Design of High Voltage, High Power and High

Frequency Transformer in LCC Resonant Converter

Jun Liu, Licheng Sheng, Jianjiang Shi, Zhongchao Zhang, Xiangning He, Senior Member, IEEE
College of Electrical Engineering
Zhejiang University
Hangzhou, 310027 China
Abstract-The design of a high voltage, high power and high
frequency transformer is introduced considering its operation in
the LCC resonant converter. The leakage inductance and
winding capacitance of the transformer are used as the resonant
elements. An additional series resonant capacitor is added to
form the LCC topology. The discontinuous current mode (DCM)
is adopted to achieve the ZCS turn-on and ZVZCS turn-off of
the power switches. Smaller value of the winding capacitance is
preferred because it has the effect of decreasing the peak value
of the resonant current at almost the same output voltage. The
theoretic calculation of the winding capacitance and leakage
inductance of the transformer is given. The error between the
theoretical calculation and practical measurement is within 15%.
So optimization design of the parasitic resonant elements can be
achieved to meet requirement of the circuit. A prototype of LCC
resonant converter with 60kW and 60kV output is built based on
the designed transformer. Experiment results are given.

with a capacitive output filter has been proven a good choice

for high voltage applications [6]. It can use the parasitic
parameters as resonant elements and incorporate them into the
operation of the circuit.
This paper describes how to develop a high voltage, high
power and high frequency transformer considering its
operation in the LCC resonant converter. The operational
principle of the LCC resonant converter considering the high
voltage, high power and high frequency transformer is given
in Section II. The transformer design consideration including
the theoretic calculation of the winding capacitance and
leakage inductance of the transformer is given in Section III.
Experimental results are given in Section IV.

Keywordstransformer, high voltage, high frequency, high power,

LCC, soft switching, winding capacitance, leakage inductance

The LCC resonant converter with a capacitive output

filter considering the parasitic parameters of the transformer
is shown in Fig.1. The leakage inductance Lr and the winding
capacitance Cp of the transformer are used as the resonant
inductance and the resonant capacitance, respectively.
The high voltage, high power and high frequency
transformer is design for the power supply used for
electrostatic precipitators, which has the following electrical
specifications requirement: Output voltage Vout=60kV; Output
power Pout=60 kW.

I. INTRODUCTION
High voltage, high frequency and high power supplies are
widely used in electrostatic precipitators and wastewater
treatment to achieve environment protection [1, 2]. In these
applications, the high voltage, high power and high frequency
transformer is the essential part because it contributes to the
energy transition, voltage boost and safety isolation. Design
and characteristics of such a transformer is quite different
from the conventional one due to the special consideration of
magnetic, electric and thermal stresses under the high voltage,
high power and high frequency conditions [3].
When the secondary winding capacitance of the
transformer is referred to the primary side, its value is
multiplied by the square of the turns ratio, which is quite large.
The referred value is considerable for the high frequency
operation. There is always relatively large distance between
the primary and secondary winding to ensure insulation
intensity under the high output voltage. So the
electromagnetic coupling is not as tight as in conventional
low voltage transformer which leads to a large leakage
inductance [4]. The parasitic parameters of the transformer
have a great effect on the operation of the circuit, such as
ringing of the input current. Therefore, a proper topology and
control strategy should be adopted to avoid the bad influence
of the parasitic parameters [5]. The LCC resonant converter

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II. TRANSFORMER APPLICATIONS

Fig.1 LCC resonant converter considering the parasitic parameters of the

transformer

Because of the high output voltage and power, reliability of

the system should be considered more carefully. A simple
control method called discontinuous current control mode
(DCM) is adopted [7]. Fig 2 shows the typical waveforms.
The control signals are very easy to be generated. ZCS
turn-on and ZVZCS turn-off of the power switches can be

achieved by adopting DCM.

The amplitude of the flux density Bmax is limited to 0.2 T in

order to reduce the core losses under high frequency and to
prevent the transformer from saturation during the restart
process of the circuit. The turns number of the primary and
the secondary side winding, n1 and n2, can be calculated by (1)
and (2), respectively, which yields n1=5, n2=600.
B

n1 =

(1)

(2)
n2 = 120 n1
Because the leakage inductance is used as resonant
inductance, it will induce extra increase of the flux density
which may cause the magnetic core into saturation. The
bigger value of the leakage inductance is the more increase of
the flux density. So the primary and secondary windings are
concentric with the centre pole to get a small leakage
inductance. In this design, the value of the leakage inductance
is 3.5H. Fig.4 shows the simulation waveform of the
primary resonant current. The amplitude of it, ipeak, is about
300 A. Then, the maximum value of the flux density increase
caused by the leakage inductance can be calculated by (3),
which yield 0.03 T. Compared with Bmax, this value is quite
small. So the contribution of the leakage inductance to the
magnetic saturation can be ignored.
Lr ii peak
(3)
B =
n1 Ae

Fig .2 Typical waveforms with DCM

IIITRANSFORMER DESIGN
A.

Switching Frequency Selection

High frequency switching will reduce the size and weight
of the high voltage transformer. However, further reduction
by higher frequency switching cant be achieved due to the
insulation requirement. The natural resonant frequency of the
high voltage transformer is also a constraint. Furthermore,
high frequency switching will need high driving power. Take
CM600DU-24NF IGBT module for example, 40 kHz
frequency switching will need a driving power of 6W. So
selection of the driver for high power and high frequency uses
is very difficult. As a compromise, fs=20 kHz is selected as
the switching frequency.

B.

Turn Ratios Selection

The DC link voltage is approximately 500 dc, which is
obtained by the three-phase rectifier. The output voltage is
60kV. So the output-input ratio should be 120. Both the turns
ratio of the transformer and LCC resonance contribute to the
final voltage boost. It can be found by simulation that in the
load range the step-up coefficient of the LCC resonant is
about 1.2. So in practice, the step-up coefficient of the LCC
resonant is used as design margin and the turns ratio of the
high voltage transformer is selected as 120.

Fig.4 Simulation waveform of primary resonant current

C.

Magnetic Selection
Power ferrites are employed as the magnetic material due
to the high resistivity and low eddy current losses under high
frequency. EE320 is selected to accommodate the large
winding turns and to satisfy the insulation requirement. Its
specifications are shown in Fig.3. Two pairs of EE320 are
used to get a larger area of centre pole Ae, and to minimize the
winding turns.

D.

A
B
C

Winding and Wire Design

The secondary winding capacitance plays an important
role in the operation of the circuit. Fig.5 shows comparison of
the simulation waveforms with different values of the
winding capacitance Cp. The waveforms of the output voltage
and the primary resonant current are measured with the same
specifications except the winding capacitance. Although the
output voltage is almost the same, the peak value of the
primary resonant current is quite different. Smaller value of
winding capacitance gets smaller current peak value. So
special winding structure should be applied to minimize the
winding capacitance and at the same time the insulation
requirement under high voltage should be considered. In
practice, the secondary winding is wounded into eight slots,
which can reduce the winding capacitance dramatically
because the slot capacitance is in series rather than in parallel.
Furthermore, each slot includes five layers. This structure can
limit the voltage across each slot to only 1/8 of the output
voltage and reduce the layer-to-layer voltage. The secondary

Fig.3 Core specifications of EE320

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Vin 10 4
4 Bmax Ae f s

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The choice of the layer-to-layer insulation material is

extremely important for the following reasons:
a) enough insulation strength;
b) low dissipation factor to minimize the dielectric losses
under high operation frequency;;
c) good heat transfer coefficient to balance the temperature
of the inner and outer layers;
d) the dielectric constant should be considered to minimize
the winding capacitance;
e) insensitive to heat to have good circuit stability.
The polyimide thin film is selected as the layer-to-layer
insulation material due to its excellent comprehensive
performance. Although the price of the polyimide thin film is
very high, the amount in the design of the high frequency and
high voltage transformer is little. The total cost of it is only a
small part of the whole transformers cost.

winding structure is shown in Fig.6.

(a)

Output voltage

F.

Leakage Inductance and Capacitance Calculation

The leakage inductance referred to the primary side is
calculated by (4) [8].
( MLT ) n12
b+d
Lr = 0
(c +
)
(4)
3
h

(b) Primary resonant current

Fig.6 Comparison between different winding capacitance Cp

Copper foil is used as the primary wire due to the good

occupation of the core window and results in a small leakage
inductance. The eddy current losses caused by the fringing
flux are small because no air gap exists in the magnetic core
in the design.
Considering the skin effect and the current value, the
wire specifications and the current density are as follows:
Primary winding0.2mm copper foil, 3A/mm2;
Secondary windingAGW18 wire, 1.3A/mm2.

Where (refer to Fig.6),

MLTmean length turn;
0absolute permeability;
hwindow height;
bprimary winding width;
cdistance between primary and secondary winding;
dsecondary winding width.
Because the width of the primary and the secondary
winding is small compared to the distance between them, the
leakage inductance is approximately linear proportion to the
distance. This distance can be changed in certain extent to
satisfy the requirement of the circuit operation. However, the
tradeoff between the leakage inductance and the insulation
distance should be considered.
The secondary winding capacitance is calculated by (5)
[9, 10].
4 0 r lw(nlayer 1)
Cp =
(5)
3dnslot nlayer 2
Where
Cp equivalent capacitor of the whole winding;
nslotnumber of slots;
nlayernumber of all layers of one slot;
0 absolute dielectric constant;
reffective dielectric constant of insulation material;
lmean turn length of two considered layers;
wheight of one slot;
deffective distance between two layers.
The theoretical calculation and the measurement results of
the parasitic parameters are given in table I. The measurement
results are derived from the transformer impedance by the

Fig.6 Structure of the transformer

E.

Insulation and Thermal Consideration

The transformer oil is selected as the transformer
encapsulation material due to its high insulation strength and
good heat conductivity. Especially the transformer oil can
flow through the space between the primary winding and the
secondary winding and serves as the good heat conduction
material.

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API Model 200 Analog Network Analyzer, which is measured

from primary side of the transformer with the secondary side
open. The measured transformer impedance is shown in Fig.7.
It can be seen that the error between the theoretical
calculation and measurement of the parasitic parameters is
within 15%. So the theoretical calculation can be used as a
tool to design and optimize the transformer before
manufacture considering its operation in the LCC resonant
converter.

Fig.9 Photograph of the transformer

V. CONCLUSION
Fig.7 The measured transformer impedance

A high voltage and high frequency transformer prototype

has been built and tested for the LCC resonant converter. The
design consideration was introduced, which is quite different
from the conventional transformer design. The theoretical
calculation of the parasitic parameters fit well with the results
of measurement, which provides a possibility to optimize
them as the resonant elements to meet the requirement of the
LCC resonant converter.

Table . Comparison of theoretical calculation and measurement

theory

measurement

error

leakage inductance

3.0 H

3.5 H

14.3%

winding capacitance

43 pF

50 pF

14%

IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

A high voltage transformer was developed for a 60kW,

60kV output LCC resonant converter used for electrostatic
precipitators. Using the leakage inductance and the winding
capacitance of the high voltage transformer, only an extra
series capacitor is added to form the LCC resonant tank. The
primary side resonant current of the transformer is shown in
Fig.8 when adopting the discontinuous current control mode.

The authors would like to thank financial support of the

National Science Foundation of China (50737002). They
would also like to thank Zengyue Zhou, Hongxing Wang and
Jianping Zhou for their technical support in the
experimentation.

100A/div

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20s/div

Fig.8 Primary side resonant current of the high voltage transformer

The photograph of the high voltage transformer is shown in

Fig.9. Its weight is about 120 kg.

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