An Analytical Approach To Modeling RC Snubbers And Clamps In Inductive Power Circuits

Focus:

Parasitic capacitances across switch terminals can resonate with the converter power transformer or other inductive components. These undesired resonances result in unwanted oscillations that add noise and reduce efficiency. The design solutions for them are often in the form of RC snubbers and RCD clamps. These resonance-compensating circuits are presented here. They are easily modeled on a circuit simulator but are more difficult to analyze using non-numeric network analysis. The transformer, in particular, requires some skill to model correctly as the circuit changes modes of behavior. The author derives models of flyback and push-pull circuits with RC snubbers, and discusses the challenges of modeling the RCD clamp. Ultimately, these circuits may be too complex to fully model using analytical methods, but some understanding of these methods can guide designers during simulation of snubber and clamp circuits.

What you’ll learn:

• How to gain analytical insight into the behavior of snubbers and clamps to guide the simulation of these circuits

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Author & Publication:

Dennis Feucht, Innovatia Laboratories, Cayo, Belize, How2Power Today, Nov 14 2014

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