A novel tri‐capacity battery charger topology for low‐voltage DC residential nanogrid

Abstract

Abstract This study communicates a single‐stage, 3‐ɸ, rooftop solar photo voltaic (PV) and grid compatible tri‐capacity battery charger (TBC) topology for a home‐based low voltage direct current nanogrid (LVDC NG). The proposed architecture performs power factor correction drawing sinusoidal grid currents at unity power factor, single‐stage rectification of 3‐ɸ grid voltages and constant current mode battery charging simultaneously. The employed control scheme is experimentally validated on a 120 W scaled‐down hardware prototype energising three lead‐acid‐based battery energy storage system (BESS) of nominal voltages 48/36/24 V and capacities 28/21/14 Ah, respectively. The obtained results affirm the effective operation of the LVDC NG under islanded/grid‐to‐battery and battery‐to‐grid modes. Further, an extension to the proposed work where the TBC functions charging a single BESS is put forward and validated adding merit to the proposed work.

Keywords

• Secondary cells
• Power convertors and power supplies to apparatus
• Distributed power generation
• Control of electric power systems
• Other power stations and plants
• Solar power stations and photovoltaic power systems