Design and Implementation of the Bidirectional DC-DC Converter with Rapid Energy Conversion

Abstract

The bidirectional DC-DC converters are widely used in the energy storage system (ESS) and DC distribution system. The power capacity is limited when the converter is operated with smooth power transfer. In addition, the directions of the inductor current and the capacitor voltage cannot change instantaneously. In this study, a rapid energy conversion technique for smoothing and accelerating the energy transfer under the same specification of the main components in steady state is proposed. Moreover, a bidirectional DC-DC converter with a high conversion ratio is proposed to overcome the commonly low voltage input from renewable energy sources. The operating principles of the proposed converter’s step-down and step-up modes are discussed in this study. Furthermore, to achieve rapid energy conversion, digital control is a crucial component in the converter system. A digital signal processor is used as the control platform, and a control strategy is formulated to achieve rapid energy conversion. The bidirectional DC-DC prototype converter with a 24 V battery, a DC bus of 200 V, and an output power of 500 W is constructed to confirm the feasibility of rapid energy conversion. The proposed converter can be operated in CCM, BCM, and DCM conditions. The transfer period can be completed within one switching cycle when the proposed converter is operated in BCM or DCM. The energy is freewheeled before energy conversion when the proposed converter is operated in CCM condition. In the experiment, the minimum transfer period is 6.29 µs on the DCM stage.