The present invention relates to a bi-directional resonant converter with bi-directional voltage control. More specifically, the invention relates to a bi-directional converter with galvanic isolation.
DC-DC converters are typically used to convert an uncontrolled input DC voltage to a controlled output DC voltage and supply the controlled output DC voltage to a load. The DC-DC converters are also providing galvanic insulation between the input side and the output side.
WO2011/074977 describes a resonant DC-DC converter with a resonant tank having a transformer, where a switching device is provided for reconfiguring the secondary windings of the transformer between a star configuration and a delta configuration.
Also bi-directional DC-DC converters exist. Such bi-directional DC-DC converters may be used in uninterruptable power supplies (UPS), energy storage applications for renewable energy sources such as solar power, wind power—
US 2011/0317452 describes a bi-directional DC-DC resonant converter with lossless (soft) switching with controlled voltage level in both directions. This is achieved by the addition of an inductor Lnew in the different converter circuits in this publication. The disadvantage of these circuits is that the additional inductor Lnew will increase the power losses and hence reduce the power efficiency.
WO 2013/095161 describes a LLC bidirectional resonant converter comprising: a resonant tank, a first switching circuit connected to the resonant tank via first power conduits, a second switching circuit connected to the resonant tank via second power conduits, a switching element, and at least one switchable inductive element which is arranged by the switching element to be in parallel across the second power conduits when operating in a first mode of operation and arranged by the switching element to be in parallel across the first power conduits when operating in a second mode of operation.
One object of the invention is to provide a bi-directional DC-DC resonant converter which in particular is suitable for charging and discharging batteries in renewable power system applications.
The object of the invention is to provide an improved bi-directional DC-DC resonant converter. As for all types of converters, it is desired that the power efficiency is high (i.e. low losses), and that the costs are low.
In particular, the object of the invention is to improve the functionality of the bi-directional DC-DC resonant converter when the optimal relation between the voltages connected to the converters primary and secondary terminals changes depending on the direction of the power flow. This is done by switching between two different resonant circuits that have different resonant frequencies and different DC gain at their respective resonant frequency.
According to the invention, this is achieved by a bi-directional DC-DC resonant converter comprising a bi-directional DC-DC resonant converter with bi-directional voltage control, comprising:
where the resonant tank device comprises a configuration switch for configuration of the converter between a first state, in which power is transferred from the secondary converter terminals to the primary converter terminals and a second state, in which power is transferred from the primary converter terminals to the secondary converter terminals;
where the resonant tank device comprises a resonant inductor, a magnetizing inductor and a resonant capacitor connected to the configuration switch;
where a first gain Gres1 is defined as the ratio between a first harmonic approximation of the secondary resonant tank voltage and a first harmonic approximation of the primary resonant tank voltage when operating at a first series resonance frequency (ωres1) in the first state.
The bi-directional DC-DC resonant converter is characterized in that a second gain is defined as the ratio between a first harmonic approximation of the secondary resonant tank voltage and a first harmonic approximation of the primary resonant tank voltage when operating at a second series resonance frequency (ωres2) in the second state;
where the first gain is different from the second gain.
Hence, the bi-directional DC-DC resonant converter has the first gain when operating in the first state and has the second gain when operating in the second state.
In one aspect of the invention, the second series resonant frequency (ωres2) during the first harmonic approximation in the second state is different from the first resonant series frequency (ωres1) during the first harmonic approximation in the first state.
In one aspect of the invention, the first gain is equal to 1 when operating at the first series resonance frequency (ωres1) in the first state.
In one aspect of the invention, the second gain is determined by the inductance of the resonant inductor and inductance of the magnetizing inductor so that the second gain is equal to (Lr+Lm)/Lm when operating at the second series resonance frequency (ωres2) in the second state.
In one aspect of the invention, the transformer device has a primary winding connected to the primary transformer terminals and a secondary winding connected to the secondary transformer terminals.
In one aspect of the invention, the configuration switch comprises a first switch terminal, a second switch terminal and a third switch terminal.
In one aspect of the invention, the magnetizing inductor is connected between the first switch terminal and the first primary resonant tank terminal.
In one aspect of the invention, the second switch terminal is connected to the second primary resonant tank terminal.
In one aspect of the invention, the resonant capacitor is connected between the second and third switch terminals.
In one aspect of the invention, the resonant inductor is connected between the third switch terminal and the second secondary resonant tank terminal.
In one aspect of the invention, the first primary resonant tank terminal is connected to the first secondary resonant tank terminal.
In one aspect of the invention, the resonant capacitor comprises a first resonant capacitor connected between the second primary resonant tank terminal and the first secondary converter terminals and a second resonant capacitor connected between the second primary resonant tank terminal and the second secondary converter terminals.
In one aspect of the invention, the resonant inductor is connected between first primary resonant tank terminal and the first secondary resonant tank terminal.
In one aspect of the invention, the third switch terminal is connected to the second secondary resonant tank terminal.
In one aspect of the invention, the first switch terminal and the second switch terminal are connected to each other in the first state; and where the first switch terminal and the third switch terminal are connected to each other in the second state.
In one aspect of the invention, the primary switching circuit is a full bridge circuit or a half bridge circuit.
The present invention also relates to a bi-directional DC-DC resonant converter as described above where:
where an optimal ratio between the system voltage and the battery voltage during charging is different from an optimal ratio between the system voltage and the battery voltage during discharging.
In the following, embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the enclosed drawings, where:
It is now referred to
The converter 1 comprises primary converter terminals TCa1, TCa2, i.e. a first primary converter terminal TCa1 and a second primary converter terminal TCa2, defining a primary voltage U1. Typically, a primary capacitor Ca is connected between these terminals TCa1, TCa2.
The converter 1 also comprises secondary converter terminals TCb1, TCb2, i.e. a first secondary converter terminal TCb1 and a second secondary converter terminal TCb2, defining a secondary voltage U. Typically, a secondary capacitor Cb is connected between these terminals TCb1, TCb2.
The converter 1 further comprises four main circuits indicated as dashed boxes in
The transformer device TD has primary transformer terminals Ta1, Ta2 and secondary transformer terminals Tb1, Tb2. The transformer device TD has a primary winding La connected to the primary transformer terminals Ta1, Ta2 and a secondary winding Lb connected to the secondary transformer terminals Tb1, Tb2.
The resonant tank device RTD has first and second primary resonant tank terminals a1, a2 defining a primary resonant tank voltage Ua and first and second secondary resonant tank terminals b1, b2 defining a secondary resonant tank voltage Ub. The primary tank terminals a1, a2 are connected to the secondary transformer terminals Tb1, Tb2.
The resonant tank device RTD comprises a resonant inductor Lr, a magnetizing inductor Lm and a resonant capacitor Cr connected to the configuration switch RS.
The primary switching circuit 10 is connected between the primary converter terminals TCa1, TCa2 and the primary transformer terminals Ta1, Ta2. The primary switching circuit 10 may be a full bridge circuit or a half bridge circuit. In
The secondary switching circuit 20 is connected between the secondary resonant tank terminals b1, b2 and the secondary converter terminals TCb1, TCb2. In
The above-mentioned switches comprise semiconductor mosfets, wide bandgap transistors, or transistors with intrinsic diodes etc.
Similar to the prior art of
The configuration switch RS comprises a first switch terminal RS1, a second switch terminal RS2 and a third switch terminal RS3. The magnetizing inductor Lm is connected between the first switch terminal RS1 and the first primary resonant tank terminal a1. The second switch terminal RS2 is connected to the second primary resonant tank terminal a2.
In
In
In
In a typical industrial application, the primary converter terminals TCa1, TCa2 will be connected to a storage device e.g. battery and/or an energy source, while the secondary converter terminals TCb1, TCb1 will be connected to a DC bus. To this DC bus, one or several of the following may be connected:
1) a bi-directional DC-AC converter, for converting power from the DC bus to an AC power supply system, for example a 230 VAC or a 400 VAC power supply system. This AC power supply system may then comprise both AC power producing capacity and AC load.
2) a DC load, for example telecommunication equipment, computer servers etc.
3) a DC power producing capacity, typically renewables such as solar cell systems, etc.
It is now referred to
The First Harmonic Approximation (FHA) is a commonly used modelling technique for analyzing the performance of resonant power converters. This type of approximation is commonly used, and is for example described in the following documents: “LLC resonant half-bridge converter design guideline”, by Silvio De Simone of ST Microelectronics, March 2014 and “LLC Resonant Converter Design using FAN7688”, by Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation, 2015.
In
From
As described above, the gain expressed as the absolute value of Ua_FHA/Ub_FHA at the first resonant frequency for the circuit in
In
It is now referred to
This situation is also illustrated in
In
From
The gain at ωres2 for the circuit in
The relation between Lr and Lm in
As shown above, the resonant tank device RTD has a second series resonant frequency ωres2 in the second state being different from the first series resonant frequency ωres1. Moreover, the ratio between the secondary voltage Ua and the primary voltage Ub in the first state is different from the ratio between the secondary voltage Ub and the primary voltage Ua in the second state.
In a first example, the bi-directional resonant LLC converter 1 has its secondary terminals TCb2, TCb2 connected to a fixed system voltage U2. Primary terminals TCa1, TCa2 are connected to a battery where the battery cells have following characteristics: Max charge voltage 3.65V per cell, working voltage during discharging 3.0V to 3.3V pr cell. The max charging voltage is in this case approximately 14-22% higher than the working discharging voltage of the battery. In charging mode power flows from Ub to Ua as shown in
It should be noted that the above primary and secondary switching circuits 10, 20 can be half bridge circuits
It is now referred to
However, in this embodiment, the resonant capacitor Cr of the resonant tank device RTD here comprises a first resonant capacitor Cr1 connected between the second primary resonant tank terminal a2 and the first secondary converter terminals TCb1 and a second resonant capacitor Cr2 connected between the second primary resonant tank terminal a2 and the second secondary converter terminals TCb2. Moreover, the resonant inductor Lr is connected between first primary resonant tank terminal al and the first secondary resonant tank terminal b1, and the third switch terminal RS3 is connected to the second secondary resonant tank terminal b2.
It is now referred to
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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1602044.8 | Feb 2016 | GB | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/EP2017/052394 | 2/3/2017 | WO | 00 |