TRANSFORMER RESONANT CONVERTER

• US 20180226896A1
• Filed: 02/06/2018
• Published: 08/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: EHT Ventures LLC
• Original Assignee: Eagle Harbor Technolologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Miller, Kenneth E., Prager, James R., Ziemba, Timothy M., Carscadden, John G., Slobodov, Ilia, Henson, Alex Patrick
• Granted Patent: US 11,171,568 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/03 Details of HF subsystems specially adapted therefor, e.g. common to transmitter and receiver
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/282 Transmitters
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32137 controlling of the discharge by modulation of energy
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32146 Amplitude modulation, includes pulsing
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/0003 Details of control, feedback or regulation circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/0058 by employing soft switching techniques, i.e. commutation of transistors when applied voltage is zero or when current flow is zero using an auxiliary actively switched resonant commutation circuit connected to an intermediate DC voltage or between two push-pull branches of an inverter bridge H02M7/4811; in resonant inverters H02M7/4815; in inverters operating from a resonant DC source H02M7/4826
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 3/01 Resonant DC/DC converters
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 3/33573 Full-bridge at primary side of an isolation transformer
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 3/33592 having a synchronous rectifier circuit or a synchronous freewheeling circuit at the secondary side of an isolation transformer
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 3/3376 with automatic control of output voltage or current
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/4815 Resonant converters H02M7/4811 and H02M7/4826 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 3/57 the switching device being a semiconductor device
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/10 Technologies improving the efficiency by using switched-mode power supplies [SMPS], i.e. efficient power electronics conversion e.g. power factor correction or reduction of losses in power supplies or efficient standby modes
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 80/10 Efficient use of energy, e.g. using compressed air or pressurized fluid as energy carrier

Abstract

Some embodiments may include a nanosecond pulser comprising a plurality of solid state switches; a transformer having a stray inductance, L_s, a stray capacitance, C_s, and a turn ratio n; and a resistor with a resistance, R, in series between the transformer and the switches. In some embodiments, the resonant circuit produces a Q factor according to

$Q=\frac{1}{R}\sqrt{\frac{L_s}{C_s}};$

and the nanosecond pulser produces an output voltage V_out from an input voltage V_in, according to V_out=QnV_in.

Claims

1. A resonant converter comprising:

a DC input providing an input voltage V_in;

a plurality of solid state switches electrically coupled with the DC input;

a transformer having a stray inductance, L_s, a stray capacitance, C_s, and a turn ratio, n, the transformer electrically coupled with the plurality of solid state switches;

a resistor with a resistance, R, disposed in series between the transformer and the switches; and

a plurality of rectifier diodes;

wherein the resonant circuit produces a Q factor according to

2. The resonant converter circuit according to claim 1, wherein the output pulses have a voltage greater than about 10 kV.

3. The resonant converter circuit according to claim 1, wherein the output pulses have a frequency greater than 25 kHz.

4. The resonant converter circuit according to claim 1, wherein the resonant frequency is greater than 100 kHz.

5. The resonant converter circuit according to claim 1, wherein the output pulses have an output power greater than 5 kW.

6. The resonant converter circuit according to claim 1, wherein the output pulses have an output power greater than 50 kW.

7. The resonant converter circuit according to claim 1, wherein the resonant converter has a switching transition time less than 40 ns.

8. The resonant converter circuit according to claim 1, wherein the resonant converter circuit has a total circuit inductance less than about 300 nH as measured on the primary of the transformer.

9. The resonant converter circuit according to claim 1, wherein the resonant converter circuit operates with a total circuit capacitance of less than about 100 pF as measured on the secondary side of the transformer.

10. The resonant converter circuit according to claim 1, wherein the output pulses have a rise time, with a voltage slew rate greater than 10⁹ V/s.

11. The resonant converter circuit according to claim 1, wherein the resonant converter has a power density greater than 1 W/cm³.

12. The resonant converter circuit according to claim 1, wherein the stray capacitance C_s comprises more than 50% of the total circuit resonant capacitance C.

13. A resonant converter circuit comprising:

a transformer having a stray inductance, L_s, wherein the stray inductance, L_s, is not from an inductor;

a stray capacitance, C_s, wherein the stray capacitance, C_s, is not from a capacitor; and

a resistor with a resistance, R, in series with the transformer;

wherein the resonant circuit produces a Q factor according to

14. The resonant converter circuit according to claim 13, wherein the transformer has a turn ratio n and the resonant converter produces an output voltage, V_out, from an input voltage V_in, according to V_out=QnV_in.

15. The resonant converter circuit according to claim 13, wherein the resonant converter circuit produces a pulse with a voltage greater than about 10 kV.

16. The resonant converter circuit according to claim 13, wherein the resonant converter operates at a resonant frequency greater than 0.1 MHz.

17. The resonant converter circuit according to claim 13, wherein the resonant converter circuit produces pulses with a switching transition time less than 40 ns.

18. The resonant converter circuit according to claim 13, wherein the resonant converter circuit has a total circuit inductance less than about 300 nH as measured on the primary of the transformer.

19. The resonant converter circuit according to claim 13, wherein the resonant converter circuit operates with a total circuit capacitance less than about 100 pF as measured on the secondary side of the transformer.

20. The resonant converter circuit according to claim 13, wherein the output pulses have a rise time, with a voltage slew rate greater than 10⁹ V/s.

21. The resonant converter circuit according to claim 13, wherein the resonant converter circuit produces output pulses with a power density greater than 1 W/cm³.

22. The resonant converter circuit according to claim 13, wherein the resonant converter does not include an inductor.

23. The resonant converter circuit according to claim 13, wherein the resonant converter does not include a capacitor.

24. The resonant converter circuit according to claim 13, wherein the ratio between a peak output power and an average output power is greater than a factor of 10.

25. The resonant converter circuit according to claim 13, wherein the stray inductance L_s comprises more than 50% of the total circuit inductance.

26. The resonant converter circuit according to claim 13, wherein the output pulses have a rise time with a voltage slew rate greater than 10⁹ V/s.