Design of a Bidirectional CL³C Full-Bridge Resonant Converter for Battery Energy Storage Systems

Abstract

In this study, a bidirectional CL3C full-bridge resonant converter was developed using a bidirectional active bridge converter as the main framework to improve conventional LLC resonant converters. A resonant inductor and resonant capacitor were installed at the secondary side of the developed resonant converter. The bidirectional operation of this converter enables zero-voltage switching at the supply-side power switch and zero-current switching at the load side. The aforementioned phenomena enhance the overall circuit efficiency and enable the resonant tank voltage to be increased in the reverse mode, which cannot be achieved with conventional bidirectional LLC resonant converters. The electrical equipment isolation function provided by a transformer made electricity usage safer, and digital control technology was adopted to control electrical energy conversion and simulate bidirectional energy conversion. Specifically, the experiment and simulation emulated how the developed converter enables energy transmission from a DC grid to a battery energy storage system through constant current–constant voltage charging and energy transmission from a battery energy storage system to a DC grid through constant power discharging.

Keywords

• LLC resonant converters
• zero-voltage switching
• zero current switching
• bidirectional full-bridge converter