Use of soft-switching principles in PWM voltage inverters design

Soft-switching principles (ZCS-ZVS), classically used in DC-to-DC converters, are now introduced in voltage inverters, for medium or high frequency applications. This paper presents, in a first part, an attempt of state-of-the-art in this power conversion field where it appears that most of researchers are working on a ZVS mode or a mixed ZVS-ZCS mode. So, in the second part, the authors propose ZCS solutions, allowing good operating conditions for devices such as the IGBT. Experimental results on a 180 A-20 kHz inverter-leg supplied by 380 V rectified mains with IGBT modules are presented. An original experimental test circuit allows a direct losses measurement and comparison between a classical PWM inverter-leg without snubber and the ZCS solution