The Auxiliary Resonant Commutated Pole Converter

R.W. De Doncker and J.P. Lyons

General Electric Company
Corporate Research and Development
Electronic Technologies Laboratory
P.O. Box 8,Schenectady. NY 12301
Tel.: 518 - 387 5655

Abstraff The auxiliary resonant commutated pole (ARCP) is a

new converter topology which fully achieves soft switching
without increasing primary device voltage or current ratings.
Moreover, the ARCP converter is capable of true PWM control
of each phase. The power circuit relies on the addition of a
auxiliary triggered resonant commutation circuit or snubber to
commutate the inductive load current from a main diode to an
active device enabling a zero voltage turn-off of the main
devices. The auxiliary devices operate in a zero current soft
switching mode thereby requiring minimal current turn-off
capability. The operation and control of the ACRP converter is
discussed and its performance is analyzed and simulated. The
ARCP converter is capable of operation at elevated switching
frequencies (10-30 kHz), high power levels (200-1000 kW), and
high conversion efficiencies. The auxiliary devices will
typically account for a 20% increase in the total silicon area of
a three phase converter.

ratings, generally requiring twice the current rating when compared

to an equivalent hard switched converter. The Resonant Pole
Inverter (RPI) [2.6], illustrated in Fig. 1, has the attractive feature
of integrating the resonant components and the output filters.
However,detailed analysis reveals that the RPI circuit requires a 2 2.5 p.u. device current turn-offcapability primarily because of the
charge balance that has to be maintained on the filter capacitors.

Introduction
M a n y power circuit topologies have been investigated in an
attempt to achieve soft switching in a high power inverter. Soft
switching operation of the power devices can nearly eliminate
switching losses and therefore allow operation at significantly
higher switching frequencies. However, the realization of soft
switching high power circuits (above 100 kW) has been hampered
because significantincreases in device count, device voltage ratings,
and/or current ratings is usually necessary. Additional conduction
losses in the devices and passive components, primarily the
resonant inductors, can further offset the advantage of a soft
switching circuit at high power levels.
One of the most successful circuits investigated to date is the
Resonant dc Link (RDCL) and the Active Clamped Resonant dc
Link (ACRDCL) inverters which impose respectively a 2 - 2.5,and
a 1.4-1.8per unit voltage stress [l-41on all devices. The ACRDCL
requires one additional (clamp) switch. However, both converters
have a major disadvantage in that all inverter switches are required
to change state synchronously with the resonating dc bus This
discrete pulse modulation (DPM) umtrol precludes achieving PWM
control of each phase, resulting in sub-harmonicsand more crudely
formed sinewaves. The highest resonant frequency that can be
attained at high power levels is severely limited by the intrinsic
properties of the power devices and the quality of the passive
components. On the other hand, it is crucial in high power drives
with high dc bus voltages to be able to produce narrow voltage
pulses (smaller than the resonant period) whenever low output
voltages are modulated and to transition into square wave operation
whenever high output voltages are required. Although the
possibility of semi-PWM in three phase ACRDCL inverters has
been investigated[5] it is expected that turning off inverter switches
during the resonant cycle will lead to higher device stresses and
additional control complexity.
Most circuit topologies which simultaneously enable soft switching
and PWM control have imposed a penalty with respect to device

Figure 1.The resonantpole inverter (RPI).

If one does not utilize the resonant components as filter elements it

is possible to connect an inductiveload to the active inverter pole as
shown in Fig. 2. With this topology the current stress slightly
reduces to 2 p a . Recent studies revealed that the high current
rating of the power devices can be considerably lowered when
saturable inductors are used [7]. The idea works well at a constant
duty cycle of 50% but additional circuitry is required to synthesize
low output frequency ac waveforms.

I2Cdc

--4

Figure 2. Resonant inverter pole at load side.

The size of the filter capacitors can be drastically reduced in the
resonant pole circuits by placing parallel auxiliary diodes Dal and
Da2 as illustrated in Fig. 3a and Fig. 3b. The load can be connected
on the inverter pole side or on the auxiliary diode pole side [8]of
the circuit. In both cases the resonant inductor current can freewheel as soon as the diodes Dal or Da2 are conducting. The
amount of current that will free-wheel is determined by V& and the
resonant impedance. In order to be able to turn off the main diodes

90/CH 2935-5/90KKKKL1228S01.W1990 IEEE

whenever they are conducting load current, it is necessary that the

free-wheeling current be larger than the load current. Howeves,
when the resonant pole of the main devices is switched to the
opposite rail the resonant circuit gives rise to the same free-wheeling
current which now adds to the load current. Again a 2 - 2.5 p.u.
current turn-off capability is required for the main devices.
Furthermore, the continously free-wheeling current causes
significant losses in the resonant inductor and power diodes.

All the circuits mentioned above (except the ACRDCL in ac to ac

applications and the RPI with saturable inductors) have the
disadvantage that the resonant inductor carries a large &actionof the
phase current. For high powerfigh current applications the design
of a high quality resonant inductor is a major problem. For most
circuits the conduction losses of the passive components is
significant. In order to improve the overall efficiency of the soft
switching converter it is essential that the resonant inductor be in
parallel with the resonant pole and not in series with its main
conduction path.

Auxiliary Resonant Commutated Pole Converter

Recently, an LC resonant snubber circuit triggered by auxiliary
thyristors was proposed [10,11] to minimize the high dynamic
stresses encountered when tuming on or off the primary switches in
inverter circuits. The circuit topology is illustrated in Fig. 5 - this
circuit topology will be subsequently referred to as an auxiliary
resonant commutatedpole (ARCP). Each of the primary switches
is closely paralleled by a substantial (snubber) capacitor to force
zero-voltage turn-off switching conditions. Auxiliary devices are
placed in series with the resonant inductor Lr and operate under
zero current switching conditions, thereby not requiring high tumoff current ratings. Tuming off a main diode (e.g. diode D2) is
accomplished by triggering an auxiliary thyristor ( M ) . Once the
current I , in the resonant inductor equals the load current a
resonant cycle is initiated and the pole voltage Vf swings to the
opposite rail enabling a zero voltage turn-on of the main switch
(Sl). At low load currents, the turn-off precess of a main switch
(e.g. S1) can be assisted by the auxiliary circuit. The controllerwill
initially tum off a main switch and then subsequently trigger an
auxiliary switch to assist in the commutation process.

VD(

a.

VD(

b.

Clearly, in this topology the resonant inductor is placed in parallel

with the inverter pole. Although the peak current stress in the
inductor can be typically 1.3 - 1.8 p.u. the duty cycle is very low
1:20 to 1:lO. This leads to small RMS ratings of the resonant
inductor which enables high converter efficiency. In addition, small
auxiliary thyristor devices are required to trigger the commutation;
these devices can be SCR's, GTO's. ZTOs, or MCT's. Because
the resonant impedance has no effect on the main device current
rating, large resonant (snubber) capacitors can be selected which
further reduces the main device turn-off loss. Moreover, in case of
main GTO devices, this can also lead to increased device tum-off
capability. Alternatively, the main power devices can be turn-off
devices such as GTOs, MWs, IGBT's, or power transistors.

Figure 3. Auxiliary Resonant Diode Pole Inverter (ARDPI).

Taking the search for a true PWM soft switching converter a step
further leads to the Auxiliary Resonant Pole Inverter [9] (ARPI Fig. 4), which adds a full auxiliary resonant pole. In this topology
the constraint of designing a sufficient low resonant impedance is
removed. The current stress in all the devices can be reduced to low
levels (1 - 1.5 P.u.). Furthermore, by proper control the freewheeliig inductor current can be reduced thereby diminishing the
conduction losses in the inductor and the power devices. Aside
from the academic interest in this topology one must conclude that a
practical implementation of the ARPI circuit is hindered by the 2
p.u. device count and the higher control complexity.

As mentioned above, the ARCP LC resonant circuit will attempt to

swing the voltage from one power rail to the other, at which time the
opposite switch can be gated on. However, the resonance will
generally fall short of the opposite rail due to component
resistances, device conduction losses and/or inadequate forcing
potential, requiring the next switch to be gated on at the peak of the
resonating voltage. The on-going switch must absorb the switching
losses due to the non-zero voltage tum-on including the energy
dump from the parallel capacitor. The circuit as described earlier
can be seen to reduce primary device stress during switching
instants and reduce, but not eliminate, the Switching losses. In this
paper a new control strategy is presented which avoids completely
the hard switching phenomena in the ARCP converter. The

Figure 4. Auxiliary Resonant Pole Inverter (ARPI).

1229

performance of this converter is verified by simulation in case of a

high performance ac to ac power converter which is illustrated in
Fig. 6 utilizing both MCT primary and auxiliary switches.

Figure 5. The Auxiliary Resonant Commutated Pole (ARCP).

rate of V,jJ2Lr). During this period, the primary switch S2

remains gated-n while Z, displaces the load current flowing in
D2.
c.

When I,exceeds I1 the boost phase of the commutation

begins. The current in D2 falls to zero and the current in S2
becomes Z b s t = Z, - I [ . The boost current will kick-start the
resonant cycle with an addition of energy equal to L&&I2;
this level should exceed the energy losses incurred during the
resonant commutation phase. Since the boost current is
increasing in S2 at a linear rate, the duration of the boost
phase can be controlledby a simple time delay. Note that any
diode recovery current in D2 is in a direction to similarly add
boost energy and therefore assist in the commutation ~ O C ~ S S .

d.

When the boost current reaches the specified level, S2 is gated

off to begin the resolllytt commutationphase. At this point, Vf
is released from the negative rail and begins to swing towards
the upper rail as the current present in S2 at turn-off diverts to
the resonant (snubber) capacitors. Some switching losses will
occur if S2 exhibits a turn-off tail. During this phase, I,
consists of a half-cycle of sinusoidal current superimposed
upon a 'dc' load current level. The peak current in the auxiliary
circuit willreach

e.

' attempts to
The clump commutation phase begins when V
overshoot the positive dc rail, forward biasing D1 and thereby
connecting 'V to the positive dc rail. At this time S l is gated-

Control of ARCP Inverter

A new control strategy of the auxiliary and the main devices is
proposed which boosts the energy in the auxiliary inductor such that
the resonant cycle always leads to a clamping action of the opposite
main diode. This ensures a zero voltage turn-on opportunity for the
primary switching devices.

ARCP Commutationfrom Diode

A typical commutation of an ARCP phase leg, in case of a diode
conductingload current (Fig. 7a), is illustrated in Fig. 7.
b.

To start the commutation process switch A2 is gated on; this

introduces a forcing potential of V&2 across LP This initiates
the ramp-up commutationphase where Z, increases at a linear

INVERTER

RECTIFIER

CF2

IO21

1011

Figure 6. ARCP ac to ac converter.

1230

3phaseload

1034

on with no switching losses. The excess boost energy left in

the resonant inductor is returned to the dc bus capacitors as I,
linearly decreases. forced by the V&2 potential.

f.

When I , falls below 11 the rump-down commutation phase

begins wherein I, continues to decrease at a linear rate of
V&(2L,) .As I, decreases. the load current transfers into S1.

2Cdc
I

C.

d.

f.

a.

+
l
7-

T
I

b.

g*
Figure 7. Commutation from Diode

g . The commutation sequence ends when I, reaches zero and A2

is gated off. In actuality, A2 will be gated off in anticipationof
the current zero in order to minimize reverse recovery losses.
The total duration of the commutation sequence can be estimated by

ARCP Commutationfrom Switch - Low Current

a.
The commutation at low load currents from a conducting switch is
illustrated in Fig. 8a. The commutation sequence (see Fig. 8) is
similar to that described above except there are no r m p phases:

To start the commutation process, switch A1 is gated on; this

introduces a forcing potential of vd&? across L,, thereby
immediately initiating the boost commutation phase where I,
increases at a linear rate of V,&(2Lr,J. The boost current once
again serves to kick-start the resonant cycle with an addition
of enough energy to overcome the losses incurred during the
resonant phase. During the boost phase, the boost current
flows through S1 in addition to the load current, thereby
briefly increasing the forward current flow through the switch.

b.

When the boost current reaches the specified level, S 1 is gated

off to begin the resonant commutation phase. At this point Vf
is released from the positive rail to swing towards the negative
rail while the current present in S1 at turn-off diverts to the
resonant capacitors. During this phase, I , consists of a halfcycle of sinusoidal current superimposed upon the boost
current level. Note that the capacitorcurrent consists of I, + I1 ;
consequently, Vf changes as the sum of cosine and ramp
waveforms.

C.

The clump commutation phase begins when Vf attempts to

overshoot the negative dc rail, forward biasing D2 and thereby
connecting Vf to the negative dc rail. At this time S2 is gatedon with no switching losses. The excess boost energy left in
the resonant inductor is retumed to the dc bus capacitors as I,
linearly decreases, forced by the V&2 potential.
The commutation sequence ends when I, reaches zero and A1

/ Iboost

d.

e.
Figure 8. Commutation from Switch - Low Current.
is gated off. At thispoint D2 is now conducting all of Il.
1232

ARCP Commutationfrom Switch - High C u r r d

The commutation at high load currents from a conducting switch is
illustrated in Fig. 9. This sequence substantially differs from the
others described in that the auxiliary circuit is not involved - the load
current itself is sufficient to drive the voltage from rail to rail. This
commutation sequence is predominant in high power drives
operating in six step mode leading to a very efficient operation of
the ARCP inverter at high motor speeds.
If the current through S 1 exceeds a prespecified threshold level, A1
is not gated on. Instead. S1 is immediately gated off, shunting the
load current into the two resonant capacitors. The voltage falls
linearly at a rate proportional to the load current magnitude. When
Vf falls below the negative dc rail, D2 becomes forward biased and
immediately picks up all the load current - concluding the
commutation.

b.

The threshold level is determined by

(3)

C.

where Tmaxrepresents the maximum commutating time (i.e. the

time required for commutating off full load current from a
conducting diode). An important criteria to be considered in circuit
component selection is to arrange the commutating threshold to be
sufficientlybelow the peak load current such that Ih + Ibmsl does
not exceed the peak value. If this criteria is met, the primary
switches are not required to turn-off any more current than a power
switch in an equivalent hard-switched converter (i.e. no current
Penalty).

Figure 9. Commutation from Switch - High Current

ARCP Circuit Design Considerations

The performance and the losses of the ARCP inverter depend
primarily on the selection of the auxiliary resonant inductorsLr and
resonant snubber capacitors Cr. They determine the dead time of
the inverter and also the efficiency that can be attained with this
topology. Several trade-offs have to be made while selecting the
values of these resonant elements. Clearly, a higher C, leads to
lower turn-off losses of the main switches but increases the peak
current in the auxiliary circuit which leads to higher conduction
losses. High power devices such as GTOs with significant tail
times (10 to 50 ps) favor large Cr values because the reduction in
switching losses outweighs the increased losses in the auxili&y
circuit. In addition to the loss considerations, the resonant
components and C, determine the maximum switching frequency
obtainable along with the maximum di/di and dv/dt stresses applied
to the devices.

VF

S1

Cr

SimulationResults

ARCP Commutationat Low Current

D2

The ARCP commutation process was simulated at a low current

level (Fig. 10 a-b). The simulation has current flowing initially
through the upper switch. this current is commutated fist to the
lower diode and then back into the upper switch. At low current
levels the resonance is boosted in both commutation directions. The
resonant inductor current appears to be two half sinwoids with the
positive current having a higher peak value - this is due to load
current offset. The switch current waveforms clearly show the
boost current phase which precedes switch turn-off. The simulation
assumed ideal resonant circuit components (i.e. no losses),
consequently the boost current being added to the resonant inductor
is returned, via the diodes, to the dc bus during the cramp phase at
the end of each commutation.

a.

1233

finn n.
W

---.-I

c)

n 300.0-

f
L

0.000~

-300.0-

a.
400.01
h

Figure 11. ARCP Commutation at High Current

1)

5 225.0-

Performance of the ARCP Inverter

-300.0.
0.0 loo

5.0

1.0

A simulation study of a high waveform-quality ac-ac converter

system was conducted. Three candidate power converters were
considered hard-switched PWM converters, active clamped
resonant dc link converters, and ARCP converters (Fig. 6). The
simulation trials were designed to achieve similar operating
conditions and hence form the basis of a fair circuit comparison.
These. simulations were designed specifically to minimize THD of
both input current and output voltage. In each case optimized
voltage control loops and inner current regulation loops were
utilized as they have a significant influence on the waveform
quality. The quality factor of the resonant circuits was
approximately 100. The turn-off losses of the active devices were
simulated according to the soft switching models described in [3]
and were matched to measured data of MCT's. The switching
losses of the diodes were neglected. The total harmonic distortion
(THD) was calculated exactly using a least squares iterative fitting
of the hdamental with respect to amplitude, frequency and phase.
Table 1 presents the results of these simulations which compare the
three power converters at 60 Hz steady-state operating conditions of
156 kW and 440 V line voltage.

t kc)
1.5

b.
Figure 10. ARCP Commutation at Low Current

ARCP Commutation at High Current

The ARCP commutation process was simulated at a high negative
current level (Fig. lla-b). The simulation has current flowing
initially through the upper diode, this current is commutated Fist to
the lower switch and then back into the upper diode.At high current
levels the resonance is buosted only when commutating off a diode,
the auxiliary circuit is not used when commutating off a switch. The
filter voltage waveform shows the characteristic resonant swing
during the first commutation sequence, however during the second
commutation sequence the load current forces a ramp voltage
change back to the positive dc bus. The resonant inductor current is
a half sinusoid offset by both the boost and filter inductor currents
during the first commutation interval. Note that the auxiliary current
flows for a considerable time after the negative dc bus voltage is
reached (clamp and ramp-down phases).
800.01

LF1 (pH)
CF1 (pF)
LF2 UH)
CF2 (pF)
Vpeak
Input THD(%)

Output THD (%)

Rect SW Freq (kHz)
Inv SW Freq (kHz)
Resonant Freq (kHz)
Cond Losses (kw)
sw Losses (kW)
Semi Losses (kw)
Passive Losses (kw)
Total Losses (kW)
Efficiency (%)

600.0t

5
400.0-

200.0-

0 000
3.888

3.891

3.894

HSW
320
220
320
220
750
0.153
0.255
9.18
8.28
na
1.44
5.47
6.92
4.49
11.4
93.2

ACRDCL
320
220
320
220
1200
0.371
0.513
9.18
8.22
77.1
1.48
0.823
2.30
6.30
8.61
94.6

ARCP
320
220
320
220
750
0.124
0.292
9.42
8.22
150.0
1.66
0.362
2.02
4.68
6.71
95.8

3.897 1 0 7 ~

Table 1. AC to AC Converter Simulation Results

a.
1234

Input THD (8)

Output THD (%)
Rect SW Freq (kHz)
Inv SW Freq (kHz)
Resonant Freq (kHz)
Cond Losses (kw)
Sw Losses (kw)
Semi Losses (kW)
Passive Losses (kW)
Total Losses (kw)
Efficiency (a)

The first observation is that the ACRDCL converter generates,more

harmonic distortion than the other two converters. The discrete
pulse modulation control allows less flexibility in choice of
switching instants than the PWM control utilized by the ARCP and
HSW converters. FETT spectrum analysis reveals that the increase
of the THD can be attributed to the low harmonics produced by the
DPM which are less effectively filtered by the input and output
fiiters.
The ACRDCL converter can be seen to apply higher peak voltage
stresses to the power devices (1200 v) than the other converters
(750 v).

0.0199
0.0472
31.9
33.2
150.0
2.34
1.27
3.62
5.61
9.23
94.4

Table 2. ARCP Simulation

The input and output total harmonic distortion figures are similar for
the ARCP and HSW converters; this is not surprising since the
simulations were conducted with similar average switching
frequencies. Note that the HSW THD numbers on the rectifier side
are relative to larger fundamental input currents due to the lower
efficiency of this converter.
The hard-switchedconverter's device conduction losses (1.44 kW)
are equivalent to the primary power circuit conduction losses in the
other two power circuits. The ACRDCL converter (1.48 kW) adds
the conductionlosses associated with the clamp circuit to the hardswitched result. The ARCP converter (1.66 kW) adds the
conduction losses associated with the auxiliary devices to the hard
switched result. The additional ARCP conduction losses are
primarily due to rmseffects and can be reduced by paralleling more
auxiliary devices, thereby reducing the equivalentdevice resistance.
The simulation assumed auxiliary devices with a silicon area equal
to 25% of the main devices.
The switching loss figures highlight substantialdifferencesbetween
the three power circuits. The hard-switched converter exhibits large
losses (5.47 kW). The ACRDCL converter has lower losses
(0.823 kW). these losses are principally caused by the clamp switch
turn-off (switching at 77 kHz). The ARCP converter demonstrates
low Switching losses (0.362 kW). these losses are principally
caused by primary switch turn-off tails.
The passive losses are principally due to losses in the input and
output filter inductors - these losses are roughly equivalent in all
three cases. The soft-switching converters add losses in the
resonant inductors. The ARCP converter resonant inductor losses
are minor due to the low current duty cycle in the auxiliary circuit.
These losses are not minor for the ACRDCL topology where L,
conducts continuous current (note that for dc to ac inverters the
resonant inductor must also carry the dc load current).
To illustrate the performance margin available with the ARCP
power circuit , the converter was operated at higher switching
frequencies (30 to 34 kHz) utilizing the same filter components.
The results at 60 Hz steady-stateoperation are shown in Table 2.
The total harmonic distortion figures have been reduced to 0.010.05%, nearly an order of magnitudeimprovement. This substantial
reduction in harmonic content was achieved with only a 1.14%
decrease in total converter efficiency.

Conclusion
The ARCP power circuit is clearly the preferred topology for high
performance. high power convertersdue to its unique characteristics
of PWM control and soft switching without additional voltage or
current stresses in the primary devices and low losses in the
additional passive Components. Summarizing one can state that the
ARCP advantages are:
equivalent spectral performance to hard-switching converter
reduced device stresses compared with the hard switched and
and the ACRDCL converter (controlled di/dt and dvldt)
capable of high switching frequencies with low switching
losses
high efficiency
small auxiliary devices
The ARCP has as major disadvantage in that auxiliary devices and
associated gating circuitry are required; this can represent a
considerable cost penalty for low power converters. However, for
high power applications, particularly when high switching
frequencies are desired, the disadvantagescited are outweighed by
the substantial performance advantages gained.

References
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4.
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C0nf"W
1.