Reliability Analysis of Multi-Level PFC Converter-Based Charger for Light EV Charging Application

Abstract

Electric vehicle (EV) charging architectures with two stages consist of rectification and a DC–DC conversion stage. Multi-level rectifiers are emerging as better alternatives in the rectification stage of EV charging applications. As they possess minimum voltage stress on switches, better harmonic profile at the grid side, lower dv/dt stress, and higher voltage capability. In this article, a five-level rectifier in conjunction with a phase shift full bridge converter is implemented for EV charging applications. The rectifier has the inherent capacitor voltage balancing capability and maintains unity power factor at the source side under varieties of operating conditions. The reliability of power electronic converters can be estimated by accessing the reliability of each component in converters. To establish the suitability of the implemented system for real-time EV charging applications, comprehensive performance analysis has been carried out including reliability assessment, the impact of parametric variations on reliability, calculation of losses and efficiency. The battery charger is mathematically modeled and validated experimentally in laboratory. The comparative analysis of the rectifier with state-of-the-art literature has been also carried out.