Impacts of high frequency, high di/dt, dv/dt environment on sensing quality of GaN based converters and their mitigation

A systematic study on a gallium nitride (GaN) high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) based battery charger, consisting of a Vienna-type rectifier plus a dc-dc converter, reveals a common phenomenon. That is, the high switching frequency, and high di/dt and dv/dt noise inside GaN converters may induce a dc drift or low frequency distortion on sensing signals. The distortion mechanisms for different types of sensing errors are identified and practical minimization techniques are developed. Experimental results on the charger system have validated these mechanisms and corresponding approaches, showing an overall reduction of input current total harmonic distortion (THD) by up to 5 percentage points and improved dc-dc output voltage regulation accuracy. The knowledge helps engineers tackle the troublesome issues related to noise.