A Hardware-Based Bidirectional Power Flow Decoupling Approach for Multi-Active-Bridge Converters

Cross-coupling effect and complicated control are the main drawbacks in multi-port structures such as multi-active bridge (MAB) converters. This paper discusses existing solutions for decoupling power flow in the MAB and proposes a new strategy. The suggested solution requires an external inductor and two more switches per bidirectional port, and one inductor per output unidirectional port. The theoretical analysis shows that each output port can be controlled independently in all scenarios. The proposed strategy does not require a decoupling matrix, and each port behaves like a separated dual-active bridge converter. In the end, the functionality and performance of the proposal are validated in PLECS simulator, demonstrating an appropriate selection of the inductances can decouple the power flow effectively, besides it reduces the circulating power and enhances the possibility of fault tolerance.