Design and Control of Two Stage Battery Charger for Low Voltage Electric Vehicles Using High Gain Buck-Boost PFC AC-DC Converter

The design and control of a two-stage onboard battery charger (OBC) for the low-voltage electric vehicle (LVEVs) are presented in this study. The presented charger operates over a wide range of AC input voltage at high power factor. The presented charger utilizes a bridgeless high gain high power factor AC-DC converter with continuous input current characteristics at its front end. At the back end of the charger, an isolated Cuk DC-DC converter is employed to control and implement different battery charging modes, viz. constant current (CC) and constant voltage (CV) charging profiles. The presented AC-DC converter operates under discontinuous current mode (DCM) operation and achieves minimum control complexity at the AC-DC stage. The DCM design and high voltage conversion ratio allow it to function reliably over a comprehensive range of input and intermediate DC link voltage. This study covers the charger's design for a power rating of 650 W and output battery voltage of 24 to 72 V. The overall operational analysis and effectiveness of the design are verified through both simulations and experimental implementation and the performance is compared with other contemporary power factor correction (PFC) topologies on various parameters.