Llc resonant converter

An LLC resonant converter comprising:

• a bridge circuit configured to receive a DC input voltage and to send out a square-wave voltage by a switching operation of a switching element;
• an LLC resonant circuit having at least a first capacitor and configured to resonate on receiving the square-wave voltage;
• a transformer having a primary side connected to the LLC resonant circuit and a secondary side isolated from the primary side;
• a rectifier element configured to convert an output from the secondary side of the transformer into a DC output voltage;
• a smoothing capacitor configured to smooth the output voltage from the rectifier element;
• a resonant capacitor changeover circuit having a changeover switch and a second capacitor that are connected in series to each other and connected in parallel to the first capacitor;
• an input voltage detection circuit configured to detect the input voltage;
• an output voltage detection circuit configured to detect the output voltage;
• an output current detection circuit configured to detect an output current fed to a load;
• a resonant capacitor changeover control section configured to control a state of the changeover switch in the resonant capacitor changeover circuit, based on at least one of the input voltage detected by the input voltage detection circuit, the output voltage detected by the output voltage detection circuit, and the output current detected by the output current detection circuit;
• and
• a bridge circuit control section configured to control the switching operation of the switching element by pulse frequency modulation, and to control an operating frequency of the switching element such that the detected output voltage reaches a desired voltage or in response to a command from the resonant capacitor changeover control section,
• wherein the resonant capacitor changeover control section is configured:
• to turn on the changeover switch when the detected input voltage gets lower than a predetermined changeover voltage;
• and
• to send a command to the bridge circuit control section to raise the operating frequency to the changeover frequency when the detected input voltage exceeds the changeover voltage, and thereafter to turn off the changeover switch, and
• wherein the changeover frequency is higher than a first resonance frequency at which a gain of the LLC resonant circuit is maximum while the changeover switch is off, the first resonance frequency being obtained from the detected output voltage and the detected output current.