Bidirectional DC/DC Power Converter for Hybrid Yacht Propulsion System

Typical application of bidirectional DC/DC power converter exists in hybrid cars. Recently, a similar approach has been applied in hybrid propelled ships as well. In this paper, a novel low power bidirectional DC/DC power converter of standard Buck/Boost topology has ben designed in order to explore possibilities of the high power design in maritime applications. In order to discover critical points of a design, thermal imaging has been investigated. The results clearly indicate that the proposed solution is more cost effective than a typical standard bidirectional DC/DC power converter. Likewise, the improvement in maneuvering of the propelled vessel system with two and more electric drives has been investigated and compared to a classical diesel, single engine propulsion system.