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Design of a 200Amp Telecom Rectifier Family

Using 50 Amp DC-DC Converters
Joseph Elek
Dennis Knurek
RELTEC Corporation, Lorain, Ohio

Abstract---Design of three phase 208/240 Vac, 380/415
Vac, and a 480 Vac input, 54Vdc/200Adc output telecom
rectifiers using the same DC-DC converters is described.
The 208/240 Vac rectifier has four 50 Amp DC-DC
converters connected in parallel at the inputs and outputs.
The DC-DC converters utilize current mode control to
insure equal load sharing between DC-DC converters.
To allow the use of the same DC-DC converters in a 380
or 480 Vac input design, a split input capacitor bank is
utilized. The 480 Vac rectifier has the same four 50 Amp
DC-DC converters connected in parallel at the output; at
the input, a split capacitor bank is used with two
converters across each input capacitor. With a split input
capacitor bank, to maintain voltage balance on the input
capacitors and equal load sharing between DC-DC
converters current mode control alone is inadequate.
challenges and solutions in developing a modular 12 KW,
200 Amp telecom rectifier with remote control
capabilities that is used in 10,OOO Amp central office
applications are examined.
One of the design requirements of today’s telecom
rectifiers is that they have single point control
capabilities. This in turns requires an intelligent system
controller within the power system. The Meter Control
Assembly (MCA) is a microprocessor based controller
that provides user adjustable voltage/current/high voltage
shutdown (HVSD) set points and monitors the power
systems alarms, voltages, and currents from a front panel
display or remotely. The MCA communicates with each
telecom rectifier through an RS-485 link. A picture of an
MCA and 200 Amp telecom rectifier is shown below in
Fig. 1.

A capacitor bank balance control loop was developed to

insure that the input capacitor’s voltage and the DC-DC
converter’s output currents remain balanced. The
mechanism causing the split input capacitor bank to
unbalance is discussed and the bank balance circuit is
presented.

Finally, results obtained from a 480 Vac input,

54Vdc/200Adc output telecom rectifier are used to verify
the operation of the bank balance circuit. Also, the
advantages and disadvantages of using multiple DC-DC
converters in different series/parallel combinations are
discussed.
Figure 1, MCA and 200 Amp Rectifier
Introduction The modular telecom rectifier is composed of an input
rectification stage that feeds a DC-DC converter stage. A
The migration of today’s telecom marketplace is towards microprocessor based interface controls and monitors
a modular power system with remote control features for both stages. A block diagram of the telecom rectifier is
the central office. This trend requires a modular telecom shown in Figure 2.
rectifier with remote capabilities. In this paper the

0 1999 IEEE
0-7803-5624-1/99/$10.00

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-c
CONTROL AND MONITOR
STAGE
Figure 2, Telecom Rectifier
Iinput Rectification Stage
The input section of the 200 Amp telecom rectifier is
composedl of a half controlled SCR diode bridge rectifier, a
passive power factor correction/harmonicreduction circuit,
an AC line monitor circuit, a capacitor bank (split
capacitor bank in the 380 and 480 Vrms units), and an
auxiliary jlyback supply.
Since this unit was designed to be modular and hot
insertable, a half controlled SCR diode bridge rectification
circuit was developed to limit the inrush current to less
than the nominal operating current. This was
accomplished by bypassing the SCR’s with a precharge
diode and resistor which limits the inrush current to an
acceptable: level. When the input bank is charged up to the
desired level, the SCR’s are turned on, which in turn shorts
out the prwharge diode and resistor. See Fig. 3
Due to the cost, complexity, and reliability of active three
phase 12KW power factor correction circuits that are
commercially viable today, a passive power factor
correction scheme was utilized to reduce the current
harmonics to an acceptable level. By correctly selecting
the input inductor and input bank capacitor, a total
harmonic distortion of less than 30% is possible at 200
Amps output.
An AC line monitor circuit was developed to insure that
there is sufficient and balanced three phase AC voltage for
proper operation. To detect a loss of one of the input
phases or ,a partial loss of one of the input phases the line
monitor generates an error voltage that is proportional to
the AC line imbalance. If a predetermined imbalance
threshold is reached the unit will shutdown. When the
input phase voltages are within a safe operating range the
unit is automatically restarted. The input AC low voltage
inhibit circuit works in a similar manner.
-
PREMIRGE DIODE CNO RESISlIX(
TO EM1
F I LTER
1
WLIT BANK
T
bRRWfiDIENT
U
n
Figure 3, Input Rectification Stage
The auxiliary flyback power supply produces primary and
secondary logic level voltages that are used to power the
SCR gate drive circuitry, the AC line monitor, DC-DC
converter logic and DC-DC converter gate drive circuitry,
the fan circuitry, and the MCA Interface assembly. It also
generates a general timing pulse to synchronize the
operation of the DC-DC converters.
Power Stage
The power stage is comprised of four identical power
converters operating at 50KHZ (see Fig. 4). 41-4 are
500V power MOSFET’s. QGBT’s are used in the later
development of the 380/415VAC rectifier, for improved
efficiency.) The four converters are synchronized to the
auxiliary flyback switching frequency of 60KHZ. This
was done to prevent audible beat frequencies between
each converter and between the converters and the
auxiliary supply. The control scheme is hard switched,
current mode, P W M . (Phase shifted resonant transition
switching was briefly evaluated, but proved to be
inefficient over a wide input voltage range.)
To minimize radiated and conducted EMI, several steps
were taken. LlOO keeps most of the differential switching
ripple current confined to the individual converter boards.
The four MOSFET heat sinks and the two rectifier heat
sinks are floating with respect to the chassis and earth
ground. This reduces common mode noise currents. L150
is located in the negative output, which puts the rectifier
heat sinks at the positive output (i.e. an EM1 quiet point).
If L150 were in the positive output, the rectifier heat sinks
would be at an electrically noisy part of the circuit and
would radiate. The heat sinks for Q1 and 4 3 are naturally
non-radiating. Q2 and Q4 are the only radiating heat
sinks. (Initially, heat sink insulators were used on Q2 and
44, and the heat sinks were tied to the negative input.
This gave an EM1 quiet heat sink, but the junction
temperatures on Q2 and Q4 were excessive due to the

increased thermal resistance.) Snubbers and a passive
clamp are used on the rectifiers. Due to the natural
clamping of the full bridge, and a tight layout, snubbers
were not needed for the MOSFET's.
LlOO
Figure 4,50 Amp Power Converter
In the 208/24OVAC rectifier four DC-DC converters are
connected in parallel at the input, across a single bank
capacitor (see Fig, 5). The four converters share a single
voltage error amplifier. Since they all have the same error
voltage, and since they are current mode controlled, they
act as controlled current sources. Thus, they load share
equally, within a small tolerance. Also, since they are
current mode controlled, each converter has its own
independent peak current limit set at approximately 56
amps. This is intentionally set above the maximum
rectifier current limit of 210 amps (52.5 amps per
converter). The rectifier current limit is an outer control
loop that reduces the voltage reference.
OC-OC CONVERTERS
CONNECTED I N WVlPOOA
I'Figure 8 shows the input resistance curve for a single
Figure 5,2081240Vac Input Power Stage Block Diagram
In the 48OVAC (and the 380/415VAC) rectifier, the bank
capacitor is split into two capacitors in series. Two
converters are placed across each bank capacitor (see Fig.
6). Since the converters again share a single error
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amplifier, and essentially the same error voltage (level
shifted), it was expected that they would load share the
same as the 208/240V rectifier. However, that didn't
happen. As the input voltage increased from zero volts,
and as long as the converters were not yet regulating, the
voltages across the bank capacitors were equal. When the
input voltage increased past the minimum required for
regulation, the bank voltages became unbalanced. The
higher the input voltage, the higher the imbalance
became.
- +loc
TWO
m -T
T PC-DE CONVERTERS
Figure 6,480 Vac Input Power Stage Block Diagram
The reason for the imbalance is shown in Figures 7 and 8.
Fig. 7a shows the primary current feedback for high side
and low side converters, when the input voltage is low
and the converters are not yet regulating. The duty cycle
is at maximum, approximately 50%. The high side
converter is shown as slightly higher than the low side
converters. The difference is exaggerated, but in reality,
no two converters would be exactly equal. As the input
voltage increases, so does the unregulated output. When
the output voltage reaches the setpoint, the error voltage
comes down to the peak of the highest current feedback
signal. Because of the inequality,the high side converter's
duty cycle begins to phase back, and regulate. The low
side converter remains out of regulation.
converter with an output of approximately half load, 25
amps. As the input voltage increases from zero, the
current increases, and the resistance is positive. There is
an inflection point in the plot where the converter starts
regulating. As the input voltage increases beyond this
point, the resistance is negative. Figure 8 shows that for a
given input current, there are two possible values of input
voltage. The same DC input current flows in the two
series connected sets of converters. One set of converters
is in regulation and its resistance is negative (with a high
5-2

input voltage). The other set of converters is not In this unbalanced condition, the two sets of converters
regulating; its resistance is positive, with a lower input obviously did not load share. The high voltage on one of
voltage. the bank capacitors was intolerable. The solution was a
control loop to force the capacitor bank to balance by
P R I M A R Y CURRENT FEEDBACK slightly decreasing the error voltage to the low side
_ _ _ HIGH
._ SIDE converters (the non-regulating converters of Fig. 7). The
_._ LOW S I D E bank balance control loop is shown in Fig. 9. R1 and R2
develop a setpoint reference equal to a constant times half

i
the input voltage. R3 and R4 develop the feedback
VOLTS v ERR-H I = v ERR-LO voltage equal to the same constant times the lower
CERRDR AMP AT M A X . ) capacitor voltage, V1. The balance error amplifier acts to
force V1 to equal half the input voltage. Depending on the
error amplifier output, either the high side or low side
error voltage is reduced. The loop crossover frequency is
very low, 5 to 10 Hz. Speed is neither required nor
desired for this loop.
TI ME
< a > I N P U T VOLTAGE L O N CONVERTERS OUT OF
REGULAT I ON, DUTY CYCLE APPROX. 50%.

VOLTS t v ERR-H I = v ERR-LO

TI ME
< b > INPUT V O L T A G E H A 5 R I S E N T O THE

w
P O I N T T H A T T H E CONVERTERS B E G I N
TO REGULATE.

Figure 7, Current feedback for low side and high side

converters;,before and after regulation.

Input resistance Figure 9, Bank Balance Control Loop

For protection against control loop failures, an

300
independent circuit monitors the balance between the two
bank capacitors. If the voltages differ by a fixed amount
250 the rectifier will shut down. The converters also have two
independent monitoring functions. Each converter
200 monitors temperature on an output rectifier’s heat sink
8 (e.g. a blocked fan). If the temperature is excessive, the
8 converter will shut down. Output overvoltage is also
E 150
L monitored on each converter (independently and at a
-a 100
higher level than the MCA) which also shuts down the
converter.

50
MCA Interface
0
0 2 4 6 0 To communicate with the Meter Control Assembly each
Input Current telecom rectifier requires a MCA Interface Assembly. Its
~~~~~
main purpose is to receivehransmit system commands and
alarms through an RS-485 link. The MCA Interface is the
Figure 8, DC-DC Converter’s Input Resistance command central for each telecom rectifier and is
 5-2

composed of digital communication, alarm, and analog

feedback control circuitry.

The digital communication and alarm circuitry consists of

a microprocessor and its associated overhead to perform
remote rectifier inventory and factory calibration of the
reference voltages. Also, all rectifier alarms, rectifier
output current, and the fans’ tachometer are monitored by
the microprocessor. Any fault conditions are reported to
the MCA.

In the MCA the analog feedback control circuitry consists

of output voltage and current feedback control loops, the
high voltage shutdown comparator circuitry and a
modulator/demodulator isolation circuit. All references
are microprocessor controlled.
Figure 10, 10,000 Amp Power System
To insure proper load sharing between DC-DC converters
operating on a split capacitor bank arrangement the output
voltage error signal that the low side DC-DC converters
receives must match the output voltage error signal of the
high side DC-DC converters. Initially, it was for this
reason optocouplers were not used in the sec/pri interface
to pass the output error voltage across the isolation
boundary. Instead, a transformer based amplitude
modulator/demodulator isolation scheme was utilized.

The MCA Interface logic supply is dual fed from the

rectifier’s auxiliary power supply and system battery to
insure that any fault conditions within the rectifier are
reported to the MCA.

Conclusion
The design of a modular 12KW, 200 Amp, telecom
rectifier for central office applications with UL 1950
compliance has been discussed. Telecom rectifier issues
addressed, include conducted and radiated EMI, split
, capacitor bank balance control loop, inrush limiting,
synchronization, and DC-DC converter load sharing. By
I using four 50 Amp converters to develop a 200 Amp
k rectifier, smaller less costly components can be used in
i much higher quantities which gives a cost effective
solution. When ample component deratings are used, a
highly reliable design can be achieved.
.
I Also, this design has created opportunities for large
flexible power systems with up to 56 telecom rectifiers.
, Figure 10 shows a redundant telecom power system,
I equipped with an MCA module, capable of providing in
I excess of 10,000 Amps at 54VDC. It was built and tested
I
in the manufacturer’s facility to allow for large scale
1 system integration testing.