A high power, current sensorless, bi-directional, 16-phase interleaved, DC-DC converter for hybrid vehicle application

Abstract

A new 16-phase interleaved bidirectional dc/dc converter is developed featuring smaller input/output filters, faster dynamic response and lower device stress than conventional designs, for hybrid vehicle applications. The converter is connected between the ultracapacitor (UC) pack and the battery pack in a multisource energy storage system of a hybrid vehicle. Typically, multiphase interleaved converters require a current control loop in each phase to avoid imbalanced current between phases. This increases system cost and control complexity. In this paper, in order to minimize imbalance currents and remove the current control loop in each phase, the converter is designed to operate in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM). The high current ripple associated with DCM operation is then alleviated by interleaving. The design, construction, and testing of an experimental hardware prototype is presented, with the test results included. Finally, a novel soft switch topology for DCM operation is proposed for future research, to achieve zero-voltage switching (ZVS), or zero-current switching (ZCS) in all transitions.

A control method to improve the efficiency of a soft-switching non-isolated bidirectional DC-DC converter for hybrid and plug-in electric vehicle applications

“…In many previous papers (Das et al, 2009;Chau et al, 1998;Aamir and Kim, 2011), adding auxiliary switches, inductors and capacitors is used to achieve ZVS and ZCS conditions, but high voltage and current stresses of power switches are also generated. Zhang et al (2007) and Ni et al (2010) adopted interleaved structures to achieve ZVS conditions. Usually, several conventional synchronous DC-DC converters are connected in parallel.…”

Comparison Between Phase Number and Operation Mode of Multiphase Boost Chopper for Reducing Input Current Ripple

“…As regards ripple suppression in boost choppers, we may consider using multiple choppers in a multiphase scheme . A number of studies on multiphase power converters for various applications are available . For example, trans‐linked two‐phase boost choppers have been considered for electric vehicles .…”

“…For example, trans‐linked two‐phase boost choppers have been considered for electric vehicles . There are also 16‐phase configurations . Thus, an increase in the number of phases in boost choppers contributes to ripple suppression.…”