Applied Energy 183 (2016) 612–622

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Applied Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

Efficiency analysis of a bidirectional DC/DC converter in a hybrid energy

storage system for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles
Chun Wang a,b, Rui Xiong a,⇑, Hongwen He a, Xiaofeng Ding c, Weixiang Shen d
a
Collaborative Innovation Center of Electric Vehicles in Beijing, School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
b
Sichuan Provincial Key Lab of Process Equipment and Control, School of Mechanical Engineering, Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, Zigong, Sichuan 643000, China
c
School of Automation Science and Electrical Engineering, BeiHang University, Beijing 100191, China
d
Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia

h i g h l i g h t s

A detailed analysis method of the losses in the DC/DC converter has been proposed.

A theoretical model for calculate the efficiency of the converter has been proposed.

The influences on the converter’s efficiency are experimentally investigated.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A bidirectional (Bi) DC/DC converter is one of the key components in a hybrid energy storage system for
Received 1 July 2016 electric vehicles and plug-in electric vehicles. Based on the detailed analysis of the losses in the converter,
Received in revised form 26 August 2016 this paper firstly develops a model to theoretically calculate the efficiency of the converter. Then, the
Accepted 29 August 2016
influences of temperature, switching frequency, duty cycle and material of switching device on the con-
Available online 13 September 2016
verter’s efficiency are experimentally investigated. The analysis of the experimental results has shown
that (1) The efficiency at the switching frequency of 15 kHz is about 2% higher than that of 25 kHz. (2)
Keywords:
The efficiency at 25 °C is similar to that at 85 °C for the MOSFET SiC while the efficiency at 25 °C is 2%
DC/DC
Efficiency model
higher than that at 85 °C for the IGBT Si for both buck and boost modes. (3) In buck mode, when the duty
Energy loss cycles are decreasing from 66.7%, 50% to 33.33%, the peak efficiencies are also decreasing from 97.6%,
Power dissipation 94.5% to 90.3%, respectively. In boost mode, when the duty cycle is increasing from 33.33%, 50% to
Topology 75%, the peak efficiency is decreasing from 96.9%, 96.5% to 92.4%, respectively. (4) The developed model
Electric vehicles can calculate the converter’s efficiency accurately
Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction understand the efficiency of Bi DC/DC converters under different

Nowadays, the development of electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-
in electric vehicles (PHEVs) has gained more attention as they can
reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality. EVs,
especially PHEVs, require energy storage systems (ESSs) with high
energy and power density [1–5]. A single battery system cannot
meet such requirement. A hybrid ESS which consists of a bidirec-
tional (Bi) DC/DC converter, batteries and ultracapacitors is a solu-
tion, where the batteries mainly store energy and the
ultracapacitors mainly release and absorb power. This can be real-
ized by adjusting the voltage level of the ultracapacitors through Bi
DC/DC converter in the ESS [6–9]. Therefore, it is very important to
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: rxiong@bit.edu.cn, rxiong6@gmail.com (R. Xiong).
working conditions, making efficient hybrid ESSs [10].
The influences of topology, frequency, switching method, tem-
perature and duty cycle on the efficiency of Bi DC/DC converters
have been investigated. In [11,12], the influences of two topologies
on the efficiency of the converter are studied. The simulation and
experimental results show that the proposed topologies have the
merit of high efficiency. The effect of the frequency on the effi-
ciency of the converter is investigated by applying the adaptive fre-
quency modulation [13]. The converter with low ripple achieves
the maximum efficiency up to 87%. In [14], a new digital PWM
technique is used to explore the relationship between frequency
and efficiency. The results show that high switching frequency
leads to low efficiency and vice versus. In order to increase effi-
ciency of the converter, zero voltage switching based on resonant
technique is proposed to reduce switching loss [15–17].

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.08.178
0306-2619/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 C. Wang et al. / Applied Energy 183 (2016) 612–622 613

Some researchers study the influence of temperature on the

efficiency of the converter [18–20]. They select SiC as the switching
devices to evaluate the performance of the converter at high ambi-
ent temperatures. The high efficiency can be achieved at high tem-
perature environment in the converter with the SiC switching
devices. Different duty cycles are adopted in the converter to study
their effects on the efficiency based on the proposed efficiency
model [21]. The experimentally measured and theoretically calcu-
lated efficiencies are compared at two different duty cycles:
D = 0.33 and D = 0.5 to show their effects. Fig. 2. Bi buck-boost converter.
There are two drawbacks in the above mentioned studies. First,
they only explore the influence of one factor on the efficiency. Sec-
and one inductor L. In this analysis, only the MOSFETs are used
ond, they do not consider the effect of the switching devices used
as the switching devices, if the IGBTs are used, the similar results
in the converter: MOSFET SiC or IGBT Si, on the efficiency. One pur-
will be obtained. In order to realize energy flow in two directions,
pose of this study is to analyze the influences of multi-factors, such
this converter can work in buck and boost modes. The working
as temperature, switching frequency, duty cycle and material of
principles of these two modes are explained as follows in detail.
switching device, on the efficiency of a Bi DC/DC converter.
Another purpose is to develop the efficiency model of the con-
(1) Buck mode
verter. The experimental results verify the accuracy of the pro-
posed efficiency model.
It is assumed that the converter is working in the continuous
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, a Bi
conduction mode (CCM), the relationship between the input volt-
DC/DC buck-boost converter is analyzed. The efficiency model of
age U 1 and output voltage U 2 is K D1 ¼ U 2 =U 1 , where K D1 is the duty
the converter is established in Section 3. The experimental plat-
cycle. The current in the inductor iL flows from left to right, when
form is introduced and the efficiencies from the experiments under
0 6 t 6 K D1 T s , Q 1 is on and Q 2 is off, iL is increasing; when
different operating conditions are analyzed in Section 4. The effi-
K D1 T s 6 t 6 T s , Q 1 is off and Q 2 is on, iL is decreasing. In the buck
ciencies from the model and those from the experiments are com-
mode, the energy from the source V1 is transferred to the load in
pared in Section 5. Finally, the conclusions are presented in
V2 side. The current path in the whole process is shown in Fig. 3.
Section 6.

(2) Boost mode

2. Analysis of Bi DC/DC converter
It is assumed that the converter is in the CCM mode too. The
2.1. Selection of Bi DC/DC converter relationship between the input voltage U 2 and output voltage U 1
is U 1 =U 2 ¼ 1=ð1  K D2 Þ, where K D2 is duty cycle. The current in
Many topologies of Bi DC/DC converter are used in hybrid the inductor iL flows from right to left, when 0 6 t 6 K D2 T s , Q 1 is
energy storage systems (HESSs) [2]. Fig. 1 shows the fundamental off and Q 2 is on and iL is increasing; when K D2 T s 6 t 6 T s , Q 1 is
topology of the HESS which has been chosen in this study, where a on and Q 2 is off and iL is decreasing. The energy stored in the
battery pack is connected to a Bi DC/DC converter and the con- inductor together with DC power V2 supplies to the load in V1 side.
verter is then connected to an ultracapacitor pack. The current path in the whole process is shown in Fig. 4.
Three reasons are considered in the selection of this Bi con-
verter. First, the energy in HESSs should be allowed to transfer in
two directions, where the current can either flow from the battery
pack to the ultracpacitor or from the ultracpacitor to the battery
pack. Second, the voltage of the battery pack can be higher or lower
than that of the ultracapacitor pack, the buck or boost converter is
required to transfer energy between them. Third, a non-isolated
DC/DC converter, which has the features of small volume, light
weight and high efficiency, is selected to make the compact and
efficient HESSs. Fig. 2 shows the details of a Bi buck-boost DC/DC
converter [22–26].

2.2. Bi buck-boost converter operation

As shown in Fig. 2, the Bi buck-boost converter has two MOS-

FETs (or IGBTs) Q 1 , Q 2 , two diodes D1 , D2 , two capacitors C1 , C2

Fig. 1. Fundamental topology of HESSs. Fig. 3. Buck mode.

614 C. Wang et al. / Applied Energy 183 (2016) 612–622

Fig. 4. Boost mode.

Fig. 5. Equivalent circuit for efficiency model development in buck mode.

3. Efficiency model of Bi buck-boost converter

To develop the efficiency model, the detailed analysis of the

losses for each of components in a Bi buck-boost converter is con-
ducted when the converter is operating in steady state. Generally,
the losses include switching loss and conduction loss. In this paper,
the efficiency model for the buck mode will be only developed and
analyzed in detail since the procedure to develop the efficiency
model for the boost mode is similar to that for the buck mode.

3.1. Conduction loss

To establish efficiency model, we must model each of the com-

ponents in the converter. A MOSFET is represented by an ideal
switch and a turn-on resistances Ron1 (Ron2 ), a diode is represented
by an ideal switch, a forward voltage drop U D1 (U D2 ) and a conduc-
tion resistance RD1 (RD2 ) and a capacitor is represented by an ideal
capacitance C 1 (C 2 ) and an equivalent series resistance (ESR) RC1
(RC2 ). An inductor is represented by an ideal inductance L and a
resistance RL , where the inductor consists of wire wound around
a magnetic core of ferrite materials and RL denotes the losses of
wire resistance, hysteresis loss and eddy current loss. Figs. 5 and
6 show the circuit models for efficiency calculation in buck and
boost modes, respectively. The losses calculation in the buck mode
are shown below.

(1) Loss of turn-on resistance Ron1

Fig. 6. Equivalent circuit for efficiency model development in boost mode.

When Q 1 is turned on, the current flows through Q 1 is iQ 1 ¼ iL .

When Q 1 is turned off, the current flows through Q 1 is iQ 1 ¼ 0. The diode is iD2 ¼ iL . The RMS of current in one switching cycle is
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
R Ts pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
RMS of current in one switching cycle following though the induc- 2
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
RK T 2 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi IDrms ¼ T1s K D1 i dt ¼ ð1  K D1 ÞIL . According to the equivalent
T s D2
tor L is ILrms ¼ T1s 0 D1 s iQ 1 dt ¼ K D1 IL . IL is mean current, which is principle, the loss of forward turn-on resistance RD2 is
RT
defined as IL ¼ T1 0 iL dt. According to the equivalent principle, the
PRD2 ¼ ð1  K D1 ÞRD2 I2L ð2Þ
loss of turn-on resistance Ron1 is
(3) Loss of forward voltage drop U D2
PRon1 ¼ K D1 Ron1 I2L ð1Þ
(2) Loss of turn-on resistance RD2 The RMS of current flowing through the diode is
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
IDrms ¼ ð1  K D1 ÞIL , the loss of forward voltage drop U D2 is
When Q 1 is turned off, the current flowing through the diode is pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
PUD2 ¼ ð1  K D1 ÞU D2 IL ð3Þ
iD2 ¼ 0. When Q 1 is turned on, the current flowing through the
 C. Wang et al. / Applied Energy 183 (2016) 612–622 615

(4) Loss of inductor resistance RL A3

gðIo Þ ¼ A1 Io þ ð12Þ
Io
Since this converter is working in the CCM mode, there is
where output current Io represents IL in the buck model. The first
always the current following though the inductor. The loss of
inductor resistance RL in one switching cycle is derivative of Eq. (12) gives g 0 ðIo Þ ¼ A1 þ A3 =I2o , where A1 and A3 are
positive values. When g 0 ðIo Þ is set to zero, the inflection point of
PRL ¼ RL I2L ð4Þ the output current can be obtained. As a result, if the output current
Io is lower than the current at the inflection point, gðIo Þ rises when
(5) Loss of capacitor’s ESR RC2
the output current Io increases; if the output current Io is higher
than the current at the inflection point, gðIo Þ decreases when the
The capacitor in the circuit plays a role of blocking DC and cir-
output current Io increases [27–30].
culating AC, and the current of filter capacitor is the AC component
Similar to the procedure which the efficiency model in the buck
of the inductor, namely the ripple current of the inductor DiL , it can
mode is developed, the efficiency model in the boost mode can be
be calculated by
8 obtained as
< iC ¼ DiL t  DiL 0 6 t 6 K D1 T s
K D1 T s 2 Pout Pout U1
: iC ¼
ð5Þ g¼ ¼ ¼ ð13Þ
 Dð1K
iL ðtK D1 T s Þ
D1 ÞT s
t þ DiL
2
K D1 T s 6 t 6 T s Pin Pout þ Pswitch þ Pconduction B1 IL þ B2 þ BI 3
L

The RMS of current in the capacitor is where

sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 8
Z Ts > B1 ¼ ð1  K D2 ÞRon2 þ K D2 RD1 þ RL
1 2 DiL U 2 ð1  K D1 Þ >
< pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ICrms ¼ iC2 dt ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffi ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffi ð6Þ B2 ¼ U 1 þ K D2 U D1
Ts 0 12 12f s L ð14Þ
>
> 2 ðE þE Þf
: B3 ¼ RC1 U1 K D2 þ swðonÞ 2swðoffÞ s
The loss of capacitor’s ESR RC2 is 12ðf LÞ2
s

2
RC2 DiL RC2 U 22 ð1  K D1 Þ The efficiency models for the buck and boost modes of the Bi
PRC2 ¼ RC2 I2Crms ¼ ¼ 2
ð7Þ DC/DC converter is implemented in MATLAB/Simulink platform
12 12ðf s LÞ
and the parameters of the components used in the platform are
The sum of all the above conduction losses leads to Eq. (8) illustrated as Table 1. The simulation is conducted to obtain the
relationship between the efficiency and the output current and
Pconduction ¼ Pon1 þ P RD2 þ PUD2 þ PRL þ PRC2 ð8Þ
the simulation results of the efficiency characteristics are shown
in Fig. 7. It can be observed that (1) the efficiencies for both buck
3.2. Switching loss and boost modes have the similar trends, namely the efficiency
increases at first and decreases subsequently. (2) The output cur-
When the MOSFET is used as a switching device in the con- rent Io at the inflection point is 20 A in the buck mode and 4.9 A
verter, it will not turn on or off instantly. During turn-on period, in the boost mode.
the voltage of the switch falls gradually while the current of the
switch rises up to the load current. The voltage and current of 4. Experimental efficiency analysis for Bi buck-boost converter
the switch are present simultaneously during the turn-on cross-
over interval, which produces the switching loss during turn-on 4.1. Experimental design scheme
period. Similarly, the switching loss during turn-off period is pro-
duced too. They both are combined into the total switching loss Different temperatures, materials of the switching devices, duty
of the converter as cycles and switching frequencies as presented in Table 2 as well as
Pswitch ¼ ðEswðonÞ þ EswðoffÞ Þ  f s =2 ð9Þ two working modes for the Bi DC/DC converter will be considered
in the experiments. In the buck mode, the input voltage is set to
where EswðonÞ represents the energy loss in the turn-on switching 300 V, the output voltage will be 100 V at KD1 = 33.33%, 150 V at
period, EswðoffÞ represents the energy loss in the turn-off switching KD1 = 50% and 200 V at KD1 = 66.67%, respectively. In the boost
period and f s is the switching frequency. mode, the input voltage is set to 50 V, the output voltage is 75 V
at KD2 = 33.33%, 100 V at KD2 = 50% and 200 V at KD2 = 75%, respec-
3.3. Efficiency model tively. The combination of all different settings can lead to the total
of 48 experiments.
According to the previous analysis, the efficiency model of a Bi
DC/DC converter in the buck mode can be obtained as 4.2. Establishment of experimental platform
P Pout U2
g ¼ out ¼ ¼ ð10Þ The experimental platform is established to investigate the Bi
Pin Pout þ P switch þ Pconduction A1 IL þ A2 þ AI 3
L DC/DC converter in laboratory. It consists of a DC power supply,
where capacitor C1 ¼ 220lF, C2 ¼ 100lF, a inductor bank, a load, a oscil-
8 loscope, a heater, a driver and its power supply (driving power)
> A1 ¼ K D1 Ron1 þ ð1  K D1 ÞRD2 þ RL
>
< pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
A2 ¼ U 2 þ ð1  K D1 ÞU D2 ð11Þ
>
> Table 1
: A3 ¼ RC2 U2 ð1K D1 Þ þ ðEswðonÞ þEswðoffÞ Þf s
2
Simulation parameters settings.
12ðf LÞ2 s
2

f s ¼ 25 kHz K D1 ¼ K D2 ¼ 50%
From Eq. (10), it is assumed that output voltage U2 is kept con-
U 1 ¼ 300 V U 2 ¼ 50 V
stant, the relationship between the efficiency and the inductor cur- C 1 ¼ 220 lF C 2 ¼ 100 lF
rent can be studied through the following polynomial equation RC1 ¼ RC2 ¼ 0:01 X Ron1 ¼ Ron2 ¼ 0:01 X
RD1 ¼ RD2 ¼ 0:03 X U D1 ¼ U D2 ¼ 0:45 V
RL ¼ 0:05 X L ¼ 5  103 H
616 C. Wang et al. / Applied Energy 183 (2016) 612–622

1 0.98

0.99 0.96

0.98 0.94
η

η
0.97 0.92
(a) (b)
0.96 0.9

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 0 5 10 15 20
Output current (A) Output current (A)
(a) Buck mode (b) Boost mode
Fig. 7. Efficiency characteristic of Bi buck-boost converter from simulation.

Table 2
Experimental settings.

Mode Materials of switch Temperature Switching frequency Duty cycle

Buck SiC 25 °C 15 kHz 33.33%
50%
Boost Si 85 °C 25 kHz 66.67% or 75%

Fig. 8. Experimental platform in Buck mode.

and a signal generator as shown in Fig. 8. In the current setting, the T s U1

ILB1 > ILB1;max ¼ ð15Þ
Bi buck-boost converter is operated in the buck mode. If we swap 8L
the DC power supply and the load, the converter will be operated
in the boost mode. T s U2
ILB2 > ILB2;max ¼ K D2 ð16Þ
The input voltage of the DC power supply varies from 0 V to 2L
300 V. The inductor bank has ten switches which can be used to
set the inductance values from 2.5 mH to 25 mH. The two switches where Ts is cycle, L is inductance. In Buck mode, U1 is input voltage.
3 In Boost mode, KD2 is duty cycle, U2 is input voltage. If ILB1 > ILB1;max
are on to set the inductance value L ¼ 5  10 H in this experi-
or ILB2 > ILB2;max , the converter is working in the CCM with any duty
ment. The oscilloscope can display the waveforms of the voltage
cycle for Buck mode or Boost mode, respectively. According to the
and current of the load. The heater can heat MOSFET SiC or IGBT
calculation based on the parameters, the boundary condition
Si up to 85 °C. The driver provides the control signal to the MOSFET
between the CCM and the DCM in buck mode and boost mode are
SiC or IGBT Si and set the frequency range from 5 kHz to 25 kHz
correspondingly shown in Tables 3 and 4.
with different duty cycles through the signal generator. The load
All the experiment currents in both buck and boost modes are
consists of 8 load banks with each of them having 16 switches.
larger than the boundary conditions, so the circuit is always work-
In the experimental platform, all the load banks are connected in
parallel. Inside each load bank, 16 resistors is also connected in
parallel through the corresponding 16 switches. Since every resis- Table 3
tance value is 560 X, the whole range of load resistance can be set The boundary condition between
in the range of 4.375–560 X. CCM and DCM in Buck mode.

The boundary conditions between CCM and DCM in Buck mode U 1 ¼ 300 V
and Boost mode are respectively shown in Eqs. (15) and (16). T s ¼ 1=15 kHz 0.500 A
T s ¼ 1=25 kHz 0.300 A
 C. Wang et al. / Applied Energy 183 (2016) 612–622 617

Table 4
The boundary condition between CCM and DCM in Boost mode.

U 2 ¼ 50V;K D2 ¼ 33:3% U 2 ¼ 50V;K D2 ¼ 50% U 2 ¼ 50V;K D2 ¼ 75%

T s ¼ 1=15 kHz 0.111 A 0.167 A 0.250 A

T s ¼ 1=25 kHz 0.067 A 0.100 A 0.150 A

Fig. 9. Actual load in experimental platform.

ing in CCM with any duty cycle. The actual load in the experiment 85 °C, where two different materials of the switching devices are
platform is shown in Fig. 9. used. The experimental parameters are set as Table 5.
In theory, the losses of the turn-on resistances for the switching
devices decrease with temperature rise, thus the total losses
4.3. Experimental results and discussion
decrease in both buck and boost modes and the efficiency at
85 °C is higher than that at 25 °C, which is consistent with the
Since the inductance bank and the wires can only carry the
experimental results in Fig. 11. It can also be observed from
maximum current of 10 A, the experiments are only conducted
Fig. 11 that (1) the efficiency in the buck mode is increasing in
in the current range of 0–10 A. Fig. 10 shows the experimental
the output current range of 0–7 A. The efficiency in the boost mode
results of the efficiencies of the converter in the buck and boost
increases first and then decreases, where the output current of the
modes, respectively. It shows that the experimental results agree
inflection point is 2 A. (2) in the buck mode, the peak efficiency is
with those simulation results for the buck and boost modes within
nearly 91% when the current reaches 7.6 A at 85 °C. In the boost
the given current range.
mode, the peak efficiency is nearly 98.1% at 85 °C. (3) IGBT Si is
The experimental results for the influences of temperature,
more sensitive to temperature than MOSFET SiC. The efficiency at
switching frequency, duty cycle on the efficiency of the Bi DC/DC
25 °C is similar to that at 85 °C for the MOSFET SiC while the effi-
converter are also shown below.
ciency at 25 °C is 2% larger than that at 85 °C for the IGB Si in both
buck and boost modes. Overall, MOSFET SiC is more efficient than
(1) Temperature
IGBT Si.
Fig. 11 illustrates the efficiency characteristic of the buck and
boost modes at the two ambient temperatures of 25 °C and (2) Switching frequency

1 0.98

0.99 0.96

0.98 0.94
η

0.97 0.92
(a) (b)
0.96 0.9

0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10
Output current (A) Output current (A)
(a) Buck mode (b) Boost mode
Fig. 10. Efficiency characteristics of Bi buck-boost converter in current range of 0–10 A from experiments.
618 C. Wang et al. / Applied Energy 183 (2016) 612–622

0.92 1

0.9

0.88 0.95

η 0.86

η
0.84 SiC-25䉝 0.9 SiC-25䉝
SiC-85䉝 SiC-85䉝
0.82 Si-25䉝 Si-25䉝
(a) Si-85䉝 (b) Si-85䉝
0.8 0.85
2 4 6 8 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Output current (A) Output current (A)
(a) Buck mode (b) Boost mode
Fig. 11. Efficiency characteristics at different temperatures from experiments.

Table 5
Experimental parameters setting under 25 °C or 85 °C.

Mode Materials of switch Input voltage Output current Switching frequency Duty cycle
Buck SiC or Si 300 V 0–10 A 15 kHz 33.33%
Boost SiC or Si 50 V 0–7 A 15 kHz 33.33%

0.92 0.98

0.9 0.96

0.94
0.88
0.92
0.86
η

0.9
0.84 SiC-15kHz SiC-15kHz
SiC-25kHz 0.88 SiC-25kHz
0.82 Si-15kHz Si-15kHz
0.86
(a) Si-25kHz (b) Si-25kHz
0.8 0.84
2 4 6 8 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Output current (A) Output current (A)
(a) Buck mode (b) Boost mode
Fig. 12. Efficiency characteristics at different switching frequencies from experiments.

Table 6
Experimental parameters setting under 15 kHz or 25 kHz.

Mode Materials of switch Input voltage Output current Temperature Duty cycle
Buck SiC or Si 300 V 0–10 A 25 °C 33.33%
Boost SiC or Si 50 V 0–7 A 25 °C 33.33%

0.98 0.98
0.96
0.96
0.94
0.94
0.92

0.9 0.92
η

0.88 0.9
SiC-33.33% SiC-33.33%
0.86 SiC-50% SiC-50%
0.88 SiC-75%
0.84 SiC-66.67%
Si-33.33% Si-33.33%
0.86 Si-50%
0.82 Si-50%
(a) Si-66.67% (b) Si-75%
0.8 0.84
2 4 6 8 10 1 2 3 4 5
Output current (A) Output current (A)

(a) Buck mode (b) Boost mode

Fig. 13. Efficiency characteristics in different duty cycles from experiments.
 C. Wang et al. / Applied Energy 183 (2016) 612–622 619

Table 7
Experimental parameters setting under 33.33%, 50%, 66.67% or 75%.

Mode Materials of switch Input voltage Output current Temperature Duty cycle
Buck SiC or Si 300 V 0–10 A 25 °C 33.33%, 50%, 66.67%
Boost SiC or Si 50 V 0–5 A 25 °C 33.33%, 50%, 75%

0.95 0.95

0.9
0.9

0.85
0.85
η

η
0.8
SiC-15kHz-experiment Si-15kHz-experiment
0.8 SiC-25kHz-experiment Si-25kHz-experiment
0.75
SiC-15kHz-theoretical Si-15kHz-theoretical
(a) SiC-25kHz-theoretical (b) Si-25kHz-theoretical
0.75 0.7
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Output current (A) Output current (A)

(a) Buck mode, KD1 = 33.33 %, SiC (b) Buck mode, KD1 = 33.33 %, Si

1 0.95

0.95 0.9

0.9 0.85
η

SiC-15kHz-experiment Si-15kHz-experiment
0.85 SiC-25kHz-experiment 0.8 Si-25kHz-experiment
SiC-15kHz-theoretical Si-15kHz-theoretical
(c) SiC-25kHz-theoretical (d) Si-25kHz-theoretical
0.8 0.75
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Output current (A) Output current (A)
(c) Buck mode, KD1 = 50 %, SiC (d) Buck mode, KD1 = 50 %, Si
0.98 1

0.96

0.94 0.95
0.92
η

0.9 SiC-15kHz-experiment Si-15kHz-experiment

0.9
SiC-25kHz-experiment Si-25kHz-experiment
0.88 (e) SiC-15kHz-theoretical Si-15kHz-theoretical
(f)
SiC-25kHz-theoretical Si-25kHz-theoretical
0.86 0.85
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Output current (A) Output current (A)
(e) Buck mode, KD1 = 66.67 %, SiC (f) Buck mode, KD1 = 66.67 %, Si
Fig. 14. Comparison of theoretical and experimental efficiencies at different frequencies, materials and duty cycles in buck and boost modes.

Fig. 12 shows the efficiency characteristic of the buck and boost
modes at the two switching frequencies of 15 kHz and 25 kHz,
where two different materials of the switching devices are also
used. The experimental parameters are set as Table 6.
It can be observed from Fig. 12 that (1) the peak efficiency in the
buck mode is nearly 91% while the peak efficiency in the boost
mode is almost 97%. The efficiency characteristics are similar in
both the buck and boost modes. (2) The influence of frequency
on MOSFET SiC is smaller than that on IGBT Si. The efficiency at
15 kHz is a little larger than that at 25 kHz for the MOSFET SiC
while the efficiency at 15 kHz is about 2% higher than that at
25 kHz for the IGBT Si.
(3) Duty cycle
Fig. 13 shows the relation between efficiency and duty cycle for
two different materials of switching devices in two working
modes. The duty cycles are taken as 33.33%, 50%, 66.67%
and 75%, respectively. The experimental parameters are set as
Table 7.
It can be seen that (1) the efficiency increases with the rise of
duty cycle in the buck mode. The peak efficiency is nearly 97.6%
at the output current of 8 A when the duty cycle is 66.67%. If the
duty cycles reduce to 50% and 33.33%, the corresponding peak
efficiencies decrease to 94.5% and 90.3%. On the contrary, the
620 C. Wang et al. / Applied Energy 183 (2016) 612–622

0.98 1

0.96 0.95
0.94
0.9

η
0.92
η 0.85
SiC-15kHz-experiment Si-15kHz-experiment
0.9
SiC-25kHz-experiment Si-25kHz-experiment
0.8 Si-15kHz-theoretical
0.88 SiC-15kHz-theoretical
(g) SiC-25kHz-theoretical
(h) Si-25kHz-theoretical
0.86 0.75
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Output current (A) Output current (A)

(g) Boost mode, KD2 = 33.33 %, SiC (h) Boost mode, KD2 = 33.33 %, Si

1 1

0.95
0.95
0.9

0.85

η
0.9
η

SiC-15kHz-experiment 0.8 Si-15kHz-experiment

0.85 SiC-25kHz-experiment Si-25kHz-experiment
0.75 Si-15kHz-theoretical
SiC-15kHz-theoretical
(i) (j) Si-25kHz-theoretical
SiC-25kHz-theoretical
0.8 0.7
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
Output current (A) Output current (A)

(i) Boost mode, KD2 = 50 %, SiC (j) Boost mode, KD2 = 50 %, Si

0.96 1
Si-15kHz-experiment
0.94 Si-25kHz-experiment
0.95 Si-15kHz-theoretical
0.92 Si-25kHz-theoretical

0.9
η

0.9
η

0.88 SiC-15kHz-experiment
SiC-25kHz-experiment 0.85
0.86 SiC-15kHz-theoretical
(k) SiC-25kHz-theoretical
(l)
0.84 0.8
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Output current (A) Output current (A)

(k) Boost mode, KD2 = 75%, SiC (l) Boost mode, KD2 = 75 %, Si

Fig. 14 (continued)

efficiency decreases with the rise of duty cycle in the boost mode.
The peak efficiency is nearly 96.9% at the output current of 1.8 A
when the duty cycle is 33.33%. If the duty cycles increase to 50%
and 75%, the corresponding peak efficiencies decreases to 96.5%
and 92.4%. (2) Similar to above analysis, the efficiency for MOSFET
SiC is approximate 3% higher than that for the IGBT Si.
5. Comparison of model and experimental efficiencies
The model and experimental efficiencies are compared under
different working modes, duty cycles and the materials of the
switching devices. Figs. 14 and 15 show their comparison results
and absolute errors (AEs), respectively.
It can be seen from Fig. 15(a)–(c) that the maximum AE is
around 10% and the minimum AE is nearly 0.7% for the buck mode.
It can also be seen from Fig. 15(d)–(f) that the maximum AE is 15%
and the minimum AE is nearly 0.5% for the boost mode. The rea-
sons to cause these errors are analyzed as follows: (1) Measure-
ment errors. The measurements of output current using the
current clamp meter can cause large error. There are also voltage
measurement errors from the voltage meter and the oscilloscope.
These voltage measurement errors may be aggravated by taking
the voltage drop across the resistance of 10 mm2 wire for the con-
nection of all the equipment for experimental setup into account.
(2) Modeling errors. The equivalent resistances in the inductor,
capacitor, diode and MOSFET (or IGBT) are not accurate. The tem-
perature and materials of the switching devices are not taken into
account in the model. (3) Inaccurate values of switching losses in
the datasheet.
6. Conclusions
This paper develops the efficiency model for a Bi DC/DC con-
verter. The model and experimental efficiencies are compared to
show that the proposed efficiency model has high accuracy which
can be applied to predict the efficiency of the Bi DC/DC converter
under different working conditions. Furthermore, the influences
of the multi-factors, such as temperatures, materials of the
 C. Wang et al. / Applied Energy 183 (2016) 612–622 621

0.1 SiC-15kHz Acknowledgements

Absolute error

SiC-25kHz
0.08 Si-15kHz
0.06 Si-25kHz This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foun-
0.04 dation of China (Grant No. 51507012, 51675042) and the Joint
0.02 Funds of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant
0 No. U1564206). Any opinions expressed in this paper are solely
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Output current (A) those of the authors and do not represent those of the sponsor.
(a) Buck mode, KD1 = 33.33 %

0.1
SiC-15kHz
References
Absolute error

0.08 SiC-25kHz
Si-15kHz
0.06 Si-25kHz
[1] Al-Alawi Baha M, Bradley Thomas H. Review of hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and
0.04 electric vehicle market modeling studies. Renew Sustain Energy Rev
0.02 2013;21:190–203.
[2] Kim Y, Koh J, Xie Q, Wang Y, Chang N, Pedram M. A scalable and flexible hybrid
0
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 energy storage system design and implementation. J Power Sources
Output current (A) 2014;255:410–22.
[3] Ding X, Du HM, Zhou T, Guo H, Zhang C. Comprehensive comparison between
(b) Buck mode, KD1 = 50 % silicon carbide MOSFETs and silicon IGBTs based traction systems for electric
vehicles. Appl Energy 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.05.059.
0.1
[4] Li J, Zhang M, Yang Q, et al. SMES/battery hybrid energy storage system for
SiC-15kHz
Absolute error

0.08 SiC-25kHz
electric buses. IEEE Trans Appl Supercond 2016;26(4):1–5.
Si-15kHz [5] Zhang S, Xiong R, Cao JY. Battery durability and longevity based power
0.06 Si-25kHz
management for plug-in hybrid electric vehicle with hybrid energy storage
0.04 system. Appl Energy 2016;179:316–28.
0.02 [6] Mahery Hamed Mashinchi, Babaei Ebrahim. Mathematical modeling of buck-
boost dc-dc converter and investigation of converter elements on transient and
0 steady state responses. Int J Electr Power Energy Syst 2013;44(1):949–63.
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Output current (A) [7] Sun F, Xiong R, He H. A systematic state-of-charge estimation framework for
multi-cell battery pack in electric vehicles using bias correction technique.
(c) Buck mode, KD1 = 66.67 % Appl Energy 2016;162(1):1399–409.
[8] Renaudineau Hugues, Martin Jean-Philippe, Nahid-Mobarakeh Babak,
SiC-15kHz
Pierfederici Serge. DC–DC converters dynamic modeling with state observer-
based parameter estimation. IEEE Trans Power Electron 2015;30(6):3356–63.
Absolute error

SiC-25kHz
0.1 Si-15kHz [9] Song Z, Li J, Han X, Xu L, Lu L, Ouyang M, Hofmann Heath. Multi-objective
Si-25kHz
optimization of a semi-active battery/supercapacitor energy storage system
0.05 for electric vehicles. Appl Energy 2014;135:212–24.
[10] Naik M Venkatesh, Samuel Paulson. Analysis of ripple current, power losses
and high efficiency of DC-DC converters for fuel cell power generating
0 systems. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2016;59:1080–8.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
[11] Chiu H, Yao C, Lo Y. Letter to the editor a DC/DC converter topology for
Output current (A)
renewable energy systems. Int J Circuit Theory Appl 2009;37(2):485–95.
(d) Boost mode, KD2 = 33.33 % [12] Hegazy Omar, Van Mierlo Joeri, Lataire Philippe. Analysis, modeling, and
implementation of a multidevice interleaved DC/DC converter for fuel cell
0.1 hybrid electric vehicles. IEEE Trans Power Electron 2012;27(11):4445–57.
SiC-15kHz [13] Wang K, Pi C, Yan W, Li W. A novel high efficiency low ripple switched-
Absolute error

0.08 SiC-25kHz
Si-15kHz capacitor DC/DC converter. Analog Integr Circ Sig Process 2012;71(1):81–94.
0.06 Si-25kHz [14] Yeh Chia-An, Lai Yen-Shin. Digital pulsewidth modulation technique for a
0.04
synchronous buck DC/DC converter to reduce switching frequency. IEEE Trans
Industr Electron 2012;59(1):550–61.
0.02 [15] Fathabadi Hassan. Novel high efficiency DC/DC boost converter for using in
0 photovoltaic systems. Sol Energy 2015;125(12):22–31.
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 [16] Rathore Akshay K, Bhat Ashoka KS, Ramesh Oruganti. Analysis, design and
Output current (A) experimental results of wide range ZVS active-clamped L-L type current-fed
(e) Boost mode, KD2 = 50 % DC/DC converter for fuel cells to utility interface. IEEE Trans Industr Electron
2012;59(1):473–85.
0.1 [17] Eccher M, Salemi A, Turrini S, Brusa RS. Measurements of power transfer
SiC-15kHz efficiency in CPV cell-array models using individual DC–DC converters. Appl
Absolute error

0.08 SiC-25kHz
Si-15kHz
Energy 2015;142:396–406.
0.06 Si-25kHz [18] Funaki Tsuyoshi, Balda JuanC, Junghans Jeremy, Jangwanitlert Anuwat, et al.
Switching characteristics of SiC JFET and Schottky diode in high-temperature
0.04
dc-dc power converters. IEICE Electron Express 2005;2(2):97–102.
0.02 [19] Mazumder SK, Jedraszczak P. Evaluation of a SiC dc/dc converter for plug-in
0 hybrid-electric-vehicle at high inlet-coolant temperature. IET Power Electron
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 2010;4(6):708–14.
Output current (A) [20] Zhong X, Wu X, Zhou W, Sheng K. An all-SiC high-frequency boost DC–DC
(f) Boost mode, KD2 = 75 % converter operating at 320 °C junction temperature. IEEE Trans Power Electron
2014;29(10):5091–6.
[21] Naayagi RT, Forsyth Andrew J, Shuttleworth R. High-power bidirectional DC–
Fig. 15. Absolut errors between theoretical and experimental efficiencies at
DC converter for aerospace applications. IEEE Trans Power Electron 2012;27
different frequencies, materials and duty cycles in buck and boost modes. (11):4366–79.
[22] Castaings Ali, Lhomme Walter, Trigui Rochdi, Bouscayrol Alain. Comparison of
energy management strategies of a battery/supercapacitors system for electric
switching devices, duty cycles and switching frequencies, on the vehicle under real-time constraints. Appl Energy 2016;163:190–200.
[23] Ren Y, Ming X, Zhou J, Lee Fred C. Analytical loss model of power MOSFET. IEEE
efficiency of the converter has been experimentally studied. The
Trans Power Electron 2006;21(2):310–9.
results show that generally the Bi DC/DC converter with the MOS- [24] Yang Jae-Won, Do Hyun-Lark. Soft-switching bidirectional DC-DC converter
FET SiC operating at low frequency will achieve high efficiency. For using a lossless active snubber. IEEE Trans Circ Syst I- Reg Pap 2014;61
the influence of duty cycle on efficiency, high duty cycle results in (5):1588–96.
[25] Anno Tasuku, Koizumi Hirotaka. Double-input bidirectional DC/DC converter
high efficiency in the buck mode and low efficiency in the boost using cell-voltage equalizer with flyback transformer. IEEE Trans Power
mode. Electron 2015;30(6):2923–34.
622 C. Wang et al. / Applied Energy 183 (2016) 612–622

[26] Duran E, Andujar JM, Segura F, Barragan AJ. A high-flexibility DC load for fuel
cell and solar arrays power sources based on DC-DC converters. Appl Energy
2011;88(5):1690–702.
[27] Sun J, Liu Q, Leng Z, Wang H, Tong X. A current distribution strategy for parallel
DC/DC converters based on the efficiency model. Proc CSEE 2013;33(15):10–8.
[28] Sun Y, Xiang W, Zhao L, Zhang H. A research on the high efficiency
bidirectional DC/DC converter of the hybrid energy system in electric
vehicles. Automot Eng 2015;37(1):21–5.
[29] Sun J, Liu Q, Leng Z, Wang H, Tong X. A study of efficiency characteristics and
related issues of DC/DC converter. J Xi’an Univ Technol 2013;29(2):197–201.
[30] Davoudi A, Jatskevich J, De Rybel T. Numerical state space average value
modeling of PWM dc–dc converters operating in DCM and CCM. IEEE Trans
Power Electron Jul. 2006;21(4):1003–12.