International Journal of Current Advanced Research

ISSN: O: 2319-6475, ISSN: P: 2319-6505,

6505, Impact Factor: 6.614
Available Online at www.journalijcar.org
Volume 7; Issue 5(E); May 2018;; Page No. 12577-12584
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24327/ijcar.2018
//dx.doi.org/10.24327/ijcar.2018.12584.2215
Research Article
A SIMPLE SEPIC DERIVED DC-DC
DC DC CONVERTER WITH TL494 PWM
IC BASED CONTROLLER
Kiran Babu1* and Devi V2
1N.S.S
College of Engineering, Palakkad
2EEE Department N.S.S College of Engineering, Palakkad
AR T IC L E I NF O AB ST RA CT
Article History: The Single-Ended Primary-Inductor
Inductor Converter (SEPIC) is capable of operating from an
th input voltage that is greater or less than the regulated
egulated output voltage. It can function as both
Received 6 February, 2018
buck and boost converter, and has minimal active componen
components. TL494 PWM controller is
Received in revised form 20th
used to regulate the output voltage. The converter is designed for an input voltage variation
March, 2018 Accepted 8th April, 2018
of 40V- 60V and a regulated output voltage of 48V. Design of converter parameters,
Published online 28th May, 2018
hardware implementation and results obtained are produced.
oduced.

Key words:
Continuous Conduction Modes (CCMs),
Discontinuous Current Modes (DCMs), IC
(Integrated Circuit), PWM (Pulse Width
Modulation).

Copyright©2018 Kiran Babu and Devi V. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

INTRODUCTION SEPIC is capable of operating from an input voltage that is

greater or less than the regulated output voltage (Sahoo. M and
DC-DC converters convert DC power to another
nother DC level. By Kumar. K.S, 2014). It can function as both buck and boost
closed loop Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) of the gate converter with minimal active comcomponents. Its control system
signals (Kwasinski, 2009). Switching frequency of the gate is simple, and had clamped switching waveforms that provide
signal, in most cases, is high (greater than 20 kHz) and low noise operation (Robert Kollman, 2009). The SEPIC is
constant. Figure 1 shows a block diagram
agram of a DC-DC
DC often identified by its use of two magnetic windings. These
converter with closed loop control. windings cann be wound on a common core, as in the case of a
coupled dual winding inductor, or they can be the separate
windings of two uncoupled inductors. In this paper, a novel
single switch SEPIC DC-DC DC converter with low voltage stress
onn the power switch is propo
proposed (Texas Instruments,2003).
The structure of the proposed converter is simple, hence the
control of the converter will be easy (Texas Instruments,
2014). The voltage stress across the power switch and diodes
is less than the output voltage, hence the con
conduction loss of the
power switch is low and the efficiency of the presented
converter is more (Robert Kollman, 2009). The presented
converter operates as a universal power supply and it is
Figure 1 Block diagram of a DC-DC
DC converter with closed loop control appropriate for low voltage and low power applications. The
DC-DC
DC converters can be classified as non isolated DC-DC
DC proposed SEPIC converter finds application in fuel cell
converters and isolated DC-DC
DC converters (Yoshino. T, 2014). systems, car electronic devices, LED drivers, and gadgets,
Six most popular topologies of non isolated classical type DC-
DC such as mobile phones and notebooks.
DC converters are, Buck, Boost, Buck-Boost,
Boost, Cuk, Zeta and Operating Principle
SEPIC.
The SEPIC converter (Abraham
Abraham I Pressman
Pressman, 1991) shown in
*Corresponding author: Kiran Babu Figure.2, uses two inductors: L1 and L2. The two inductors can
N.S.S College of Engineering, Palakkad be wound on the same core since the same voltages are applied
to them throughout the switching cycle. This converter has one
A Simple Sepic Derived Dc-Dc Converter With Tl494 Pwm IC Based Controller
power switch Q1, diode D1, two inductors L1 and L2, three
capacitors Cin, Cs, and Cout and load R. For simplicity the input
and output capacitors are assumed to be large enough to avoid,
voltage ripples. The main switch of the proposed converter is
treated as ideal. (M.H. Rashid, 1988) The proposed converter
can be operated in both the Continuous Conduction Mode
(CCM) and the Discontinuous Conduction Mode (DCM). The
CCM can be divided into two:
In First mode as in Figure 2(a) the switch Q1 is turned ON and
the diode D1 is reverse biased. The inductors L1, L2 gets
charged. The capacitors Cs is discharged through L2. Output is
delivered by the capacitor Cout.
During mode 2, the switch Q1 is turned OFF and the diodes D1
is turned ON as shown in Figure 2(b). The inductors L1, L2 are Figure 3 SEPIC voltages during CCM
discharged linearly. The capacitor Cs is charged by the
Figure.5 shows the capacitor ripple voltage as related to the
inductor L1 and the capacitor Cout is charged by the inductors
output capacitor current. When Q1 is ON, the output capacitor
L1 and L2. Output current is the sum of both inductor currents.
must provide the load current. Therefore, the output capacitor
must have at least enough capacitance, but not too much ESR,
to meet the applications requirement for output voltage ripple,
VRPL. Thus for a SEPIC converter operating in CCM, the duty
cycle is given by:
V +V
D=
V + V +V

Figure 2 SEPIC Converter Current Flow (a) During Q1 On-Time, (b) During
Q1 Off-Time.

Waveforms During CCM

During steady state CCM neglecting ripple voltage, capacitor
Cs is charged to the input voltage, Vin. Voltage waveforms are
shown in Figure 3. When Q1 is OFF, the voltage across L1 is
Vout. Since Cin is charged to Vin, the voltage across Q1 when Q1
is OFF is Vin + Vout, so the voltage across L1 is Vout (Texas
Instruments, 2003). When Q1 is ON, capacitor Cs, is charged to
Vin and is connected in parallel with L2 , so that the voltage
across L2 is Vin. Figure 4 SEPIC component currents during CCM

The currents flowing through switch Q1, diode D1, capacitor C1 VD is the forward voltage drop of the diode D1. The maximum
and inductors L1, L2 are shown in Figure 4. When Q1 is ON, duty cycle is:
energy is being stored in L1 from the input and in L2 from Cs. V +V
D =
When Q1 turns OFF, current through L1 continues to flow V + V , +V
through Cs and D1, and also through Cout and the load. Both
Cout and Cs get recharged so that they can provide the load
current and charge L2, respectively, when Q1 gets ON.

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 International Journal of Current Advanced Research Vol 7, Issue 5(E), pp 12577-12584, May 2018

Figure 7 Block diagram of the TL494

The TL494 is a fixed frequency PWM control circuit.

Modulation of output pulses is accomplished by comparing the
saw tooth waveform created by the internal oscillator on the
timing capacitor to either of two control signals Q1 and Q2.
The output stage is enabled during the time when the sawtooth
voltage is greater than the voltage control signals. As the
control signal increases, the time during which the sawtooth
input becomes greater decreases; therefore, the output pulse
duration decreases. A pulse steering flip flop alternately directs
the modulated pulse to each of the two output transistors.
Figure 5 Ripple voltage of output capacitor Figure 8 shows the relationship between the pulses and the
signals.
The TL494 PWM Controller

Figure 8 Relationship between the pulses and the signals.

The control signals are derived from dead time (OFF-time)

control circuit and the error amplifier. The dead time control
input is compared directly by the dead time control
comparator. This comparator has a fixed 100mV offset. With
the control input biased to ground, the output is inhibited
Figure 6 TL494 PWM IC
during the time that the sawtooth waveform is below 110 mV.
The TL494 is one of the earliest PWM controllers used in This provides a preset dead time of approximately 3
Switched Mode Power Supplies (SMPS's). It incorporates all percentage, which is the minimum dead time that can be
the functions required in the construction of a PWM control programmed. The PWM comparator compares the control
circuit on a single chip. Designed primarily for power supply signal created by the error amplifiers. One function of the error
control, this device offers the flexibility to tailor the power amplifier is to monitor the output voltage and provide
supply control circuitry to a specific application. sufficient gain so that millivolts of error at its input, result in a
The design of the TL494 (Texas Instruments, 2017) not only control signal of sufficient amplitude to provide 100
incorporates the primary building blocks required to control a percentage modulation control. The error amplifiers also can
switching power supply, but also addresses many basic be used to monitor the output current and provide current
problems and reduces the amount of additional circuitry limiting to the load.
required in the total design. Figure.7 gives block diagram of 5 V Reference Regulator
the TL494.
The TL494 internal 5 V reference regulator can provide a
stable reference, and will act as a pre-regulator. It can establish
a stable supply from which the output control logic, pulse
steering flip flop, oscillator, dead time control comparator, and
PWM comparator are powered. The reference is internally
programmed to an initial accuracy of 5 percentage and

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A Simple Sepic Derived Dc-Dc Converter With Tl494 Pwm IC Based Controller
maintains a stability of less than 25mV variation over an input Design of Proposed Sepic Converter
voltage range of 7 V to 40 V. For input voltages less than 7 V,
the regulator saturates within 1 V of the input and tracks it. User Specifications
Minimum input voltage Vdcmin = 40V
Comparator Maximum input voltage Vdcmax = 60V
The comparator is biased from the 5V reference regulator. This Output ripple voltage = 50 mV
provides isolation from the input supply for improved stability. Output voltage Vo = +48V
The input of the comparator does not exhibit hysteresis, so Maximum load current Io = 1:5A
protection against false triggering near the threshold must be Maximum output power Po = 72W
provided. The comparator has a response time of 400ns from Designer Specifications
either of the control signal inputs to the output transistors, with Switching frequency fSW = 100kHz
only 100 mV of overdrive. This ensures positive control of the
output within one half cycle for operation within the Switch Specifications
recommended 300 kHz range. Switch selected is the N Channel enhancement type MOSFET
10N100E
Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) VDSmax = 1000V
The comparator also provides modulation control of the output IDSmax = 10A
pulse width. For this, the ramp voltage across timing capacitor tr = 40 ns
CT is compared to the control signal present at the output of tf = 40 ns
the error amplifiers. The timing capacitor input incorporates a RdsON = 1.9
series diode that is omitted from the control signal input. This Q gtotal = 34 nC
requires the control signal (error amplifier output) to be 0.7 V VGS = 10V
greater than the voltage across CT to inhibit the output logic, Duty cycle calculation
and ensures maximum duty cycle operation without requiring For a SEPIC converter operating in a CCM, the duty cycle is
the control voltage to sink to a true ground potential. The given by:
output pulse width varies from 97 percentage of the period to
V +V
‘0 ‘ as the voltage present at the error amplifier output varies D =
from 0.5 V to 3.5 V, respectively. V + V , +V

Oscillator V +V
D =
V + V , +V
The oscillator provides a positive sawtooth waveform to the
dead time and PWM comparators for comparison to the Assume that the VD is 0.5 V. Therefore,
various control signals. The frequency of the oscillator is Dmin = 0.334
programmed by selecting timing components RT and CT .The Dmax = 0.448
oscillator charges the external timing capacitor, CT , with a Inductor Selection
constant current; the value of which is determined by the
external timing resistor, RT . This produces a linear ramp A good rule for determining the inductance is to allow the
voltage waveform. When the voltage across CT reaches 3 V, peak to peak ripple current to be approximately 40 percentage
the oscillator circuit discharges it and the charging cycle is of the maximum input current at the minimum input voltage.
reinitiated. The frequency of the oscillator becomes, The ripple current flowing in equal value inductors L1 and L2
is given by:
1
f = I ∗V
∗ 40
R C I =
V , ∗ 100
The oscillator is programmable over a range of 1 kHz to 300 1.5 ∗ 48 ∗ 40
kHz. Practical values for RT and CT range from 1 k to 500 k I =
and 470 pF to 10 F, respectively. A plot of the oscillator 40 ∗ 100
I = 0 .72 A
frequency versus RT and CT is shown in Figure 9. and the inductance for L1 and L2 is:
V , ∗D
L =L =
I ∗f
Where fsw is the switching frequency and Dmax is the duty cycle
at the minimum Vin.
40 ∗ 0.548
L =L =
0.72 ∗ 100 ∗ 1000
L = L = 304.44 uH
The peak input inductor current is:
I ∗ (V + V ) ∗ (2 + .04)
I , =
V , ∗2
I , = 2.1825 A
Figure 9 Switching frequency selection graph
I ∗ (2 + .04)
I , =
2
I , = 1.8 A

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 International Journal of Current Advanced Research Vol 7, Issue 5(E), pp 12577-12584, May 2018

Output Diode Selection feedback arrangement. PWM signals are generated based on
error voltage. These pulses are given to the MOSFET.
The output diode must be selected to handle the peak current
and the reverse voltage. In a SEPIC, the diode peak current is
the same as the switch peak current IQ1;peak. The minimum peak
reverse voltage the diode must withstand is:
V =V , +V ,

Similar to the boost converter, the average diode current is

equal to the output current. The power dissipation of the diode
is equal to the output current multiplied by the forward voltage
drop of the diode. Schottky diodes are recommended in order
to minimize the efficiency loss.
SEPIC Coupling Capacitor Selection
The selection of SEPIC capacitor, Cs, depends on the RMS
current, which is given by:
Figure 10 Scheme of the DC-DC converter using SEPIC Topology
I ∗ V +V
I , = Main advantage of this scheme is that we can have wider input
V ,
and output ranges. Also the whole system is small in size
1.5 ∗ √48 + 0.5 because of the PWM IC and high frequency converter, say 100
I , =
√40 kHz.
I , = 1.1 A
Proposed Circuit Diagram
The SEPIC capacitor must be rated for a large RMS current
40- 60 V DC power supply is the input to the converter, and
relative to the output power. This property makes the SEPIC
input to the driver IC is 15 V (15 V and 5V are generated from
much better suited to lower power applications where the RMS
the supply input). TL494 need separate power supply of input
current through the capacitor is relatively small (relative to
9 V (fed from a 9V DC adapter).
capacitor technology). The voltage rating of the SEPIC
capacitor must be greater than the maximum input voltage.
Tantalum and ceramic capacitors are the best choice for
coupling capacitor, having high RMS current ratings relative
to size. Electrolytic capacitors work well for through hole
applications where the size is not limited and they can
accommodate the required RMS current rating.
The peak to peak ripple voltage on Cs (assuming no ESR):
I∗D
V =
C ∗f
2 ∗ 0.448
V = = 0.42 V
C ∗ 300 ∗ 1000
A capacitor that meets the RMS current requirement would
Figure 11 Circuit Diagram of the proposed DC-DC Converter Closed loop
mostly produce small ripple voltage on Cs. Hence, the peak
voltage is typically close to the input voltage. Thus Cs is SIMULATION RESULTS
selected as
To verify the feasibility and validity of the proposed converter,
C = 10 µF MATLAB software version 16 (MATLAB SIMULINK 2016)
Not only that, is used for the simulation.
C = 500 µF
C = 2200 µF
Scheme of the DC-DC Converter Using Sepic Topology
The proposed scheme has three sections, the supply part,
converter part and load. SEPIC converter is used to convert
unregulated DC supply input to regulated DC supply output.
This converter is fed from a 40 - 60 V supply and the output
voltage of 48 V is fed to a resistive load. The circuit is
designed for 1.5A current rating. For the generation of gating
pulses TL494 PWM controller is used, which regulates the
Figure 12 Simulink open loop Model
output voltage to the required value for any supply or load
variations. For that 48V output which is stepped down into 5V, The output waveforms are shown in Figure.13 and Figure.14.
is continuously compared with the reference 5V using a The converter is operated in both buck and boost mode. For an
input of 40 - 60 volts and output voltage is 48 volts. The

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A Simple Sepic Derived Dc-Dc Converter With Tl494 Pwm IC Based Controller
switch is controlled by a pulse generator with a duty ratio of PWM pulse generation
.448 - .334 and at a switching frequency of 100KHz.
Primary aim is to generate the PWM signal of the required
Thus for varied input voltage 40 - 60 V constant output pulse width and frequency. Figure.16 shows the test setup for
voltage is obtained by varying the duty ratio from minimum to the generation of the PWM pulses. The TL494 PWM IC
maximum value in the SEPIC converter in open loop requires 12V for its operation then an internal 5V is generated
simulation. Now the SEPIC converter can be in closed loop by and can be used as the reference voltage. An external DC
resistor divider arrangement at the output resistance for voltage supply of 5 V is used as the feedback voltage.
feedback. The output waveforms shows that a 48 V constant
When supply is switched ON PWM pulses are generated as
output voltage is obtained with an output current of 1.18 A.
shown in Figure.17 and with the help of potentiometer
arrangement we can adjust frequency and duty ratio of pulses
to required value. It is observed that when the feedback
voltage is more than the reference voltage the IC stops pulse
generation and the converter does not work.

Figure 13 Output voltage waveform

Figure 16 PWM pulse generation

Figure 14 Output current waveform

EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
The hardware prototype is soldered on a dotted PCB including
the gate driver circuit. Heat sinks are mounted for switch,
diodes and voltage regulators. Heat sink compound is applied
for maximum heat conduction and electrical isolation. In
addition a small cooling fan is mounted for cooling the
MOSFET.
Hardware Setup Figure 17 Gating pulse for the SEPIC Converter

The component ratings under transient and steady state are Testing of the complete circuit
obtained from design and simulation results. The component After the verification of the PWM pulses the next step is to test
ratings are chosen as considering voltage rating, current rating, the complete circuit, that is TL494 PWM IC working along
availability and cost, MOSFET switch 10N100E has been with the SEPIC converter. This final testing is important for
selected. Its specifications include collector to emitter voltage the overall success of the SMPS.
of 1000V and collector current 10A. The switch can operate at
a switching frequency of 200 kHz. To trigger the switch a Testing of the system requires two power supplies, 40-60 V
TL494 PWM IC is required. The PWM IC is to be designed to variable power supply for the input of the SMPS ( two 0-30 V,
generate switching signals at required duty ratio and 5 A power supplies are connected in series is used)and 9 V
frequency. power supply for the operation of TL494 PWM IC (9 V,1 A
DC adapter is used).

Figure 15 Hardware set up

Figure.18 Line Regulation Test at 40V

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 International Journal of Current Advanced Research Vol 7, Issue 5(E), pp 12577-12584, May 2018

From the test, when minimum DC voltage (40 V) is applied an

output of 48V is generated. During line regulation test when
the input voltage increases to 60 V the output does not change.
This is due to the use of coupled inductor. Also it can see that
when the input voltage keeps on increasing the pulse width
generated from the PWM IC keeps on decreasing. When the
input DC voltage becomes more the limited value PWM IC
stops generating PWM pulses and converter stops working.
Also the load test is conducted up to 50 percentage of rated
load, it is observed that the 48 V output keeps on constant
against the load variation. Overall the converter works on the
expected level in the output side.
Line regulation (Output- 48 V)
Figure 20 Output waveforms
For an input voltage of 40 - 60V, we have an output ranging
from 48 - 48.19 V showing a good line regulation. A line CONCLUSION
regulation curve is drawn in Figure.19 based on Table 1. The
Figure.20 shows the output wave form of the converter and its Overall, the converter is good for wide input range
ripple content. applications, and is cost effective. An efficient 72 W SEPIC
converter power supply is implemented utilizing TL494 PWM
Table 1 Output voltage for different input voltage to draw the controller. The line regulation test reveals that the converter is
line regulation curve capable of supplying constant 48 V DC output for input
voltage variations of 40 V to 60 V DC. The load regulation test
shows 50 percentage over load current without changing the
output voltage. Output voltage contains lower amount of
ripples and is non inverted which highlights the suitability for
power supply applications. If coupled inductor type SEPIC
converter will reduce the limitations of two separate inductor
type SEPIC converter. The use of only one main switch
decreases the conduction loss and improves efficiency with a
wider operating range.
References
Kwasinski, A. ”Identification of Feasible Topologies for
Multiple-Input DC-DC Converters” IEEE Transactions
on Power Electronics, Vol.24, pp.856 - 861, February
2009.
Texas Instruments,”Designing Switching Voltage
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Abraham I Pressman President, Switchtronix Power, Inc.
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Design, McGraw-Hili publications,1991.
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How to cite this article:

Kiran Babu and Devi V (2018) 'A Simple Sepic Derived Dc-Dc Converter With Tl494 Pwm IC Based Controller',
International Journal of Current Advanced Research, 07(5), pp. 12577-12584.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24327/ijcar.2018.12584.2215

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