An Improved Zero-Voltage Switching Inverter Using Two Coupled Magnetics in One Resonant Pole

A novel soft-switching inverter using two small coupled magnetics in one resonant pole is proposed to ensure the main switches operating at zero-voltage switching from zero load to full load and the auxiliary switches at zero-current switching with load adaptability and small current stress. Since independent coupled magnetics structure avoids the unwanted magnetizing current freewheeling loop, the size of the coupled magnetics can be minimized with low magnetizing inductance, and the saturable inductor can be eliminated. Detailed circuit operation is described, and voltage-second balance condition of the magnetics is expressed mathematically. A 4-kW hardware prototype has been designed, fabricated, and tested to verify the validity of the novel circuit and the improved performance of the proposed soft-switching inverter. Experimental results show an excellent agreement with analytical results. Since the measured efficiency from 20% to 100% load consistently shows above 97.8% and peaks at 98.2%, the proposed inverter is very attractive for high-efficiency applications where energy saving is a major concern.