A Novel Multiport DC-DC Converter for Enhancing the Design and Performance of Battery–Supercapacitor Hybrid Energy Storage Systems for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Abstract

This paper proposes an integrated multiport non-isolated DC–DC converter system for integrating battery–supercapacitor hybrid energy storage with photovoltaics for solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicles applications. Compared to the traditional topologies used, the proposed converter allows a size reduction of at least 20% of the supercapacitor by maximizing the utilization of the rated energy capacity. In addition, by proposing to use a phase-shifted carrier modulation technique, the inductors’ current ripple is reduced, which enables a further reduction in the inductor size. These improvements in capability and performance of the proposed topology are experimentally validated on a 500 W PV/battery–supercapacitor integrated power system prototype.