This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been

fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TTE.2016.2630927, IEEE
Transactions on Transportation Electrification

Comprehensive Analyses and Comparison of 1kW

Isolated DC-DC Converters for Bidirectional EV
Charging Systems
Peiwen He, Student Member, IEEE, and Alireza Khaligh, Senior Member, IEEE

excess electricity and deliver it to the grid during periods of

Abstract—Isolated DC-DC converters with galvanic isolation high demand. The V2G capability requires EVs to have
are commonly used in electric vehicle (EV) battery chargers. These bidirectional charging systems which are able to operate in two
converters interface between a DC voltage link, which is usually power flow modes: charging mode (G2V) and discharging
the output of a power factor correction (PFC) stage, and an energy
storage unit. CLLC and Dual Active Bridge (DAB) DC-DC
mode (V2G). The CLLC and dual active bridge (DAB)
converters can achieve high power density, high energy efficiency, converters are commonly used as the DC-DC stages for
wide gain range, galvanic isolation and bidirectional power flow, bidirectional EV chargers, due to their advantages in terms of
and therefore, have potential applications as DC-DC converters high power density, high efficiency, buck/boost capability, and
for bidirectional EV charging systems. In this manuscript, full- controllable bidirectional power transfer [13]-[15].
bridge CLLC (FBCLLC), half-bridge CLLC (HBCLLC), full- Both CLLC and DAB circuits can be designed with full-
bridge DAB (FBDAB), and half-bridge DAB (HBDAB) DC-DC
converters are evaluated and compared for their suitability for EV
bridge and half-bridge topologies. Different topologies require
chargers. All the converters are designed with optimal soft- different design methods and are appropriate for different
switching features. The operating principles, design methodologies applications. A bidirectional full-bridge CLLC (FBCLLC)
and design considerations are presented. Prototypes of the converter, illustrated in Fig. 1(a), is introduced in [16]. The
converters with power rating of 1 kW are designed and developed. converter is proposed for a 500 W power rating, 400 V input
The prototypes interface a 500 V DC link and a 200 – 420 V load, and 48 V output UPS system, and possesses zero voltage
which is common for electric vehicle applications. The
performances of the circuits are analyzed and a comprehensive
switching (ZVS) and zero current switching (ZCS) features to
comparison is conducted. minimize switching loss. The highest efficiency of the
prototype is exceeding 96%. In [17], a design methodology for
Index Terms—bidirectional, battery charger, CLLC, dual a 5 kW FBCLLC converter with soft start control is presented.
active bridge, isolated DC-DC converter, resonant converter, zero The prototype is proposed for a 380 V DC power distribution
current switching (ZCS), zero voltage switching (ZVS). system and the highest efficiency is 97.8% at 4 kW. A CLLC-
compensated capacitive power transfer system for electric
vehicle charging applications is proposed in [18]. The power
I. INTRODUCTION rating of the system is 2.9 kW and the efficiency is 89.3%. Basic

T HE concerns about global climate change and fossil fuel

depletion are promoting the growth of electric vehicle (EV)
market [1]. Researchers have studied various techniques to
operating principles and simulation results of a half-bridge
CLLC (HBCLLC) converter (shown in Fig. 1(b)) are reported
in [19] without providing detailed experimental verification.
improve efficiency and power density of EV chargers [2]-[4]. Fig. 2(a) illustrates the topology of a full-bridge DAB
A typical EV charger consists of an AC-DC power factor (FBDAB) converter. Detailed operating principles, design
correction (PFC) stage and a galvanically isolated DC-DC considerations and control method for a 10 kW FBDAB
converter [5]. The PFC stage, such as an interleaved boost converter are discussed in [20]. Authors in [21] presents a
converter, interfaces between the AC grid and a DC voltage link design of a 5 kW prototype FBDAB converter for a 380 V input
to achieve input PFC and AC to DC conversion [6] [7]. The and 20-28 V output charger for a UPS system. The highest
DC-DC stage connects between the DC voltage link and an efficiency of this converter exceeds 96%. An analysis of
energy storage system [8]. switching condition and loss modeling of GaN-based DAB
For unidirectional grid-to-vehicle (G2V) chargers, LLC converter for EV charger is provided in [22], the modeling is
converters are commonly selected as the DC-DC stages [9] verified by experimental measurement of a 500 kHz GaN DAB
[10]. Recent studies indicate that EVs can also be considered as converter. A half-bridge DAB (HBDAB) converter (illustrated
distributed power sources to store and send power back to the in Fig. 2(b)) for EV on-board charger is introduced in [23], and
grid [11] [12]. This vehicle-to-grid (V2G) concept allows EVs a 600 W prototype converter is built to verify the theoretical
to provide voltage and frequency regulation to the grid, absorb analysis and control method. By analyzing the optimal

P. He and A. Khaligh are with the Electrical and Computer Engineering

Department and the Institute for Systems Research, University of Maryland,
College Park, MD 20742 USA (e-mail: phe@umd.edu; khaligh@ece.umd.edu).

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FBDAB, and HBDAB, are analyzed. The design methods of

these four topologies for EV charging systems are introduced,
and 1 kW prototypes for each topology are built to validate the
analysis and designs. An important contribution of this
manuscript is providing a general gain expression of the
HBCLLC converter, analyzing and verifying the practicability
of the four isolated DC-DC converters for bidirectional EV
(a)
charging systems.
This manuscript organized as follows. The DC-DC converter
topologies and their operating principles are discussed in
Section II. Detailed design methodologies and considerations
for EV charging systems are discussed in Section III. The
experimental results are presented in Section IV and the
analysis of the results are provided in Section V. Finally,
Section VI provides the conclusion remarks.
(b)

Fig. 1. Bidirectional (a) FBCLLC and (b) HBCLLC resonant converters.

II. THEORETICAL ANALYSIS
CLLC and DAB converters are isolated switching
converters. In order to ensure higher efficiency, the circuits
need to be designed to operate under soft-switching conditions.
In the case of CLLC converters, ZVS operation can be achieved
on primary side power MOSFETs and ZCS operation can be
realized on secondary side rectifiers. In the case of DAB
converters, both primary and secondary side power MOSFETs
can operate under ZVS condition.
(a)
A. Bidirectional CLLC converters
1) Operating Principles
The bidirectional CLLC converters have symmetrical
structures consisting of primary inverting stages and secondary
rectifying stages. For the FBCLLC circuit (shown in Fig. 1(a)),
and are resonant inductors, and are resonant
capacitors. In comparison, the HBCLLC circuit (shown in Fig.
(b) 1(b)) uses bridge capacitors ( , , , and ) as resonant
capacitors. The turns ratio of the transformer is : 1, and its
Fig. 2. Bidirectional (a) FBDAB and (b) HBDAB resonant converters. magnetizing inductance is . Fig. 3 illustrates typical
waveforms of a bidirectional FBCLLC or HBCLLC circuit
operation regions of both FBDAB and HBDAB converters, [24]
operating at a switching frequency lower than its resonant
proposes a combined circuit which is able to switch between
frequency. The dead band duration is the time between and
FBDAB and HBDAB to achieve high efficiency for wide load.
, where all the switches are off to prevent the bridges from
This is verified by an 800 W prototype and the maximum
short-circuit shoot-through. In this interval, no power transfers
measured efficiencies are 92.9% at light load and 93.4% at full
to the secondary side, and the secondary side resonant inductor
load.
current, , is zero. At time , the gate voltages, and
Frequency modulation is the basic control method for both
(only for the HBCLLC circuit) are applied. The primary
FBCLLC and HBCLLC circuits. For FBDAB circuits, various
side resonant inductor current, , is negative, which means the
control strategies, such as single-phase-shift (SPS), extended-
phase-shift (EPS), dual-phase-shift (DPS), and triple-phase- current freewheels through the body diodes of and (only
shift (TPS) controls, can be applied through manipulating the for the HBCLLC circuit), therefore and (only for
on/off status of the switches on both primary and secondary the HBCLLC circuit) will turn on with ZVS at . Beyond ,
sides of the converters [25]-[27]. For a HBDAB circuit, which power transfers from the primary side to the secondary side
consists of four switches, only SPS control method can be through the transformer and is positive. Between and ,
applied. However, the half-bridge topology has benefits in resonates and the magnetizing inductance current, , keeps
terms of reduced size, weight and cost, due to the reduction of increasing almost linearly, since is much larger than .
the switches, corresponding driving circuits, and cooling When meets at , previous resonance stops, and no
systems. Therefore, it is necessary to discuss the advantages and power transfers to the secondary side, hence becomes zero.
disadvantages of the different topologies. In this manuscript, The body diodes of and (only for the HBCLLC circuit)
four DC-DC converter topologies, FBCLLC, HBCLLC, will turn off with ZCS naturally. The other half cycle has similar

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(a) (b)

Fig. 4. Equivalent circuits of (a) the FBCLLC and (b) the HBCLLC converters
in charging mode.

Fig. 3. Typical waveforms of a bidirectional FBCLLC or HBCLLC converter

operating at a frequency lower than resonant frequency.

operating mode but with opposite current direction.

2) Gain Analysis
The equivalent circuits of the FBCLLC converter and
HBCLLC converter for charging mode are shown in Fig. 4(a)
and (b), respectively. , , and are the equivalent , ,
and of the converters, respectively.
The general transfer function ( ) of CLLC converters can
Fig. 5. Gain curves versus normalized frequency of CLLC converters at
be derived as follows:
different loads.
( )∥
( )= ∙ ⋅ (1)
( )∥

The gain of the FBCLLC converter can be calculated as

, = | ( )| = | |= ∙ (2)

where,
(a) (b)
= +1− (3)
⋅
Fig. 6. Equivalent circuits of (a) the FBCLLC and (b) the HBCLLC converters
in discharging mode.
= +1+ + −( +1+ ) ⋅ − (4)
⋅ ⋅ ⋅
which means = and = , and ℎ is set to be 4.
ℎ= , = , = , = In discharging mode, the equivalent circuits of the FBCLLC
(5) converter and the HBCLLC converter are shown in Fig. 6(a)
/ and (b), respectively.
= , =
For FBCLLC circuit, the parameters will be derived as:
and are the resonant frequency and operating = (8/ ) = /
,
frequency, respectively. is the normalized frequency, and (8)
= = /
is the quality factor. The First Harmonic Approximation (FHA)
is applied to calculate the equivalent load. For FBCLLC circuit, Similarly, for HBCLLC circuit, they are derived as follows:
the equivalent load, inductance, and capacitance can be
, = (2/ ) = / = +
calculated as:
= + = = (9)
, = (8 / ) = = / (6) = /
Similarly, for HBCLLC circuit, they are derived as follows: The gain of the converter in discharging mode is derived as
= (2 / ) = = + follows:
,
(7)
= + = / = / , = ∙ (10)
Fig. 5 shows the gain curves versus normalized frequency at
different loads. The gain increases, but the slope of the curve where,
decreases with a lower . To simplify the design, for both = +1− (11)
FBCLLC and HBCLLC converters, and are set to be 1, ⋅

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= +1+ + −( +1+ ) ⋅ −
⋅ ⋅ ⋅
(12)

ℎ = , = , = , =
(13)
/
= , =

With the same and values, the , , , and ℎ of both

FBCLLC and HBCLLC circuits will maintain the same values
as the , , , and ℎ in charging mode, respectively.
However, will change since the equivalent load changes.
can be calculated as:
= / (14) (a) (b)
3) Soft-switching Region
Fig. 5 shows the inductive and capacitive resonate network Fig. 7. Typical waveforms of a FBDAB converter for V /n < V and i (t ) <
0 in (a) heave load condition, (b) light load condition.
regions of the CLLC circuit. The resonant network is inductive
when the slope of the gain is negative. ZVS can be realized in 2) Gain Analysis
inductive region. To ensure the primary switches turn on with Based on the analysis in [20], the gain of the FBDAB
ZVS, the magnetizing inductor current should be large enough converter can be calculated as:
to fully charge/discharge the output capacitors of the MOSFETs
during the dead band time. The maximum value of for a , = = ∙ (1 − ) (17)
FBCLLC converter is derived in [17] as follows:
The output power is derived as
, ≤ (15)
,
, = (1 − ) (18)
Similarly, for a HBCLLC converter, the can be calculated
as: Similarly, the gain and output power of the HBDAB can be
derived respectively as follows:
, ≤ (16)
,
, = ∙ (1 − ) (19)
where, is the dead band time duration, is the output
capacitance of the MOSFET, and , is the maximum , = (1 − ) (20)
switching frequency.
In discharging mode, the gain and output power of the
B. Bidirectional DAB converters FBDAB can be derived respectively as follows:
1) Operating Principles
Typical steady-state waveforms of a FBDAB converter , = ∙ (1 − ) (21)
(shown in Fig. 2(a)) with single-phase-shift control at heavy
load conditions are shown in Fig. 7(a). It has been assumed that , = (1 − ) (22)
/ < and ( ) < 0. is the switching period, and
= 1/ , where is the switching frequency. The phase-shift For the HBDAB circuit,
between the two bridges, , is /2, and is from 0 to
0.5. is the voltage on the secondary side of the transformer, , = ∙ (1 − ) (23)
and is the input voltage of the rectifier. is the voltage
across the inductor, , therefore, = − . is the , = (1 − ) (24)
inductor current. Prior to , , , and are on, and ,
, and are off. At , and turn on, and 3) Soft-switching Region
turn off. later, and turn on, and turn off. According to the analysis, to ensure fully ZVS operation, the
inductor current is required to be negative at ( ( ) ≤ 0),
is negative at and positive at , which means , , and
and positive at ( ( ) ≥ 0). The requirements of phase-shift
turn on with ZVS. However, in light load conditions, may
can be calculated as follows [20]:
be positive at and negative at , as shown in Fig. 7(b), which
means ZVS cannot be achieved. Detailed analysis can be found ≥ if ≥1
in [20]. The other half cycle has similar operating modes but (25)
with opposite current direction. The HBDAB circuit has similar ≥ if ≤1
waveforms with half inductor voltage.
Equation (25) can be applied to the HBDAB circuit as well.
Based on (25), the ZVS region of both FBDAB and HBDAB

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converters is shown in Fig. 8. The converters can always

operate under ZVS condition when the gain is 1/ . Otherwise,
with lowering the phase-shift, the ZVS region of the converter
decreases. Therefore, in light conditions, since the phase-shift
must be smaller to maintain the gain, the converters may lose
soft-switching, which will cause large switching losses.

III. DESIGN METHODOLOGY

In charging mode, the input voltages of all four topologies
are 500 V, and the output voltage range is 200 - 420 V. For
discharging mode, the input voltage range is 350 – 420 V, and
the output voltage is 500 V. The nominal operating frequency
for both charging and discharging modes is 170 kHz.
Fig. 8. ZVS region of DAB converters.
A. Bidirectional CLLC converters
For the CLLC converters, the transformer turns ratio is set
to be 1.5 in order to step down the input voltage and simplify
the control. The G2V gain, therefore, can be designed to be
0.6/ - 1.3/ , and the V2G gain range should be wider than
0.79 - 0.96 . Furthermore, the curve of the two gains should
decrease monotonically in the designed zone for linear control.
From Fig. 6, a larger can give a narrower operating frequency
range, whereas a smaller can guarantee the gain and the
monotony of the gain. In this design, = 0.4 is chosen for full
load condition ( = 176 Ω) in charging mode and the resonant
frequency is designed to be 170 kHz. For a simplified design,
is equal to , and is equal to . The relation between
and is given in [28]. Large reduces the peak current, Fig. 9. The gains of the CLLC circuits in charging and discharging modes.
which lowers conduction loss, but it will also reduce the gain of
the circuit. Furthermore, from (15) and (16), larger may
cause hard switching of the power MOSFETs. Therefore,
considering the trade-off between gain and conduction loss,
is chosen to be four times larger than . Hence, , , ,
and , for the FBCLLC circuit can be calculated from (5) and
(6), which will lead to,
= 120.2 , = 53.4
= 7.3 , = 16.4 (26)
= 480.8
Similarly, the parameters for the HBCLLC circuit can be
calculated from (5) and (7) as follows:
= 30.1 , = 13.4 Fig. 10. Full ZVS regions of the DAB converters in both charging and
= = 14.6 , = = 32.8 (27) discharging modes.
= 120.4 range should be wider than 1.7/ - 2.2/ . The operating
frequency of this circuit is 170 kHz. To reduce the reactive
Fig. 9 illustrates the gains of charging and discharging modes power [26] and make the gain more linear, the maximum phase-
for both FBCLLC and HBCLLC circuits with the parameters
shift is set to be 0.45 for the worst case. Since the system
calculated above, which satisfy the design requirements.
cannot operate with full power when = 200 V for battery
B. Bidirectional DAB converters charging, the worst case happens in discharging mode with
Equations (17) and (21) show that the transformer turns ratio = 350 V, = 500 V, and = 1 kW.
has the same effect on the gains of DAB circuit in both For the FBDAB circuit, the inductance , therefore, can be
charging and discharging modes. For example, if > 1, the calculated from (22):
transformer will help step down the voltage in charging mode, = (1 − ) = 84.9 (28)
however, in discharging mode, the transformer will still step
down the voltage. In this design, the transformer turns ratio is Similarly, for the HBDAB circuit, the inductance can be
set to be 1.5 to balance the control pressure in both power flows calculated from (24):
and fully use the ZVS region shown in Fig. 8. The G2V gain,
hence, can be designed to be 0.6/ - 1.3/ , and the V2G gain = (1 − ) = 21.2 (29)

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From (25), the minimum phase-shift can be calculated for

each gain. In this design, for both FBDAB and HBDAB
converters, the full ZVS regions in both charging and
discharging modes are shown in the shadow areas in Fig. 10. At
light loads, the phase-shift is reduced to maintain the gain;
however, in this condition, the converters lose ZVS.

IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

Fig. 11 illustrates the experimental setup for testing the
prototypes. The components of the CLLC and DAB circuits are
listed in Table I and Table II, respectively.
The switches are SiC power MOSFETs, which have high
voltage and current ratings with low output capacitance. A
TMS320F28335 DSP-based digital control platform is used to Fig. 11. Experimental setup to test the prototypes.
generate the control signal for the circuits. Since the TABLE I
magnetizing inductance L of the transformer in the FBCLLC THE COMPONENTS OF CLLC CONVERTERS
circuit is higher than that in the HBCLLC circuit, the FBCLLC HBCLLC
transformer in the FBCLLC circuit requires more number of
turns to ensure higher magnetizing inductance. Component Product/Value Component Product/Value
Fig. 12 shows the four prototypes. Since the four converters - C2M0080120D , , , C2M0080120D
18:12 12:8
have similar topologies and for simplicity as well as rapid
522 H 131 H
prototyping, the converters are tested based on one general PCB 131 H 32 H
platform. The film capacitors in CLLC converters are 60 H 15 H
connected in parallel to reduce ESR. Other two bridge 7.8 nF , 14.2 nF
capacitors are connected on the bottom of the HBDAB board. 17.0 nF , 33.0 nF
Fig. 13(a) and (b) illustrate the experimental waveforms of
the FBCLLC and the HBCLLC circuits in charging mode. The TABLE II
THE COMPONENTS OF DAB CONVERTERS
load is 800 W, = 300 V and = 200 kHz. It is clear that,
for each of the circuits, the switches turn on with ZVS. The FBCLLC HBCLLC
circuits have similar experimental results in discharging mode Component Product/Value Component Product/Value
since the structures of the circuits are symmetrical. - C2M0080120D , , , C2M0080120D
Fig. 14(a) and (b) show the FBDAB and the HBDAB circuits 12:8 12:8
experimental waveforms in charging mode at phase-shift = 90 H 22 H
0.4, respectively. The load is 800 W, = 300 V and = 170 , , , 30 F
kHz. In this case, < / . The waveforms show that the
switches turn on with ZVS. Similar experimental results are
obtained in discharging mode.
Fig. 15 shows an example at light load condition. The
HBCLLC and HBDAB converters operate at 100 V output
voltage and 50 W load condition. Since the CLLC converter is
controlled through frequency modulation and the DAB
converter is controlled through phase-shift modulation, the (a) (b)
operating frequency is 500 kHz for HBCLLC converter and
remains 170 kHz for the HBDAB converter. The phase-shift D
of the HBCLLC converter is set to be 0.1 for this light load
condition. It is clear that the switch of the HBCLLC converter
still operates with ZVS, whereas the secondary side switch of
the HBDAB converter loses ZVS. The experimental results
verify the previous analysis.
Fig. 16(a) and (b) show the efficiencies of the four circuits in (c) (d)
charging and discharging modes, respectively. The output
voltage is 300 V for charging mode and 500 V for discharging Fig. 12. Different DC-DC converter prototypes: (a) FBCLLC, (b) FBDAB, (c)
mode. HBCLLC, (d) HBDAB.

V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS ANALYSIS A. Efficiency

Summaries of the comparisons are presented in Table III and From the experimental results, all the circuits achieve high
Fig. 17. efficiency. The highest efficiencies in charging mode are 95.0%
and 96.5% for the FBCLLC and the HBCLLC circuits
respectively, and 96.1% and 97.4% in discharging mode. The

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TABLE III
THE COMPARISON OF THE CONVERTERS
FBCLLC HBCLLC FBDAB HBDAB
Soft-switching Partial Partial
Full load Full load
Region load load
Phase- Phase-
Control Modulation Frequency Frequency
shift shift
(a) (b) Design Complexity High High Low Low

Fig. 13. Experimental waveforms of (a) the FBCLLC circuit and (b) the
HBCLLC circuit at = 800 W, = 300 V, and = 200 kHz.

Highest G2V Effeciency

Highest V2G Effeciency

0.98 0.98

0.96 0.96

0.94 0.94

0.92 0.92

FBCLLC HBCLLC FBCLLC HBCLLC

(a) (b)
FBDAB HBDAB FBDAB HBDAB
Fig. 14. Experimental waveforms of (a) the FBDAB circuit and (b) the
HBDAB circuit at = 800 W, = 300 V, = 170 kHz, and = (a) (b)
0.4.
10 15

Number of Switches

Peak Current (A)

10
5
5

0 0

FBCLLC HBCLLC FBCLLC HBCLLC

(a) (b)
FBDAB HBDAB FBDAB HBDAB
Fig. 15. Experimental waveforms of (a) the HBCLLC circuit and (b) the
(c) (d)
HBDAB circuit at = 50 W, and = 100 V.
400 100
Approximate Cost ($)

Power Density (W/in3)

300
200 50
100
0 0

FBCLLC HBCLLC FBCLLC HBCLLC

FBDAB HBDAB FBDAB HBDAB
(a)
(e) (f)

Fig. 17. Comparison for (a) Highest G2V efficiency, (b) Highest V2G
efficiency, (c) Number of switches, (d) Peak current of switch, (d) Approximate
cost of each converter, and (f) Power density.

FBDAB and the HBDAB circuits, the highest efficiencies are

95.1% and 93.9% in charging mode, and 95.3% and 94.3% in
discharging mode, respectively. The efficiencies of the CLLC
circuits are higher than those of the DAB circuits, since the
(b)
switches of the DAB circuits loss ZVS at light load conditions,
Fig. 16. Measured efficiency of the four circuits in (a) charging and (b)
and the SPS control strategy creates relatively large reactive
discharging modes. power in the circuits which also reduces the efficiency.
In addition, comparing to the full-bridge structure, the half-
highest efficiencies are achieved when the circuits operate bridge structure helps the circuits improves the overall
closed to the resonant frequency. When the operating frequency efficiency, due to the reduction of the total number of switches
is much smaller or larger than the resonant frequency, the and corresponding driving circuits. An extra benefit of the half-
circulating loss will increase and reduce the efficiency. For the

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bridge structure of the resonant converters is that the two capacitances of the HBCLLC converter are much smaller than
capacitors in each leg can automatically reduce flux imbalance those of the HBDAB converter, since they are also used as
for the transformer. resonant capacitors. Therefore, in this comparison, the size and
weight of the HBCLLC circuit is less than those of the other
B. Soft-switching Region
circuits, which means the power density of the HBCLLC circuit
From the analysis in Section II, the soft-switching region of is the highest. Furthermore, the SiC MOSFETs and their gate
the CLLC circuits are much wider than that of the DAB circuits drivers cost the most in the converters, and reducing number of
especially at light load conditions. With an appropriate design, switches will reduce the cost of the converters. Therefore, the
both FBCLLC and HBCLLC converters can achieve full soft- half-bridge converters cost less than the full-bridge converters.
switching in the entire load range. However, for DAB
converters, Fig. 10 and Fig. 15 show that the converters lose VI. CONCLUSIONS
ZVS at light load conditions. Therefore, it is difficult to
maintain soft-switching of all the switches for wide load range. This manuscript provides a comprehensive analysis of and
Furthermore, for CLLC circuits, lighter loads provide wider comparison among the FBCLLC, HBCLLC, FBDAB, and
soft-switching regions, whereas for DAB circuits, it is opposite. HBDAB converters for EV battery charging applications. A
new general gain expression of the HBCLLC converter is
C. Design and Control Complexity derived in this manuscript. The practicability and performance
According to the analysis in Section II, if the CLLC circuits of the four DC-DC converters for bidirectional EV charging
operate closed to their resonant frequencies, the gains will be systems are discussed. The converters are designed with 1 kW
about 1/ , independent of the loads. Therefore, if the operating power rating. All the converters can achieve high efficiency and
frequency can be adjusted at the vicinity of the resonant bidirectional power flow. The topologies, operating principles
frequency, both FBCLLC and HBCLLC circuits are perfect for and design methodologies of the converters are discussed, and
constant output voltage, variable load conditions. However, the the performances of the converters are compared. Although the
gains of the CLLC circuits are non-linear with the loads. current stress on the HBCLLC converter is relatively high, the
Furthermore, depending on the value of Q and particularly at power density of the HBCLLC converter is the highest and the
small Q values, the required operating frequency range will be cost is relatively low. Soft-switching can be achieved in full
very large. Hence, in the case of a wide output voltage range, load range for HBCLLC converter, and in addition, if the input
the value of Q should be carefully chosen to limit the operating voltage could be adjustable, the HBCLLC converter can be
frequency range. operated at the resonant frequency which is with highest
In the case of the DAB circuits, the gains are proportional to efficiency. Therefore, for bidirectional, wide load EV charging
the loads, and almost linearly related to the phase-shift when systems, the CLLC converters are slightly better than DAB
≤ 0.45. Therefore, comparing the DAB converters to the converters. Considering the efficiency, size and cost, the
CLLC converters, the design and control complexity for the HBCLLC converter will be the most suitable choice at 1kW.
DAB converters is less.
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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TTE.2016.2630927, IEEE
Transactions on Transportation Electrification

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and the Institute for Systems Research (ISR)
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in Proc. IEEE APEC, Mar. 2016, pp. 1315–1322.
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including the 2016 Junior Faculty Outstanding Research Award
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DC converter using both full and half bridge topologies to achieve high Research at UMD, the 2013 George Corcoran Memorial Award
efficiency for wide load,” in Proc. IEEE ECCE, Sep. 2015, pp. 6344–
6351.
from the ECE Department at UMD, 2010 Ralph R. Teetor
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isolated bidirectional DC-DC converter for high-frequency-link power 2009 Armour College of Engineering Excellence in Teaching
conversion system,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 29, no. 8, pp. Award from Illinois Institute of Technology, and three prize
4091–4106, Aug. 2014.
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transaction paper awards. Dr. Khaligh was the General Chair of
efficiency of isolated bidirectional dual-active-bridge DC/DC converters the 2016 IEEE Applied Power Electronic Conference and Expo
using novel dual-phase-shift control,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. (APEC), Long Beach, CA, and also the General Chair of the
23, no. 6, pp. 2905–2914, Nov. 2008. 2013 IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference and Expo
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bidirectional DC-DC converter for power distribution in microgrid,”
(ITEC), Dearborn, MI. He is a Distinguished Lecturer of the
IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 27, no. 11, pp. 4667–4680, Nov. 2012. IEEE Industry Applications Society and IEEE Vehicular
[28] B. Lu, W. Liu, Y. Liang, F. C. Lee, and J. D. van Wyk, “Optimal design Technology Society.
methodology for LLC resonant converter,” in Proc. IEEE APEC, Mar.
2006, pp. 6–12.

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