Design and Validation of a Three-Phase Current-Fed Triple-Active Bridge for Fuel-Cell Electric Vehicles

Abstract

This work presents the first three-phase current-fed triple-active bridge. The topology features beneficial characteristics for fuel-cell electric vehicles such as multiport capability, voltage doubling effect and current-ripple reduction. Additionally, it provides full galvanic isolation and extends the flexibility of modulation, which have been limiting factors of known literature. Moreover, an asymmetric dead-time compensation strategy is derived. A hardware prototype is demonstrated and validated up to 22 kW at 220 A. The measured efficiency remains close to 97 % over a wide operating range.

Authors 5

1. Paul Kowalewski Aachen Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA)

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives, RWTH Aachen University,Aachen,Germany

2. André Thönnessen Aachen Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA)

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives, RWTH Aachen University,Aachen,Germany

3. Niklas Fritz Aachen Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA)

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives, RWTH Aachen University,Aachen,Germany

4. L. Schmitz Aachen Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA)

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives, RWTH Aachen University,Aachen,Germany

5. Rik W. De Doncker Aachen Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA)

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives, RWTH Aachen University,Aachen,Germany