Performance Characteristics and Average-Value Modeling of Auxiliary Resonant Commutated Pole Converters

The auxiliary resonant commutated pole (ARCP) converter is currently of intense interest for use in a variety of power electronic converters, and is one of the cornerstones of the Navy's Power Electronic Building Block (PEBB) effort. In this paper a detailed discussion of the required switching times needed to achieve completely soft switching operation with only one current sensor per phase is set forth. Based on this analysis, an average-value model of the ARCP converter is derived and used to explore the output characteristics of the ARCP converter. It is shown that large loads at high power factors can cause the ARCP output voltage to drop substantially. Computer simulations and laboratory data are used to validate this analysis.