High-efficiency regenerative electronic load using capacitive idling converter for power sources testing

This paper presents a regenerative electronic load developed for testing in a didactic electrical machines laboratory, and which is also suitable for burn-in test of power supplies. The basic topology is a capacitive idling Cuk converter. This converter allows independent control of the input current and permits provision of a sinusoidal output current, while assuring the power balance. An appropriate gate command allows some soft-commutation without the use of any auxiliary circuit. Design criteria and experimental results of a 1 kW prototype are presented.