A Soft-Switching Transformer-Less Step-Down Converter Based on Resonant Current Balance Module

In this article, a soft-switching transformer-less step-down converter based on a resonant current balance module is proposed. An LED driver is taken as an example of the analysis and design of the converter. The converter is made up of a stacked half-bridge, resonant current balance modules, and pairs of light-emitting diode (LED) strings. The resonant current balance modules allow the proposed converter to realize automatic current sharing, soft switching, and extending to a 1/N converter. The proposed converter can operate in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) or continuous conduction mode (CCM) mode by choosing different operation frequencies, and achieve zero current switching or zero voltage switching (ZVS), respectively. Also, by using frequency doubling technique in the half-bridge, the switching losses are reduced by half under the same conditions. A 15.8-W experimental prototype with 100 V input voltage and 25 V output voltage has been implemented in the laboratory, verifying the feasibility of the soft-switching transformer-less step-down converter.