Analysis, Design, and Experimental Results of Novel Snubberless Bidirectional Naturally Clamped ZCS/ZVS Current-Fed Half-Bridge DC/DC Converter for Fuel Cell Vehicles

• Published in: IEEE transactions on industrial electronics (1982) Vol. 60; no. 10; pp. 4482 - 4491
• Main Authors: Rathore, Akshay K., U.R., Prasanna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01-10-2013; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Bidirectional; Bidirectional converter; Clamping; Converters; current-fed dc/dc converter; DC-DC power converters; Devices; Direct current; Electric potential; Electric vehicles; fuel cell vehicle (FCV); Fuel cells; high frequency; Inductance; Inductors; soft switching; Steady-state; Switches; Voltage; Zero current switching
• ISSN: 0278-0046; 1557-9948
• DOI: 10.1109/TIE.2012.2213563

This paper presents a novel snubberless naturally clamped bidirectional current-fed half-bridge isolated dc/dc converter for fuel cell vehicles (FCVs). The proposed converter achieves zero-current switching (ZCS) of the primary-side active semiconductor devices and zero-voltage switching of the secondary-side active semiconductor devices. It is a potential topology for FCVs, front-end dc/dc power conversion for fuel cell inverters, and energy storage. A proposed secondary-modulation clamps the voltage across the primary-side devices (current fed) naturally and eliminates switch turn-off voltage spike concern with ZCS without any additional circuit. This leads to reduced footprints and lower cost. Voltage across the primary-side current-fed devices is independent of duty cycle like conventional current-fed converters but clamped at a reflected output voltage. Therefore, comparatively low-voltage-rating devices with a low on-state resistance are used, introducing low conduction losses and higher efficiency. Steady-state analysis, operation, design, simulation, and experimental results of the proposed converter are reported in this paper.