Analysis and peak current mode control of active clamp forward converter with center tap transformer

This paper presents the principles and performance of peak current mode control applied to active clamp forward converter in comparison to the conventional voltage mode control. There is a clamp circuit comprising one auxiliary switch and one clamp capacitor, used in the forward converter to recycle the energy stored in the transformer. Due to presence of clamp circuit the active clamp forward converter with center tapped secondary exhibits fourth order power stage dynamics. When conventional voltage mode control is adapted, the forth order power stage dynamics imposes limitations on the closed loop performance of the converter. It is demonstrated that current mode control can be adapted to enhance the closed loop performance of active clamp forward converter. Different transfer functions are derived using state space average model. The peak current mode control is applied and simulation results are presented.