Retificador trifásico PWM de alta eficiência com função bypass e características elevadora e abaixadora de tensão para carregamento de baterias de veículos elétricos

Abstract

When operating with large differences between input and output voltage levels, it is normally possible to identify a significant reduction on the performance of practically all topologies in regard of conversion efficiency. Reason for this is the increasing amount of processed energy that needs to be firstly stored in a passive element (inductor) before reaching the load. It is therefore possible to say that the higher the amount of such “indirect” energy is; the lower will be the converter efficiency. Such situation is especially critical when considering the operation of inverters or controlled rectifiers with power factor correction (PFC) because the converter sweeps practically all the possible values of duty cycle. In the case the difference between peak AC value and DC value is large; the modulation index will strongly deviate from 1. Consequently, even higher amount of losses are expected. In order to deal with the above referred drawbacks, it is proposed a 5-level three-phase PFC rectifier with an innovative approach, named bypass concept. This function allows the converter to switch between one of the available DC-links that best matches the required output levels depending on the operating point of the sinus wave, thus maximizing the efficiency. Furthermore, the referred bypass function enables direct access to the required lower voltage level by the load, reducing significantly the amount of losses. The 5-level operation allows the voltage steps to be lower than those found in three and two-level topologies, from where lower harmonic contents, reduction of common mode current and EMI are observed. Finally, the output DC-DC converters are designed for only a fraction of the nominal power, having a rather reduced impact on additional losses and also on the converter size. In addition, possible power electronics configurations for charging of EVs are presented. Suitable three-phase PFC rectifier topologies with sinusoidal input currents and controlled output voltage are analyzed and proposed, and their functionality and basic characteristics briefly described. Analytical formulas for calculating the current stresses on the power semiconductors are provided, and in order to evaluate comparatively the performance of selected topologies, dimensionless benchmark factors are derived concerning the semiconductor stresses and the volume of the main inductive components. The characteristics of the proposed system, including the principle of operation, modulation strategy, dimensioning equations and calculated losses and efficiency, are described in detail. Finally, the feasibility of the bypass concept is demonstrated by means of experimental results obtained from a 22 kW hardware prototype.