Soft switching bidirectional converter for battery discharging-charging

This paper presents the results of a project that looked after a high efficiency bidirectional converter which could be used as a battery discharge/charge regulator when the bus voltage is above the battery voltage. High efficiency, high stability and simplicity are the main goals, no galvanic isolation is required. Taking into account all these parameters, our proposed solution has been a new topology based on a boost converter with coupled inductors. The use of a bidirectional converter reduces the mass of the overall charge/discharge subsystem and lowers cost and component count. In the project, its use is intended for space applications, but telecom, automotive or similar applications can also benefit of this new concept.