A Nonisolated Three-Port DC–DC Converter with Continuous Input and Output Currents Based on Cuk Topology for PV/Fuel Cell Applications

Abstract

A nonisolated three-port DC–DC converter based on Cuk topology (NI-TPC) to handle the renewable sources (RS) is proposed in this paper. This converter includes two unidirectional input ports accommodating both a fuel cell (FC) and photovoltaic (PV) cell; and one output port with DC load. Due to the inductors at all the ports, it claims the advantage of continuous input and output currents. Additionally, it uses less number of switches, diodes and inductors compared with conventional ‘n-1’ separate Cuk converters. Synthesis procedure for a generalized n-port DC–DC structure is explained. The derivation law based on conventional Cuk converter, operating principle, design calculation, and analysis are presented in detail, and then the analysis is validated through simulation and a 100W prototype, verifying the performance of the proposed NI-TPC converter.

Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles—A Brief Review of Current Topologies and Energy Management Strategies

“…These demonstrate the real advantages of wide voltage gain range and lower voltage stress over semiconductors and power capacitors compared to other converter models that have the same power but much lower maximum efficiency [89]. Low power converters: 0.1 kw [80] or 0.2 kw [90], have a maximum efficiency of around 93%, lower than other types of converters [91,92], their major advantage being the control of a relatively low complexity, suitable in various fuel cell applications. Converters with a power level of around 1 kW [93] have a higher maximum efficiency with a wide range of voltage gain, suitable for fuel cell systems (they have wide voltage fluctuations)-in this case the highest efficiency of 97.8% is given by the value of the input voltage of 200 V. For converters with a much higher power level (e.g., 12 kW) the efficiency has a value of about 97%, the DC/DC resonant dual active bridge (RDAB-IBDC) isolated bidirectional converter [94] demonstrates real performance by the frequency of higher switching, lesser circulating current or less switching losses.…”

“…The fourth topology, Cuk converter, is similar to the third one in the conversion process, the difference being that this converter contains an inductor inserted at both the input and the output, having the advantage of a continuous current at the input as well as the output. B. Chandrasekar et al [80] present a non-isolated three-port DC-DC converter based on Cuk topology to manage the renewable sources. Also, the authors from [81][82][83] present the different topologies of DC-DC converters non-isolated suitable for FCEV with their advantages and disadvantages.…”

“…V. F. Pires et al [84] propose a hybrid DC-DC converter consisting of a quadratic Boost converter and a Cuk converter-the main features being reduced voltage stress across the active power switch, simplicity in control and high step-up voltage. For interfacing renewable energy sources, such as fuel cells or photovoltaic panels, the efficiency of the non-insulated three-port Cuk-Cuk (NI-TPCC) DC-DC converter (Figure 4d) is demonstrated in [80]. The NI-TPCC converter demonstrates real performance in unidirectional operating mode.…”

Renewable/Fuel Cell Hybrid Power System Operation Using Two Search Controllers of the Optimal Power Needed on the DC Bus

“…In the literature, several hybrid architectures are proposed. The innovative solutions of interconnection topologies are divided into three main classes: multilevel [65], common bus [55] and multi-input topologies [66]. Existing solutions differ mainly in the flexibility of design, complexity and cost reduction.…”

PWM controlling of a new multi DC-DC converter circuit

“…Some studies [1,2] show that the simple DC-to-DC converter structures have been used for the dc voltage conversion that a system needs. Some of the converter works have been done to regulate the electrical energy obtained from the solar systems and fuel [3][4][5][6]. Some converter studies have addressed the problem of applying a min-type control of a synchronous boost converter using the non-linear control switching surface used in the mixed control equations [7,8].…”