8th Power Electronics, Drive Systems & Technologies Conference (PEDSTC 2017)

14-16 Feb. 2017, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

A New Bidirectional Switching Converter Structure

forPHEV

Mohammad Jahani AmirHosein Akbari Jafar Milimonfared Javad Shokrollahi Moghani

Department of Electrical
Engineering at Amirkabir
University of Technology.
Tehran, Iran.
Mohammadjahani@aut.ac.ir
School of Electrical
Engineering at Iran University
of Science and Technology.
Tehran, Iran.
Amirhosein akbari@elec.iust.ac.ir
_
Department of Electrical
Engineering at Amirkabir
University of Technology.
Tehran, Iran.
Monfared@aut.ac.ir
Department of Electrical
Engineering at Amirkabir
University of Technology.
Tehran, Iran.
Moghani@aut.ac.ir

Abstract-PHEVs with ability of grid connection in addition
to decreasing in dependence on fossil fuels provide stability,
voltage control and frequency control. Charger for PHEVs
includes a bidirectional AC-DC converter which followed using a
bidirectional DC-DC converter. In this article a proper structure
for bidirectional switching converter of PHEV is proposed. The
solution proposed in this article has high energy density, low
volume and low weight. The proposed battery charger has ability
of operation in two modes of charge and discharge. To reach
proper performance of battery an integrated controller for both
modes of operation is presented. Verification of theoretical
results is done by using simulation of a sample converter with
lS.2kW nominal power in the MATLAB software. The results
show effectiveness operation of converter and controller
structure.
Keywords- PHEV, fossil fuels, bidirectional AC-DC converter,
integrated controller, MATLAB.
I. INTRODUCTION
Because of increasing in fuel price and environmental
issues application of available and adaptive to environment
sources are increasing. One of the specifications of smart grid
is ability of bidirectional power transmission [I]. In this
situation, PREY with ability of grid connection can receive its
sufficient energy by connecting to electric grid. Also at peak of
consumable power transmits its extra power to grid [2].
Connection of vehicle to grid (V2G) in addition to load
responding at the peak of consumption can help to stability of
grid including lines [3]-[4]. Supply required power for grid by
these vehicles can reduce unnecessary power plant costs and
besides can be used as uninterruptible power supply (UPS) for
household applications. In these vehicles, bidirectional power
transmission requires a converter which can return battery
power to grid. Charger of these vehicles is either two
converters including one bidirectional AC-DC converter and
then a bidirectional DC-DC converter or directly a bidirectional
AC-DC converter that connect to energy storage system.
Different topologies for these chargers are proposed in both
connecting vehicles a battery is proposed that include a
bidirectional AC-DC converter and a bidirectional DC-DC
converter as interface between vehicles and grid to transmit
power in both sides.
II. PROPOSED DC-DC CONVERTER
In aspect of improving in efficiency, size, volume and cost,
transformer less converters are more interesting [7], especially
in high power systems like electric vehicle which weight and
size are the most important problems. To choose bidirectional
DC-DC converter in hybrid vehicles charger there are some
standards like simple topology, high efficiency, size, weight
and low cost. The proposed topology is a four-phase
interleaved converter based on buck-boost topology that being
parallel with together Converter in [8] is extended version of
three-state interleaved converter which is transformerless and
in DCM has small inductors. So, the proposed converter is
useful in high power density fields. ZVRT exists for this
converter to improve lifetime of switches and increase
efficiency [9]. Multi-phase converters have some advantages
like low current stress, because of paralleling. Also with aspect
of coupling inductance, it can improve ripple and efficiency
[10]. Fig. 1 shows a four-phase interleaved DC-DC converter
with soft switching. In LV side, battery pack or super capacitor
is placed and in RV side high frequency capacitor as energy
buffer is placed in output of AC-DC converter. In this model
switches SJ-S operate in buck mode and boost mode, both.
Each switch has an antiparallel diode to pass current in
freewheeling cycle. On the other hand, a capacitor as lossless
snubber placed parallel with each switch. Four-phase inductors
act as boost inductor in boost mode, although act as filter in
buck mode. HV and LV capacitors are energy buffers.
DC Link
L
Battery Pack
-----
--

single-phase and three-phase systems which are introduced in --

S2 --

[5]-[6]. Depending on position of charger placement, chargers --

--

can be on-board or off-board. In this article in addition to

discussion about bidirectional topologies for chargers of grid
Fig. 1. Four-phase interleaved bidirectional DC-DC converter.

978-1-5090-5766-5117/$3l.00 2017 IEEE 160

A. DCM operation
To reach high power density converter should operate in
DCM to minimize inductors. On the other hand, DCM
operation increases current ripple, so it is important to use
multi-phase interleaved converters [II]. The other important
advantage of DCM is zero loss when switches are on and also
reverse recovery loss for diode is very low. Weakness of DCM
is parasitic ringing which produced by output inductor and
capacitors when current is zero. Actually, in tum off mode,
inductor resonates with output capacitor and this reduces
efficiency and produces EMT. Also, other weakness of DCM is
increasing in turn off losses [12]. These problems are solved by
using capacitor snubber and soft switching technique.
B. ZVRT Soft Switching
New soft switching techniques for turning on and turning
off transistor with capacitor snubber have been introduced in
[13] and [14]. In Fig. 2 the gate signals for each leg of
interleaved converter is shown. In buck mode, switches S], S3,
Ss and S7 are the main switches and the others are auxiliary
ones. When S] is on, the battery charges. In td all switches are
off, so inductor current causes C/ charges and C2 discharges.
When C2 completely discharged, VCI02 closes to zero and
inductor current flow through D2 and at next cycle S2 under
zero voltage condition will turn on. LV bus voltage (battery
side) drop reversely on inductor, so inductor current decreases
until it reaches to negative value. At this time, current flows
from S2, so diode will tum off without any reverse recovery
loss. Flowing current from S2 charges C2 and begins to
discharge C/. When C/ fully discharged, Von will be zero and
then freewheeling diode, D], will conduct. Then, S] can turn on
under zero voltage condition. After D/ conduction, difference
between HV and LV will drop on inductor and its current will
be positive. In this mode, positive current flows from Sj. So
both upper and lower switches will conduct under ZVS
condition. Transmitting inductor current to freewheeling diode
causes parasitic voltage effect of lower inductor removes.
td too td
J1L
-U
:::s;;it4t;::
o
\LY ii "
Fig. 2. Gate signal waveform and inductor current in DCM.
Ill. PROPOSED AC-DC CONVER TER
Distribution grid acts as an input supply voltage for
charging battery. Bidirectional AC-DC converter regulates AC
input voltage and then it should supply DC link voltage and
battery voltage. Actually, on battery charging mode converter
acts as a regulator and on battery discharging period acts as an
inverter. Among the practical inverters exist two kinds of
inverters with PWM output: Three-phase bridge inverters as
illustrated in Fig. 3 and multilevel inverters. Multi-level
inverters have various topologies. Cascaded H-bridge inverter,
floating capacitors inverter and clamp diode inverter are three
kinds of multilevel inverters. N-Ievel inverters produce voltage
161
with n-value at the output. Increasing levels of inverter causes
increasing steps of output waveform. So, total harmonic
distortion (THD) will reduce. This increases complexity of
system and makes complex keep balance of various voltages.
Va
"v
L
LpC
Fig. 3. Three-phase bridge bidirectional DC-AC converter.
In practical, three-phase bridge [15], numbers of electric
elements are less than three-level diode clamp and because of
three-phase bridge has less complex control and make product
easier. In clamp diode converters because of increasing in
number of switches in each leg, stress of voltage across
switches, in off period, is less than three-phase bridge converter
and so switches have long lifetime. On the other hand, because
of increasing in output PWM levels clamp diode converter has
better voltage THD than three-phase bridge in its inverter mode
[16]. In diode clamp converters, like floating capacitor
converters it is difficult to balance voltage of capacitors,
otherwise causes unbalanced and finally causes capacitor to
burn out. Such problems do not exist in three-phase bridge
converter and voltage ripple can be improving. Negative point
of cascade converters in comparison with diode clamp
converters is regulation operation mode. In diode clamp
converters has common sources and output voltage produce
from cascading two capacitor in output, but in cascade
converter, because of existing independent sources, it is
difficult to tune voltage in rectification mode. In [17] is
proposed to use cascade converter in V2G chargers. In this
article, DC output voltage of each H-bridge tunes some
specified battery cell voltage level. Actually with cascading H
bridge converters, battery cells are cascading, too. To choose
proper DC-AC converter for grid connected hybrid vehicle
chargers three criteria of simply, reliability and cost are in
priority. According to applied comparison, three-phase bridge
has a simple schematic and also has a simple control. Three
phase bridge have more high reliability and low cost than
multi-level converters including diode clamp, because of less
elements and simple schematic.
A. Converter Model in Charge Mode
In charge mode, battery charges from DC link so in primary
side exists a VH source. CH can be neglect if VH would regulate.
Drop voltage on RH is very low in comparison with VH.
+
+
+
V2
Fig. 4. Simplified model of converter in charge mode.
 Output voltage transfer function is concluded by solving
small signal equations and solving steady state equations, as
following:

v"u,(s) (I)
d (s)

According to (I) transfer function, Cd-charge, is second order

and it is because of neglecting CH and existing L and Cr. Cd
charge is achieved by the MATLAB software simulation which
is illustrated in Fig. 5. 10' 10'
Frequency (rad's)

Fig. 7. Bode diagram of output voltage versus disturbance in discharge

mode.

From Fig. 7 and (2), it is understood that output voltage

R H D3
have one zero on and two complex poles on
L
RIP +R D ).
on
+j
2L
__

CHL
Frl'!nlll'!nr.v /r;!rllJ;;\

Fig. 5. Bode diagram of output voltage transfer function versus disturbance TV. CHARGE CONTROL
in charge mode.
Tn charge mode, grid voltage is regulated and then produced
From Fig. 5 and (1), it can be understood that output DC link by AC-DC converter. This voltage will reduce till
voltage transfer function has no zero and just have two battery voltage level (which called buck operation) by
I I interleaved converter. This state needs two controllers. One
comp Iex po Ies In
( +j --) .
JLCj
controller is needed on AC-DC converter with goal of dc link
2CLRL voltage control that does not let the DC link voltage to roll off
on full load condition. The other one is needed for battery
B. Converter Model in Discharge Mode charging so that according to battery specification can charge
battery in two modes of constant current and constant voltage.
In discharge mode, battery discharges to electric motor or
In first controller, DC link voltage compares with reference
grid so in secondary exists a voltage source. CL can be voltage and then produces reference current in dqO frame with
neglected if this voltage is smooth. Because of small drop cross from PI controller. Now by using current control in dqO
voltage on RL against VL, it can be neglect. frame, carrier wave will produce for three-phase and by
+ comparing with rectangular wave apply AC-DC converter
switches pulse. Tn battery charge controller with comparing of
battery voltage, if battery voltage be less than nominal value,
v,
battery charges in constant current mode and if battery voltage
+
be more than nominal value, battery charges in constant
voltage mode. Output of this controller is signals which applied
to DC-DC four-phase interleaved converter switches. In Figs. 8
and 9, two charge mode controllers are illustrated. Battery
charge control, with comparison of battery voltage, charges
Fig. 6. Simplified converter model in discharge mode. battery on constant current if battery voltage be less than
battery nominal voltage or charges battery on constant voltage
Similar to charge mode transfer function, Cd-discharge, is if battery voltage be more than battery nominal voltage. Output
second order and it is because of removing Cr. and existing CH of this controller is a square pulse that apply to switches of
andL. four-phase interleaved converter.

Pulse
Cun-ent Controller
with feed-forward
in dqO fiame

Tn Fig. 7, bode diagram of output voltage versus disturbance is MI\

illustrated. Fig. 8. DC link control by using current controller.

162
 Fig. 12 shows topology of current mode control where Ud
YBatr D,

bl
Current Controller
! Similarly, compensator processes iqreriq and then produces Uq,
TBatr ! Volta ge CDntrolier
Fig. 9. Battery charge control by using constant current/voltage controller.
V. DISCHARGE CONTROL
In this mode, DC-DC converter acts as boost converter and
increases battery voltage level then power is injected to grid or
is given to electric motor by DC link or DC-AC converter. This
mode has two controllers, too. First controller is only for the
DC-DC converter to regulate output voltage. To reach this
purpose, modeling small signal of interleaved DC-DC
converter is done and a simple PI controller has been chosen.
Second controller is for inverter to control injected power to
grid or electric motor. For this purpose, it should use current
control in dqO frame [IS]. According to SVM advantages, this
method of switching uses for DC-AC converter. In Figs. 10 and
11 two discharge mode controllers are illustrated.
Voref drs)
PWM Modulator
NV
Fig. 10. DC link control with a proportional-integral(PI) controller.
ia R+run
and Uq are compensator outputs. Ud is produced by processing
idrerid on d-axis. By changing Ud to md, it applies to VSC.
Dv on q-axis. Then according to equations uq convert to mq and
applies to Vsc. Also, VSC with md factor amplifies Vdcl2 and
mq and then produce Vtd and Vtq. In the mentioned control
system, all the control signals and feedbacks are in their stable
DC condition, so PI controller has chosen to track signal.
VI. CHARGE LEVEL CHOOSE
Level-2 charger chooses among different kind of charge
levels in PREV and according to future works of this field.
Level-l chargers have been produce in some European
countries, USA and IRAN but due to low power range, have a
long charge time and each charge cycle takes 6-S hours.
Actually level-l chargers are used to small range driving. For
example, a person who wants driving 150km should wait 6-S
hours to charge battery again. In level-2 charger and level-3
charger, charging process normally takes 2-3 hours and less
than one hour, respectively. Increasing in level causes
increasing in volume and weight of charger and charger would
Vo
be off-board. This problem exists on level-3 chargers, although
Gplant(S) these chargers are the fastest ones but level-3 chargers need to
very expensive charge stations which cannot build easily.
Because of this reasons, it is better to use level-2 charger which
provide proper charge speed and also low cost. According to
SAE J1772 standard [19], Maximum power of level-2 PREY
chargers is IS.2kW. If those supply more power, HEV will
convert to EV. Due to this standard, nominal voltage of battery
is 240V that increases or decreases voltage by any change in
:, AC system
DC-DC converter gain. In TABLE I are illustrated properties
I v" of distribution system along with level-2 charger.

ib R+roll
TABLE 1. PROPERTIES OF DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM ALONG WITH LEVEL-2
CHARGER

Distribution Grid 20kV.50Hz

Distribution Transformer 20000/400 DYn
Charger Input Voltage 3ph.400V

DC Link Voltage 600V

Battery Voltage 225V

Relrenee
Signal Charger Power Level 18.2kw
Generator
Battery Type Li-ion

Fig. II. Active power and reactive power control with current mode controller.
VIT. SIMULATION
V"-I
feed-forward Filter According to nominal power of charger and nominal voltage

j
of battery, charger current will be SOA. In Figs. 13 and 14,
AC-side
battery voltage and battery current in charge mode are
igrcf

illustrated, respectively. By using DC link controller in charge
mode, it regulates on 600V very well which shown in Fig. 15.
Decoupling
As mentioned, four-phase interleaved converters build from
Vrx/2 . Voc!2
feed-forward four-bidirectional buck-boost converter with 90 phase

--Lwn
difference. Advantages of these converters are low current
stress on switches and low current ripple. In Fig. 16,
interleaved converter inductances current in charge mode is
illustrated and in Fig. 17, grid current in charge mode is
depicted. This current is sinusoidal with very low TRD,
opposite of diode regulation current. In discharge mode,
battery power injected to grid, so battery state of charge
Fig. 12. Topology of current mode control of VSC systems.
should decrease according to Fig. IS. In Fig. 19 battery

163
 discharge current is drawn which after a fast transItIOn,
regulate on 80A. Also by using a PI controller for four-phase
interleaved in discharge mode, DC link voltage reach to adjust 40 ,\/\11\/\1\/\/\/\/'\/\/1\/\I11/\/\/\/\/\/\1\/\11\/\1'\/\/\/\/\/\/1\/\111/\11,/\/\/\/\/\/\11\/\1'\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
C
value which is 600V. In Fig. 21, grid current in discharge
J
mode is drawn. This current convert to sinusoidal current by
using proper grid AC filter which has only a low harmonic. In "(,) 20
>
Fig. 22, injected power to grid by battery is drawn which is m

about 18.lkW. At the end of simulation, the charge and

!
discharge performance is checked, simultaneous. According to .E
integration of controllers, recognition of charge mode or
discharge mode is done by controller, themselves. Actually, by
0.1495 Time (sec) 0.15
comparing battery state of charge, charge or discharge mode
operation choose automatically. Fig. 16. Interleaved converter inductances current in charge mode.

226 ,----,---,---____,--,__-___,-_-,

225.95

o
E 225.9

225 85

OJ
225.8

225.75 L-_---'-_----
-- __
-' -"---_----__
-L --'---_----'-__-'---_---L
- __"---_---'
--
0.145 0.1455 0.146 0.1465 0147 0.1475 0.148 0.1485 0.149 0.1495 0.15 0.05 Time (sec) 0.1 0.15
Time (Sec)
Fig. 17. Grid current in charge mode.
Fig. 13. Battery voltage in charge mode.

,-----,--,----, 70 .--------,--------,---------,

69.9998

69.9995
E'

.c
()
'0 69.9992

69.9989
78 69.9986 '-------'---'
0.14 0.141 0.142 0.143 0.144 0.145 0.146 0.147 0.148 0.149 0.15 o 0.05 Time (sec) 0.1 0.15
Time (sec)
Fig. 14. Battery current in charge mode. Fig. 18. Battery state of charge in discharge mode.

200 ,-------,--,

Cl
600
f'-
E

:; 120
160

400 o
0
>
"
c
80
.c
J u
() 200
Cl 1i 40

0 o ---------------L----------
o 0.05 0.1 0.15
0 0.05 Time (sec) 0.1 0.15 Time (sec)
Fig. 19. Battery discharge current
Fig. 15. DC link voltage in charge mode.

164
 MATLAB software. The results show effectiveness of the
proposed structure and effectiveness of integrated controller in
charge mode and discharge mode.

Cl
400 IX. REFRENCES
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o L---------------------------------------
o 0.05 0.1
Time (sec)
Fig. 22. Injected power to grid in discharge mode by battery.
VITI. CONCLUSION
In this article, a proper topology for bidirectional switching
converter is proposed which is used in PREVo The proposed
topology includes a four-phase interleaved bidirectional DC
DC converter and a three-phase bridge bidirectional AC-DC
converter. The proposed interleaved converter has high power
density and it has proper ripple, efficient, current stress and
stability, also. Three-phase bridge AC-DC converter in
comparison with multilevel converters including diode clamp
and CRB has simple control, low cost and high reliability. To
operate in charge mode and discharge mode of battery, four
controllers with aims of DC link control, battery charge control
and grid lelectric motor injected power control are applied. The
mentioned controllers are integrated controllers and their
condition can change automatically by themselves from charge
mode to discharge mode or revers, according to charge battery.
Actually, according to vehicle positon and value of battery
charge, charge mode and discharge mode can occur on little
interval from each other. The proposed battery charger is
chosen level-2, due to low volume, low cost and distance. The
proposed topology with control system is simulated in the
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165