DC–DC converters with voltage boost capability are widely used in a large number of power conversion applications, from fraction-of-volt to tens of thousands of volts at power levels from milliwatts to megawatts. The literature has reported on various voltage-boosting techniques, in which fundamental energy storing elements (inductors and capacitors) and/or transformers in conjunction with switch(es) and diode(s) are utilized in the circuit. These techniques include switched capacitor (charge pump), voltage multiplier, switched inductor/voltage lift, magnetic coupling, and multistage/-level, and each has its own merits and demerits depending on application, in terms of cost, complexity, power density, reliability, and efficiency. To meet the growing demand for such applications, new power converter topologies that use the above voltage-boosting techniques, as well as some active and passive components, are continuously being proposed. The permutations and combinations of the various voltage-boosting techniques with additional components in a circuit allow for numerous new topologies and configurations, which are often confusing and difficult to follow. Therefore, to present a clear picture on the general law and framework of the development of next-generation step-up dc–dc converters, this paper aims to comprehensively review and classify various step-up dc–dc converters based on their characteristics and voltage-boosting techniques. In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of these voltage-boosting techniques and associated converters are discussed in detail. Finally, broad applications of dc–dc converters are presented and summarized with comparative study of different voltage-boosting techniques.

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Step-Up DC–DC Converters: A Comprehensive Review of Voltage-Boosting Techniques, Topologies, and Applications

DC microgrids (MGs) have been gaining a continually increasing interest over the past couple of years both in academia and industry. The advantages of dc distribution when compared to its ac counterpart are well known. The most important ones include higher reliability and efficiency, simpler control and natural interface with renewable energy sources, and electronic loads and energy storage systems. With rapid emergence of these components in modern power systems, the importance of dc in today's society is gradually being brought to a whole new level. A broad class of traditional dc distribution applications, such as traction, telecom, vehicular, and distributed power systems can be classified under dc MG framework and ongoing development, and expansion of the field is largely influenced by concepts used over there. This paper aims first to shed light on the practical design aspects of dc MG technology concerning typical power hardware topologies and their suitability for different emerging smart grid applications. Then, an overview of the state of the art in dc MG protection and grounding is provided. Owing to the fact that there is no zero-current crossing, an arc that appears upon breaking dc current cannot be extinguished naturally, making the protection of dc MGs a challenging problem. In relation with this, a comprehensive overview of protection schemes, which discusses both design of practical protective devices and their integration into overall protection systems, is provided. Closely coupled with protection, conflicting grounding objectives, e.g., minimization of stray current and common-mode voltage, are explained and several practical solutions are presented. Also, standardization efforts for dc systems are addressed. Finally, concluding remarks and important future research directions are pointed out.

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DC Microgrids—Part II: A Review of Power Architectures, Applications, and Standardization Issues

Photovoltaic (PV) energy has grown at an average annual rate of 60% in the last five years, surpassing one third of the cumulative wind energy installed capacity, and is quickly becoming an important part of the energy mix in some regions and power systems. This has been driven by a reduction in the cost of PV modules. This growth has also triggered the evolution of classic PV power converters from conventional singlephase grid-tied inverters to more complex topologies to increase efficiency, power extraction from the modules, and reliability without impacting the cost. This article presents an overview of the existing PV energy conversion systems, addressing the system configuration of different PV plants and the PV converter topologies that have found practical applications for grid-connected systems. In addition, the recent research and emerging PV converter technology are discussed, highlighting their possible advantages compared with the present technology. Solar PV energy conversion systems have had a huge growth from an accumulative total power equal to approximately 1.2 GW in 1992 to 136 GW in 2013 (36 GW during 2013) [1]. This phenomenon has been possible because of several factors all working together to push the PV energy to cope with one important position today (and potentially a fundamental position in the near future). Among these factors are the cost reduction and increase in efficiency of the PV modules, the search for alternative clean energy sources (not based on fossil fuels), increased environmental awareness, and favorable political regulations from local governments (establishing feed-in tariffs designed to accelerate investment in renewable energy technologies). It has become usual to see PV systems installed on the roofs of houses or PV farms next to the roads in the countryside. Grid-connected PV systems account for more than 99% of the PV installed capacity compared to

An Overview of Recent Research and Emerging PV Converter Technology

Photovoltaic (PV) energy has grown at an average annual rate of 60% in the last five years, surpassing one third of the cumulative wind energy installed capacity, and is quickly becoming an important part of the energy mix in some regions and power systems. This has been driven by a reduction in the cost of PV modules. This growth has also triggered the evolution of classic PV power converters from conventional single-phase grid-tied inverters to more complex topologies to increase efficiency, power extraction from the modules, and reliability without impacting the cost. This article presents an overview of the existing PV energy conversion systems, addressing the system configuration of different PV plants and the PV converter topologies that have found practical applications for grid-connected systems. In addition, the recent research and emerging PV converter technology are discussed, highlighting their possible advantages compared with the present technology.

Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Systems: An Overview of Recent Research and Emerging PV Converter Technology

This paper presents a modular cascaded H-bridge multilevel photovoltaic (PV) inverter for single- or three-phase grid-connected applications. The modular cascaded multilevel topology helps to improve the efficiency and flexibility of PV systems. To realize better utilization of PV modules and maximize the solar energy extraction, a distributed maximum power point tracking control scheme is applied to both single- and three-phase multilevel inverters, which allows independent control of each dc-link voltage. For three-phase grid-connected applications, PV mismatches may introduce unbalanced supplied power, leading to unbalanced grid current. To solve this issue, a control scheme with modulation compensation is also proposed. An experimental three-phase seven-level cascaded H-bridge inverter has been built utilizing nine H-bridge modules (three modules per phase). Each H-bridge module is connected to a 185-W solar panel. Simulation and experimental results are presented to verify the feasibility of the proposed approach.

Modular Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel PV Inverter With Distributed MPPT for Grid-Connected Applications

This paper proposes a novel architecture for plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) dc charging station at the megawatt level, through the use of a grid-tied neutral point clamped (NPC) converter. The proposed bipolar dc structure reduces the step-down effort on the dc–dc fast chargers. In addition, this paper proposes a balancing mechanism that allows handling any difference on the dc loads while keeping the midpoint voltage accurately regulated. By formally defining the unbalance operation limit, the proposed control scheme is able to provide complementary balancing capabilities by the use of an additional NPC leg acting as a bidirectional dc–dc stage, simulating the minimal load condition and allowing the modulator to keep the control on the dc voltages under any load scenario. The proposed solution enables fast charging for PEVs concentrating several charging units into a central grid-tied converter. In this paper, simulation and experimental results are presented to validate the proposed charging station architecture.

Electric Vehicle Charging Station Using a Neutral Point Clamped Converter With Bipolar DC Bus

Large scale grid connected photovoltaic (PV) energy conversion systems have reached the megawatt level. This imposes new challenges on existing grid interface converter topologies and opens new opportunities to be explored. In this paper a new medium voltage multilevel-multistring configuration is introduced based on a three-phase cascaded H-bridge (CHB) converter and multiple string dc-dc converters. The proposed configuration enables a large increase of the total capacity of the PV system, while improving power quality and efficiency. The converter structure is very flexible and modular since it decouples the grid converter from the PV string converter, which allows to accomplish independent control goals. The main challenge of the proposed configuration is to handle the inherent power imbalances that occur not only between the different cells of one phase of the converter but also between the three phases. The control strategy to deal with these imbalances is also introduced in this paper. Simulation results of a 7-level CHB for a multistring PV system are presented to validate the proposed topology and control method.

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Cascaded H-bridge multilevel converter multistring topology for large scale photovoltaic systems

The development of high-power charging stations with fast chargers is a promising solution to shorten the charging time for electric vehicles (EVs). The neutral-point-clamped (NPC) converter-based bipolar-dc-bus-fed charging station brings many merits, but it has inherent voltage balance limits. To solve this issue, a voltage balance control (VBC) method based on a new modulation together with three-level (TL) dc–dc converter-based fast charger is proposed. Additionally, an effective VBC coordination between the TL dc–dc converter and the NPC converter is formulated. Through the proposed VBC coordination, the controllable balancing region is extended so that additional balancing circuits are eliminated. Meanwhile, the quality of the grid-side currents is improved as the NPC converter has more freedom to control currents. The low-frequency voltage fluctuations in dc buses are removed because the TL dc–dc converter performs most of the balancing tasks. Faster VBC perturbation performance is achieved due to higher available balancing current at TL dc–dc converter side. In addition, the voltage balance limits of both the TL dc–dc converter and the NPC converter are explored. The voltage balancing performances are compared when VBC is located at different sides. Simulation and experimental results are provided to verify the proposed VBC and the VBC coordination.

Effective Voltage Balance Control for Bipolar-DC-Bus-Fed EV Charging Station With Three-Level DC–DC Fast Charger

This paper proposes a novel balancing approach for an electric vehicle bipolar dc charging station at the megawatt level, enabled by a grid-tied neutral-point-clamped converter. The study uses the presence of an energy storage stage with access to both of the dc buses to perform the complementary balance. It proposes a generic balancing structure that can achieve balance regardless the kind of energy storage system (ESS) employed. This is aiming to reduce the hardware requirements of the system and maximize the usage of the ESS, whose main function is to perform the energy management related tasks. To meet this purpose, a three-level dc–dc interface is employed, allowing to compensate the dc currents with a single ESS. Furthermore, in order to prevent the appearance of even-order harmonics in the input current during asymmetrical operation, an alternative switching sequence for the central converter is proposed. Results indicate that, without altering dramatically the charging process of the ESS, it is possible to cover the whole load scenario without the need of a balancing circuit. This allows the use of off-the-shelf products both for the rectifier and the fast chargers. In this paper, simulation and experimental results are presented to validate the proposed balancing strategy.

Electric Vehicle Charging Station With an Energy Storage Stage for Split-DC Bus Voltage Balancing

With the increasing popularity of electric vehicles, there is an urgent demand to shorten the charging time, so the development of high-power charging stations with fast chargers is necessary to alleviate range anxiety for drivers. The charging station based on the neutral-point-clamped (NPC) converter can bring many merits, but it has unbalanced power problems in the bipolar dc bus. To solve this issue, comprehensive dc power balance management (PBM) in conjunction with high-power three-level dc–dc converter based fast charger is proposed in this paper. The active dc power balance management (APBM) is proposed to assist the central NPC converter in balancing power so that the additional balancing circuit is eliminated; while the passive dc power balance management (PPBM) is proposed to eliminate the fluctuating neutral-point currents and to ensure the balanced operation of fast chargers. The principles of APBM and PPBM are researched, the efficient integration between them is studied, and the overall control scheme for the fast charger is proposed. The power balance limits of APBM are explored, while the circulating currents of PPBM are analyzed. Simulation and experimental results are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed fast charger with PBM functions.

Sebastian Rivera

Papers

Electric Vehicle Charging Station Using a Neutral Point Clamped Converter With Bipolar DC Bus

Cascaded H-bridge multilevel converter multistring topology for large scale photovoltaic systems

Effective Voltage Balance Control for Bipolar-DC-Bus-Fed EV Charging Station With Three-Level DC–DC Fast Charger

Electric Vehicle Charging Station With an Energy Storage Stage for Split-DC Bus Voltage Balancing

Comprehensive DC Power Balance Management in High-Power Three-Level DC–DC Converter for Electric Vehicle Fast Charging