Review of Three-phase Soft Switching Inverters and Challenges for Motor Drives

For electric vehicles (EVs),it is necessary to improve endurance mileage by improving the efficiency.There exists a trend towards increasing the system voltage and switching frequency,contributing to improve charging speed and power density.However,this trend poses significant challenges for high-voltage and high-frequency motor controllers,which are plagued by increased switching losses and pronounced switching oscillations as consequences of hard switching.The deployment of soft switching technology presents a viable solution to mitigate these issues.This paper reviews the applications of soft switching technologies for three-phase inverters and classifies them based on distinct characteristics.For each type of inverter,the advantages and disadvantages are evaluated.Then,the paper introduces the research progress and control methods of soft switching inverters (SSIs).Moreover,it presents a comparative analysis among the conventional hard switching inverters (HSIs),an active clamping resonant DC link inverter (ACRDCLI) and an auxiliary resonant commuted pole inverter (ARCPI).Finally,the problems and prospects of soft switching technology applied to motor controllers for EVs are put forward.

Controlling the output power of soft switching arc welding inverter by two-stage continuous PWM method

The full bridge zero voltage zero current switching （ FB-ZVZCS ） , which could adjust the output power by keeping the duty ratio of lagging leg constant and changing the duty ratio of leading leg, was a common circuit of soft switching arc welding inverter power source. However, when the duty ratio of leading leg was reduced to zero, the output power stayed the constant value instead of becoming zero. The working status and waveforms of some major parameters were studied in this paper while the duty ratio of leading leg was zero. It was concluded that the minimum output power of soft switching inverter was related to the charging voltage of paraUel capacitors, and the output power also could be reduced by reducing the duty ratio of lagging leg. A novel two-stage continuous PWM control method that could switch working-mode between full bridge and half bridge was put forward in this paper. This kind of control method could further reduce the output power of soft switching inverter in order to meet the requirement of low heat input of sheet metal welding.

Soft switching arc welding power source using output inductor as resonant inductor

Full bridge Zero Voltage Switch PWM converter combines advantages of the PWM control technique and resonant technique. However, Full ZVS is achieved only under large load current because resonant tank of this circuit is made up of the parasitic capacitance of the power semiconductors and the leakage inductor of the transformer primary. In this paper two saturable inductors as magnetic switches are added to secondary, so output inductor is always reflected to primary and assists resonant transition. Full ZVS is achieved under lower load current. The above mentioned investigated results are validated by the computerized simulation and hardware circuit experiment.