Energies 2013, 6, 4859-4878; doi:10.

3390/en6094859

energies
ISSN 1996-1073
www.mdpi.com/journal/energies
Article
A Power Supply System with ZVS and Current-Doubler
Features for Hybrid Renewable Energy Conversion
Cheng-Tao Tsai
1
, Chih-Lung Shen
2,
* and Jye-Chau Su
3

1
Department of Electrical Engineering, National Chin-Yi University of Technology,
Taichung 41170, Taiwan; E-Mail: [email protected]
2
Department of Electronic Engineering, National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology,
1 University Rd., Yanchao, Kaohsiung 824, Taiwan
3
Department of Electronic Engineering, National Chin-Yi University of Technology,
Taichung 41170, Taiwan; E-Mail: [email protected]
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: [email protected];
Tel.: +886-7-6011000 (ext. 2515); Fax: +886-7-6011386.
Received: 28 July 2013; in revised form: 10 September 2013 / Accepted: 12 September 2013 /
Published: 20 September 2013

Abstract: In this paper, a power supply system for hybrid renewable energy conversion is
proposed, which can process PV (photovoltaic) power and wind-turbine energy simultaneously
for step-down voltage and high current applications. It is a dual-input converter and mainly
contains a PV energy source, a wind turbine energy source, a zero-voltage-switching (ZVS)
forward converter, and a current-doubler rectifier. The proposed power supply system has the
following advantages: (1) PV-arrays and wind-energy sources can alternatively deliver
power to the load during climate or season alteration; (2) maximum power point tracking
(MPPT) can be accomplished for both different kinds of renewable-energy sources; (3) ZVS
and synchronous rectification techniques for the active switches of the forward converter are
embedded so as to reduce switching and conducting losses; and (4) electricity isolation is
naturally obtained. To achieve an optimally dynamic response and to increase control
flexibility, a digital signal processor (DSP) is investigated and presented to implement MPPT
algorithm and power regulating scheme. Finally, a 240 W prototype power supply system
with ZVS and current-doubler features to deal with PV power and wind energy is built and
implemented. Experimental results are presented to verify the performance and the feasibility
of the proposed power supply system.

OPEN ACCESS
Energies 2013, 6 4860

Keywords: PV; wind turbine; ZVS; current doubler; MPPT

1. Introduction
Serious greenhouse effects and limited fossil energy supplies have forced most engineers to do research
on renewable energy sources [1]. The typical renewable energy sources include solar, wind and geothermal
energies, which have the features of cleanliness, abundance and freedom from maintenance [2]. Currently,
solar and wind are most widely utilized renewable energies. Photovoltaic (PV) arrays and wind turbine
technologies have been undergoing a dramatic development and now are the worlds fastest growing
energies. Therefore, to develop PV and wind energy sources to substitute for fossil fuels has been an
important topic [35].
In general, PV arrays and wind energy are complementary since sunny days in summer are usually
calm and strong winds often occur in winter. The curves of their power alterations are shown in Figure 1.
Hence, a dual-input PV-wind power supply has higher reliability to deliver continuous power than
individual source [68]. Usually, two separated DC/DC converters for the PV arrays and the wind turbine
are used in a dual-input PV-wind power supply, as shown in Figure 2, in which component count and cost
are increased significantly [912]. An effective approach is to adopt a dual-input power supply system by
combining these renewable energy sources with a DC/DC converter, which can simplify power supply and
reduce cost. In order to reduce switching and conducting losses of active switches and improve efficiency,
a DC/DC converter with ZVS and synchronous rectification techniques are usually required.
Figure 1. Energy curves of PV power and wind power for season alteration.

Figure 2. Two separated DC/DC converters for PV arrays and wind turbine conversion.

Energies 2013, 6 4861

In this paper, a dual-input power supply system with a ZVS forward converter and a current-doubler
rectifier for renewable PV arrays and wind energy applications is proposed, as shown in Figure 3.
In order to obtain the optimal power conversion from the PV arrays and wind turbine energy, MPPT
methods, ZVS and synchronous rectification techniques must be incorporated [1317]. Thus, the
proposed dual-input power supply has the following main features: (1) PV arrays and wind turbine
energies can alternatively deliver power to the load during climate or season alteration; (2) a simple
perturbation-and-observation method and a DSP microcontroller are incorporated to realize the MPPT
algorithm and power regulating scheme; (3) ZVS and synchronous rectification techniques are
implemented to reduce switching and conducting losses of active switches; and (4) electricity isolation is
naturally obtained by the use of a high-frequency transformer in the soft-switching forward converter.
The structural description of the proposed dual-input power supply system is described in Section 2.
The MPPT Algorithm of PV arrays and wind turbine with a simple perturbation-and-observation
method is described in Section 3. The control scheme of the proposed power supply system is decribed
in Section 4. Design consideration of soft-switching forward converter is decribed in Section 5.
Experimental results obtained from a 240 W prototype with the proposed dual-input power supply
system for PV arrays and wind turbine energy source are presented in Section 6. Finally, conclusions
are given in Section 7.
Figure 3. Circuit structure of the proposed power supply system.

2. Structural Description of the Proposed Power Supply System
Figure 3 shows the structure of the proposed power supply system, which is composed of a ZVS
forward converter and a current-doubler rectifier with synchronous rectification switches. The ZVS
technique and operational principle of the proposed power supply system are described as follows:

Energies 2013, 6 4862

2.1. Selection of ZVS Circuit
Converters using the ZVS technique will result in no voltage across an active switch to avoid
concurrent high voltage during turn-on transition, as illustrated in Figure 4. Thus, a ZVS operation
is an effective technique to solve or alleviate switching losses and converter stress problems. ZVS
techniques can be roughly classified as passive-clamp and active-clamp circuits [18,19]. Passive-clamp
circuits use only passive elements (diodes, capacitors and inductors, etc.) to perform ZVS operation.
Active-clamp circuits add one or more active switches along with other passive elements to perform
ZVS operation. Although the passive-clamp circuits do not require extra active switches or additional
control circuits, they usually require more diodes and energy-storage components, which might
increase the complexity of any printed circuit board (PCB) layout and induce a high level of EMI
noise. In practice, active-clamp circuits will provide a relatively simple solution to reduce converter
switching losses [18].
Figure 4. Illustration of ZVS for an active switch.

In this study, a dual-input power supply system with a ZVS forward converter for renewable energy
applications is proposed, as shown in Figure 3. The ZVS forward converter with an active-clamp
circuit can effectively alleviate voltage stresses and reduce switching losses of active switches.
In addition, the current-doubler rectifier with synchronous rectification technique can also reduce
conducting losses of active switches. Thus, conversion efficiency of a dual-input power supply system
can be increased significantly.
2.2. Operational Principle
For convenience of illustration and analysis, Figure 3 is simplified and redrawn in Figure 5. The
proposed ZVS forward converter consists of resonant inductor L
r
, main switch M
1
, resonant capacitor
C
r
, clamp capacitor C
c
, auxiliary switch M
2
, transformer T
r
, synchronous rectification switches M
3
and
M
4
, inductors L
1
and L
2
, and output filter capacitor C
o
. In order to achieve the ZVS feature for main
Energies 2013, 6 4863

switch M
1
and auxiliary switch M
2
, the resonant inductor L
r
and capacitor C
r
are usually required.
Additionally, the active switches M
3
and M
4
are driven with synchronous rectification technique to
reduce conduction losses. Therefore, the conversion efficiency of proposed power supply can be
increased significantly.
Figure 5. Simplified circuit diagram of the proposed power supply system.

To facilitate the analysis of operation, Figure 6 shows current and voltage waveforms of the key
components and the driving signal switches (M
1
and M
2
).
Figure 6. Driving signals and key waveforms of the proposed power supply system.

Figure 7 shows the topological stages of the proposed power supply during a switching cycle.
To simplify the description of the operational stages, the following assumptions are made.
(1) To analyze the ZVS feature of active switches (M
1
and M
2
), the body diodes (D
1
and D
2
) of the
active switches (M
1
and M
2
) and the leakage inductance (L
k
) of the transformer (T
r
) will be
considered at the steady-state operation of the circuit.
Energies 2013, 6 4864

(2) Output capacitor C
o
and clamp capacitor C
c
are large enough so that the voltages across them
are constant over a switching period.
(3) All of the switching devices and components are ideal.
Figure 7. Equivalent circuits of operating stages for the proposed power supply system.
(a) Stage 1 (t
0
< t < t
1
) (b) Stage 2 (t
1
< t < t
2
)
(c) Stage 3 (t
2
< t < t
3
) (d) Stage 4 (t
3
< t < t
4
)
(e) Stage 5 (t
4
< t < t
5
) (f) Stage 6 (t
5
< t < t
6
)
(g) Stage 7 (t
6
< t < t
7
) (h) Stage 8(t
7
< t < t
8
)
(i) Stage 9 (t
8
< t < t
9
)

T
r
Co
M
4
L2
N
s
N
p M
3
M M
2
Df1
Df2
C
c
C
r
1
L
r
RL
Clink
+
-
+
-
V
in
L1
L1
i
L2
i
Lr
i
Np i
Ns
i
DS
i (M1) =
c(link)
i
c(link)
i
Lf
i
+
D2
D1
L
k
Energies 2013, 6 4865

Based on the above assumptions, operation of the proposed converter over one switching cycle can
be divided into nine stages. The operational principle is explained stage by stage as follows:
Stage 1 (Figure 7a, t
0
< t < t
1
)
At time t
0
, the main switch M
1
is turned on, and the resonant inductor current i
Lr
is flowing through
the diode D
f2
and the switch M
1
. Simultaneously, the dc-link capacitor C
link
discharges through the
primary winding of the transformer, as shown in Figure 7a. The current i
DS(M1)
flowing through the
switch M
1
is the sum of current i
Lr
and i
c(link)
, which is linearly increased. During this interval, the
DC-link capacitor C
link
energy will be transferred to the secondary through the transformer, and current
i
NS
in the secondary winding of the transformer can be expressed as:
NP
S
P
NS
i
N
N
i =

(1)
At this operation, there will be a voltage across the secondary winding, which will turn on the
synchronous switch M
4
and turn off the synchronous switch M
3
. The inductor current i
L1
in the
secondary winding will flow through the inductor L
1
to the load, and the current i
L2
of the inductor L
2

is in free-wheeling through the switch M
4
to the load.
Stage 2 (Figure 7b, t
1
< t < t
2
)
The main switch M
1
is turned off at time t
1
, and the parasitic capacitor C
1
of the switch M
1
will be
linearly charged by the current i
DS(M1)
(= i
Lr
+ i
c(link)
). Due to the charge time of the parasitic capacitor
C
1
is very short, the voltage V
DS(M1)
of the main switch M
1
will be steeply risen. The resonant inductor
current i
Lr
still continuously flows through the switch M
1
, and its equation can be given as follows:
( ) 1
r
M DS in
Lr
L
V V
dt
di

=

(2)
Stage 3 (Figure 7c, t
2
< t < t
3
)
At time t
2
, the voltage V
DS(M1)
of the main switch M
1
is increased over the input voltage V
in
, and the
resonant inductor current i
Lr
begins reduction linearly. Thus, the diode D
f2
is reversely biased and D
f1
is
forwardly biased. During this interval, the resonant capacitor C
r
with the main switch M
1
in parallel is
maintained charging.
In the secondary winding of the transformer, due to the change of the voltage polarity, the
synchronous switch M
4
is turned off and M
3
is turned on. The current i
L2
flowing through the inductor
L
2
, output load and synchronous rectifier switch M
3
is increased linearly. Simultaneously, the current
i
L1
flowing through the inductor L
1
, output load and synchronous rectifier switch M
3
is decreased
linearly. The equivalent circuit is shown in Figure 7c.
Stage 4 (Figure 7d, t
3
< t < t
4
)
When the voltage V
DS(M1)
of the main switch M
1
is equal to the voltage V
Cc
of the clamping
capacitor, the body diode D
2
of the auxiliary switch M
2
is conducted and creates a ZVS feature for M
2
.
The resonant inductor current i
Lr
is diverted to dc-link capacitor C
link
and clamping capacitor C
c
.
The equivalent circuit is shown in Figure 7d.
Energies 2013, 6 4866

Stage 5 (Figure 7e, t
4
< t < t
5
)
At time t
4
, the auxiliary switch M
2
is turned on under ZVS condition. The resonant inductor current
i
Lr
is diverted to capacitors C
link
and C
c
, continuously. During this interval, the secondary current flow
is the same as that during t
3
t
4
interval. The equivalent circuit is shown in Figure 7e.
Stage 6 (Figure 7f, t
5
< t < t
6
)
When the resonant inductor current i
Lr
reaches zero at time t
5
, the operation of circuit enters a
discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) and both diodes D
f1
and D
f2
are reversely biased. Within this
stage, the current is reversed and flowing through clamping capacitor C
c
and the transformer to the
DC-link capacitor C
link
. The secondary current flow is the same as that during t
4
t
5
interval. The
equivalent circuit is shown in Figure 7f.
Stage 7 (Figure 7g, t
6
< t < t
7
)
At time t
6
, the auxiliary switch M
2
is turned off. The reverse current will continue to flow through
the DC-link capacitor and the resonant capacitor C
r
. The voltage V
DS(M1)
of the main power switch M
1

will be decreased in the resonant manner towards zero. During this stage, the secondary current flow is
the same as that during t
5
t
6
interval. The equivalent circuit is shown in Figure 7g.
Stage 8 (Figure 7h, t
7
< t < t
8
)
When the voltage V
DS(M1)
across M
1
has been decreased to zero at time t
7
, the body diode D
1
is
conducted to create a ZVS operating feature for M
1
. The equivalent circuit is shown in Figure 7h.
Stage 9 (Figure 7i, t
8
< t < t
9
)
The main switch M
1
is turned on under ZVS condition at time t
8
. When the current i
DS(M1)
is
forwardly increased at end of stage 9, the converter operation over one switching cycle is completed.
The equivalent circuit is shown in Figure 7i.
3. MPPT Algorithm of PV Arrays and Wind Turbine
The typical V-I and output power characteristic curves of the PV arrays with different insolations
are shown in Figure 8.
Figure 8. Output power and output voltage curves of PV arrays with different insolations.

For a specific insolation, there exists one operating point where the PV array can generate its
maximum output power. In order to achieve the best energy utilization of the PV arrays, an MPPT
Energies 2013, 6 4867

algorithm with the perturbation-and-observation method must be integrated into the control strategy of
the proposed power supply system. The perturbation-and-observation method has only required a few
parameters to measure and control the maximum power point easily. Therefore, it is often applied to
PV arrays energy for enhancing power capacity. Figure 9 shows the curves of output voltage vs. output
power of PV arrays.
In Figure 9a, when the working point locates on point A
1
, the load must be decreased to track
the MPP of PV arrays. Similarly, when working point locates on B
1
in Figure 9b, the load must be
increased to track the MPP of PV arrays. Therefore, the MPP of PV arrays can be obtained with a
simple perturbation-and-observation method.
Figure 9. PV output power curves with respect to the PV output voltage: (a) operated in
A area; (b) operated in B area.
(a) (b)
Figure 10 shows the emulator simulation system for the wind energy generator, in which the
DC motor is controlled by different values of dc voltage V
DC,motor
to provide different limited
maximum power for the load.
Figure 10. The emulator simulation system for the wind energy generator.

Figure 11 shows the typical output power characteristic curves of the wind turbine under
different output voltages. The output power characteristic curves imply that the wind turbine will
generate different maximum output powers for different wind speeds. Because the output power
characteristic curves of the wind turbine are similar to those of the PV arrays shown in Figure 8, the
perturbation-and-observation method is also adopted as the MPPT algorithm for the wind turbine.
Energies 2013, 6 4868

Figure 11. Typical output power characteristic curves of the wind turbine under different
wind speeds.

Figure 12 illustrates the flow chart of the MPPT algorithm of the PV arrays and wind turbine for the
proposed power supply system. In the dual-input solar energy source and wind energy, the MPPT
algorithm mentioned above is realized on a single-chip TMS320F240 microprocessor (Texas
Instruments, Dallas, TX, USA).
Figure 12. Flow chart of perturbation-and-observation method for MPPT algorithm.

4. Control Scheme of the Proposed Power Supply
The conceptual control-block diagram of the proposed power supply system is shown in
Figure 13. In practice, the control circuits are implemented with a TMS320F240 microcontroller for
Energies 2013, 6 4869

drawing maximum power from the PV arrays and the wind turbine. The output voltage and current
signals of the PV arrays and the wind turbine are sensed and transmitted to the microcontroller.
The microcontroller will obtain the reference current signals Iref1 and Iref2 and generate two current
error signals ierror1 and ierror2. By comparing these error signals ierror1 and ierror2 to the sawtooth
waveforms, the PWM comparator A and comparator B will generate desired gate driving signals
RelayA
(signal)
and RelayB(
signal
) for the relays A and B to realize the MPPT control algorithm.
Figure 13. Conceptual control block diagram of the proposed power supply system.

In order to regulate the output power, the voltage and current feedback compensators are essential.
The voltage and current signals (V
o
and I
o
) are obtained from the output terminal. By feedback
compensators processing, the voltage error signal v
e
and current error signal i
e
will be obtained. Then,
the PWM compensator will generate driving signals of switches (M
1
and M
2
) to regulate the output
power. To achieve an optimal stability and safety for the proposed small power system, functions of
over-voltage protection, over-current protection and over-temperature protection are usually required.
All of the protection signals are realized with the TMS320F240 microcontroller.
5. Design Consideration
To verify the feasibility, a 240 W prototype of the proposed power supply system was designed
and built. Its key components are shown in Figure 3 and specifications are listed as follows:

Energies 2013, 6 4870

(1) PV arrays: peak power P
PV
= 300 W, voltage V
PV
= 200220 V
DC
,
(2) Wind turbine: peak power P
wind
= 400 W, voltage V
wind
= 200230 V
DC
,
(3) Output voltage of converter: V
o
= 24 V
DC
,
(4) Output power of converter: P
o,max
= 240 W, and
(5) Switching frequency: fs = 50 kHz (M1M4).
As followed are the design considerations and experimental results for the proposed dual-input
power supply system.
5.1. Design Considerations of Key Components
The key components of the proposed power supply system with a ZVS forward converter are
considered as follows.
5.1.1. Design of isolation transformer (T
r
)
In the proposed ZVS forward converter, the input voltage from minimum 200 V
DC
to maximum
230 V
DC
is considered. A maximum duty ratio D
max
corresponds to a minimum input voltage and a
proper transformer turns ratio n. In order to obtain a proper transformer turns ratio n, we assume a
maximum duty ratio as D
max
= 0.37.
Once when maximum duty ratio D
max
= 0.37 and minimum input voltage V
in(min)
= 200 V
DC
are
selected, the turn ratio of the transformer can be determined as:
08 . 3
24
) 200 )( 37 . 0 (
(min) max
= = =
o
in
V
V D
n

(3)
We take the turn ratio of the transformer n = 3. Thus, the maximum duty ratio D
max
will be revised as:
36 . 0
200
) 24 )( 3 (
(min)
max
= = =
in
o
V
nV
D

(4)
A proper size of core ETD-39, ferrite material of TDK PC-40 and maximum flux B
max
= 0.2 T (2000 G)
are selected to minimize core losses. By applying the Faradays law, primary turns N
p
of the
transformer can be determined as:
B f A
nV
B f A
DV
N
s c
o
s c
in
p

=

(5)
where A
c
is the effective cross-section area of the transformer core ETD-39 with A
c
= 1.23 cm
2
, and
B
is working flux density. For the forward converter, the transformer allows flux excursion in the
first and the third quadrants of the B-H curve; that is:
max
2B B =

(6)
with the flux density level B
max
= 0.2 T, the transformer yields primary turns N
p
= 30 and secondary
turns N
s
= 10.

Energies 2013, 6 4871

5.1.2. Selection of Output Inductors (L
1
and L
2
)
Inductor currents i
L1
and i
L2
are operated under continue conducting mode (CCM). Thus, the
minimum inductor valve can be expressed as follows:
) (
2
) 1 (
2
max
(min) 2 (min) 1
P
V
f
D
L L
o
o
s

= =


(7)
To assure the inductor current is operated at CCM, the inductor values of L
1
and L
2
are selected
as 20 H.
5.1.3. Selection of Synchronous Switches (M
3
and M
4
)
The peak voltage stresses imposed on synchronous switches M
3
and M
4
can be determined as:
V 77
3
230
(max)
(max) 4 (max) 3
= = =
n
V
V V
in
DS DS

(8)
The peak-to-peak variation in inductor current for L
1
or L
2
can be determined as:
A 68 . 7
) 10 50 )( 10 20 ( 2
) 36 . 0 1 )( 24 (
2
) 1 (
3 6
1
max
=

s
L
f L
D V
i
O

(9)
and the maximum inductor current of L
1
and L
2
can also be determined as:
A 84 . 8
2
68 . 7
5
2
1
2
(max)
= + = + =
L L
i
I
I
O

(10)
Therefore, the maximum current stresses of synchronous switches M
3
and M
4
can be determined as:
A 84 . 8
(max) (max) 4 (max) 3
= = =
L DS DS
I I I

(11)
Selection of power switches involves a trade-off between conduction losses and switching losses.
MOSFETs with low R
ds(on)
can usually keep low conduction losses, but they usually have high
parasitic capacitance and require a large die size. In this application, the active switch is IRFP244 with
a drain-source breakdown voltage of 250 V, a drain current of 15 A, and a channel resistance of 0.28 .
5.1.4. Selection of Main and Auxiliary Switch (M
1
and M
2
)
For the ZVS forward converter, the peak voltage stresses imposed on main switch M
1
and auxiliary
switch M
2
is:
V 5 . 312 )
1
1
(
max
(min)
(max) 2 (max) 1
=

=
=
D
V
V V
in
DS DS

(12)
When main switch M
1
is turned on, the maximum current I
DS1(max)
is expressed as:
4 . 15 )
240
24
(
) 10 50 ( 2
) 36 . 0 1 (
2
3
H =

=
Energies 2013, 6 4872

A, 95 . 2 ) (
(max)
(max) 1
= =
n
I
I
L
DS

(13)
When the auxiliary switch M
2
is turned on, the maximum current I
DS2(max)
is expressed as:
A 36 . 2 1 ) (
max
(max)
(max) 2
= = D
n
I
I
L
DS

(14)
With a drain-source breakdown voltage of 500V, a drain current of 14 A and a low R
ds(on)
of 0.4 ,
IRFP450 MOSFETs are used and applied to the active switches (M
1
and M
2
).
5.1.5. Selection of Output Filter Capacitor (C
o
)
The capacitance is selected according to the specification of voltage ripple level V
o
, which is
usually less than 1% of V
o
. Hence, the filter capacitance can be determined as:
F 160
%) 1 ( 8
) 1 (
2
1
max
=

=
s
o
f L
D
C

(15)
Thus, a capacitor with 200 F/50 V is selected.
5.1.6. Selection of Resonant Inductor and Clamping Capacitor (L
r
and C
c
)
In order to achieve ZVS at turn-on transition for the main switch M
1
and auxiliary switch M
2
,
there must be sufficient energy stored in resonant inductor L
r
to completely discharge the resonant
capacitors C
r
. It should be noted that the resonant capacitance C
r
is the lumped capacitance of junction
capacitance (C
oss
) of switch M
1
along with intra-winding capacitance (C
TR
) of the isolation transformer.
Thus, resonant capacitor C
r
can be approximated as:
83 . 0
3
4
nF C C C
TR oss r
= + =

(16)
where parasitic capacitance C
oss
of IRFP450 is about 400 pF and isolation-transformer capacitance
C
Tr
is about 0.3 nF. The resonant capacitor is selected C
r
= 1 nF. Therefore, the following inequality
must be satisfied:
2
1
2
1
2
(max)
2
(max) 1 in r DS r
V C I L

(17)
the value of the resonant inductor can be determined as:
H 1 . 6
2
(max) 1
2
(max)
=

DS
in r
r
I
V C
L

(18)
In general, a slightly larger L
r
may be selected to ensure ZVS condition. In this application, a
resonant inductor L
r
= 12 H is selected.
The clamping capacitance of C
c
needs to be determined along with resonant inductor L
r
. A large
clamping capacitor will lead to a smaller clamping voltage ripple, but it will slow down the dynamic
response to input voltage changes. An optimal design is to select clamping capacitance so that a half of
Energies 2013, 6 4873

the resonant period is longer than the maximum off-time of switch M
1
. Thus, the following relationship
should hold:
) 1 ( 2
max s c r
T D C L >>

(19)
which yields:
4
) 1 (
2 2
2
max
r s
c
L f
D
C

>>

(20)
From Equation (20), the clamping capacitor of C
c
= 0.68 F/250 V is selected. According to above
design consideration, the key component values of the proposed power supply system are shown in
Figure 14.
Figure 14. Experimental circuit of the proposed dual-input power supply system.

5.2. Experimental Results
The experimental results of key components for the proposed power supply system are described in
this section. Figure 15 shows the measured date signal waveforms of power switches (M
1
and M
2
).
Figures 16 and 17 show measured voltage and current waveforms of active switches M
1
and M
2
, from
which it can be seen that the active switches M
1
and M
2
are operated under ZVS condition. Figure 18
shows the step-load change between 20% and 100% of the full load, from which it can be observed
that the voltage regulation of output voltage V
o
has been limited within +1% to prove a good output
dynamic response. Figure 19 shows measured output current, voltage and their corresponding power
from start-up to the steady state for PV with perturbation-and-observation method. Figure 20 shows
measured output current, voltage and power of PV arrays at variable MPPT algorithm. Figure 21
shows measured output current, voltage and their corresponding power from start-up to the steady state
for wind turbine with perturbation-and-observation method. Figure 22 shows measured output current,
voltage and power of wind turbine at variable MPPT algorithm. Figure 23 shows efficiency
measurements of the proposed dual-input power supply system with ZVS forward converter, from
which it can be seen that the maximum efficiency can reach as high as 91%.

Energies 2013, 6 4874

Figure 15. Measured gate signal waveforms of main switch M
1
and auxiliary switch M
2
.
(V
gs(M1)
: 10 V/div; V
gs(M2)
: 10 V/div; time: 5 s/div).

Figure 16. Measured voltage and current waveforms of switch M
1
. (V
DS
: 200 V/div;
i
DS
: 2 A/div; time: 5 s/div).

Figure 17. Measured voltage and current waveforms of switch M
2
. (V
DS
: 200 V/div;
i
DS
: 2 A/div; time: 5 s/div).


Energies 2013, 6 4875

Figure 18. Measured step-load changes between 20% and 100% of the full load.
(V
o
: 10 V/div; I
o
: 5 A/div; time: 500 ms/div).

Figure 19. Measured output voltage, current and power waveforms of PV arrays at
steady-state MPPT. (P
PV
: 100 W/div, V
PV
: 200 V/div, I
PV
: 1 A/div, I
ref_1
: 1 V/div, time: 5 s/div).
PPV
VPV
IPV
Iref1
PPV,VPV

Figure 20. Measured output voltage, current and power waveforms of PV arrays at
variable MPPT. (P
PV
: 100 W/div, V
PV
: 200 V/div, I
PV
: 2 A/div, I
ref_1
: 2 V/div, time: 10 s/div).


Energies 2013, 6 4876

Figure 21. Measured output voltage, current and power waveforms of wind turbine at
steady-state MPPT. (P
wind
:100 W/div, V
wind
:200 V/div, I
wind
:1 A/div, I
ref_2
:1 V/div,
time: 5 s/div).

Figure 22. Measured output voltage, current and power waveforms of wind turbine at variable
MPPT. (P
wind
: 100 W/div, V
wind
: 200 V/div, I
wind
: 2 A/div, I
ref2
: 2 V/div, time: 10 s/div).

Figure 23. Plots of efficiency versus output current for the proposed dual-input power
supply system with ZVS forward converter.

Energies 2013, 6 4877

6. Conclusions
In this paper, a power supply system with a ZVS forward converter for renewable energy conversion
is proposed. The proposed power supply system can alternatively draw power from PV arrays and wind
turbines during weather or season changes. In order to obtain high conversion efficiency from the
dual-input renewable energy, a forward converter with ZVS techniques is introduced. Both the MPPT
algorithms of the PV arrays and the wind turbine are used with the perturbation-and-observation method
to realize maximum power conversion. To achieve an optimally dynamic response and to increase
control flexibility, a DSP and analog circuits are incorporated to implement MPPT algorithms and
protect the system. Experimental results have verified that the proposed power supply system is
relatively suitable for renewable energy source conversion.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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