Analysis of the Performance of the Bidirectional Three-Level and Five Level DC–DC Converter

Abstract

In this paper Bidirectional Five-Level DC–DC Converter is implemented for automotive applications. Bidirectional dc/dc converter is used in battery/ultra-capacitor electric vehicles. a three-level non-isolated bidirectional dc/dc converter (TLC) as the power electronics interface between the battery and the UC, instead of a conventional two-quadrant buck/ boost converter (CBC), which would increase the conversion efficiency and reduce the size of the magnetic components. In this regard, the Five-level converter was analyzed and comprehensively compared with three level CBC and interleaved bidirectional  converter in terms of magnetic component size and efficiency considering a UDDS drive cycle where the battery and UC power are split using three-level converter. Particularly in higher switching frequencies, the efficiency of this converter decreases due to increased switching losses. This paper has proposed using a five-level non-isolated bidirectional dc/dc converter (TLC) as the power electronics interface between the battery and the UC, instead of a conventional three level buck/ boost converter (CBC). The simulation results are presented by using Matlab/Simulink software.