Steady-state characteristics of two novel 4-element current-source resonant inverters

High-frequency resonant power converters are an attractive choice for high efficiency, high power density applications. Until recently, only resonant converters with 2 energy-storage elements have been studied and used for applications. However, some drawbacks of this class of converters can be overcome by the judicious augmentation of the resonant circuit. This paper presents the results of a study performed on two novel 4-element current-source resonant inverter circuits. These include analytical results on their steady-state characteristics (including input impedance, resonant frequency, input-output transfer function, component stresses, and efficiency). In addition, examples of design charts and experimental results are shown. They indicate that these resonant inverters have certain advantages over present ones.