Module – 5 : Power Electronic Converter for Battery Charging

Battery Capacity : It is measured in Ampere-Hour (Ah), battery capacity indicates the amount
of charge that can be drawn from a fully charged battery until it gets fully discharged.
C Rate : This parameter is used to show the amount of current used for charging the battery.
For example, for a 10 Ah battery, has C/10 rate or (10 h rate). It means the charging should be
stopped when current becomes less than the amount of current with which the battery is
discharged after 10 h, or specifically 10Ah/10 h = 1 Amp.
State of Charge : SoC is the percentage of charge available from a battery to the whole capacity
of the battery.
Depth of Discharge : It is the percentage of total charge of battery which has been utilized.
Normally considering lifetime issues batteries having more than 70% are not preferred.
Energy Density : It is defined as the available energy from a fully charged battery per unit
weight (Wh/Kg).
Charging Efficiency : It is defined as the ratio of available energy from the battery in a
complete discharge to the amount of energy needed to completely charge the battery. It is also
called as ‘‘Columbic Efficiency’’ or ‘‘Charge Acceptance’’.

Charging Methods
It’s a method of putting energy back to the battery or restoring energy to the battery. It
depends on the capacity, required time, or other factors. The most commonly used techniques
for charging batteries are as follows:
a) Constant Voltage (CV) Charge : In this method current limiting circuit is employed and
current limitation value depends on the capacity of the battery. A simple buck, boost, or
buck/boost converter is used for charging depending on the voltage ratio of input and
output. This method is used in charging of lead-acid batteries, Li-ion batteries.
b) Constant Current (CC) Charge: In this method a constant current is applied to the
battery by varying the voltage applied to the battery using control techniques such as
current mode control to keep the current constant. CC technique is implemented using a
‘‘Single Rate Current (only one preset value) ’’ or ‘‘Split Rate Current (different rates of
current)’’ to the battery for balancing the cells. In addition, backup circuits are used to
avoid overcharging. This CC method gives more accurate and balanced charging and it is
used in charging of Ni-Cd and Ni-MH batteries
c) Taper Current Charge : This method is used when the source is non-regulated and it is
implemented with a transformer having higher output voltage compared to the battery
voltage. A resistance should be used to limit the current flowing to the battery and a diode

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 is used to ensure unidirectional power flow. This technique is applicable to Sealed Lead-
Acid (SLA) batteries.
d) Pulse Charge: In this technique short time current or voltage pulses are used for
charging the batteries. The average of the current or voltage is controlled by changing
width of pulses. Its advantages are as follows:
i. it reduces charging time
ii. In this method high rates of current or voltage can be used and it reduces
undesirable chemical reactions like gas formation and crystal growth which helps
in improving the life cycle of batteries.
e) Reflex Charge : In practice while charging the batteries, some gas bubbles appear on the
electrodes and this phenomenon is called ‘‘burping’’. Reflex charge is used to minimize
burping. In reflex charge technique, short discharge pulses or negative pulses are applied
for very small time intervals which results in depolarizing the cell and it speed up the
stabilization process and also it helps to improve overall charging process. Hence, this
“Reflex Charge” technique is also called as ‘‘Burp Charging’’ or ‘‘Negative Pulse Charging’’.
f) Float Charge : In applications like Uninterruptable Power Supplies (UPS), the batteries
should be maintained at 100 % SoC for a long time. But, because of self-discharge of
batteries, they may lose 20 or 30 % of their charge per month. So, to compensate this self-
discharge, float charge technique is used. In this technique, a constant voltage based on
the battery chemistry and ambient temperature is applied to the battery continuously. The
float charge circuit adjusts the float voltage automatically and interrupts charging at some
intervals based on battery voltage and temperature. This technique is not recommended for
Li-ion and Li-Po batteries and it is not necessary for EV/PHEVs which are frequently used
every day.
Termination Methods
The battery needs to be terminated from charging under following conditions:
a) Avoiding undercharging
a) Avoiding overcharging: the overcharging of batteries can lead to over gassing of the
cells which can easily lead to the explosion and firing of the whole battery pack.
b) Avoid overheating of the cells especially in Lithium-based batteries results in explosion
and firing of the whole battery pack
Hence, considering the application and the environment following charge termination methods
are used.
1) Time: It is one of the simple and inexpensive method which is mainly used as a backup
for fast charging or for regular charging of batteries. The drawback of this method is

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 that, because of diminishing battery capacity over time due to aging, the time should be
reset to avoid overcharging of old batteries.
2) Voltage : In this method voltage is used as a termination factor, that means charging
process is terminated when the battery voltage reaches a specific value. This method is
used with constant current technique to avoid overheating damage to the battery. The
drawback of this method is inaccurate open-circuit voltage due to chemical reactions
inside the battery.
3) Voltage Drop (dV/dT) : If Ni-Cd batteries are charged using constant current method,
the voltage increases up to the fully charged state point and after some time voltage
begins to decrease due to oxygen build-up inside the battery. So the derivative of
voltage versus time is measured to indicate overcharge. If dV/dT is negative, it indicates
the fully charged state and the temperature begins to rise. After this point the charging
can be terminated.
4) Current: If constant voltage method is used for charging, the current begins to decrease
as the battery reaches fully charge state. If the current goes below a preset value, then
charging would be terminated.
5) Temperature: The battery temperature increases during charging. In this case,
temperature increase is a good indication of overcharge and can be used for termination
of batteries charging.
Charging Algorithm
It is an algorithm which considers control of all parameters of battery performance and its life
cycle to achieve desired safe battery pack charging efficiently. A charging algorithm of lead acid
battery consisting of four different stages is shown below:

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 In the first stage a predefined constant current is applied to the battery pack which
charges the cells rapidly. In this stage the cell voltages increase gradually because of SoC
increase. This stage is called ‘‘Bulk Charge’’ stage. This process is continued until a predefined
maximum voltage is reached.
In the second stage called ‘‘Absorption Charge’’ stage, a constant voltage is applied to
the battery pack. At this stage the current decreases gradually until it reaches a predefined C
rate value and the cells are approximately charged but not equalized because of cell imbalance.
At third stage a relatively higher voltage than constant voltage in absorption stage is
applied to the battery pack for some time to balance all the cells. This stage is called
‘‘Equalization Charge’’ stage.
After some prescribed time in fourth stage the charger applies a lower constant voltage
in order to keep the battery in a ready to use state. This is called ‘‘Float Charge’’ stage and
depending on the application it can be considered or omitted.
As the battery ages, its internal characteristics also change, hence, an adaptive charging
algorithm employing advanced control techniques like fuzzy logic, supervisory control, and
decentralized control and so on are used.
Charging from Grid
The grid acts as extended storage by collecting excess energy produced by the PV array. This
will relieve the carport (charging port of the car / vehicle) from the task of locally storing
energy in batteries or flywheels. In addition, the grid supplements any deficiency in PV
generation, during cloudy days or at night. The various problems associated with charging
from grid are listed below:
a) Line Stability Issues : If the generated energy from power plants is not in excess, then
it results rapid variations from 5 to 15 % per second causing voltage flicker
b) Inverter Distortion and DC Current Injection : As per IEEE 929, IEC 61727, and EN
61000 standards the inverter must produce low harmonic distortion currents (less than
5 %) and at or near unity power factors. The inverter is not allowed to inject a DC
current component into the grid if these standards are not met.
c) Local Distribution Configuration: Elimination of undesirable pulsating charging
current to the EV battery is achieved using single-phase configuration with distributed
inverters and intervening DC/DC converters.

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Grid and Photovoltaic (PV) System for EV/PHEV Charging :
The power converter topology of PV system must be distributed, providing flexibility and
redundancy. It should be a robust, reliable and offer high availability with a high Mean Time
Between Failures (MTBF). The possible power flow paths like PV array to battery, grid to
battery, array to grid, and battery to grid is shown below :
The design should have low-
maintenance employing high quality
components like electrolytic
capacitors, electromechanical devices
(relays, fans, and power connectors),
and fault detectors or surge
suppressors like Metal Oxide
Varistors (MOVs) and Ground Fault
Detection and Isolation (GFID).
In addition, the control scheme should be robust and rely as little as possible on critical sensing
devices such as thermistors, shunt resistors, hall-effect devices, and opto-couplers that have
time stability limitations or require periodic calibration.
Z Converter
The 3-phase AC supply is rectified as dc supply by using rectifier unit. Z-Source Inverter (ZSI)
network takes supply from the rectifier unit and its output is given to the Induction motor
drive of shown below:

A ZSI between DC source and inverter shown above. The Z-circuit includes two capacitors and
two inductors. The main function of the capacitors is to store and release reactive energy from

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and to the grid (load), when the EV battery (power source) is not connected ZSI is operated in
two states like Shoot through state (ST) and Non Shoot through state (NST) as explained below.

In ST state capacitor voltage is more than the input DC voltage, hence diode is reverse
biased and inverter terminals are shorted. Due to diode reverse biased, no power is transfer
from source to load and shown above.
Where as in NST state, diode is forward biased and the inverter acts as open circuited
hence power is transferred from source to load and as shown above.
The converter plays major role in electrical vehicle in speed controlling, battery
management system, stepping up of given input and conversion of DC into AC. The Z converters
are used as AC-DC, AC-AC, DC-DC and DC-AC converters in various applications and also used
for AC power absorption/injection, with simultaneously controlled battery charging. The AC
source/load consists of an EV electric machine, while the DC source consists of a fuel cell or

battery or PV system. The use of transformer provides isolation and greater flexibility with
turns ration for EV batteries as shown below.
The use of isolation transformers to the grid and EV battery suffers from following drawbacks:
a) The transformer leakage current is significant and it results in errors.
b) Elimination of ripple component needs reliable control equipment which adds extra
cost.
c) Needs modulation of shoot-through duty cycle technique to eliminate the ripple at 120
Hz in DC/DC converter used with the EV battery.

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Isolated bidirectional DC-DC converter :
A bidirectional Z-inverter with DC/DC isolated converter is shown below. In order to maximize
efficiency, the bidirectional converter is operated at 100% duty cycle in open loop. In normal
operation, the voltage VB is identical to voltage VC. When no battery is present, and the PV
feeds the grid with full available power, this converter does not operate, and appears as an
open circuit.

Here,
D is the modulation index or active duty cycle;
Do is the shoot-through duty cycle.
VC is the battery stiff voltage at is independent of Do if battery is present.
When the battery is not present, the DC/DC converter is replaced by its input capacitor alone
and in this case, the capacitor voltage VC depends on Do. The duty cycle D and Do control the
grid and battery power flow, where as the total power flow is controlled by the PV panel MPPT
function. A simplified block diagram of the control system is shown below.
The PV MPPT will determine the appropriate current that should be drawn from the
panels and generate a reference signal. This reference is compared to the measured PV current,
and an error is generated, that represents the reference to an internal current loop. The
controlled current is the grid line current, whereby the grid current request will change with
the MPPT request. At the same time, the EV on-board charge controller sends a current level

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request, which is a reference for the average battery current. This signal will be a DC signal in
steady state. The error between requested and actual charge current produces the control
signal Do.

Design of the Z Converter with Isolating Bidirectional DC/DC Converter

The Z converter consists of a DC/DC converter
with split primaries on the isolation
transformer and a single secondary drives the
EV battery, as shown in fig. The switches
conduct half of the current and at full duty
cycle in open loop mode, and very high
efficiencies are obtainable by the use of simple
soft-switching techniques.
a) Design of turns ratio : Turns ratio ‘N’
from each primary to the secondary winding is calculated using the equation

b) Design of the Z-Circuit: Capacitor

The voltage ripple at line frequency must be kept low, in order to reduce voltage stresses
and allow proper operation of the inverter. To calculate the ripple, it is necessary to
determine the maximum levels of power flow in and out of the grid. From these
considerations:

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 c) Design of the Z-Circuit: Inductor
The high frequency ripple current is generated during the shoot-though switching interval,
when the full capacitor voltage is applied to the inductors. The maximum ripple current
depends on Do, and maximum value of VC. Maximum duty cycle, of Do, is obtained at
minimum VPV and is expressed as follows:

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 High Frequency Transformer-Based Isolated Charger Topology
A HF transformer for isolation of PV panels and grid using classic two-stage topology with DC-
link is shown below.

Isolation and DC link : The main purpose of the isolation section is to offer isolation from
the grid to the PV. The DC-link voltage is made to track the EV battery voltage and minimize
switching losses in the DC/DC converter. Due to Zero Voltage Switching (ZVS), a very high
frequency can be selected when MOSFETs are used to minimize the size and cost components
in the DC link.
Isolation Transformer Turns Ratio Calculation: The steady-state voltage gain from the
output of the PV source to the input of the inverter bridge is (N/2).
where, N = Turns ratio of the transformer ‘N’.
DC Link Filter: It is a simple smoothing choke of very small value due to the full duty cycle
on the half-bridge. The capacitor is selected to minimize pulsating power from the grid and its
value is larger compared to that of Z-circuit capacitors.
Inverter Bridge and DC/DC Converter Power Devices: In order to limit the DC bus
voltage very fast and efficient IGBTs and diodes can be used for the inverter bridge and the
DC/DC converter. It has a full loop controlling duty cycle and smoothing choke is relatively
large.
A turn’s ratio for T2 of 1:2 supplies necessary charging voltage to battery, when VPV is
minimum. The inductance LB is selected so as to provide +10 % ripple under worst-case; that
is, when VPV is maximum and battery voltage VB is minimum. Compared with the Z-converter,
this topology replaces an expensive 60 Hz transformer with a small HF transformer.

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 Transformer-Less Charger Topology
The topologies employing power transformer are used to achieve two critical operational goals
such as to provide isolation and also to provide voltage amplification, to optimize power
transfer and electrical stress levels. If PV source, the grid and batteries are available with
desired voltage ranges, then transformer less topology is preferred. The DC/AC/DC/AC
configuration can then be reduced to a simple DC/AC.
A transformer-less topology with buck operation is shown below. During the positive
half of the cycle, Q2 is off and Q4 on at all times.
Then Q1 and Q3 switch complementarily, in a
classic buck configuration. This topology has
only 4 devices and drives the grid current in a
unipolar fashion, for low harmonic content and
high efficiency. The only major drawback is that
Q1 and Q2 must be rated at twice the maximum
PV voltage.

Another transformer less topology such as Neutral Point Clamped (NPC) topology is shown
below. This topology has less conduction or
switching loss. During the positive half-cycle, Q2
is on and Q4 off at all times, while control is
exercised by Q1 and freewheeling diode, D1.
Moreover, it is important to consider that both
topologies may have to be modified, in order to
allow bidirectional flow from the grid. In this
respect, the NPC is at a disadvantage.

Both topologies discussed above helps in PV panels being completely floating, without
the connection shown as a dashed line.

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