Performance Benchmarking of Active-Front-End Rectifier Topologies Used in High-Power, High-Voltage Onboard EV Chargers

Abstract

High power onboard battery chargers employed in electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEVs) fed from three-phase mains typically consist of a two-stage structure as AC-DC and DC-DC stages. The AC-DC stage is also known as the active front end (AFE). While the AFE rectifies the mains voltage, maintains the power factor, and provides a constant DC-link voltage to the DC-DC converter, the DC-DC converter stage regulates the charging current considering the charging algorithms in order to extend the battery service life. This study focuses on the selection of cost/performance effective AFE topology that can be used in high power onboard chargers. Four different suitable AC-DC topologies are investigated: (i) 3-phase 2-level rectifier, (ii) 3-phase, 3-level neutral-point-clamped (NPC) rectifier, (iii) 3-phase, 3-level T-type rectifier, and (iv) Vienna rectifier. In this study, the aforementioned AFE topologies have been simulated on the PLECS/SpeedFit environment and compared in terms of efficiency, losses, temperature, the number of switching elements, cost and cost/efficiency metrics. The performance results of the aforementioned topologies have been evaluated under different operating frequencies. The results reveal that the most suitable topology alternatives for the front-end AC-DC converter are 3-phase 2-level PWM rectifier and Vienna rectifier. Although the 3-phase 2-level PWM rectifier is superior with its 12% cost advantage, fewer components, and ease of control advantages, it lags a little behind the Vienna rectifier in terms of total harmonic distortion.