Medium-Voltage DC-DC Converter Topologies for Electric Bus Fast Charging Stations: State-of-the-Art Review

Abstract

With the expansion of E-mobility technology, the demand for Medium-Voltage (MV) Electric Buses (E-buses) charging infrastructure has significantly increased. In this regard, the effective connection of E-bus chargers to a medium voltage power grid is essential to provide fast charging and carry out multiple charging processes simultaneously. One of the main building blocks for E-bus charging is the DC-DC converter stage responsible for regulating the power flow and matching the different voltage and power levels. Accordingly, this paper presents a comprehensive review of DC-DC converter topologies applicable to MV E-bus fast charging. This review discusses and compares the basic isolated DC-DC converter topologies. In addition, the DC-DC converters are classified based on their conversion stages. Moreover, isolated DC-DC converter topologies applicable for MV E-bus fast charging applications, including Dual Active Bridge (DAB) modular-based structure converter and Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC)-based DAB, are discussed where the merits and demerits of each topology are highlighted. Moreover, this review illustrates how DAB converters are employed in different power level applications through the multimodule converter or the MMC-based DAB structure. Furthermore, the challenges and required features for MV DC-DC converter topologies are discussed.

Power Electronics Converters for On-Board Electric Power Systems

“…In the context of vehicle electrification, a transition is observed from the first battery electric vehicle (BEV) models, which were equipped with 250-400 V batteries, to models equipped with 400-800 V batteries, promoting weight and volume reduction, consequently increasing the autonomy of the vehicle, as well as reducing the recharge time of the batteries. As well as that observed in MEA, high voltage levels in direct current bring new challenges for the development of power electronics converters topologies with specific configurations to allow a reduced current and voltage efforts in semiconductors [8][9][10].…”