Commutation analysis of self-driven synchronous rectifiers in an active-clamp forward converter

The effectiveness of using self-driven synchronous rectifiers in forward converters strongly depends on the current commutations, which are determined by the parasitic elements-the PCB trace inductance and the transformer leakage inductance. These parasitic elements are modeled as equivalent circuits using the partial element equivalent circuit (PEEC) method and the two-winding transformer model. The current commutation waveforms for different PCB layouts are compared to evaluate the parasitic effects on rectifier commutations. PCB design guidelines are presented for an optimum low-voltage synchronous rectification performance