A new three-phase interleaved isolated boost converter with active clamp for fuel cells

In this paper, a new three-phase high power dc/dc converter with an active clamp is proposed. The converter is capable of increased power transfer due to its three-phase power configuration, and it reduces the rms current per phase, thus reducing conduction losses. Further, interleaved operation of three-phase boost converter reduces overall ripple current, which is imposed into fuel cells and realizes smaller sized filter components, increasing effective operating frequency and leading to higher power density. Each output current of three-phase boost converter is combined by the three-phase transformer and flows in the continuous conduction mode by the proposed three-phase PWM strategy. An efficiency of above 96% is mainly achieved by reducing conduction losses and switching losses are reduced by the action of active clamp branches, as well. The proposed converter and three-phase PWM strategy are analyzed, simulated and implemented in hardware. Experimental results are obtained on a 500 W prototype unit, with all of the design verified and analyzed.

[1]  P.D. Ziogas,et al.  Analysis and design of a three-phase offline DC-DC converter with high frequency isolation , 1988, Conference Record of the 1988 IEEE Industry Applications Society Annual Meeting.

[2]  Douglas J. Nelson,et al.  Fuel cell systems: efficient, flexible energy conversion for the 21st century , 2001, Proc. IEEE.

[3]  I. Barbi,et al.  A three-phase ZVS PWM DC/DC converter with asymmetrical duty cycle for high power applications , 2003, IEEE 34th Annual Conference on Power Electronics Specialist, 2003. PESC '03..

[4]  J. Jacobs,et al.  A novel three-phase DC/DC converter for high-power applications , 2004, 2004 IEEE 35th Annual Power Electronics Specialists Conference (IEEE Cat. No.04CH37551).

[5]  Jih-Sheng Lai,et al.  A novel three-phase high-power soft-switched DC/DC converter for low-voltage fuel cell applications , 2005 .

[6]  P. Enjeti,et al.  A Novel Three-Phase High Power Current-Fed DC/DC Converter with Active Clamp for Fuel Cells , 2007, 2007 IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference.