The development of high-power charging stations with fast chargers is a promising solution to shorten the charging time for electric vehicles (EVs). The neutral-point-clamped (NPC) converter-based bipolar-dc-bus-fed charging station brings many merits, but it has inherent voltage balance limits. To solve this issue, a voltage balance control (VBC) method based on a new modulation together with three-level (TL) dc-dc converter-based fast charger is proposed. Additionally, an effective VBC coordination between the TL dc-dc converter and the NPC converter is formulated. Through the proposed VBC coordination, the controllable balancing region is extended so that additional balancing circuits are eliminated. Meanwhile, the quality of the grid-side currents is improved as the NPC converter has more freedom to control currents. The low-frequency voltage fluctuations in dc buses are removed because the TL dc-dc converter performs most of the balancing tasks. Faster VBC perturbation performance is achieved due to higher available balancing current at TL dc-dc converter side. In addition, the voltage balance limits of both the TL dc-dc converter and the NPC converter are explored. The voltage balancing performances are compared when VBC is located at different sides. Simulation and experimental results are provided to verify the proposed VBC and the VBC coordination.

With the increasing popularity of electric vehicles, there is an urgent demand to shorten the charging time, so the development of high-power charging stations with fast chargers is necessary to alleviate range anxiety for drivers. The charging station based on the neutral-point-clamped (NPC) converter can bring many merits, but it has unbalanced power problems in the bipolar dc bus. To solve this issue, comprehensive dc power balance management (PBM) in conjunction with high-power three-level dc-dc converter based fast charger is proposed in this paper. The active dc power balance management (APBM) is proposed to assist the central NPC converter in balancing power so that the additional balancing circuit is eliminated; while the passive dc power balance management (PPBM) is proposed to eliminate the fluctuating neutral-point currents and to ensure the balanced operation of fast chargers. The principles of APBM and PPBM are researched, the efficient integration between them is studied, and the overall control scheme for the fast charger is proposed. The power balance limits of APBM are explored, while the circulating currents of PPBM are analyzed. Simulation and experimental results are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed fast charger with PBM functions.

This paper proposes a novel architecture for plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) dc charging station at the megawatt level, through the use of a grid-tied neutral point clamped (NPC) converter. The proposed bipolar dc structure reduces the step-down effort on the dc-dc fast chargers. In addition, this paper proposes a balancing mechanism that allows handling any difference on the dc loads while keeping the midpoint voltage accurately regulated. By formally defining the unbalance operation limit, the proposed control scheme is able to provide complementary balancing capabilities by the use of an additional NPC leg acting as a bidirectional dc-dc stage, simulating the minimal load condition and allowing the modulator to keep the control on the dc voltages under any load scenario. The proposed solution enables fast charging for PEVs concentrating several charging units into a central grid-tied converter. In this paper, simulation and experimental results are presented to validate the proposed charging station architecture.

This paper proposes an effective voltage balance control (VBC) together with a new modulation technique for a high-power bidirectional three-level dc-dc converter based fast charger. The proposed VBC method can assist charging stations in balancing the dc-bus voltages so that additional balancing circuits are eliminated, leading to improved system efficiency. Meanwhile the proposed modulation method is not only intuitive to be implemented, but also have merits of reduced switching frequency, resulting in lower switching losses. The modulation principle is formulated, and its effective combination with the voltage balance control are analysed in detail. Based on which, the overall control scheme for the charging system is proposed. Simulation results are presented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.