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A charge equalization method for a series of string of battery cells has been proposed. This technique uses a simple isolated dc-to-dc converter that has a capacitive output filter and a multiwinding transformer. Its use during charge equalization of an electric vehicle battery system reveals that it improves the uniformity of the battery cells, and thus, prolong battery life. Furthermore, the cost of its application was found to be reasonable.

Charge equalization for series connected battery strings has important ramifications on battery life. It enhances the uniformity of the battery cells and hence improves the life of the battery as a whole. A new charge equalization technique for a series string of battery cells has been recently proposed by the authors. The basic technique utilizes a simple isolated dc-to-dc converter with a capacitive output filter along with a multiwinding transformer. The possibility of integrating the trickle charge function with the charge equalization function is potentially very attractive, as it can lead to an efficient and low cost implementation.

A simple technique that provides charge equalization for a series string of battery cells is presented. The advantages of accurate charge equalization are very substantial and include reduced damage to battery cells in the stack, and a dramatic increase in battery life. The basic technique utilizes a simple isolated dc/dc converter with a capacitive output filter along with a multi-winding coaxial winding transformer (CWT). The coaxial winding transformer is known for its low and controlled leakage inductance. The transformer leakage inductance is used as the main driving impedance to control the total charging current for the individual cells. The use of one low-power converter to obtain charge equalization for the entire battery string is very attractive and leads to a low cost implementation.

An improved full-bridge ZVS PWM using a two-inductor rectifier dc/dc converter is presented in this paper. For this improved topology, the main devices are switched on under zero-voltage (ZVS) conditions using the energy stored in the secondary filter inductors. In addition, it utilizes the low leakage inductance of a coaxial winding transformer to reset the currents in the rectifier diodes and eliminate the secondary voltage spike. The two-inductor rectifier has only one diode conduction drop in addition to frequency doubling in the output capacitor. The secondary filter size in the proposed topology is rather small. The advantages of the new topology include a wide load range with ZVS, no lost duty cycle due to diode recovery, no secondary voltage spikes, in addition to high power density and high efficiency.