Modeling and control of a high power soft-switched bi-directional DC/DC converter for fuel cell applications

This work presents a new high power, bi-directional, isolated dc-dc converter for a fuel cell energy management system that will be fitted into a test vehicle being built by Ford Motor Company. The work includes two parts. The first part is to propose a new topology and analyze the principles of the circuits operation. Design guidelines with detailed circuit simulations are presented to verify the feasibility of the new circuit topology. Based on the conceptual understanding of the converter, the mathematical model is also derived to design a control system that achieves soft start up and meets the performance requirements. The second part is to fabricate a 1.6 kW prototype converter in the laboratory. Using the prototype, the steady state performance of the open loop system was tested to verify the analysis and simulation results. A dual half-bridge topology is presented to implement the required power rating using the minimum number of devices. Unified zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) is achieved in either direction of power flow to eliminate switching losses for all devices, increase the efficiency of the system and reduce the electromagnetic interference (EMI). Compared to the other soft-switched dc-dc converters, neither a voltage-clamping circuit nor extra switching devices and resonant components are required in the proposed circuit for soft-switching implementation. All these new features allow efficient power conversion and compact packaging. Different start-up schemes are proposed to successfully limit the in-rush current when the converter is started in the boost mode of operation. The full control system including the start-up scheme is developed and verified using simulation results based upon the average model. A 1.6 kW prototype of the converter has been built and successfully tested under full power. The experimental results of the converter's steady-state operation confirm the simulation analysis.