decreased, but currents iC 1 , iL k 2 , and iD 3 are increased. The energies stored in capacitors CO 1 and CO 2 are discharged to the load R. This mode is ended when the current iC O 1 is dropped till zero at t = t3 . 4) Mode IV [t3 , t4 ]: During this transition interval, switch S1 and diode D1 are remained OFF; and diodes D2 , D3 ,

vL k 1 = VC 1 VL m = (1 k )VC 1 v L k 2 = n vL m .

During the period of Modes III and V that main switch S1 is turned OFF, the following equations can be found as vL in = Vin VC 1 vL m = V C 1 V C O 1 V L k 1 vL k 2 = nvL m VC O 2 (5) (6) (7)

where the turn ratio of the coupled-inductor n is equal to N2 /N1 . The voltage across inductor Lin by the volt-second balance principle is shown as
D TS TS

Vin dt +
0 D TS

(Vin VC 1 )dt = 0

(8) (9)

VC 1 =

1 Vin . 1D

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Fig. 5. Path of the current ow of operating modes during one switching period at CCM operation. (a) Mode I. (b) Mode II. (c) Mode III. (d) Mode IV. (e) Mode V.

The voltage across magnetizing inductor Lm by the volt-second balance principle is shown as
D TS TS

VC O 2 =

nkD nkD VC 1 VL k 2 = Vin nVL k 1 . 1D (1 D)2

(13)

kVC 1 dt +
0 D TS D TS TS

(VC 1 VC O 1 VL k 1 )dt = 0 (VC O 2 VL k 2 ) dt = 0. n

The output voltage VO can be express as (10) (11) VO = VC O 1 + VC O 2 . (14)

kVC 1 dt +
0 D TS

By substituting (3), (12), and (13) into (14), we can obtain the voltage gain MCCM : MCCM = VO k (n + 1) + n(D 1) = . Vin (1 D)2 (15)

Substitute (9) into (10) and (11), and assume that Lk 2 is equal to nLk 1 ; thus VC O 1 and VC O 2 can be obtained from the following equations: VC O 1 = 1 D + kD 1 D + kD VC 1 VL k 1 = Vin VL k 1 1D (1 D)2 (12)

Fig. 6 shows a line chart of the voltage gain versus the dutyratio D under three different coupling coefcients of the coupled inductor while n = 4.4 is given. It revealed that the coupling coefcient k is almost unaffected. By substituting k = 1 into (15) and (13), the inputoutput voltage gain can be simplied

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B. Boundary Condition Mode Operation (BCM) In terms of the power utility ratio of some microsources, photovoltaic module is about 6090% usually. The boundary condition is designed regularly at 2540% full load for practical application and commercial products. That is, a major design feature of the proposed converter is operated at CCM. For steady-state analysis, the boundary condition mode (BCM) is presented in detail as follows. The two peak values of the magnetizing inductor current IL m p and the input inductor current Iinp are given as IL m p = Iinp = DTS VC 1 Lm DTS Vin . Lin (22) (23)

Fig. 6. Voltage gain versus duty ratio at CCM operation under n = 4.4 and diverse k .

The DL is dened as the duration of the magnetizing inductor current from peak ramped down to zero, and the DX is dened as the duration of the diode current iD 4 from peak ramped down to zero. The average values of iD 3 and iD 4 during each switching period are written as ID 3 = ID 4 (DL DX )IL m p 2n DX IL m p = 2 DL . 1+n (24) (25)

from (24) and (25); DX is obtained as DX =

Fig. 7. Voltage gain versus duty ratio of the proposed converter, the converters in [16], [18], and [19] at CCM operation under n = 4.4 and k = 1.

(26)

The output current IO is derived as follows: VC O 1 + VC O 2 nVC 1 + (n + 1)VC O 2 VO = = . (27) R R R Since the average currents of output capacitors IC O 1 and IC O 2 are zero in steady state, the average values of iD 3 and iD 4 are, respectively, equal to the average value of iO . By substituting (24), (25), and (26) into (27), IO can be rewritten as IO = IO = (DL DL /(1 + n))VC 1 TS D VO = . R 2Lm (28)

as MCCM = MCCM
T1

VO 1 + nD = Vin (1 D)2 VC O 2 nD . = VC 1 1D

(16) (17)

Fig. 7 demonstrates the voltage gain versus the duty ratio of the proposed converter and other converters in [16], [18], and [19] at CCM operation under k = 1 and n = 4.4. As long as the duty ratio of the proposed converter is larger than 0.55, the voltage gain is higher than the converters in [16], [18], and [19]. Referring to the description of CCM operating modes, the voltage stresses on S1 and D1 D4 are given as VD S = VD 4 = VD 1 = VD 2 VD 3 VO 1 + nD (18) (19) (20) (21)

The normalized magnetizing-inductor time constant L m is dened as L m = Lm Lm fS = RTS R (29)

where fS is the switching frequency. By substituting (28) into (29), the voltage conversion of VC O 2 and VC 1 can be obtained as follows: n + VC O 2 = VC 1 n2 + (2D2 n2 /L m ) . 2(n + 1) (30)

DVO 1 + nD

(1 D)VO = 1 + nD nVO . = 1 + nD

When the proposed converter is operated in BCM, (17) equal to (30) yields the boundary normalized magnetizing-inductor time constant L m B : L m B = Lm B D(1 D)2 . = RTS 2(n2 D + nD + n + 1) (31)

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Fig. 8.

Boundary condition of L m of the proposed converter under n = 4.4.

Fig. 10. 4.4.

Boundary condition of L in of the proposed converter under n =

The curve of L in B is plotted in Fig. 10. Once the L in is higher than L in B , the input inductor is operated in CCM. IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS A 280-W prototype sample is presented to demonstrate the practicability of the proposed converter. The electrical specication is Vin = 20 V, VO = 400 V, fS = 40 kHz, and PO = 280 W (the full-load resistance R = 570 ). The requirement of major components such as C1 = 1000 F and CO 1 is the same as CO 2 = 220 F, the main switch S1 is MOSFET IXFK180N15P, both the diodes D1 and D2 are MBR30100CT, D3 is BYR29-600, and MBR20200CT is selected to D4 . Based on specications, the voltage gain is up to 20 and n = 4.4. Substituting into (16), the duty ratio D is about 0.58. Then, by substituting D and n into (31) and (34), the boundary normalized magnetizing-inductor time constant L m B is obtained as 0.002667, and the boundary normalized input-inductor time constant L in B is obtained as 0.000715. To dene the proposed converter operated in CCM, the boundary condition is designed at 40% full load, and the load resistance R is approximated to 1400 . When both L m and L in are larger than L m B and L in B , respectively, the proposed converter operated in CCM. The Lm and Lin are found as Lm B fS > 0.002667 Lm > 93.4 H R Lin B fS > 0.000715 Lin > 25 H. R (35) (36)

Fig. 9. Ratio curves of magnetizing inductor and input inductor versus duty ratios for different turn ratios.

The curve of L m B is plotted in Fig. 8. Once the L m is higher than L m B , the coupled inductor is operated in CCM. The voltage gain of the second boost stage can be derived as 1 (4Lm D(1 + n)/Lin (D(1 + n) + DL )) 2 (32) while the second boost stage of the proposed converter is operated in BCM, the DL is equal to (1 D) and also the (9) is equal to (32); the ratio of the magnetizing inductor Lm and input inductor Lin can be obtained as 1+ VC 1 = Vin Lm nD + 1 = . Lin (1 + n)(1 D)2 (33)

The curves in Fig. 9 are illustrated as the ratio of magnetizing inductor and input inductor Lm /Lin versus the duty ratio for different turn ratios, which is shown in the correlation of Lm and Lin . These two inductors are applied to the same of duty ratio due to both are driven by the same switch S1 . By substituting (33) into (31), the boundary normalized input-inductor time constant L in B can be derived as L in B = Lin B D(1 D)4 = . RTS 2(nD + 1)2 (34)

The actual inductance on input inductor Lin and the magnetizing inductor Lm of coupled inductor are measured as 29 and 94 H, respectively. The practical operating condition is Vin = 20 V, VO = 400 V, and PO = 280 W and derived by 40-kHz gate signal, all experimental waveforms are measured and shown in Fig. 11. As shown in Fig. 11(a), the waveform of the input current Iin is continuous, and the waveforms of current iD S and voltage vD S cross the switch S1 . Fig. 11(b) shows the current waveforms through diodes D1 , D2 , D3 , and D4 . Fig. 11(c) shows the waveforms of voltage are across capacitors C1 , CO 1 , CO 2 , and load. From

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Fig. 12.

Measured efciency of the proposed converter.

92.5% at full-load condition the output load is decreased to about 30% of the full load, and the maximum efciency is 93.3%.

V. CONCLUSION A boost converter and a yback converter are successfully combined as a quadratic boost converter driven by a single switch and achieved high step-up voltage gain; the voltage gain is up to 20 times more than the input. The leakage energy of coupled-inductor can be recycled, which is effectively constrained the voltage stress of the main switch S1 and benets the low ON-state resistance RD S (ON) can be selected. The upmost efciency 93.3% is measured at high-line input, while the full-load efciency still remains at 89.3%. As long as the technology of active snubber, auxiliary resonant circuit, synchronous rectiers, or switched-capacitor-based resonant circuits employed in converter are able to achieve soft switching on the main switch to reaching higher efciency [27][30]. REFERENCES
[1] C. L. Smallwood, Distributed generation in autonomous and nonautonomous micro grids, in Proc. IEEE Rural Electric Power Conf., May 2002, pp. D1-1D1-6. [2] E. M. Fleming and I. A. Hiskens, Dynamic of a mircogrid supplied by solid oxide fuel cells, in Proc. IEEE, iREP Symp., Aug. 2007, pp. 110. [3] R. H. Lasseter, MicroGrids, IEEE Power Eng. Soc. Winter Meet., 2002, vol. 1, pp. 305308. [4] A. Kwasinski and P. T. Krein, A microgrid-based telecom power system using modular multiple-input DCDC converters, in Proc. IEEE Int. Telecommun. Energy Conf. (INTELEC), 2005, pp. 515520. [5] B. Axelrod, Y. Berkovich, and A. Ioinovici, Switched-capacitor/ switched-inductor structures for getting transformerless hybrid DCDC PWM converters, IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. I, Reg. Papers, vol. 55, no. 2, pp. 687696, Mar. 2008. [6] F. L. Luo, Switched-capacitorized DC/DC converters, in Proc. IEEE Conf. Ind. Electron. Appl. (ICIEA), 2009, pp. 10741079. [7] O. Abutbul, A. Gherlitz, Y. Berkovich, and A. Ioinovici, Step-up switching-mode converter with high voltage gain using a switchedcapacitor circuit, IEEE Trans. Syst. I, Fundam. Theory Appl., vol. 50, no. 8, pp. 10981102, Aug. 2003. [8] F. L. Luo and H. Ye, Positive output multiple-lift pushpull switchedcapacitor Luo-converters, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 594602, Jun. 2004. [9] F. L. Luo, Six self-lift DCDC converters, voltage lift technique, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 48, no. 6, pp. 12681272, Dec. 2001. [10] D. Zhou, A. Pietkiewicz, and S. Cuk, A three-switch high-voltage converter, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 177183, Jan. 1999.

Fig. 11. Experimental waveforms are obtained by the condition of fS = 40 kHz, V in = 20 V and output 280 W. (a) v G S , Iin , v D S , and iD S . (b) iD 1 , iD 2 , iD 3 , and iD 4 . (c) V C 1 , VC O 1 , VC O 2 , and V O .

these experiments, waveforms are agreed with the operating principle and the steady-state analysis. In terms of diversely applications, the nominal output voltage of a single fuel cell stack or solar cell module about 24 V to 36 V by 150 W to 250 W power capacity. The proposed converter input voltage range is from 20 to 40 V which completely fulll the utilization of regular microsources. This experiment also veries the performances of converter efciency at high-line (40 V) and low-line (20 V) input voltages by different loadings as shown in Fig. 12. Once the low-line input voltage is applied, the highest efciency is up to 92.1% at 30% of full load; in the case of the full-load condition, the efciency still reached to 89.3%. When the high-line input voltage is applied, that efciency is up to

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Shih-Ming Chen (S01) was born in Tainan, Taiwan. He received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the Southern Taiwan University of Technology, Tainan, in 1999. He received the rst M.S. degree in business and operations management from Chang-Jung Christian University, Tainan, in 2001, and the second in electrical engineering from National Cheng-Kung University, Tainan, in 2003. From 1991 to 1995, he was a Research and Design Engineer at LUMIN Electronics, Taiwan. From 1995 to 1999, he was a Section Manager of the Engineer Department at Delta Electronics, Inc., Taipei, Taiwan. From 1999 to 2002, he was a Manager Incharge of the Tainan R&D Center, Sino-American Electronic Company, Ltd., Taiwan. In 2002, he was a Section Manager at Product Development of LCD-TV Head Division, CHIMEI Optoelectronics Corporation. In 2009, he has rejoined Delta Electronics as Senior Manager in the Division of LCD Display Power. His research interests include dc-to-dc converters, switching power supply, uninterrupted power system, cold cathode uorescent lamp/ external electrode uorescent lamp inverter design, and LED driver and chromatics control. Tsorng-Juu Liang (M93) was born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. He received the B.S. degree in electrophysics from National Chiao-Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, in 1985, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Missouri, Columbia, in 1990 and 1993, respectively. From June 1987 to May 1989, he was a Research and Design Engineer at TECO Electric and Machinery Company, Taiwan. From 1990 to 1993, he was a Research Assistant in the Power Electronics Research Center, University of Missouri. From 1993 to 1998, he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Kaohsiung Polytechnic Institute, Kaohsiung County, Taiwan. Since 1998, he has been with the Department of Electrical Engineering, National ChengKung University (NCKU), Tainan, Taiwan, where he is currently a Professor. From 2001 to 2004 he was the Director of Electrical Laboratories, NCKU. His research interests include inverter design, electronic ballast, dcto-dc converters, switching power supply, back light inverter, renewable energy conversion, power integrated circuit, and high-power applications. Dr. Liang is a member of the IEEE societies of power electronics, industrial electronics, circuits and system, and industrial applications.

Lung-Sheng Yang was born in Tainan, Taiwan, in 1967. He received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from National Taiwan Institute of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, in 1990, the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, in 1992, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from National ChengKung University (NCKU), Tainan, in 2007. He is currently an Assistant Researcher in the Department of Electrical Engineering, NCKU. His research interests include power factor correction, dc dc converters, renewable energy conversion, and electronic ballast.

Jiann-Fuh Chen (S79M80) was born in ChungHua, Taiwan, in 1955. He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from National Cheng-Kung University (NCKU), Tainan, Taiwan, in 1978, 1980, and 1985, respectively. Since 1980, he has been with the Department of Electrical Engineering at NCKU, where he is currently a Professor. His research interests include power electronics and energy conversion.