Design and Comparative Analysis of an Ultra-Highly Efficient, Compact Half-Bridge LLC Resonant GaN Converter for Low-Power Applications

For low-power applications, this paper presents the development and design of a compact and ultra-highly efficient half-bridge LLC resonant converter. By using Galium Nitride (GaN) devices and high-efficient magnetics, the efficiency and power density of resonant converters can be improved. Compared to Silicon MOSFETs, GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (GaN HEMT) have a lower output capacitance and gate charge, resulting in lower driving loss and shorter dead times. Consequently, the proposed LLC converter based on GaN devices has excellent performance characteristics such as ultra-high efficiency, low switching losses, compact size, high voltage endurance, high operating temperature and high operating frequency. Furthermore, the proposed resonant converter features soft switching properties that ensure that the switches and diodes on the primary side are always switched at zero voltage and current. By doing so, LLC resonant converter switching losses are significantly reduced by up to 3.1%, and an overall efficiency of 98.5% is achieved. The LLC resonant converter design with GaN HEMT has great advantages over Si MOSFET solution regarding efficiency, overall losses, switching loose and power factor correction. A 240 W, 240 V to 60 V half-bridge GaN HEMT LLC resonant converter is simulated with a switching frequency of 75 KHz, along with the comparative analysis of the Si metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) solution. Moreover, the design and analysis of highly efficient magnetics with a power factor of 0.99 at full load is presented. A 240-Watt single stage LED driver with power factor correction is also designed to verify and compare the performance of proposed LLC resonant converter.