2020 IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics, Drives and Energy Systems (PEDES)
Matrix Converter Based Three Phase Isolated EV
Charger with Direct Power Control
Rahul Kumar, Member, IEEE,1,2 and Bhim Singh, Fellow, IEEE,1
1
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi-110016, India
2020 IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics, Drives and Energy Systems (PEDES) | 978-1-7281-5672-9/20/$31.00 ©2020 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/PEDES49360.2020.9379678
Email: bsingh@ee.iitd.ac.in
2
Department of EEE, SMIT, Sikkim Manipal University, Sikkim, India
Email: rahul220@gmail.com
Abstract—This paper presents a three-phase bi-directional
electric vehicle (EV) charger utilizing a high frequency trans-
former isolation and single stage AC-DC topology. The matrix
converter changes the line frequency AC supply on the grid side
to a high frequency single-phase AC, which is fed to the primary
of a transformer. A PWM rectifier is used at the secondary
of the transformer to enable the bidirectional power flow and
converting high frequency AC to DC. A bipolar space-vector
modulation technique is utilized to generate the high frequency
single-phase AC from the three-phase AC power supply. The
unity power factor operation at the grid side in the charging and
discharging modes with a low harmonics grid current is achieved
using this topology. The bi-polar space vector modulation (SVM)
is implemented in a way such that the net volt-second balance
in one switching cycle is zero across the transformer. The direct
power control scheme is used to regulate the charging current or
output DC voltage by simply controlling the modulation index
of the converter modulated using SVM. The high frequency
transformer isolation improves the power density of the overall
system as well as adds safety from the user’s perspective. By
accommodating an inductor after the full bridge converter on the
secondary side, load is imitating as a current source and allows
power transfer by simply controlling the modulation index of the
converter.
Index Terms—Bi-directional EV charger, Space vector mod-
ulation, Matrix Converter, Direct Power Control, AC-DC con-
verter,Isolated chargers
I. I NTRODUCTION
With the current trends, in the coming years, the market
share of the internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, is
expected to reduce and EV count is to increase more and
more. This would require a large charging infrastructure for
EVs. Bidirectional EV chargers are useful to support the grid
distribution network during peak demand conditions. With the
evolution of the smart grid concept and renewable integration
to the grid, the bidirectional EV chargers become significantly
important compared to unidirectional EV chargers. In the
literature, various bidirectional EV chargers are reported [1]-
[4]. Most of the conventional bidirectional EV chargers consist
of dual stage topology where the AC-DC stage is followed by
a DC-DC stage linked with a large electrolytic capacitor.The
matrix converter, which is earlier popular for AC-AC conver-
sion, is now being researched for various applications in AC-
DC conversion. A non-isolated matrix converter is used for the
energy storage batteries and EV batteries charging application
[5]-[7].However, for automotive application, power density, the
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reliability and long life of converter are highly important. A
high frequency transformer isolation enables a wide range of
output voltage and galvanic isolation adds extra protection
to the system. For the EV charging application, an isolated
version of the converter is more suitable. The unidirectional
isolated AC-DC matrix converter is discussed in [8]. In [9],
discontinuous conduction mode of isolated matrix converter
with transformer secondary shorting method is reported for
reducing lower order harmonics on grid side currents and rip-
ples in DC current. Modulation strategies significantly affect
the outcome of the topology, high frequency current or voltage
must not contain any DC part otherwise it may lead to core
saturation of the transformer.
In the matrix converter based three phase-isolated topology,
three-phase grid AC voltages are transformed into high fre-
quency single phase AC. This helps in a significant reduction
of filter elements and the absence of a large DC link capacitor
increases the reliability and overall life of the system. The
high frequency AC generated must be free from DC bias to
avoid the transformer saturation.It is possible by keeping the
switching frequency sufficiently high such that in a span of one
switching cycle, there is negligible change in line frequency
waveform. Besides, a proper switch modulation technique also
helps in eliminating DC bias. In the reported literature on iso-
lated bi-directional AC-DC matrix topology, generally on the
secondary side of transformer, a DC voltage source in parallel
with a capacitor is placed after the full bridge converter.This
arrangement on the secondary side of transformer creates high
frequency AC square wave using full bridge converter. The
power transfer from primary to secondary side of transformer
or vice versa is achieved by suitably creating desired phase
difference between high frequency AC voltage of primary and
secondary voltage along with modulation index control, which
demands a complex control algorithm for the system.
In this paper, on the secondary side of transformer, PWM
converter is followed by an inductor, hence it behaves as a
current fed load and power transfer from AC to DC side or
vice versa is directly controlled by changing modulation index
of the converter without need of creating a phase difference
between high frequency AC voltages appearing across primary
and secondary windings of the transformer. This simplifies the
bidirectional power flow control as only one variable needs
to be controlled for desired output. A simplified bipolar SVM
 2020 IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics, Drives and Energy Systems (PEDES)

technique is used here to generate a high frequency AC without [6], [7]. The SVM method implemented must take care to
any DC bias. Moreover, the direct power control is used to eliminate the DC bias from the high frequency AC generated
implement a fixed current or fixed voltage mode of charging through the matrix converter. In direct AC to DC conversion
and the bidirectional power flow is demonstrated using this using a matrix converter, it is modulated as the current source
control method. rectifier but with transformer isolation, the SVM method is
The following sections of the paper is arranged as follows. modified and rectification is done on alternate basis with
Section-II describes topology configuration and modulation positive and negative polarity resulting in high frequency AC
technique used, control scheme is discussed in section-III. The voltage. Here, a relatively simple switching scheme is devised
simulation results and conclusion are presented in section-IV for implementing bipolar SVM. The input current space vector
and section-V, respectively. for positive and negative output current, is represented in
II. C ONFIGURATION AND M ODULATION T ECHNIQUE Fig. 2. Depending on the connection of primary side of the
transformer to two selected phase at any instant corresponds to
The isolated version of single stage three phase AC-DC a stationary space vector.The dwelling time for corresponding
converter topology employs conventional three phase AC- space vector can be calculated using ampere-second balancing
AC matrix converter with only two output terminals. The method. For sector-1 corresponding dwell time and duty cycle
modulation techniques such as carrier based PWM, SVM, is given as,
delta sigma modulation are reported in literature for the matrix
converter. Due to better dynamic response and convenient π
t1 = d1 ∗ Ts = mi sin( − θi ) (1)
digital implementation SVM is used in this work. 3
t2 = d2 ∗ Ts = mi sin(θi ) (2)
A. Configuration Details
t0 = d0 ∗ Ts = Ts − (t1 + t2 ) (3)
The topology implemented for isolated EV charger is as
depicted in Fig.1. The primary of transformer, switches to Where mi = IIbsm 3Ism
/3 = Ib , Ism = maximum value of supply
any of the input phases a, b or c depending on the command phase current and Ib = battery current
signal given to these switches. At any given instant, the output Depending on the sector of reference current space vector,
terminals P and N connect to the phases, which yields either corresponding stationary space vector (SSV) is applied. Each
maximum amplitude voltage or zero voltage. The filter on switching period Ts is divided into two halves, for first half,
the grid side is used to limit the high frequency switching the space vectors corresponding to a particular sector for
harmonics being injected into the grid and hence maintaining ip > 0 is applied whereas in the next half of the switching
the grid current THD below 5%. The LC filter on the grid period, the space vectors corresponding to the same sector
side also keeps the the grid current always continuous, as it for ip < 0 is applied along with suitable zero vector. The
provides a close loop between two lines, although input current zero vector for each sector is applied in such a way that
to the converter iia , iib and iic are discontinuous owing to minimum number of switch state transition is required. Table-I
the switching operation of each respective leg switches.The shows the SSVs details for individual sectors for a complete
filter capacitor on the AC side supplies the harmonics current switching period. The current space vector applied for sector-1
and hence grid current mainly comprises of fundamental during one switching period is shown in Fig. 3, along with the
component. The grid side filter inductor is selected such that corresponding transformer input voltage. The gating signal for
the voltage drop across it at rated current is below 10 % of the
peak value of the grid phase voltage. Here, a 3:1 turns ratio TABLE I
transformer is used but the transformer turns ratio is suitably S TATIONARY S PACE V ECTORS APPLIED FOR B I -P OLAR SVM
chosen depending on the battery voltage such that the required
Sector duty Positive half (Ts /2) Negative half (Ts /2)
modulation index lies in a predefined range. The output side SSV for ip > 0 SSV for ip < 0
of the transformer is fed from a pulse with modulation (PWM) 1 d1 I1 I4
rectifier capable of providing bidirectional power flow. On the d2 I2 I5
DC side to smoothen the charging current of the battery, a d0 I7 I7
2 d1 I2 I5
low pass filter is used. Four quadrant switches block bi-polar d2 I3 I6
voltages and conduct the bidirectional current. During power d0 I9 I9
flow from AC to DC side, which is vehicle to grid (V2G) mode 3 d1 I3 I6
d2 I4 I1
all the four diodes of the PWM converter are only required d0 I8 I8
for conduction and all four IGBT switches can be turned off. 4 d1 I4 I1
But during power flow from DC to AC side, IGBT switches d2 I5 I2
of PWM converter has to be gated appropriately to get the d0 I7 I7
5 d1 I5 I2
desired output voltage. d2 I6 I3
d0 I9 I9
B. Modulation Technique 6 d1 I6 I3
The SVM is most popular for the matrix converter and it d2 I1 I4
d0 I8 I8
has been reported in the literature for AC-DC matrix converter

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 2020 IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics, Drives and Energy Systems (PEDES)

Fig. 1. Three phase to single phase isolated AC-DC converter

Fig. 3. Transformer primary voltage waveform and respective current space

Fig. 2. Input current SSV representation (a) when ip > 0 (b) when ip < 0 vector applied for one switching cycle in Sector-1

matrix converter as well for full bridge converter for sector-1
during one switching period is shown in Fig. 4.
III. C ONTROL S CHEME
The direct power control method is used here, which inde-
pendently controls the active and reactive powers.Fig.5 shows
the block diagram for the control scheme used here. Although
simulation is performed for charging and discharging with con-
stant current, the control scheme used here accommodates the
constant voltage charging method as well.Reference battery
current and voltage are multiplied to create the reference active
power for the system. The reactive power reference value is
manually set to zero so that converter operates at unity power
factor. The grid side input current space vector reference is
created by the known reference value of battery current and
reference phase angle of grid supply voltage. There is only
one proportional integral (PI) controller is used in this scheme
which is fed by either current error or voltage error while
operation respectively in constant current or constant voltage
mode. In case of constant current mode charging, the expected
output voltage is created by the PI controller for which,
the input is current error taking the difference of measured

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 2020 IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics, Drives and Energy Systems (PEDES)

Fig. 5. Scheme for independent power control

IV. R ESULTS AND D ISCUSSION

For a lithium ion battery, constant current charging is
preferred between the state of charge (SOC) level 20% to
80% and thereafter for SOC level more than 80 % constant
voltage charging is used. Here, the constant current charging
method is simulated but with similar approach constant voltage
charging can be also implemented.The presented topology
has been validated by simulation in MATLAB Simulink.Fig.6
shows high frequency AC voltage across the transformer
primary and secondary winding along with primary current
of transformer.High frequency voltage and current waveforms
are symmetrical with equal positive and negative area resulting
in net DC value equal to zero. Fig. 7 and Fig. 8 show the step
change response of the converter in G2V and V2G modes,
respectively. The grid current total harmonic distortion (THD)
is less than 4 % for both G2V and V2G modes as shown
in Fig. 9 and Fig. 10. All system specifications are given in
Table-II, which are used in simulation.
V. C ONCLUSION
The matrix topology based converter creates high frequency
AC directly from line frequency AC supply in single stage i.e.
without converting line frequency AC to DC first and then
Fig. 4. Command signal for matrix converter and full bridge gating pulse
during V2G mode
generating high frequency AC from DC as typically done in

charging current to the reference charging current,Ib∗ . The

reference supply current’s α and β components are calculated
using (4) and modulation index as well angle for reference
current space vector is calculated using (5) and (6) [7] as,
∗   ∗
P · vsα + Q∗ · vsβ

isα 2 1
= · (4)
i∗sβ 2 + v 2 ) P ∗ · vsα − Q∗ · vsβ
3 (vsα sβ

s
2
i∗sβ
2
i∗sα
 
mi = + (5)
Ib /3 Ib /3
 ∗ 
isβ
θi = arctan ∗ (6) Fig. 6. Transformer primary, secondary voltage and primary current during
isα G2V operation

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 2020 IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics, Drives and Energy Systems (PEDES)

TABLE II
S IMULATED S YSTEM PARAMETERS

Parameters Specification
AC side Voltage 3-Phase, 415 V, 50Hz
Battery Ratings 72 V (Nominal voltage),50 Ah
Rd 52 Ω
Lf 2.7 mH
Cf 10 µF
Ldc 500 µH
Cdc 100 µF
Switching Frequency, fsw 10 kHz
Transformer turns ratio 3:1

Fig. 7. Dynamic response in G2V mode: Step change in current reference

from 50 A to 30 A at t = 0.06 s.
Fig. 9. Grid side current THD in G2V mode.

limits. The topology presented here is considered as buck type

Fig. 8. Dynamic response in V2G mode: Step change in current reference
from -50 A to -30 A at t = 0.06 s.
PFC rectifier during power flow from AC to DC side whereas
it acts as boost type current source converter while power flows
from DC to AC side.The bi-polar SVM used here, results in
good power quality on AC side as well as fast control on
DC side voltage or current. The control scheme is based on
instantaneous power balance theory neglecting the losses of
converter and filter elements. The reactive power reference is
set to zero to achieve unity power factor operation of matrix
converter. Since, the converter is set to generate zero reactive
power, the input current slightly leads the input voltage due
to presence of filter capacitor on the grid side.
In future work, hardware implementation of the present
work is to be carried out. Further, modulation and control are
to be improved for four quadrant operation of the converter.
Some robust control algorithm is also to be devised for
normal operation of the converter during unbalance condition
in three phase input supply. The integration of renewable
energy sources to this converter is to be also designed and
analysed.

conventional two stage system. Although matrix converter uses

more number of switches to perform single stage conversion
but at the same time requirement of bulky DC link capacitor
is also eliminated in single stage system. In the present work,
the bidirectional power flow at unity power factor operation is
demonstrated just by controlling the modulation index of the
matrix converter. The IGBT switches of the PWM converter
on the secondary side only need to be controlled during V2G
operation. The input current THD is below 4 % in both the
V2G and G2V operations, which is within the permissible Fig. 10. Grid side current THD in V2G mode.

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 2020 IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics, Drives and Energy Systems (PEDES)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors are very thankful to the Department of Sci-
ence and Technology (DST), Govt. of India, for funding this
project under grant numbers RP03128G (J.C. Bose Fellow-
ship) and RP03195G (Fund for Improvement of Science and
Technology-FIST Scheme).
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