A Multifunctional, Non-Constant Current Charger Based on a Dual-Switching, Bidirectional Flyback Converter

Abstract

This study implements a multifunctional charger based on a dual-switching, bidirectional flyback converter (DSBFC). The proposed charger adopts seven charging methods, including the incremental-current charging, constant-voltage (CV) charging, constant-current (CC) charging, pulse-current (PC) charging, triangular-current (TC) charging, sinusoidal-current (SC) charging, and positive/negative pulse-current (Reflex) charging methods. The charging process of a lithium-ion battery is divided into three stages: an initial term, a mid-term, and a final term. In the initial term, the incremental-current charging method is used in the initial term of charging for a soft start and to inhibit an increase in temperature. In the mid-term, five charging methods, including CC, PC, TC, SC, and Reflex-current charging, are used for charging. The CV charging method prevents overcharging the lithium-ion battery in the final term. Based on our experimental results, this study compares the four charging methods (PC, TC, SC, and Reflex-current) with the CC charging method to verify their improvement of the charging speed and increase in temperature in the mid-term. The charging speeds increased by 14.38%, 14.04%, 16.36%, and 27.27%, respectively, and the rise in temperature decreased by 37.8%, 40.5%, 48.6%, and 13.51%, respectively; all performed better than the CC charging method. Finally, users can adjust the charging method of the proposed DSBFC according to the needs of batteries so as to achieve excellent performance.