Autonomous Gate Drivers for TCM-Based Soft-Switched Converters: Design Approach and Experimental Validation

This article presents a soft-switched buck converter employing autonomous gate drivers (AGDs) for high-performance power electronic systems. Operating at a 400~V dc-link, representative of electric vehicle (EV) and industrial applications, the converter achieves zero-voltage switching (ZVS) during both turn-onand turn-offthrough fully analog AGD circuitry and optimized snubber capacitance. The converter operates in triangular current mode (TCM), leveraging the inherent inductor current ripple to enable ZVS without digital control. Experimental results demonstrate reliable soft switching, reduced switching losses, and effective suppression of voltage overshoot under realistic operating conditions. Although validated using a buck converter, the proposed AGD concept is directly applicable to more complex topologies, including three-phase inverters with sinusoidal reference currents, relevant to EV traction drives, renewable energy systems, and industrial converters. This work highlights a scalable, hardware-efficient approach for improving efficiency and performance in next-generation high-voltage power converters.