Design of LCL-T Resonant Converter Including the Effect of Transformer Winding Capacitance

The transformer winding capacitance, which is significant in high-voltage power supplies, is not gainfully utilized in an LCL-T resonant converter (RC). A simplified analysis presented in this paper predicts the severe degradation of output current regulation of an LCL-T RC due to transformer winding capacitance. The presence of winding capacitance, in fact, changes the third-order LCL-T resonant tank into fourth-order LC-LC topology. Using an AC analysis, it is shown that, under the derived design conditions, LC-LC RC also exhibits constant output current and in-phase source voltage and current, simultaneously at all loading conditions. Thus, the transformer leakage inductance and winding capacitance are gainfully utilized as a part of a resonant network, resulting in improved output characteristics. Closed-form expressions for the converter gain and component stresses are derived. The condition for converter design optimized for the minimum size of the resonant network is obtained. Experimental results on a prototype 100-mA 2-kV DC power supply confirm the observations of analysis.