Discontinuous Current Mode Modeling and Zero Current Switching of Flyback Converter

Abstract

The flyback converters are widely used in low power applications. The switch typically requires 600 V breakdown voltage in order to perform large step-down voltage. Thus, slight variation on the switch control can either permanently damage the switch or decrease the efficiency of the power conversion. In order to achieve higher power efficiency, the previous literature suggested operating the flyback converter in the discontinuous current mode (DCM). It is then required to understand the critical conditions of the DCM through analyzing the dynamic behavior and discontinuous current mechanism. This paper started from the current waveform analyses, proceeded to the derivation of zero current switching (ZCS) formulation, and finally reached the necessary conditions for the DCM. The entire DCM operation was divided into three phases that subsequently affect the result of the zero voltage switching (ZVS) and then to the ZCS. The experiment shows a power efficiency of over 96% when the output power is around 65 W. The switch used in this paper is a Gallium Nitride High-Electron-Mobility Transistor (GaN HEMT) that is advantageous at the high breakdown voltage up to 800 V. The important findings from the experiments include that the output power increases with the increasing input DC voltage and the duty cycle is rather linearly decreasing with the increasing switching frequency when both the zero voltage switching (ZVS) and ZCS conditions are satisfied simultaneously.