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This article evaluates the power conversion efficiency of the buck three-level dc–dc converter, when operating in unbalanced bipolar dc microgrids. Bipolar dc microgrids adopt a positive, neutral, and negative wire to double the power transfer capability, reduce conduction losses, and provide two voltage levels. Additional converters are however required to balance the pole-to-neutral voltages in the presence of unbalanced loading conditions. Previous work has shown that the buck three-level dc–dc converter features voltage balancing capability and can serve, at the same time, as an interface for battery storage and photovoltaic systems for example. Nevertheless, available conversion loss models are only valid for balanced loading conditions. Therefore, this article derives a conversion loss model for a buck three-level dc–dc converter, also valid in unbalanced conditions. The model is decomposed in balanced and unbalanced components in order to separate losses arising in balanced and unbalanced conditions. Furthermore, the model accounts for nonideal common-mode currents as experimental results will reveal that they have a profound impact on the conversion efficiency in unbalanced and balanced conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reconfiguration, sizing and downsizing of the storage unit, in electrically propelled vehicles, are techniques that have been reported effective to improve the shelf life and performance of the storage cells. However, these solutions might decrease the rated voltage of the storage unit and therefore DC-DC converters with high voltage gain are suitable solutions to connect these low-voltage units to the motor drive, keeping a good performance of the vehicle. Moreover, parasitic resistances presented in the components of these converters have proved to influence the efficiency and the voltage gain of the converter. The ideal voltage gain of four high step-up converters is analysed, derived, and compared. These converters were selected because of their potential to be applied in electric mobility and their similarity in the techniques that use to achieve high voltage gain: interleaving phases and magnetic integration. One of the analysed topologies is proposed by the authors. Afterwards, the parasitic resistance effect is analysed to obtain the non-ideal voltage gain and the efficiency of these four topologies. Finally, the topology that presents the best trade-off between the non-ideal voltage gain and the efficiency is experimentally tested with a 100 W prototype [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High power density and high efficiency in dc/dc converters are required in various applications such as the automotive application. Interleaved multiphase circuits with integrated magnetic components can fulfill these requirements because passive components occupying significant space in power converters can be downsized without high-switching frequency driving of power devices. However, dc-biased magnetization is a drawback of integrated magnetic components because of unbalanced inductor average currents. This imbalance arises from the tolerance among the phase components. To overcome this problem, inductor average current control is implemented in interleaved multiphase dc/dc converters. Nevertheless, the imbalance cannot be completely eliminated because the current sensors inserted into each phase have gain errors. The purpose of this paper is to present a magnetic design method to improve the immunity to unbalanced currents. A comprehensive analysis is carried out with two main objectives: to prevent magnetic saturation, which may arise due to the current unbalance and to downsize the magnetic components by selecting the optimal coupling coefficient taking into consideration the maximum permissible percentage of unbalanced currents. Simulation case studies are presented to support the analysis. Finally, a 1-kW prototype of the interleaved boost converter is built to validate the accuracy of the design method. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

One of the main problems in electric vehicles is the volume of their electrical systems because their bulky components carry additional mass and high cost to the total system. On this topic, interleaving-phases and magnetic coupling techniques have been reported as effective methods for increasing the power density of the DC-DC converters that work between the storage unit and the motor inverter. In that sense, a volume assessment of these topologies would provide a better understanding of the problems to be faced when an electric power train is designed. In this paper, a volume modelling methodology is introduced with the purpose of comparing four different DC-DC converters: Single-Phase Boost, Two-Phase Interleaved with non-coupled inductors, Loosely Coupled Inductor (LCI), and Integrated Winding Coupled Inductor (IWCI). The analysis considers the volume of magnetic components, power devices (conventional and next-generation), cooling devices and capacitors. The methodology can be used as a part of an optimization procedure to minimize the volume of DC-DC converters. Conclusively, LCI and IWCI were found effective to miniaturize power converters with a power density of 8.4 W/cc and 9.66 W/cc, respectively. Moreover, a maximum efficiency of 98.04% and 97.61% was obtained for a 1kW LCI and IWCI prototypes, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]