ECE 332 W1

Electronics 3: Electronic Systems and Design, LECTURE

STUDY GUIDE
MODULE 4: DC TO DC CONVERTERS

INTRODUCTION:

DC to DC converter is very much needed nowadays as many industrial applications are

dependent upon DC voltage source. The performance of these applications will be improved if
we use a variable DC supply. It will help to improve controllability of the equipment also.
Examples of such applications are subway cars, trolley buses, battery operated vehicles etc. We
can control and vary a constant DC voltage with the help of a chopper.
Chopper is a basically static power electronics device which converts fixed DC voltage/power to
variable DC voltage or power. It is nothing but a high speed switch which connects and
disconnects the load from source at a high rate to get variable or chopped voltage at the output.

At the end of this module the students should be able to:

 Discuss the two types of DC to DC Converter or Chopper Circuit.
 Explain how the output voltage of Buck Converter is less than or equal to the input
voltage.
 Compute the effective voltage and average voltage at the output of the Buck converter
with pure resistive load.
 Compute the effective voltage and average voltage at the output of the Buck Converter
with inductive load.
 Explain how the output voltage of Boost Converter is greater than the input voltage.
 Compute the effective voltage and average voltage at the output of the Boost converter.

PRESENTATION & DISCUSSION:

DC to DC Converter
Also known as Chopper Circuits.
It converts the input DC voltage into fixed or variable DC output.
Is Io

Vo
Vs DC
Chopper _

TYPES:
A. Step-Down Choppers
In step down chopper output voltage is less than or equal to the input voltage.

Switch or
Chopper
VS RL

Basic Step Down Chopper

Note:
The switch can be a power transistor, SCR, GTO, power MOSFET or similar switching device.

Step Down Chopper with Resistive Load

Is Io
Voltage (Vo)
Current (Io)

of transistor
+ Base Drive
Output

Output

(switch)
Vs/R

Vs RL VO
Vs
0

Base
drive signal
Ton
δT

-
Toff
T

FORMULAS
T+δT

Average Voltage or DC Voltage, VO(ave) Load Power,

Pload
2
(
VO(ave) =d VS - VCHOP ) PO =
(
d VS - VCHOP )
RL
Effective Voltage or RMS Voltage, VO(rms)
Where:
d =Duty Cycle
(
VO(rms) = d VS - VCHOP ) T
d = on =
Ton
T Ton + Toff

Note:
If the Chopper is ideal VCHOP = 0V.

Sample Problem
A chopper circuit operates at a frequency of 5 kHz on a 480 V supply of the load voltage of 330
V. Determine the conduction period of the thyristor in each cycle.

Solution:
T
d = on =Ton (f)
T
d
Ton =
f
Vo(ave) =dVs
Vo(ave) 330V
d= = =0.6875
Vs 480V
0.6875
Ton =
5kHz
Ton =137.5ms

Sample Problem
A DC-to-DC chopper is operating from a 48 V source with a resistive load of 24 Ω and the
chopper frequency is 250 Hz. Determine the rms current when Ton=3ms.

Solution:
 Vo(rms)
Io(rms) =
RL
Vo(rms) = d VS ( )
Ton
d=
T
=Ton (f) =3ms 250Hz ( )
d =0.75

Io(rms) =
(
0.75 48V )
24W
Io(rms) =1.732A

Step Down Chopper with RL Load

Normally the choppers are used to drive the DC motors. These motors are considered as RL
(inductive) load.
IS IT
+

Base
drive signal
D L VO Base Drive
VS of transistor Ton T
(switch)
0 δT
Eb M
Vs
Output
- Voltage (Vo)

Vs/R
Output
If the base-drive signal is at “ON” period, the transistor will “ON” and the diode is at reverseCurrent (Io)
bias condition. There will be an induced voltage across the inductor, VL.
IS IT

R
-

D L VL
VS
+

Eb M

If the base-drive signal is at “OFF” period, the transistor will “OPEN” and the diode is at
forward bias condition because the induced voltage across the inductor, VL will serve as the
supply voltage of the circuit.

R
IFW -
D L VL
VS
+
FORMULAS:

Average Voltage or DC Voltage, VO(ave)

(
VO(ave) =d VS - VCHOP )
Effective Voltage or RMS Voltage, VO(rms)

(
VO(rms) = d VS - VCHOP )
Effective Current or RMS Current, IO(rms)

IO(rms) = Imin Imax +

(Imax
- Imin )
3

where :
æ -
dRT
ö
VS ç1- e L ÷ Eb
Imax = -
R ç -
RT ÷
R
è 1- e L
ø
æ dRT ö
VS çe L - 1÷ Eb
Imin = -
R ç RT ÷ R
èe L - 1ø

Sample Problem
A 200 VDC supplies step-down chopper circuit with an inductive load. The load resistance is
4Ω, the average load current is 30A and operates at 400 Hz. Determine the duty cycle, ON and
OFF period of the chopper.

Solution:
 VO(ave) =dVS

d=
VO(ave) I R
= O(ave) L
( )
VS VS

=
30A 4W( )
200V
Ton
d=
d =0.6 Ton + Toff

Toff =
(
Ton 1- d )
d =Ton (f) d
d
Ton = =
0.6
Toff =
(
1.5ms 1- 0.6 )
f 400Hz 0.6
Ton =1.5 ms Toff =1 ms

Sample Problem
A step down chopper has an inductive load of 10mH inductance and 1Ω resistance. The
frequency of the chopper is set to 100Hz and the on-time is 5ms. Determine the average,
maximum and minimum load currents if the source voltage is 24 V.

Solution

VO(ave)
IO(ave) =
RL
dVS
IO(ave) =
RL æ -
dRT
ö
VS ç 1- e L ÷ Eb
where : Imax = -
Rç -
RT
÷ R
d =Ton (f) è 1- e ø L

=5ms(100Hz) æ æ 1 ö
0.5( 1W ) ç ö
è 100Hz ø÷
ç - ÷
d =0.5 24V ç1- e 10mH
÷- 0
=
(0.5)24V 1W ç æ 1 ö
1W ç
è100Hz ø ÷ ÷ 1W
= ç - ÷
1W è 1- e 10mH
ø
IO(ave) =12 A Imax =14.95 A

æ dRT ö
VS ç e L - 1÷ Eb
Imin = -
R ç RT ÷ R
è e - 1ø
L

æ 0.5( 1W ) æç 1 ö÷ ö
è100Hz ø
ç ÷
24V çe 10mH - 1÷ 0
= -
1W ç 1W æèç100Hz 1 ö
÷
ø
÷ 1W
ç ÷
è e 10mH - 1 ø
Imin =9.07 A
B. Step-Up Choppers
Step-up chopper is used to obtain a load voltage higher than the input voltage VS.
IS
+
L

IO
IT1
Base drive
Load VO
VS signal C
 -

di
VO =VS + L
dt

Voltage (Vo)
Current (Io)

The values of L and C are chosen depending upon the requirement of output voltage and current.

of transistor
Base Drive
Output

Output

(switch)
(Vs+VL)/R

Vs+VL

Ton
δT

Toff
T
T+δT

If the base-drive signal is at “ON” period, the transistor will trigger and there will be no enough
voltage to trigger the diode (Diode = OFF). Voltage across the load is equal to the voltage across
the capacitor.
IS
+
L

IO

Load VO
C
VS

-
VO

-
+

If the base-drive signal is at “OFF” period, the transistor is open.

IO

Voltage across the load is equal to the voltage across the capacitor.
Load
C
 IS

VS
FORMULAS:
Average Voltage or DC Voltage, VO(ave)

VS
VO(ave) =
1- d Effective Voltage or RMS Voltage, VO(rms)

VO(rms) =0

Sample Problem
The output voltage of step up DC chopper is 250 V with an input of 200 V. Determine the period
of conduction in each cycle if the blocking period in each cycle of operation is 0.6ms.

Solution:
 Ton
d=
Ton + Toff
Toff d
Ton =
( 1- d)
where :
VS
VO(ave) =
1- d
VS
d =1-
VO(ave)
200V
=1-
250V
d =0.2

Ton =
0.6ms 0.2( )
( 1- 0.2)
Ton =150 ms

LEARNING ACTIVITY:
1. The following parameters of DC series motor chopper drive are battery
voltage = 96 V, (Ra+R f ) = 0.1Ω, kv = 10mV/A-rad/s, chopper frequency
= 125Hz. Calculate the armature speed and torque with an average
armature current of 100A and a chopper on-time of 6ms.

IS IT
+

R
Base Ia
drive signal D L
VS
VO
 -

2. A DC to DC chopper has an inductive load of 1Ω resistance and 10 mH

inductance. Source voltage is 24 V. The frequency of the chopper is
set to 100 Hz and the on-time to 5ms. Determine the load current.
3. A DC series motor chopper drive has the following parameters: battery
voltage = 96 V, (Ra+R f ) = 0.1Ω, kv = 10mV/A-rad/s, chopper frequency
= 125Hz. Determine the armature current and motor speed at a torque
of 10Nm with on-time of 6ms.

IS IT
+

R
Base Ia
drive signal
D L VO
VS

ω M Eb

4. For a step down chopper, the DC source voltage is 230 V with a load resistance of 10 Ω.
When it is on, the voltage drop across it is 2 V. Calculate the average and rms output
voltage and the chopper efficiency if the duty cycle is 0.4.