Simple Bidirectional Power Line Communication with Switching Converters in DC Power Distribution Network

Simple bidirectional power line communication (PLC) method by using switching ripples in DC-DC converters is proposed. In this method, current ripples in the input side of converters are used as signal carrier whose frequency is modified as a function of transmission data. The frequency modulator is easily realized by just adding a transistor and a resistor to a conventional PWM controller. Demodulator is also realized by simple analog circuit. With proposed method, the converters are capable of data transmission through DC power lines. Bidirectional communication is also achieved under certain conditions. Both computer simulation and experimental results show the effectiveness of proposed method.