Analysis, Design, and Experimentation of a Double Forward Converter With Soft Switching Characteristics for All Switches

The study of a topology resulting from the combination of two forward structures attached to a single transformer core is presented in this paper, as a dual active bridge converter is obtained. In order to reduce the switching losses and the electromagnetic interference, a soft commutation cell, which provides zero-voltage commutation of the main switches for the entire load range, is implemented. Besides, the auxiliary switches are zero-current turned on and zero-current, zero-voltage turned off. This converter reduces the voltage over the main switches to half of the input voltage, employing only four switches and an additional transformer winding when compared to the full-bridge converter. The analysis of the circuit is carried out, and experimental results obtained from a prototype are also presented to support the theoretical assumptions.