10th International Conference on Power Electronics-ECCE Asia

May 27 - 30, 2019 / BEXCO, Busan, Korea

Dual-Side Circulating Currents Free TPS

Control for Dual Active Bridge DC-DC
Converter and Its Implementation
Fengjiang Wu1, Guizhong Wang2, Xiaoguang Li1
1
Department of Electrical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, China
2
Industrial and Technological Research Institute of HIT (Zhangjiakou), China

Abstract-- In this paper, a novel triple phase-shift (NTPS) i1 i2

HB1 HB2
modulation is proposed first to eliminate the dual-side
S1 S3 S5 S7
circulating currents of isolated dual-active bridge DC-DC C2
V1 iL L n :1 V2
converter. Furthermore, the current stress of the proposed C1 vh 2
NTPS control when the phase shift is tuned in two regions is vh1 nvh 2
derived and compared with each other and the best tuning
S2 S4 HFT S6 S8
region of the phase shift is determined to achieve the optimal
current characteristics. The steady-state and transient
Fig. 1. Schematic of the isolated DAB DC-DC converter.
performance of two implementation methods of NTPS
control are discussed and the better one is determined. The
corresponding experimental results of the proposed NTPS
control validate its accuracy and validity. D1 D D1 D D2
S1 & S2 S1 & S2
S 4 & S3 S 4 & S3
Index Terms-- DC-DC converter, dual active bridge, S5 & S6
S5 & S6
current characteristics, implementation. S8 & S 7 S8 & S 7
vh1 vh1
I. INTRODUCTION
vh 2 vh 2
As the key submodule of the solid state transformer, the
iL iL
isolated dual active bridge (DAB) DC-DC converter has
attracted more and more attention [1]-[3]. Recently, the i1 i1
issue of optimizing the current stress (namely the i2 i2
maximum inductor current) of the DAB converter has t0 t1 t 2 t3 t 4 t5 Circul. current
t
t0 t1 t2 t3 t4 t5 t6 t7 Circul. current
t

become the hot point and so many researchers are working (a) (b)
on it. An excellent current characteristics is very helpful to Fig. 2. Operating waveforms of DPS1 and DPS2. (a) DPS1, (b) DPS2.
reduce the cost, size and weight and also helpful to
increase the operation efficiency and extend the lifespan.
Some literature have presented some methods to reduce related to improve the current characteristics based on TPS
the current stress or the circulating currents based on the control have been presented. In [4], a TPS control focusing
single-phase-shift control or the dual-phase-shift (DPS) on reducing the current stress is proposed. In [5], a neutral
control. However, limited by the natural feature of DPS network-based phase shift controller based on TPS control
control, these improvements can not realize the is proposed to reduce the primary side reactive power.
optimization of the current characteristics. Especially, However, by analyzing the principle of all the presented
these improvements are able to only reduce or eliminate modulations, it can be known that none of them consider
the single DC side circulating current but can not the effect of the DC side circulating currents. It results in
completely eliminate the dual DC side circulating currents. that the presented ones can not obtain the best current
For triple-phase-shift (TPS) control, because the two inner characteristics in the DAB DC-DC converter.
phase shifts of the two H-bridge converters of the DAB In this paper, a novel triple phase shifted control (NTPS)
DC-DC converter are controlled independently, it is to eliminate the dual-side circulating currents of the DAB
possible that the more excellent current characteristics can converter is proposed first. Furthermore, the current stress
be achieved by using TPS control. Many recent approaches of the proposed control ruleWhen the main phase shift is
tuned within different regions are derived and compared
with each other. The optimal control region of the main
This paper was partly supported by National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant No. 51877050) and Natural Science
phase shift and the control rule of the three phase shifts are
Foundation of Heilongjiang Province, China (Grant No. E2016031), and finally determined to both eliminate the dual-side
the project of Industrial and Technological Research Institute of circulating currents and obtain the smallest current stress
HIT (Zhangjiakou) (Grant No. HITZ-EP-KY2018-001).

ⓒ2019 KIPE 511

 D1 D  D2 D1 D2 D D1 D  D2
S1 & S 2 S1 & S 2 S1 & S 2
S 4 & S3 S 4 & S3 S 4 & S3
S5 & S 6 S5 & S 6 S5 & S6
S8 & S 7 S8 & S 7 S8 & S 7
vh1 vh1 vh1

vh 2 vh 2 vh 2

iL iL iL

i1 i1 i1
i2 i2 i2
t0 t1 t2 t 3 t 4 t5 t6 t t0 t1 t2 t3 t4 t5 t6 t7 t t0 t1t2 t3 t4t5 t6 t

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 3. Operating waveforms of NTPS control. (a) Maximum transfer power point, (b) Scheme 1, and (c) Scheme 2.

when the actual transfer power and voltage conversion In the following, the relationship of the three phase
ratio vary in a wide range. Finally, the performance of two shifts in order to meet the requirement mentioned above is
implementation methods is compared with each other and derived. According to Fig. 3(b), if iL(t1) and iL(t4) are equal
the best one is determined to enhance the practicability of
to zero, the inductor current increment during t1 , t3 
the proposed NTPS control.
should be equal to the inductor current decrement during
II. PRINCIPLE OF NTPS CONTROL TO ELIMINATE DUAL- t3 , t4  . The inductor current increment is expressed as
SIDE CIRCULATING CURRENTS
Ts V1 T V  nV2
Fig. 1 shows the schematic of the DAB DC-DC  1  D1  D  s 1
iL  t1 , t3   D (1)
2 L 2 L
converter, where HB1 and HB2 are the two H-bridge
where Ts is the switching period. Similarly, the inductor
inverters, vh1 and vh2, i1 and i2, V1 and V2 are the ac side
current decrement during t3 , t4  is expressed as
voltages, the DC side currents and the DC sources of HB1
T nV
and HB2, respectively, and n is the winding ratio of the iL  t3 , t4   1  D2  1  D1  D   s 2 (2)
high frequency transformer (HFT). 2 L
Fig. 2 shows the operating waveforms of the DPS1 and Then the inductor current increment should be equal to its
DPS2. The inner phase shift ratios of HB1 and HB2 are decrement, it can be solved as
defined as D1 and D2 , respectively, and the outer phase D2  1  k  D1  1 (3)
shift ratio of the HB1 and HB2 is defined as D . For where k  V1 / nV2 is the voltage conversion ratio.
DPS1, D2 is equal to zero. For DPS2, D1 is equal to D2 . Furthermore, it is easy to know from Fig. 3(a) that D
Then in this case, the ideal situation is that i1 is always should be less than D2 to avoid causing the circulating
larger than zero or equal to zero and as a result, the power currents. Equation (6) and the constraint of D  D2
is transferred only from V1 to HB1. If i1 flows back from
HB1 to V1, it means the power is transferred back to V1 and determine the basic relationship of the three phase shifts in
it is not expected. This negative part of i1 is regarded as the order to eliminate the dual-side circulating currents.
circulating current. Similarly, i2 should always flow from Considering that the actual transfer power in the DAB
HB2 to V2. The red zones of i1 and i2 shown in Fig. 2, where converter should be controllable, in the following, the
i1 and i2 are less than zero, stand for the circulating relationship between the average transfer power Pav and
currents. As seen from Fig. 2, DPS1 and DPS2 can not D1 and D in a switching period with (3) is derived and the
eliminate the dual side circulating currents. The NTPS
rule of tuning D1 and D is determined according to the
control to eliminate the dual-side circulating current is
accordingly proposed and the operating waveforms is derivation results. Pav is solved as
shown in Fig. 3. From Fig. 3(a), by keeping the polarities V12Ts  1 2
1  D1   1  D1   D  
2
of vh1, vh2 and iL always the same, i1 and i2 are always not Pav  (4)
4L  k 
less than zero and the circulating currents are eliminated
accordingly.

512
 From (4), the average transfer power can be tuned when
either D1 or D varies. Pav has the maximum value with
0.35

a special combination of D1 and D . In the following, 0.3

Scheme 1

the rule of tuning D is discussed first. It can be easily 0.25

(pu)
Scheme 3
obtained from (4) that, when D varies from 0 to D2 , 0.2

V1 Ts
L 2
iL _ max /
0.15
Pav increases with the increase of D . Here D is set
0.1

equal to D2 to achieve a global the maximum average 0.05 Scheme 2

transfer power and to obtain the maximum utilization of 0

0 1.2
the rated capacity of the converter hardware. Then Pav can 0.02
0.04
1.4
1.6 k
pav (pu) 0.06
be expressed as 0.08
0.1 2
1.8

V 2T   
2
1 k 2  k 1 k2 Fig. 4. 3-D curves of maximum inductor currents of three schemes.
Pav  1 s  2  D
 1    (5)
4L  k  k  1 k  k 2  k 1  
 
2 2

It is easy to know that when D1_ max  k / k  k  1 ,  The relationship between pav and D1 can be solved as
Pav reaches its maximum. k2 k  1 p 
D1_ 2   2  av (9)
k  k 1
2
k  k  1  k 2  k  1 2k 
III. COMPARISON OF CURRENT STRESS
iL _ max 2 can be expressed accordingly as
From (5), when 0  D1  D1_ max , Pav increases with
 k2 
the increase of D1 . When D1_ max  D1  1 , Pav reduces  2 
V1 Ts 1  k  k  1  (10)
iL _ max 2 
with the increase of D1 . In the two regions of 0, D1_ max  L 2 k k  1 pav  
 2  2  
and  D1_ max ,1 , when Pav is the same, the actual current  k  k  1  k  k  1 2k  
In addition, in [6], a current stress improved control rule
stresses of the two regions are different. In the following,
based on DPS control is presented and it is defined as
the actual current stress when D1 varies in the both Scheme 3 in this paper. In order to highlight the advantage
regions are derived and compared between each other to of the proposed NTPS control, the maximum inductor
obtain the optimal tuning region of D1 . current of Scheme 3 is also compared with the proposed
NTPS control. The expression of the maximum inductor
The case of D1 tuned in the region of  D1_ max ,1 is
current of Scheme 3 is given in [6]. In order to save the
derived first. The proposed NTPS control with this region page space, it is not shown here.
is defined as Scheme 1. The unified transfer power is By using the expressions of the maximum inductor
defined as currents of the three schemes as a function of desired
P Pav transfer power and the voltage conversion ratio, the three-
pav  av  (6) dimension curves of the unified maximum inductor
PN V1 nV 2Ts
current, of Scheme 1, 2 and 3 are all drawn and shown in
8L
Fig. 4. In Fig. 4, the desired transfer power varies from 0
The relationship between pav and D1 can be solved to 0.1 and the voltage conversion ratio varies from 1.2 to 2
from (5) as to present the variation trend of the maximum inductor
current in a wide power and voltage variation range.
k2 k  1 p  From Fig. 4, when pav and k vary in a wide range, in
D1_1   2   av  (7)
k  k 1
2
k  k  1  k  k  1 2k 
2
some regions, the maximum inductor current of Scheme 1
It can be seen from Fig. 3(b) that iL(t4) is the biggest one are larger than those of Scheme 3 and in other regions, the
within the switching period. maximum inductor current of Scheme 1 are less than that
iL(t4) can be derived as of Scheme 3. The maximum current stresses of both
Scheme 1 and 3 are always larger than that of Scheme 2 in
V T V  nV2 V T D
iL _ max 1  1 D2 s  1 1  D1  D2   1 s 1 (8) the entire power range. It means Scheme 2 possesses the
L 2 L L 2 k smallest current stress. Scheme 2 is regarded as the best
The current stress in the case of D1 tuned in the region one. Therefore, the proposed NTPS control with the main
variable tuned in the region of 0, D1_ max  is the best one,
of 0, D1_ max  is discussed below. The proposed NTPS
on the one hand, the circulating currents are eliminated in
control in this region is defined as Scheme 2. the entire power range and on the other hand, the
maximum inductor current remains the smallest.

513
 k TS 4 k k+1
Update moment
TS 4( k 1) k+2 TS 4( k  2) k+3
The principle of the first method shown in Fig. 5(a) is
D1 D TS 2 k TS 2( k 1) TS 2( k  2) analyzed first. The first method realizes the control of the
T2=T3 T4

T1
DAB converter and there is no the circulating current in
S1 & S 2
D1 D D1 D D1 D  D1 D  D1 D  D1 D 
either DC side in the steady state. T2 and T3 are
S 4 & S3 synchronous because of D  D2 . In the following, the
S5 & S 6
S8 & S 7
transient performance is analyzed. If it is desired that D1
vh1
vh 2 and D are updated to D1 and D  at moment k, from
iL iLDC
Fig. 5(a) and the operation principle of the proposed NTPS
i1 control, the periods of T2-T4 should be varied in the
i2 immediate switching period. However, it results in that
t
(a) D1 , which is the actual value of D1 in the adjacent
Update moment
CR3B
CR1A CR2B CR4B
CR3A
T1=T2=T3=T4 k CR1A’ CR4B’k+1
CR1B’
k+2
switching period, is equal to
CR2A CR1B CR4A’

D1  1 D1  D1  (1 D1 )  2D1  D1  D1

CR4A

S1 & S 2
D1 D D  D1 D  D1 D  D1 D  (11)

The fact that D1 is not equal to the new desired one
S 4 & S3
S5 & S 6
S8 & S 7
vh1 revealed in (11) causes a delay and slow the transient
performance. It also causes the actual switching period is
vh 2
not equal to the pre-set value of TS.
iL
In order to realize the correct update of the phase shifts
i1 and keep the switching period constant, the actual inner
i2 phase shift in the next switching period should be
t
(b) 3D1  D1
Fig. 5. Diagrams of implementation of NTPS control using DSP. (a) D1  (12)
Using multiple dedicated timers, and (b) using compare registers. 2
After this, the correct phase shifts are obtained after
moment k+2. Similarly, the actual outer phase shift error
IV. IMPLEMENTATION OF NTPS CONTROL AND is also caused. It is not analyzed here to save the page
EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION space.
From the analysis above and Fig. 5(a), it can be known
The actual experimental platform of the DAB DC-DC
that there are the following problems in the first method.
converter is established to validate the proposed NTPS
(1) It needs at least additional two switching periods to
control. V1 is set as 100V and V2 is 50V. The DC inductor
finish the update of the phase shifts and the dynamic
is 100uH and the switching period is 50k Hz. The NTPS
performance is deteriorated. (2) The transient DC bias
control is implemented using the digital signal processor
inductor current and the circulating current are both caused
(DSP) chip TMS32F28335.
and the current characteristics are also deteriorated.
The implementation process is discussed briefly. In
The principle of the second implementation method is
DSP, there are 6 dedicated timers used to generate the
analyzed below. The four timers T1-T4 in DSP are set to
PWM signals and each timer is attached by 2 compare
be synchronous and the phase shifts are updated by
registers to control the rising edge and falling edge of the
updating the various compare registers in various
PWM signals. Therefore, there are two methods to shift the
switching period. From Fig. 5(b), the proposed NTPS
phase angle between the control signals of various bridge
control is also correctly realized in the steady state. If it is
legs of the DAB DC-DC converter. The first method
assumed that the phase shifts are updated at moment k, the
realizing the phase shifts is through adjusting the phase
compare registers CR1A, B and CR4A, B are directly
difference between the timers and the other method is that,
all of the 4 timers used to generate the control signals of updated based on D1 and D  and anything else does
the 8 bridge legs are set to be synchronous and the phase not need to do. After the desired phase shifts vary, the data
shifts are realized through adjusting the data stored in stored in the various compare registers are updated in the
various compare registers. Fig. 5(a) and (b) show the immediate switching period. The actual phase shifts are
principle diagrams of the two implementation methods. equal to the desired ones immediately without any delay or
The transient process with the step change of phase shifts error. The performance of the second implementation
are also shown in Fig. 5(a) and (b), respectively, where method is much better than that of the first one. Therefore,
D1 and D  denote the new values of D1 and D . the second method is adopted in this paper to implement
the NTPS control.

514
 S1 & S 2 S1 & S 2

S5 & S 6 DTs S5 & S 6 DTs

2 vh1 (20 V/ div) 2
vh1 (20 V/ div) D1Ts D1Ts
2 2
D2Ts D2Ts
vh 2 (20 V/ div) 2 2
vh 2 (20 V/ div)
iL (5A/ div) iL (5A/ div)

iL _ max  7.6A iL _ max  4 A

Time(20us/ div) Time(20us/ div)
i1 (2 A/ div)
i1 (2 A/ div)

i2 (2A/ div) i2 (2A/ div)

(a) (a)

S1 & S 2 S1 & S 2

S5 & S 6 DTs S5 & S 6 DTs

2 vh1 (20 V/ div) 2
vh1 (20 V/ div) D1Ts
2 D1Ts
2
D2Ts D2Ts
vh 2 (20 V/ div) 2 2
vh 2 (20 V/ div)
iL (5A/ div) iL (5A/ div)
iL _ max  10 A
Time(20 us/ div) iL _ max  2.3A Time(20us/ div)
i1 (2 A/ div)
i1 (2 A/ div)

i2 (2A/ div) i2 (2A/ div)

(b) (b)
Fig. 7. Experimental results of proposed NTPS control with Scheme 2.
(a) D1  0.167 , (b) D1  0.05 .
S1 & S 2

S5 & S 6
DTs
vh1 (20 V/ div)
D1Ts 2
evaluate the performance of the proposed NTPS control in
2 the cases of the maximum transfer power and light load.
D2Ts
vh 2 (20 V/ div)
2
Furthermore, the performance of Scheme 2 is also tested
and experimental results are shown in Fig. 7. The values
iL (2A/ div)
iL _ max  4A
of D1 in Fig. 7 are calculated by setting the same average
Time(20us/ div)
Freewheeling zone transfer power in the both schemes.
i1 (2 A/ div) It can be seen from Fig. 6 and 7 that, in the both
i2 (2A/ div) schemes, when D1 varies in a wide range, the polarities
of vh1 and vh2 are always the same as the one of iL in any
(c) switching period and vh1 and vh2 always change their
Fig. 6. Experimental results of proposed NTPS control with Scheme 1. polarities when iL is equal to zero. As a result, both i1 and
(a) D1  D1_ max 2  0.334 , (b) D1  0.5 , and (c) D1  0.8 . i2 are always larger than zero or equal to zero, it means that
the dual-side circulating currents are both completely
eliminated and the proposed NTPS control achieves the
The proposed NTPS control is tested in detail in the desired aim.
experimental way and is analyzed below. Firstly, the
V. CONCLUSIONS
proposed NTPS control with Scheme 1 is tested and the
By cooperatively controlling the three phase shifts of
experimental results are shown in Fig. 6. In this case, D1
the TPS control, the polarity of the AC side output voltages
is set as the value when the system outputs its maximum of the two HBs of the DAB DC-DC converter is always
transfer power, the critical value when vh1 and vh2 becomes kept the same as that of the inductor current and as a result,
not overlapping and 0.8 (light load), respectively, to the dual-side circulating currents are completely
eliminated when the actual transfer power and voltage

515
conversion ratio vary in a wide range. Furthermore, the
current stress with different tuning regions of the main
variable D1 is compared in detail and the optimal tuning
region of D1 is determined to achieve the optimal current
stress. The implementation of the proposed NTPS control
based on setting the timers in synchronization possesses
the best steady-state and transient performance. The
complete elimination of the dual-side circulating currents
and the optimal current stress are helpful to enhance the
operational efficiency and extend the lifespan of the power
switches. As a result, the practicability of the DAB DC-
DC converter is enhanced.

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