A three-port half-bridge converter with synchronous rectification for renewable energy application

A three-port half-bridge converter for stand-alone renewable power system is proposed. The converter, featuring one input port, one bidirectional port and one isolated output port, is derived by integrating half-bridge, forward-flyback and Buck topologies. The magnetizing inductor of the transformer functions as an inductor, by which a power flow path can be configured between the renewable source and the battery, and the synchronous rectification circuit provides a free-wheeling path for the current of inductor-transformer. The power flow through the three ports is controlled with the two switches in primary operating independently. Single stage power conversion between any two of the three ports is achieved. The operational states and principles of the proposed converter are analyzed in detail and verified with experimental results. Furthermore, the topology generation and control method of the proposed three-port half-bridge converter is extended and some other novel three-port and multi-port half-bridge converter topologies are proposed.