Optimized Operation of Dual-Active-Bridge DC-DC Converters in the Soft-Switching Area with Triple-Phase-Shift Control at Light Loads

It is usually difficult for dual-active-bridge (DAB) dc-dc converters to operate efficiently at light loads. This paper presents an in-depth analysis of a DAB with triple-phase-shift (TPS) control under the light load condition to overcome this problem. A kind of operating mode which is suitable for light load operation is analyzed in this paper. First, an analysis of the zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) constraints for the DAB converter has been carried out and a reasonable dead-band setting method has been proposed. Secondly, the basic operating characteristics of the converter are analyzed. Third, under the condition of satisfying the ZVS constraints, both the reactive power and the root mean square (RMS) value of the current are simultaneously minimized and a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is employed to analyze and solve this optimization problem. Lastly, both simulations and experiments are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The experimental results show that the converter can effectively achieve ZVS and improved efficiency.