2006 2nd International Conference on Power Electronics Systems and Applications

Tapped inductor for switched-mode power

converters
K.W.E.Cheng

Power Electronics Research Centre, Department of Electrical Engineering

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Hung Hom, Hong Kong
Email: eeecheng@polyu.edu.hk

Abstract: The tapped converter of the classical classified into Transistor-tapped , diode tapped and
switched-mode power converter is an extension of the rail-tapped and the associated. equations of the voltage
conventional switched mode power converters. Using the conversion ratio of the converters have been reported. It
tapped configuration, the control parameter of the is interesting to for readers understand properly the
converter can be using tapping. It is found that the behavior of the voltage conversion characteristics among
conversion has a very wide range of variation as compared different topologies, the limitation and the associated
with before. The paper introduces this basic concept to give boundary condition of the discontinuous mode.
readers a broader understanding of this classical method of

power conversion. Using a tapped inductor, it forms an additional control

parameter for the voltage conversion. As the tapped
Keywords: tapped inductor, switched-mode., power inductor is similar to an auto-transformer, the energy is
supply stored in the inductor when the transistor is turned on
and is delivered to the output through the diode.
I. INTRODUCTION Classical, the total stored energy during the transistor
excitation is delivered to the output [5], using the tapped
Classical switched mode power converters has been inductor, the output energy can be transformed into
studied extensively and used in industrial products. required voltage level.
They can be classified as Buck, Boost and Buck-Boost
for the basic topology in which single inductor is II. THE BASIC BUCK TOPOLOGY
presented and also Cuk, Sepic and Zeta for higher order
topology which two inductors are presented in the circuit A. Principle of operation
[1]. One of extension of the converters is reported The basic topology consists of 4 components which are
using tapped-inductor in which the tapping of the active switching devices, diode, inductor and output
inductor is connected to other components such as main capacitor. The nomenclature of transistor-tapped is
switching device, freewheeling dido, input or output rails referred to the tapping of the inductor is connected to the
[2]. The converters have been reported as WJ converter active devices. Similar definition is used for the diode
[3] which is a Buck derived version. The converter can tapped and rail tapped.
also be transformed to an inversion mode to provide
positive and negative voltage. The converters has been The derivation of the voltage conversion is using the

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invariance of the mmf of the inductor during the

switching. Fig. 1 shows the buck converter. Three The current through the tapping or terminal can easily be
topologies are shown, namely, switched-tapped, identified by the winding direction or in the circuit the
diode-tapped and rail-tapped. The on and off stages of dot notation.
the converter are shown that indicates the current flows.
The current flow in the inductor is controlled by the The equivalent circuits of each topology is shown in
transistor Q and is then continuous to flow through the order to explain the operation of the circuit and the
diode through another terminal after the transistor is current flow in the tapped inductor during the on and off
turned off. The current amplitude changes with the stage operation of the circuit.
transformer turns ratio.
The circuit Equivalent circuit during transistor’s on and off
Switch-tapped
Diode-tapped
Rail-tapped

Fig 1: The 3 basic topologies for buck version the tapped-inductor converter

excited during off-state, Lon is the inductance for the Non

The voltage conversion ratio can be considered by the and Loff is the inductance for Noff.
balance of the mmf during the on-state and off state.
The increase in mmf during the on state in general is: The above parameters for the buck version have been
V Lon tabulated in Table 1:
M on = N on DTs (1)
Lon
Table 1: The on and off state parameter for the mmf equations-
V Loff
M off = N off (1 − D )Ts (2) Topology Non Noff VLon VLoff
Loff
Switch-tapped N1 N1+N2 Vin-Vo Vo
Where Mon is the increase in on-state mmf, Moff is the Diode-tapped N1+N2 N1 Vin-Vo Vo
increase in off-state mmf, Non is the number of turns Rail-tapped N1 N2 Vin-Vo Vo
excited during on-state, Noff is the number of turns

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The voltage conversion ratio has been derived using (1) point are higher than the conventional counterpoint a=but
and (2) and is tabulated in Table 2. less than unity. The tapped inductor acts as an
autotransformer to provide another control factor for
Table 2: The voltage conversion Vo/Vin of the buck voltage conversion.
converter
Topology Buck k k The DT circuit behaves as a reduced voltage Buck
approach approach converter. All the characteristics vary between that of
1 0 the classical one and zero. One of the obvious
Switch-tapped D D 1 applications is to provide much lower conversion ratio
(ST) D(1 − k ) + k than that of the classical Buck converter. It is also
Diode-tapped kD D 0 noticed that the ST and ST circuit characteristics fill up
(DT) 1 − D + kD the characteristic window and ST fills up the upper half

Rail-tapped D−k - 1 and DT fills up the lower half.

(RT) D(1 − k )
1
When k approaches 1, i.e. N1 winding forms the entire
k
0.01
0.8
Conversion Ratio

inductor. For the ST and DT circuits, the circuit 0.2

reduces to a classical buck converter. For RT circuit, 0.6 0.4
when the circuit does not realize into a practical as the 0.6
0.4
0.8
inductor will be impressed with chopping current.
0.2 0.99

On the other hand, when k approaches 0, ST circuit 0

becomes a unity switched capacitor converter [7], DT

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

circuit cannot be realized as the inductor will be Duty ratio

experienced with discontinuous chopping current. RT Fig 2a: Transfer characteristics for the ST Buck circuit

circuit will reduce to a unity switched-capacitor circuit.

1
B. Transfer characteristics
k
0.8 0.01
Conversion ratio

0.2
0.6 0.4
The characteristics depend on both k and D. It is
0.4 0.6
interesting to obtain the characteristics with variation in 0.8
both k and D. Figs 2a, 2b and 2c show the 0.2 0.99
characteristics for ST, DT and RT Buck converters 0
respectively. 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Duty ratio

The ST and DT Buck converters still process of a Buck Fig 2b: Transfer characteristics for the DT Buck circuit

characteristic. The voltage conversion ratio varies

between zero and one. For the ST circuit, as k increases,
the voltage conversion ratio increases and approaches to
unity as k approaches 1. All the conversion characteristic

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2 Table 3: Conversion ratio of the Boost and Buck-Boost

k
0 0.01 versions
Conversion ratio

0.2
-2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 Topology Boost Buck-Boost
0.4
-4 Switch-tapped D + (1 − D) k −D
0.6
-6 k (1 − D ) k (1 − D )
0.8
-8 0.99 Diode-tapped D ( k − 1) + 1 − Dk
-10 1− D 1− D
Duty ratio Rail-tapped k−D (1 − k ) D
Fig 2c Transfer characteristics for the RT Buck circuit k (1 − D ) k (1 − D )

III. THE OTHER BASIC TOPOLOGIES Table 3: Limiting values of conversion ratio of the Boost
and Buck-Boost versions
The voltage conversion ratio for the Boost and Topology Boost Buck-Boost
Buck-Boost converters can be derived using the same k k k k
method and their conversion ratio can be summarized in approach approach approach approach
Table 3. Fig 3 shows the circuit and its equivalent 1 0 1 0
circuit during the transistor’s on and off stages. It can Switch-tapped 1 D −D −D
be seen that the inductor behaved as a auto-transformer 1− D k 1− D k
and the energy stored during the on-stage is transferred 1 0
Diode-tapped 1 −D
to the diode circuit. 1− D 1− D
Rail-tapped −D −D 0 D
1− D k k

The circuit Equivalent circuit during transistor’s on and off

Switch-tapped
Diode-tapped
Rail-tapped

Fig 3: The 3 basic topologies for the boost version tapped-inductor converter

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The circuit Equivalent circuit during transistor’s on and off

Switch-tapped
Diode-tapped
Rail-tapped

Fig 4: The 3 basic topologies for the buck-boost version tapped-inductor converter

10
A. Boost
8 0.01
Conversion Ratio

0.2
6
Fig 3a 3b and 3c shows the voltage conversion 0.4
0.6
characteristics of the ST, DT and RT Boost versions. 4
0.8
Similar behaviours as the Buck version can be seen. 2 0.99
Both ST and DT circuits have a conversion ratio higher
0
than unity and their conversion ratio becomes that of the 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
classical version 1/(1-D) when k=1. The conversion Duty Ratio

ratios of ST and DT circuits The conversion ratio Fig 3c: Transfer characteristics for the ST Boost circuit
becomes D/k when k approaches 0 for ST and RT 10
circuits; becomes 0 for DT circuits. The characteristics k
8 0.01
for ST and DT circuits are complimentary in the
Conversion Ratio

0.2
6
characteristics window and are separated by the 1/(1-D) 0.4
0.6
line. 4
0.8
2 0.99

However, the conversion characteristics RT circuit is

0
different from the classical Boost version or the SR and 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

DT circuits. The ratio is also less than 1 and extends to Duty Ratio

negative region. Fig 3b: Transfer characteristics for the DT Boost circuit

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2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

k 0 k
0
0.01 -2 0.01
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

Conversion ratio
Conversion ratio

-2 0.2 0.2
-4 0.4
0.4
-4
0.6 -6 0.6
-6 0.8 0.8
-8
0.99 0.99
-8 -10

-10 Duty ratio

Duty ratio Fig 4a: Transfer characteristics for the ST Buck-Boost

Fig 3c: Transfer characteristics for the RT Boost circuit circuit
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

B. Buck-Boost 0 k
-2 0.01

Conversion ratio
0.2
The characteristics of buck-boots circuit are shown in -4 0.4
Fig 4a, 4b and 4c. They are provide negative output -6 0.6
0.8
voltage as the conventional counterpart. For the ST -8
0.99
version, when k <1, the conversion ratio (absolute value) -10
increases. For the DT version, conversion ratio decreases Duty ratio
as k decreases. For the RT version, it covers the whole Fig 4b: Transfer characteristics for the DT Buck-Boost
range of conversion ratio as k varies between 0 and 1. circuit
The ratio is equal to that of the conversional counterpart 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

when k=0.5. 0 k
-2 0.01
Conversion ratio

0.2
The common characteristics for all three basic topologies -4 0.4
are summarized as follows -6 0.6
0.8
‹ ST version gives higher conversion than that of the -8 0.99
non-tapped conventional version -10
‹ DT version gives lower conversion than that of the Duty ratio
non-tapped conventional version Fig 4c: Transfer characteristics for the RT Buck-Boost
‹ RT version gives both lower and higher conversion circuit
than the non-tapped conventional version
‹ The conversion ration of both ST and DT versions IV. CONCLUSION
are equal to that of the non-tapped conversional The general characteristics for the tapped inductor
version when k=1. switch-tap, diode tap and rail tap version for three basic
‹ The conversion ratio of RT versions for both Buck converters have been examined. It has been found that
and Boost converters are equal to that of the the voltage characteristics of the converter have extended
non-tapped conversional version when k=D/(D+1). its non-tapped version and the transistor and diode
tapped versions cover the whole conversion ratio
characteristics window. Therefore the tapped converter
can give a voltage variation of the voltage conversion.

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It is also expected that the efficiency can be high using completes tapped inductor converter matrix”, Electronics

the trapped inductor techniques. The tapped conversion Letters, Vol. 39, Issue 3, 6 Feb. 2003 pp. :271 – 272.

version has a capability for a number of applications in [4] WJ, negative Grant, D.A.; Darroman, Y., “Inverse

static power conversion such as intelligent clothing, Watkins-Johnson converter - analysis reveals its merits”,

battery charger, non-isolated power supply. Electronics Letters, Vol. 39, Issue 18, 4 Sept. 2003,

pp.1342 – 1343.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT [5] K.W.E.Cheng, “Investigation of the storage energy for

The authors would like to thank the support of the classical switched mode power converters”, IEE

Research Committee, Hong Kong Polytechnic University Proceedings-Electric Power Applications, Vol. 150, Issue

under the project G-YE17. 4, July 2003, pp. 439-446.

[6] K.Yao, M.Ye, M.Xu, F.C.Lee, “Tapped-inductor buck

References converter for high-step-down DC-DC conversion”, IEEE

[1] Cheng K.W.E., “Classical Switched-mode and resonant Transactions on Power Electronics, Vol. 20, No. 4, Jul

power converters, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 2005, pp. 7745-780.

ISBN: 962-367-364-7, Sep 2002. [7] Y.P.B.Yeung K.W.E.Cheng, S.L.Ho K.K.Law and

[2] Grant, D.A.; Darroman, Y., “Watkins-Johnson converter D.Sutanto, “Unified analysis of switched-capacitor

completes tapped inductor converter matrix”, Electronics resonant converters”, IEEE Trans Ind. Electronics,

Letters, Vol. 39, Issue 3, 6 Feb. 2003 pp. 271 – 272 Industrial Electronics, IEEE Transactions on , Volume: 51 ,

[3] Grant, D.A.; Darroman, Y., “Watkins-Johnson converter Issue: 4 , Aug. 2004, pp.864 – 873.

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