Development of 4kW Analog LLC Resonant Converter for Satellites through Parallel Operation

A modular analog LLC resonant converter capable of delivering high power for aerospace applications with zero voltage switching turn on of power semiconductors has been proposed. The LLC converter utilizes a half bridge configuration, with top and bottom switches designed by paralleling two low capacity power semiconductors suitable for use in space, thereby increasing the current capacity to enable an output of up to 1.2kW. Each LLC converter module takes in 100V power and outputs 300V in a step up DC/DC converter configuration, designed to operate with regulated voltage and current. This paper describes the operating principles and steady state analysis of the proposed DC/DC converter. To validate its effectiveness, a prototype was constructed and tested. The tests yielded a max efficiency of 95.3% and an output of approximately 4kW, demonstrating the feasibility and output performance of high efficiency, high power supplies through load sharing of multiple modules in parallel.