Buck-Plus-Unfolder as the Superior Active Power Decoupling Solution for 400 Vdc/kW-Level Applications

In single-phase ac/dc applications where reliability and/or power-density are critical, active power decoupling (APD) circuits can be employed to reduce the required capacitance on the dc-link. Various APD circuits have been proposed so far, all with their advantages and disadvantages. However, many confusions still exist in the literature on this topic which is mainly attributed to a lack of unified and comprehensive assessment criteria. In this paper, first the decisive criteria for a modern APD circuit are established, and the buck APD is identified as the current state-of-the-art, based on them. Then the buck-plus-unfolder topology with triangular current mode (TCM) modulation is proposed as an improvement, and a simple, yet solid foundation is introduced to choose the superior decoupling solution at different specifications. The operation equations for the APD with TCM modulation are derived next, and the operation of the proposed solution is demonstrated using a hardware prototype.