Optimal Modulation Techniques of a DAB Based Isolated Bidirectional Single-stage Single-phase AC-DC Converter

Abstract

A bidirectional single-phase AC to DC converter with high-frequency isolation finds a wide range of applications, including charging electric vehicles in the vehicle to grid applications. A conventional two-stage solution, where an AC-DC front-end rectifier is connected to an isolated DC-DC converter, suffers from poor efficiency due to hard switching of the AC-DC stage and poor reliability due to the existence of an electrolytic capacitance at the interstage DC link. A Dual Active Bridge (DAB) based single-stage AC-DC converter with a potential of bidirectional power flow can overcome the problems of a two stage solution. A rich literature exists in search for finding an efficient modulation strategy for this converter. This paper presents two constant switching frequency modulation strategies that support bidirectional power flow at any power factor utilizing all three degrees of freedom in modulation, also known as triple phase-shift modulation (TPS). One of the strategies minimizes RMS high-frequency transformer current over the line cycle, and the other one optimizes peak current. Hence, the conduction loss and the component stress over the entire line cycle are minimized. ZVS conditions are met for all high-frequency switching devices for the whole operating region, while the AC side converter is line frequency switched, incurring negligible switching loss. AC line current waveforms are of high quality and free from low-frequency harmonics. UPF operation is of importance for single-phase power conversion. All possible modes that the converter will experience over a line cycle for UPF operation are elaborated through detailed analysis. The proposed strategies are validated through experiment and simulation with 230 V, 50 Hz AC grid, 400 V DC, UPF, and output power of 1.2 kW.