An Efficient Bi-directional DC/DC Charger for
Electric Vehicle Battery Charging
Pavan Singh Tomar Manaswi Srivastava
Department of Electrical Engineering Department of Electrical Engineering
MNIT Jaipur MNIT Jaipur
2017ree9503@mnit.ac.in 2016ree9506@mnit.ac.in
Abstract—The choice of bi-directional dc/dc converter plays
a vital role in the battery chargers of electrical vehicles (EVs).
In this paper, a bidirectional battery charging and discharging
topology without snubber circuitry is proposed. A different
frequency operation is performed in step-up and step-down mode
to achieve zero voltage switching in both the directions.The
battery side converter is selected as a current-fed half bridge
boost converter to achieve 2X voltage gain from primary to
secondary of transformer. losses of soft switching from full load
to no load and vice-versa are identified and rectified by using
MATLAB/Simulink for 1KW battery connected system.
Index Terms—bi-directional dc/dc converter, EV battery charg-
ing, isolated converter, soft switching.
I. I NTRODUCTION
Nowadays, solution for the environmental and economical
problems of the society is provided by the EV’s and HEV’s.
Government, researchers, industries are also gaining interest in
this field [1]. Generally, for battery systems rating greater than
half KW’s two stage cascaded and isolated dc/dc converter for
power conditioning is used [2].
The charging topologies are broadly classified into unidi-
rectional and bidirectional categories [3] [4]. more specially
according to SAE EV dc charging power levels chargers are
categorized in on-board and off-board chargers. under there
different levels [4].
In isolated dc/dc converter configuration efficiency, power
density, compliance, reliability are some important feature for
selecting converter configuration and it has been observed that
during no load soft switching has been lost in converter con-
figurations [5] [6]. Thus, these converter are having advantage
of soft switching.Fig. 1 shows the general bloack diagram
of the proposed topology in which dc/dc stages provided
dc input to the proposed bidirectional converter and stage II
charging and discharging the battery without using switching
the prposed converter having ZVS turn on and ZCS turn off
in the converter.
Section II contains operation and analysis of bidirectional
dc/dc converter in step-up and step-down mode of operation.
In section III, Design of the converter is mentioned. Section
IV, a detailed simulation result and discussion about the result
is done and section V is will conclude the work.
978-1-5386-4769-1/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE
Arun Kumar Verma
Department of Electrical Engineering
MNIT Jaipur
arun.ee@mnit.ac.in
Fig. 1. General block diagram of proposed bi-directional dc/dc converter
In this paper, a half bridge dual active bridge with isolated
dc/dc converter is presented. Front end low voltage side has
battery with front end boost converter. This boost converter
double the gain to input battery voltage to the isolated trans-
former by a dc filter capacitor. This filter capacitor works for
resonance as well as for soft switching.after Transformer a
half bridge converter is connected and gives additional gain in
voltage.
II. O PERATION AND A NALYSIS OF C ONVERTER
The proposed isolated bi-directional dc/dc converter for
battery charging is shown in Fig. 1. Front end boost converter
and isolated transformer provides the voltage gain. for boost
operation of converter primary of transformer is subjected
Vin
to the output of front end converter 1−d . additional gain is
provided by transformer and the output capacitor. During buck
operation isolation transformer gives a step down in voltage
and further this voltage is divided by buck converter. Front
end switch M1 and M2 operate during step up operation
and during this M3 and M4 are off. These switches uses as
complementary in operation for step down operation.
The working of proposed converter can be explore in two
mode.
1) Step-Up Mode
2) Step-Down Mode
A. Step-Up Mode
The working of converter can be explain in five mode.
During step up mode end side converter switches are remain
 Where,D is duty cycle of switch.
3) Mode III [Fig. 5: From t2 to t3 ]
In this mode, M1 start conducting with ZVS and and
resonant current flow in between primary of transformer
and C5 and switch M1 .

Fig. 2. Proposed isolated bi-directional dc/dc converter

OFF and front end converter switch are ON. The steady state
operation of step-up mode is explained in following mode.
1) Mode I [Fig. 3:From t0 to t1 ]
In this duration switch M2 is turn on and Inductor L Fig. 5. Step-up Mode-III
stores energy. Switch M1 and high voltage side diode are
in off state and output volatge is maintained by output The resonant current irc1 is
side dc link capacitors C7 and C8 . VM − V p
ir1 =  2 sinωr t (2)
1 1 2
C5 + Cr + (Lp )

current in the primary inductor.

VL − VC5 − VC6
i L = i l t0 − .t (3)
L
where, ωr is resonant frequency of current.

C5 + Cr1
ωr = (4)
Lp C5 Cr1
Fig. 3. Step-up Mode-I switch M1 conducts power transferred in secondary side
of transformer circuit.Output voltage is maintained by
2) Mode II [Fig. 4: From t1 to t2 ] output capacitor.
During this mode both front end switches are remain off 4) Mode IV [ Fig. 6: From t3 to t4 ]
and energy stored in inductor and resonant capacitor is In this mode, paracitic capacitor C1 is charged by C2
discharge by parasitic capacitance C2 . at the end of this and ir1 , During this mode M2 and M − 1 are in off
mode parasitic capacitance C2 fully charges and C1 is state . At instant,diode D4 is reversed biased and D3
discharged. conducts, and switch voltage is VM 2 = 1−DVin
; VM 1 =0.
The current through diode D2 -

Fig. 4. Step-up Mode-II

Fig. 6. Step-up Mode-IV
at the end, Voltage across switch M2
VL
VM 1 = (1) iD2 = iL − ir1 (5)
1−D
 VH
VC1 = (6) B. Step-down Mode
n(1 − D)
The complete working of isolated converter can be explain
where, n is transformation ratio of transformer. in five mode during step-down mode. Front end converter
5) Mode V [Fig.7 : From t4 to t5 ] switch remain off for complete step-down operation. steady
In this mode, M2 Turn ON with ZVS and Resonant state operation of step-down mode is explianed from mode-I
processed in betwwen transformer winding Cr1 and C6 . to mode-V.
1) Mode I [Fig.9 : From t0 to t1 ]
In this mode, converter operate like VSC, Switch M4 is
turned On and power is transferred to low voltage side
through transformer and body diode of switch D2

Fig. 7. Step-up Mode-V

During this mode, The resonant current is

−Vc6 + Vp
ir1 = sinωr t (7)
Zr
 
Lp (C6 +Cr1 )
Where, Zr = C6 Cr1 and ωr = LCp6C+C r1
r1 C6 Fig. 9. Step-down Mode-I
Zr is known as characteristic impedence of resonant
circuit. Current through boost inductor is 2) Mode II [Fig.10 : From t1 to t2 ]
VL In this mode, Switch M4 : Turn OFF; Parsitic Capaci-
iL = iL (t4) + (8)
L tance C3 and C4 : Charges and Discharges respectively.
Theoretical waveform are shown in Fig. 9 for step-up mode At the end, C3 : completely Discharged; C4 : Charge by
of proposed isolated bidirectional dc/dc charger. VH ; In this duration resonant current-
VH + nVC6
ir2 = sinωr (t − t0 ) (9)
nZr

Fig. 10. Step-down Mode-II

3) Mode III [Fig.11 : From t2 to t3 ]

In this mode, resonant current flows through the body
diode of switch hence, a zero voltage across switch is
noticeable ZVS can be apply by gated on for switch M3 .
in the duration resonant current through switch M3 is-
Vs + 0.5VH
ir = sinωr (t − t− ) (10)
Zr

C7 +Ls
where ωr is resonant frequency. ωr = Ls Cr2 and
Fig. 8. Theoritical waveforms of bidirectional dc/dc converter for step-up 
mode Zr = (C 7 .Ls +1)
Cr2 C7 Ls
 6) Mode VI [Fig.14 : From t5 to t6 ]
In this mode, switch M4 turns on with ZVS. Therefor
switch M4 is subjected to resonance current with diode
D1 .

Fig. 11. Step-down Mode-III

4) Mode IV [Fig.12 : From t3 to t4 ]

In this mode, M3 : Turn ON with ZVS; V2H is applied on
secondary of transformer. Resonant is produces between
transformer secondary capacitor Cr2 and C7 .
Fig. 14. Step-down Mode-VI

Theoretical waveform are shown in Fig. 15 for step-up mode

of proposed isolated bidirectional dc/dc charger.

Fig. 12. Step-down Mode-IV

5) Mode V [Fig.13 : From t4 to t5 ]

In this mode, Parasitic capacitor C3 and C4 charges with
VH and discharges respectively by resonant current ir2
after complete discharging of C4 diode starts conduct-
ing. thus produces zero voltage across switch M4 . Thus,
switch can be turn on by ZVS.

Fig. 13. Step-down Mode-V

Current through circuit during resonance is :

Vs + 0.5VH
ir2 = .sinωr (t − t− ) (11)
Zr 
 
+1
Where, ωr = CC88LCsr2 and Zr = C8 +Cr2)L
C8 L s
s
current
through anti parallel diode D4 is same as resonant Fig. 15. Theoritical waveform of bidirectional dc/dc converter step-down
current. mode
 III. D ESIGN OF T HE C ONVERTER

In this section,The design of isolated bidirectional dc/dc on

following assumptions-
1) Voltage ripple is assumed negligible.
2) All switches and component are treated as ideal.
3) Valur of Inductor is given by:
Fig. 17. Steady state simulation waveform during step-up mode for Switch
M2 , Gatting Signal VGM 2 ,VM 2 and iM 2
Vin D
L= (12)
Iin fs

4) Output filter capacitor

Io
Co = (13)
8fsof

IV. S IMULATION AND S IMULATION R ESULTS Fig. 18. Steady state simulation waveform during step-up mode for Diode
D3 for VD3 and iD3

The proposed bidirectional dc/dc isolated converter is sim-

ulated by using SIMULINK 9.0. to verify the theoretical
concepts of dc/dc isolated converter. .Table I presents the value
of different parameter used in simulation.

TABLE I
S IMULATION PARAMETER

Parameter Values Fig. 19. Steady state simulation waveform during step-up mode for Diode
Switches M1 to M4 MOSFET D4 for VD4 and iD4
L 100μ H
Resonant Capacitor ( Cr1 , Cr2 ) 1μF
High Voltage side Capacitor ( C7 ,C8 ) 100μF The end side converter diode of switch M3 conducts and
Low Voltage Side Capacitor(CL ) 10μF com mutated after natural current zero and thus there is no
Step up Switching Frequency 100kHz
Step down frequency 140 kHz
recovery losses. Similarly, diode D4 commutates with zero
Low Voltage (VL ) 48V recovery losses. Fig. 18 and 19 shows the simulation result
High Voltage(VH ) 380V for diode D3 and D4 .
Fig. 20-23 shows the result in step-down mode, result shows
Fig. 16 to 19 shows the steady state switching characteristics the ZVS of all switches and ZCS for front end body diode.
of all switches during step-up mode of the converter. This is
also noticeable that all switches are ZVS turn ON. and diode
are turned OFF with zero current. Since, This converter has
a property of isolation so converter can perform at light and
heavy load. Body diode conduction across switch enforce
ZVS triggering of the switch. Fig. 16,17.
Fig. 20. Steady state simulation waveform during step-down mode for body
diode of switch M1 , VD1 and iD1

Fig. 16. Steady state simulation waveform during step-up mode for Switch Fig. 21. Steady state simulation waveform during step-down mode for body
M1 , Gatting Signal VGM 1 ,VM 1 and iM 1 diode of switch M2 , VD2 and iD2

Fig. 22. Steady state simulation waveform during step-up mode for Switch
M3 , Gatting Signal VGM 3 ,VM 3 and iM 3
Fig. 23. Steady state simulation waveform during step-up mode for Switch
M2 , Gatting Signal VGM 4 ,VM 4 and iM 4
Fig. 24. Resonant Current
Fig. 25. Inductor Current
Fig. 26. Low Voltage Vl and High Voltage VH Profile
This is noticeable by simulation that all switches has ZVS
and ZCS for body diode. So, the losses of converter are
reduced. Resonance is occurred in between transformer and
other component of circuit. Figure 23 and 24 shows the
resonance current and high and low side voltage profile in
both mode
V. S UMMARY AND C ONCLUSION
An isolated bidirectional dc/dc charger for battery charging
application has proposed. The proposed converter is providing
low losses., high power density, soft switching, ZVS from no
load to full load and vice-versa. Both side output voltage are
very smooth or about constant. so, voltage ripple or voltage
regulation is better during one mode to other mode. These
feature have been identified in MATLAB/Simulink for 1KW
system.
VI. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author gratefully acknowledge the grant given
by SERB-DST, Government of India with grant no:
ECR/2016/001920 to carry out the research work.
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