Phase-Duty Modulated Loop Decoupling and Design Optimization for a Triple Active Bridge Converter for Light Electric Vehicle Charging

Abstract

This article presents a comprehensive generalized harmonics approximation based modeling and design of a triple active bridge (TAB) dc–dc converter topology aimed to facilitate simultaneous—main and auxiliary—battery charging solutions for light electric vehicle charging applications. A three-loop control scheme, incorporating the duty and phase control parameters, is proposed in this article to address the issue of inherent coupling of two output bridges and their control loops (as observed in conventional phase modulation-based voltage control techniques), along with an objective to enhance the operational efficiency of the system, in affiliation with a real-time power flow optimization algorithm. Adhering to the objective of achieving minimized losses, the optimization algorithm provides insightful design limitations in terms of selecting the required leakage inductances to ensure desired power flow at the output bridges. Furthermore, to validate the effectiveness of the proposed three-loop control, a detailed set of simulation and experimental results are presented at various steady state and dynamic load change conditions. A detailed analytical loss model of the TAB topology is also presented along with a comparative study elucidating the effectiveness of the proposed three-loop control over the conventional control schemes. The analyses portray a peak efficiency of 96.24% at the rated load of 300 W, which is 2.94% and 4.97% higher than the decoupled and the conventional phase shift control schemes, respectively.