DC-to-DC Converters

STATIC DC SWITCHES
The term “static” implies that the switch changes its state infrequently.
In this respect, static dc switches replace the traditional electromechanical switches.
Circuit diagram of a static dc switch based on a fully controlled semiconductor power switch is shown in Figure 6.1.
Waveforms of the gate signal, g (current or voltage, depending on the type of switch), output voltage and current, input
current and diode current are shown in Figure 6.2.
STEP-DOWN CHOPPERS
• Power electronic choppers are dc-to-dc converters with adjustable average output voltage.
• The principle of operation of a chopper consists in high-frequency on–off switching
• The dc supply source is alternatively connected with the load and disconnected from it.
• As a result, the output voltage waveform constitutes a train of short pulses interspersed with short notches.
• The output current in the assumed inductive load does not have enough time to change significantly within the
duration of a single pulse or notch, which makes for low-current ripple.
• The average output voltage, Vo,dc, depends linearly on the duty ratios of chopper switches and, generally, can be
adjusted in the –Vi to +Vi range.
• Consequently, the magnitude control ratio, M, of a chopper can be taken as
General block diagram of a chopper and the corresponding equivalent circuit for dc components of the output voltage
and current are shown in Figure 6.6.

The differential equation of the load is The average output current, Io, can be found from the circuit in
Figure 6.6a as

The solution of Eq. (6.2) to be

First-Quadrant Chopper (Type A)
The first-quadrant chopper can only produce positive dc-output voltage and current, and the average power flows
always from the source to the load.
Shown in Figure 6.7, the circuit diagram of the chopper is identical with that of the static dc switch in Figure 6.1. A
switching variable, x1, can be assigned to the fully controlled switch S, and the output voltage of the chopper can be
expressed as

Equivalent circuits of the chopper in state 1 and state 0 are

shown in Figures 6.8a and 6.8b, respectively
Denoting by tON and tOFF the times during which switch S is on and off, that is, the chopper is in state 1 and state 0,
respectively, the dc-output voltage, Vo,dc, can be calculated as a time-weighted average of output voltages in the
equivalent circuits in Figure 6.8. Specifically,

where d1 is the duty ratio of switch S1.

From Eqs. (6.1) and (6.6),

and, as the average output current given by Eq. (6.4) cannot be negative, the available range of magnitude control of
the output voltage is

If operation with a lower value of d is attempted, the output current becomes discontinuous which, as in rectifiers,
should possibly be avoided.
Example waveforms of the output voltage and current of the first-quadrant chopper are shown in Figure 6.9 with the
E/Vi ratio of 0.25. The magnitude control ratio, M, had initially been 0.50, then changed to 0.75.

constant, 𝜏, imposed by the load.

The output voltage responds instantaneously to the change in M, while the current response is inertial, with the time
A single cycle of the output voltage and current in the steady state of a first-quadrant chopper is shown in Figure 6.10.

The waveform of this

component is triangular, and it
can easily be shown that the
rms value, Io,ac, of such RMS value of triangle signal with
waveform is √3 times lower rise time and fall time comparable
than the amplitude. Thus,

From Eq. (6.2),

Second-Quadrant Chopper (Type B)

The second-quadrant chopper, depicted in Figure 6.12, operates with a positive output voltage and a negative average
output current.

In state 1, switch S2 shorts the load and the load EMF, E, supplies the resultant circuit that includes the load
inductance, L. In state 0, the energy stored in this inductance maintains the current, which is now forced to flow
through diode D2 to the supply source.
The instantaneous output voltage is given by
where d2 denotes the duty ratio of switch S2. For the output current to be continuous and its dc component,
Io,dc, to be negative, the control range of the chopper must be limited to

if E < Vi.

Otherwise, M can be controlled in the full 0–1 range. However, allowing a discontinuous current, energy can be
transferred from an active load to the input source even if the input voltage is higher than the load EMF.
Operation of the second-quadrant chopper is illustrated in Figure 6.14. The E/Vi ratio is 0.75, while the magnitude
control ratio has initially been 0.50, and then changed to 0.25.

This results in the output current waveform being a mirror image of that in Figure 6.9.
First-and-Second-Quadrant Chopper (Type C)
While the single-quadrant choppers can only transmit energy in one direction, two-quadrant choppers are capable of
bidirectional power flow.
Circuit diagram of a first-and-second quadrant chopper, that is, one operating with a positive output voltage and an
output current of either polarity, is shown in Figure 6.15.
The state of the chopper can be In the first quadrant of operation
designated as (x1x2)2. • S1 is controlled, while S2 is turned
If, for instance, switch S1 is on, off.
that is, x1 = 1, and S2 is off, that is, • chopper alternates between states
x2 = 0, then the chopper is said to 0 and 2.
be in state 2 since 102 = 2.
• Diode D2 is permanently reverse
state 3 is forbidden, as it would biased
short the supply source.
In the second quadrant
• switch S2 that performs the
chopping
• chopper alternates between states
0 and 1
• branch S1-D1 is inactive.
In particular, in the first quadrant of operation,
An example of operation of the chopper is illustrated in Figure 6.16. The E/Vi ratio is 0.5. At the beginning, the chopper
operates in the first quadrant with the magnitude control ratio of 0.75, and later in the second quadrant with M = 0.25.
First-and-Fourth-Quadrant Chopper (Type D)
Class-D or Type-D chopper is a circuit configuration of chopper in which power can flow in either direction i.e. from
source to load and load to source.
The operation of this chopper is confined in first and fourth
quadrant. This type of chopper is also known as Two quadrant
Type-B Chopper.
The necessary condition for this chopper is that load should be
inductive.
Case-1: S1 and S4 both are switched ON simultaneously.
• When both the choppers are switched ON, the load is
directly connected to source and hence the output voltage
Vo will become equal to the source voltage Vs.
• The current flows from source to load in this case. Thus,
both the current and output voltage i.e. io and vo are
positive in this case, hence the operation is in first quadrant.
• It should be noted that diode D1 and D4 are reversed biased
in this case and hence they can be treated as an open
switch.
Case-2: S1 and S4 both are switched OFF simultaneously. The first and fourth quadrant operation of class-
• When both the choppers are made OFF simultaneously, the D / Type-D chopper is shown by the hatched
current through the load doesn’t suddenly drops to zero due area in the figure below.
to inductive nature of load.
• However, it decays gradually and hence a huge amount of
voltage is induced in the inductor in the reverse direction
(opposite to the direction of vo).
• This makes diode D1 and D4 forward biased. Thus, D1 and
D4 starts conducting and connects the load to source again.
• But this time, the current flows from load to source
(carefully observe the circuit diagram). It shall be noted that,
the direction of load current has not changed. The current is
still flowing as shown by the direction of io in the diagram
but the polarity of vo has changed.
• Thus, io is positive but vo is negative and hence operation of
chopper is in fourth quadrant. The power flows from load to
source. Average output voltage Vo is given as below.

Vo = Vi [(TON – TOFF) / T]
Operation of the first-and-fourth-quadrant chopper is illustrated in Figure 6.19,

for the first-quadrant operation, E/Vi = 0.5 and M = 0.75

The dc-output current is maintained constant when the load EMF changes its polarity, so that E/Vi = –0.5. It can easily
be found from Eq. (6.4) that the magnitude control ratio in the fourth quadrant must be –0.25
Four-Quadrant Chopper (Type E)
The four-quadrant chopper is the most versatile of all step-down choppers. Its power circuit, shown in Figure 6.20
Designating a state of the chopper as (x1x2x3x4)2, where x1
through x4 are switching variables of the switches, a theoretical
total of 16 states is obtained. However, only states 0, 1, 4, 6, and
9 are utilized.
The remaining states would either short-circuit the supply source
or spoil the symmetry of control.

First Quadrant Operation :

Second Quadrant Operation : Fourth Quadrant Operation :

Third Quadrant Operation :

The below figure illustrates the characteristics of the class-E chopper in four quadrants.
A summary of operating conditions is provided in Table 6.1.

Quadrant I II III IV
E ≥0 >0 ≤0 <0
X1 0, 1, 0, 1, ….. 0 0 0
X2 0 0, 1, 0, 1, … 1 0
X3 0 0 0, 1, 0, 1, ….. 0
X4 1 0 0 0, 1, 0, 1, ….
ON-State 9 4 6 1
OFF-State 1 0 4 0
ON-Circuit S1, S4 S2, D4 S2, S3 S4, D2
OFF-Circuit S4, D2 D1, D4 S2, D4 D2, D3
Vo x1Vi (1-x2)Vi -x3Vi (x4-1)Vi
M d1 1-d2 -d3 d4-1
M-range 0 to -1 to to 0
STEP-UP CHOPPER
Shown in Figure 6.22, the step-up chopper consists of a fully controlled switch, a diode, and an inductor.
• The diode prevents reversal of the output current due to the load EMF
when the switch is closed.
• When the switch is on for the time tON, the output voltage, vo, is zero
and the voltage drop, vL, across the chopper’s inductor, conducting
the input current, ii, equals the input voltage, Vi. Thus,

The increment, Δi, of the current by the end of the interval is

During the following time interval, tOFF, the switch is off and the input current decreases as the load is no longer shorted
by the switch. Assuming a linear change of the decreasing current, its derivative can be expressed as
that is, as mentioned before, it is equal to the input voltage. Since 0 ≤ d ≤ 1, the amplitude of pulses of the output voltage
is higher than the input voltage.
The magnitude control ratio, M, as defined by Eq. (6.1), is unity, independently on the duty ratio, d.
Operation of a step-up chopper is illustrated in Figure 6.23. For simplicity, a purely resistive load has been assumed.

• The duty ratio is 0.75, so that the pulses of the output voltage have amplitude four times higher than the input
voltage.
• The pulses are not exactly rectangular because, in reality, the current in the chopper inductance decays exponentially,
not linearly.
EXAMPLES