A Family of Redundant-Switch Configurations for Improving Fault-tolerant Feature of Power Converters

Fault-tolerant converters are usually equipped with redundant-switch-based configurations to tolerate power switch failures. Using competent redundant-switch-configurations with a self-reconfigurable feature can improve the fault-tolerant operation under faulty conditions. This paper is aimed at proposing a new family of redundant-switch configurations, which are applicable in different power converters and can address some problems of state-of-the-art fault-tolerant converters. Any power converter that is equipped with the proposed redundant-switch-configurations would not require a fast open-circuit fault detection process. Furthermore, there is no need for a reconfiguration command to replace the reserve switches with the faulty switches. Hence, by using the proposed redundant-switch-configurations, various fault-tolerant converters with fast fault recovery features are synthesized and discussed in this paper. The basic theory, operation principle, and the applications of the proposed redundant-switch-configurations in power converters are thoroughly described and investigated through simulations and experiments.