2019 22nd International Conference on Electrical Machines and Systems (ICEMS)

Research on the Minimum Backflow Power

Control Strategy of Full-Bridge Three-Level
Bidirectional DC-DC Converter
Keyu Pan 1, Zhiqin Zhao 1, Zi Liu 1, Pengcheng Han 1, Xiaoqiong He 1, 2 *
1
Southwest Jiaotong University, School of Electrical Engineering, China
2
National Rail Transit Electrification and Automation Engineering Technique Research Center, China
Email: hexq@swjtu.edu.cn

Abstract—This paper for full-bridge three-level bi- withstand voltage of the converter, but the ability to
directional DC-DC converters presents a dual PWM phase withstand current of the system is poor. On the basis of this,
shift（DPWMPS）control method. By analyzing the converter a minimum backflow power control strategy based on dual
works which used the above control method, the system phase-shift is proposed in [9], which reduces the backflow
performance is divided into the six operation modes. On the power, but the driving signal of the switch tubes is still a
basis, a minimum backflow power control strategy is further square wave with duty ratio of 50%, which limits the
proposed by studying the backflow power characteristics. By optimization conditions and makes the backflow power not
using this control strategy, the system backflow power is reach zero in a large power range. Moreover, the blocking
controlled to a minimum in the case of k ≤ 1, while all switch capacitor is added to the structure, which increases the cost.
tubes of the converter carry soft-switching out. Moreover, a In [10], the full-bridge three-level DC-DC converter is
relevant experimental platform is built, and the experimental studied primarily and the modulation strategy is given, but
results show that the control strategy is correct and effective. its performance is not specified.
Keywords—dual PWM phase shift (DPWMPS), full- To solve these problems, a dual PWM phase shift
bridge three-level bidirectional DC-DC converter, the (DPWMPS) control method is proposed for the full-bridge
minimum backflow power control strategy, soft-switching. three-level bi-directional DC-DC converter. The output
power of the system is controlled by controlling the duty
I. INTRODUCTION ratio of the dual-side power switches and the phase-shifting
In recent years, with the rapid development of the high- angle between the primary and secondary output voltages.
speed railway, there are higher requirements for electric Then, by analyzing its working principle, classifying its all
locomotive. As the power source and core of the high-speed the working modes, a control algorithm of minimum reflux
railway, the working efficiency and power density of the power in k<1 is proposed, which can realize soft-switching
traction system have a direct impact on the operating simultaneously. Finally, the correctness and validity of the
efficiency and transport capacity of the electric locomotive. proposed method are verified by simulation and experiment.
In order to improve the power density and the converter
performance of the traction system, Power Electronic II. OPERATING PRINCIPLE OF DPWMPS
Transformer(PET) with intermediate frequency transformer A. The Control Principle of DPWMPS
can be adopted to replace the existing traction system[1-2].
Compared with the existing locomotive traction system, S11 D11 S15 D15 S21 D21 S25 D25
power frequency transformer is replaced by intermediate C1
D5 D7
C3
D1 D3
frequency transformer in the PET, which could reduce the S12 D12 S16 D16
iL S22 D22 S26 D26
MFT
volume and weight of the transformer while increasing the a
L
c
V2
power density of the system[3-4]. Finally, so as to improve V1
d
b
the voltage and current withstand ability of a single module, S13 D13 S17 D17
n:1
S23 D23 S27 D27
the full-bridge three-level bidirectional DC-DCconverter is C2
D2 D4 D6 D8
C4
studied in this paper. S14 D14 S18 D18 S24 D24 S28 D28

Isolated Didirectional
Cascade Rectifier DC/DC
Traction Inverter
M level bi-directional DC-DC converter. Where V1 and V2 are
3~
Traction
Motor
Fig. 1. The structure of Power Electronic Transformer
In [5-7], a three-level bridge is introduced into the
topology of the traditional two-level bi-directional DC-DC
converter, and the characteristics of the transmission power
under phase-shift control are analyzed. For bi-directional
half-bridge three-level converters, a control method with the
minimum effective value of current is proposed in [8],
which can reduce the switching loss and improve the
Fig. 2. Full-bridge three-level bidirectional DC-DC converter
Fig.2 shows the circuit topology of the full-bridge three-
the DC voltage on both sides of this converter, and n is the
voltage ratio of the isolation transformer, Vab and Vcd
represent the primary and secondary voltage of the
transformer respectively, and L is the equivalent inductance
after the conversion of the auxiliary inductance and the
transformer leakage inductance. iL is the inductance current,
and C1, C2, C3, C4 are the primary side’s and the secondary
side’s support capacitance respectively.
In this paper, DPWMPS control is used, where DPWM
refers to the method of changing the duty ratio on both sides
of the switch signal of the transformer. Where, on the
primary side, S11&S18 and S13&S16 are complementary
signals, S12&S17 and S14&S15 are also complementary
signals; On the secondary side, S21&S28 and S23&S26 are
relatively complemented, S22&S27 and S24&S25 are relatively
complemented as well. Besides, the duty ratio on both sides

978-1-7281-3398-0 / 19 / $ 31.00©2019 IEEE

978-1-7281-3398-0/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE
 2019 22nd International Conference on Electrical Machines and Systems (ICEMS)

is independent. Phase-shifting is to control the transmission working state of the converter in t0-t4. For the simplicity of
power of the system by controlling the phase-shifting angle analysis, Ts is defined as the switching period, and k is the
between the primary voltage and the secondary voltage. voltage ratio after the both sides’ voltage of the converter
From the symmetry, this paper only analyzes the case of being equivalent.
forward power transmission, that is, the two-side voltage
phase-shift angle is greater than zero. nV2
k=
1/2TS 1/2TS V1 (4)
D1
S11 &S18 S13 &S16 S11 D11 S15 D15 S21 D21 S25 D25
C1 C3
Dα D1 D3 D5 D7
S22 &S27 S24 &S25 S12 D12 S16 D16 iL MFT S22 D22 S26 D26
c
a
vab L vcd
b d
S12 &S17 S14 &S15 S27
S13 D13 S17 D17 S23 D23 D27
D2 D2 D4 D6 D8
Dα C2 C4
S21 &S28 S23 &S26 S14 D14 S18 D18 S24 D24 S28 D28

V1 (a) t0~t'0
vab
S11 D11 S15 D15 S21 D21 S25 D25
C1 C3
D1 D3 D5 D7
Dϕ S12 D12 S16 D16 iL MFT
S22 D22 S26 D26
V2 a
c

vcd vab L vcd

b d
S13 D13 S17 D17 S23 D23 S27 D27
D2 D4 D6 D8
C2 C4
S14 D14 S18 D18 S24 D24 S28 D28
iL
(b) t'0~t1

S11 D11 S15 D15 S21 D21 S25 D25

C1 C3
t0 t'0 t1 t2 t3 t4 t'4 t5 t6 t7 t8 D1 D3 D5 D7
S12 D12 S16 D16 S22 D22 S26 D26
iL MFT
Fig.3. Voltage and current waveforms of switching tube drive signal and c
a
converter with DPWMPS control vab L vcd
b d
S13 D13 S17 S23 D23 S27 D27
D17
For the control method of DPWMPS, the switching D2 D4 D6 D8
C2 C4
functions are defined as follows: S14 D14 S18 D18 S24 D24 S28 D28

(c) t1~t2
1，S11&S12&S17&S18 ON
S11 D11 S15 D15 S21 D21 S25 D25
Sa= 0，S12&S13&S16&S17 ON C1 C3
D1 D3 D5 D7
S12 D12 S16 D16 S22 D22 S26 D26
-1，S13&S14&S15&S16 ON a
iL MFT
c

(1) vab L vcd

b d

1，S21&S22&S27&S28 ON D2
S13 D13
D4
S17 D17 S23 D23 S27
D6
D27
D8
C2 C4
Sb= 0，S22&S23&S26&S27 ON S14 D14 S18 D18 S24 D24 S28 D28

-1，S23&S24&S25&S26 ON (d) t2~t3

S11 D11 S15 D15 S21 D21 S25 D25

From Fig.3, the relationship between the inductance C1
D1 D3 D5 D7
C3

current iL at each of the two time periods is as follow: S12 D12 S16 D16 iL MFT
S22
c
D22 S26 D26
a
vab L vcd
diL U1 − U 2 b d
= (2) S13 D13 S17 D17 S23 D23 S27 D27
dt L C2
D2 D4 D6 D8
C4
S14 D14 S18 D18 S24 D24 S28 D28
When the converter is in steady state, the average value
of the inductance current iL is zero in one switching cycle. (e) t3~t4
For DPWMPS control, there is:
Fig. 4. The Working State of the Converter with DPWMPS Control

iL (t0 ) = −iL (t4 )
B. The Analysis of the Converter Working State
Due to the symmetry of the control, the t0-t4 in Fig.3 is
taken as the research object. Fig.4 shows the detailed
(3) Working State1(t0-t'0): At t0, in the primary side, S13, S14,
S15 and S16 are turned off, the current flows through D11, D12,
D17 and D18, and the inductance current is recharged to the
input side capacitors C1 and C2. In the secondary side, the
current is conducted through S22, S27 and the clamp diodes
 2019 22nd International Conference on Electrical Machines and Systems (ICEMS)

D5 and D8, and the secondary side port-voltage is zero. The system vary with each combination, mainly reflected in the
equivalent circuit is shown in Fig.4(a). changes of Vab and Vcd waveforms. So, according to the
changes of Vab and Vcd waveforms, the operating modes of
Working State2(t'0-t1): The inductance current passes
the system can be classified as Fig.5
through the zero point and flows reversedly. In the primary
side, S11, S12, S17, S18 realize the zero-voltage turn-on and TABLE II. The value Range of Dφ in Six Operating Modes
zero-current turn-on, and the capacitor C1, C2 can be
discharged; In the secondary side, the current flows through Mode Range of Dφ Comment
S23, S26 and the clamp diode D6, D7 turn on. The secondary 1
1
0 ≤ Dϕ ≤ ( D2 − D1 ) 无
side port-voltage is zero. The equivalent circuit is shown in 2
Fig.4(b). 1 1
( D2 − D1 ) ≤ Dϕ ≤ ( D1 + D2 ) D1 + D2 < 1
2 2
Working State3(t1-t2): S11, S12, S17, S18 in the primary side 2 1 1
( D2 − D1 ) ≤ Dϕ ≤ 1 − ( D1 + D2 ) D1 + D2 > 1
continue to conduct, and the capacitor C1, C2 are still 2 2
discharged; At the time of t1, S23, S24, S25, S26 in the 1 1
secondary side turn off, and the current flows through D21, 3 1 − ( D1 + D2 ) ≤ Dϕ ≤ ( D1 + D2 ) D1 + D2 > 1
2 2
D22, D27, D28. The inductor current charges the output 1 1
4 ( D1 + D2 ) ≤ Dϕ ≤ 1 − ( D1 + D2 ) D1 + D2 < 1
capacitors C3 and C4. The equivalent circuit is shown in Fig. 2 2
4(c). 1 1
1 − ( D1 + D2 ) ≤ Dϕ ≤ 1 − ( D2 − D1 ) D1 + D2 < 1
2 2
Working State 4(t2-t3): In the primary side bridge arm, 5 1 1
( D1 + D2 ) ≤ Dϕ ≤ 1 − ( D2 − D1 ) D1 + D2 > 1
S11 and S18 are turned off, S12 and S17 continue to conduct, 2 2
and the primary side port-voltage is zero; In the secondary 1
side bridge arm, the inductor current continues to charge the 6 1 − ( D2 − D1 ) ≤ Dϕ ≤ 1 none
2
output capacitors C3 and C4. The equivalent circuit is shown
in Fig.4(d). From table II, when the system is at the operating mode
Working State5(t3-t4): S12 and S17 in the primary side 5 and 6, there is Dφ<0.5. When Dφ>0.5 and Dφ<0.5, the
continue to conduct, and the port-voltage of the primary side transmission power ranges are in the same, and that Dφ>0.5
is zero; S21 and S28 in the secondary side are turn off, and the will increase the effective value of the inductance current
current is conducted through S23, S26 and the clamp diode D6 and hence the loss. Moreover, Mode 4 not only cannot
and D7 turn on. The Secondary Port Voltage is also zero. increase the capacity of transmission power, but also could
The equivalent circuit is shown in Fig.4(e). increase the effective value of inductance current.

Combined with Fig.4, 5 and Equation (1), (2), (3) and IV. THE MINIMUM BACKFLOW POWER CONTROL
(4), the inductance current iL can be expressed as: STRATEGY
From the shadows in Fig.3, during t0-t'0 and t4-t'4, the
V ( S − kSb ) phase of Vab is opposite to that of iL. It indicates that the
iL (t ) = ix + 1 a (t − t x ) (5)
power which should have been transmitted to the secondary
L
side of the transformer returns to the primary side of the
Where, ix is the current iL of the inductance L at time of transformer during these two periods. It’s the power
tx, and x=0,1,2, ... 7,8. The values of Sa and Sb in each backflow. If there is the power backflow in the system, in
working state is given by TABLE I. order to make up the backflow power and achieve the
designated transmission power, it is necessary to increase
TABLE I. Values of Sa and Sb in Each Time Period the output current so as to increase the current stress of the
power device. In addition, the backflow power increases the
Time Quantum Sa Sb Time Quantum Sa Sb system input power, but the transmission power does not
t0-t1 1 0 t4-t5 -1 0 increase, that is to say, the presence of the backflow power
t1-t2 1 1 t5-t6 -1 -1 also reduces the system efficiency. Therefore, reducing the
t2-t3 0 1 t6-t7 0 -1 reflux power of the system is also an important problem of
t3-t4 0 0 t7-t8 0 0 Bidirectional DC-DC.
S11 D11 S15 D15 S21 D21 S25 D25
III. ANALYSIS OF WORKING CHARACTERISTICS BY C1
D1 D3 D5 D7
C3

DPWMPS S12 D12 S16 D16

MFT
S22
c
D22 S26 D26
a V2
From Fig.4, the DPWMPS control method has three V1
d
R
b
variables: Duty Cycle D1 of Vab, Duty Cycle D2 of Vcd, and S13 D13 S17 D17
n:1
S23 D23 S27 D27
Phase-shifting Duty Cycle Dφ of Vab and Vcd. On the base of C2
D2 D4 D6 D8
C4
the symmetry of the converter structure, the working S14 D14 S18 D18 S24 D24 S28 D28

characteristics of k<1 and k>1 of the converters are similar. S11~S18 S21~S28
In this paper, k<1 is taken as an example to analyze the
DPWMPS Modulation
working principle and characteristics of the converters. In
order to realize ZVS, the duty cycle of the high-voltage side D1 D2 Dϕ

port-voltage is lower than that of the low-voltage side. The Minimum Backflow Power Control
When k<1, there is D1<D2. k Dϕ
Voltage Ratio Vref
Calculation PI Controller
Under the DPWMPS control, the system is controlled by +
V1 Vref - V2
D1, D2 and Dφ degrees of freedom. In theory, an infinite
number of combinations can be created by controlling these Fig. 6. Overall Control Strategy of DPWMPS
three degrees of freedom, and the working conditions of the
 2019 22nd International Conference on Electrical Machines and Systems (ICEMS)

1/2TS 1/2TS
1/2TS 1/2TS
V1 V1
vab vab

Dϕ
Dϕ
V2 V2
vcd vcd

iL iL

t0 t1 t'1 t2 t3 t4 t5 t6 t7 t8 t0 t'0 t1 t2 t3 t4 t5 t6 t7 t8
(a) 模态 1 (b) 模态 2

1/2TS 1/2TS 1/2TS 1/2TS

V1 V1
vab vab

Dϕ Dϕ
V2 V2
vcd vcd

iL iL

t0 t'0 t1 t2 t3 t4 t5 t6 t7 t8 t0 t'0 t1 t2 t3 t4 t5 t6 t7 t8
(c) 模态 3 (d) 模态 4

1/2TS 1/2TS 1/2TS 1/2TS

V1 V1
vab vab

Dϕ Dϕ V2
V2
vcd vcd

iL iL

t0 t'0 t1 t2 t3 t4 t5 t6 t7 t8
t0 t'0 t1 t2 t3 t4 t5 t6 t7 t8
(e) 模态 5 (f) 模态 6

Fig. 5. Voltage and Inductance Current Waveforms in Six Operating Modes

The closed-loop control strategy used in this paper is
shown in Fig.6. Where, Vref is the reference value of the
output voltage in the converter, and V1、V2 are the input and
output voltage of the converter respectively. The parameter
k is obtained by calculating the ratio of the reference value
to the input voltage, where D1、D2 are calculated directly by
the Minimum Backflow Power Control Algorithm, and Dφ is
adjusted by the PI Controller.
V. SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION
A. Simulation Analysis
In order to verify the effectiveness of the minimum
backflow power control strategy, a full-bridge three-level bi-
directional DC-DC converter simulation model is built
based on the above method in MATLAB/Simulink platform.
Where, input voltage V1=3600V, output voltage V2ref=2520V,
transfer ratio n=1, switching frequency fs=2kHz, full-load
power Pmax=283.5kW, transformer total leakage inductance
L=2mH, regulated capacitance C1~C4=0.47mF.
In Fig.7, the simulation waveforms of no-load and light-
load (10% full-load) on the full-bridge three-level bi-
directional DC-DC converter under phase-shift control
shows that the backflow power of the system is larger under
phase-shift control, and the backflow power is smaller with
the higher output power when k is constant.
 2019 22nd International Conference on Electrical Machines and Systems (ICEMS)

In Fig.8, the simulation waveforms are obtained under

the DPWMPS control. It is easy to know that with the
DPWMPS control, when the converter works stably and
under no-load and light-load conditions, the backflow power
of the system is zero. Compared with Fig.7(a) and 7(b), the
current stress is effectively reduced, and the smaller the
transmission power is, the better the current stress
optimization effect is. The simulation is consistent with the
previous theoretical analysis.

4000
vab (V)

0
-4000 Fig. 8 DC Source
3000
vcd (V)

0 vab(100V/div) vab(100V/div)
-3000
200
iL (A)

0 vcd(100V/div) vcd(100V/div)

-200 iL=0
T:[500us / div] iL(2A/div)
Ip=3.8A iL(4A/div) Ip=2.2A
(a) no-load

4000
vab (V)

0
-4000 (a) Phase-Shifted 36w (b) DPWMPS 36w
3000 vab (100V/div) vab(100V/div)
vcd (V)

0
-3000
vcd(100V/div) vcd(100V/div)
100
iL (A)

0 iL(4A/div)
iL=0 iL(10A/div)
-100 Ip=4.8A Ip=7.3A
T:[500us / div]
(b) light-load
Fig. 7. Simulation waveform of converter under phase shift control
(c) DPWMPS 200w (d) DPWMPS 300w
4000 Fig.9. Experiment results
vab (V)

0
-4000 In Fig.9, the experimental results of Phase-shifted and
3000 DPWMPS are depicted. It shows that the DPWMPS control
vcd (V)

0 strategy can make all the switches realize soft-switching in

-3000 full power range, and can effectively reduce the backflow
20 power of the converter, thus reducing the current stress and
iL (A)

0 improving the system efficiency.

-20 iL=0
T:[500us / div] VI. CONCLUSION
(a) no-load Firstly, the control method of DPWMPS for full-bridge
three-level bi-directional DC-DC converter is analyzed in
4000
detail, and a minimum backflow power control method is
vab (V)

0
proposed. Finally, the following conclusions are obtained
-4000
3000 through simulation and experimental verification:
vcd (V)

0 1) The DPWMPS control proposed in this paper can

-3000
100 output different power when the duty cycle is the same, and
iL (A)

0 it can be realized by many combinations when the output

-100 iL=0
T:[500us / div]
(b) light-load
Fig. 8. Simulation waveform of converter under DPWMPS control
B. Experimental Verification
In view of the above analysis, a small power experiment
platform is built with FPGA controller. The parameters are
as follows: transformer leakage inductance L=670 H,
regulated capacitance C1~C4=0.47mF, transfer ratio n=1,
switching frequency fs=2kHz. Besides, the DC source of the
experiment is IT6726V.
power is specified.
2) When the voltage ratio k and the output power are
different, the corresponding values of D1, D2 and Dφ are
different in order to realize the minimum backflow power
control.
3) The minimum backflow power algorithm based on
DPWMPS can effectively reduce the backflow power of the
system, at the same time it make the system realize soft
switch and improve the efficiency of the system.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work is supported by the Project China railway
corporation science and technology research and
 2019 22nd International Conference on Electrical Machines and Systems (ICEMS)

development program key topics(2017J001-E) and Sichuan

Science and Technology Project (2019YJ0241).
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