Cascaded H-bridge with bidirectional boost converters for energy storage

This paper presents the design and control of a cascaded H-bridge converter for energy storage with bidirectional boost converter as charge/discharge unit. The disadvantage of the second harmonic on the main energy storage unit as well as its voltage variation with the state of charge is solved by this structure. The independent phase grid control is proposed for this topology. This strategy is able to control the average dc-link voltage for each phase independently and to balance the cells capacitors voltages. The balance of the energy storage units is achieved by controlling independently each cell charge/discharge current, together with the capacitors voltage control and balancing. Converter cell loss distribution and total loss over a wide battery voltage variation is calculated for charge/discharge operation modes for a 4.16 kV grid coupling point and 5 MW rated power.