An Interface Converter with Reduced VA Ratings for Battery-Supercapacitor Mixed Systems

This paper presents a converter topology used to interface a bank of supercapacitors (SC) to a stiff DC-Link, like the one constituted by a typical battery. Main feature of the proposed converter is the reduced ratings of the power electronics switches compared to standard topologies. The capabilities of the proposed system in terms of energy storage and controllability of the power flow in and out the SC bank are identical to those of a conventional system, making the solution very attractive in terms of cost and efficiency in a wide number of applications. Theoretical principles underlying the converter operation are given, along with an experimental evaluation of the proposed solution, showing its practical feasibility.