A SiC-Based highly integrated bidirectional AC/DC converter for PEV charging applications

Abstract:

High power density with low hardware cost is one of the driving forces in the evolvement of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) onboard chargers. To achieve this target, a highly integrated ac/dc converter is investigated for PEV charging applications. In the proposed structure, a single-phase bidirectional totem-pole power-factor-correction (PFC) converter is implemented mainly using the existing components in the driving system. The motor drive and windings are reused as switches and inductors, respectively. Therefore, the hardware cost of the onboard charger is significantly reduced. SiC semiconductors are employed to resolve the reverse recovery issues. The proposed converter is featured with reduced components count, reduced input current ripples, and bidirectional power flow. Circuit analysis and design considerations are detailed. A 500 W bidirectional ac/dc converter prototype is designed and tested to verify the concept.