Homework

Assignment #1: Chapter 4 Part 1

Converter Circuits
University of Colorado, Boulder
Prof. Robert Erickson

Questions 1-10 below involve realizing the ideal switches of two converters using
single-quadrant, two-quadrant, or four-quadrant switches as appropriate. For these
problems, you should do the following:
1. Solve the converter to find how the capacitor voltages and inductor currents vary
with duty cycle and the intended converter operation. Are these quantities
positive for some operating points or duty cycles, and negative for others, or
do they always have the same polarity?
2. Find how the switch off-stage voltages and on-state currents depend on the duty
cycle and converter operating point. Are these quantities positive for some
duty cycles and operating points, and negative for others, or do they always
have the same polarity?
3. From the above, determine what type of switch (single-quadrant, current
bidirectional, voltage bidirectional, or four-quadrant) is needed for each ideal
switch element in the converter.
4. Sketch the converter circuit, and enter the switch type and its polarity in the
appropriate fields below. You must enter the simplest switch realization; for
example, the grader will give no credit for a four-quadrant switch when a
two-quadrant switch will suffice
The following nine switch types are possible:

Ideal SPST
a

Single-quadrant switches
a

Current-bidirectional two-quadrant

t1

t2

SWx

d1

d2

Voltage-bidirectional two-quadrant
a
a

b
2qv1

b
2qv2

2qi1

2qi2

Four-quadrant switch
a

b
4q

Note that all switch types except for the four-quadrant switch include a realization
having reversed polarity. The polarities are defined with respect to terminals a and
b of the ideal SPST switch, as shown. Each switch type is designated by a name such
as d1, listed below the switch above. You must enter the name of the appropriate
switch type when asked.

Sketch the converter circuit, and enter the switch type and its polarity in the
appropriate fields below. You must enter the simplest switch realization; for
example, the grader will give no credit for a four-quadrant switch when a twoquadrant switch will suffice

Question 1

In the power converter illustrated below, SW2 and SW3 conduct for the first interval
of length DTs. SW1 and SW4 conduct for the second interval of length DTs. You may
assume the converter is ideal, and hence ignore all losses. You may also assume that
all inductor current ripples and capacitor voltage ripples are small.

IL1

L2

L1

a
SW1

Vg

b
a
SW2

C1

+
VC1

SW3

IL2

+
a

C2

VC2

SW4

You are asked to enter expressions for intermediate steps in your analysis; these
expressions must be entered as computer-readable expressions using the exact
variable names as defined below:
Input voltage Vg
Capacitor voltage VC1
Capacitor voltage VC2
Inductor current IL1
Inductor current IL2
Duty cycle D
Load resistance R

When entering equations, these variable names are case-sensitive and must be
entered exactly as defined above; for example, D*(Vg-V)/R. The complement of the
duty cycle should be entered as (1-D). When numeric values are requested, a single
numeric value must be entered that is accurate to within plus or minus 0.1% of the
value computed using the methods described in lecture. Switch types must carefully
follow the polarities with respect to the terminals labeled a and b.

It is highly recommended that you first sketch the converter circuit and work the
questions with pencil and paper. Then enter your answers into the fields below.

Derive an expression for the converter output voltage VC2. Express your result in
terms of Vg and D. Enter your expression in the field below.

Question 2. Derive an expression for the inductor current IL1. Express your result
in terms of Vg, R, and D. Enter your expression in the field below.

Question 3. Enter the switch type for SW1.

Question 4. Enter the switch type for SW2.

Question 5. Enter the switch type for SW3.

Question 6. Enter the switch type for SW4.

Question 7. Questions 7 11 concern the solar photovoltaic (PV) microinverter
illustrated below. In a PV microinverter, a power electronics system converts the dc
power produced by a solar PV panel to ac form, and supplies this ac power to the
utility grid.

Solar
Photovoltaic
Panel

Inverter
+
Vpv

DC-DC
Boost
Converter

+
C

Vbus

SW1

SW3

b
a

vs(t) +

b
a

SW2

SW4

Utility
Grid
L

iac(t)
+
vac(t)

The DC-DC boost converter boosts the PV panel voltage Vpv to the high-voltage dc
bus Vbus. The bus voltage Vbus has negligible ripple and is essentially dc. The inverter
switches SW1 to SW4 are controlled such that the switch output voltage vs(t) has the
same low-frequency average as the ac utility voltage vac(t). The inductors connected
between the inverter switches and the utility grid have small switching ripple but
small impedance at the grid frequency, and iac(t) is essentially a line-frequency
sinusoid that is in-phase with vac(t). All losses can be neglected.

Typical waveforms for a residential PV system in the USA are Vbus = 400 V, vac(t) =
2 (240 V) sin(t), and iac(t) = 2 (1 A) sin(t). The ac line frequency is 60 Hz, and
hence = 260.
The duty cycles of switches SW1 and SW2 are controlled so that vs(t) has an average
over each switching period that is equal to vac(t), with a switching frequency of 50

kHz. Switches SW3 and SW4 are switched at the ac line frequency of 60 Hz: SW3 is
on when vac(t) > 0, and SW4 is on when vac(t) < 0. SW3 and SW4 have small
switching loss because their switching frequencies are low.

On paper, sketch the waveforms of the voltages across SW2 and across SW4, over
one ac line cycle. Then sketch the waveforms of the off-state voltage and on-state
current of SW1, over one ac line cycle. How should we realize SW1?

Question 8. For the inverter described in Question 7, enter the switch type for SW2.

Question 9. For the inverter described in Question 7, enter the switch type for SW3.

Question 10. For the inverter described in Question 7, enter the switch type for
SW4.

Question 11. For Question 11, the peak ac utility voltage is denoted VM and the ac
utility angular frequency is , so that vac(t) = VM sin t in the inverter described in
Question 7.

Enter a math expression for the duty cycle of SW2, for the ac utility half cycle when
vac > 0. Your expression should be written in terms of the following variable names:
For VM, enter VM
For , enter w
For t, enter t
For Vbus, enter Vbus
You can enter sin x as sin(x)

Extra Credit
Question 12. This extra credit problem is an additional question concerning the
solar inverter system of Questions 7-11 above. Assignment 1 can be passed without
answering this question.

The switching ripple i in the current iac(t) varies over the ac utility line cycle.
Calculate the maximum value of the ripple i (in amps), for the following element
values:
AC utility voltage is 240 Vrms
DC bus voltage is 400 V dc
Switching frequency of SW1 and SW2 is 70 kHz
Inductance L = 1.5 mH