Comparative analysis of bidirectional three-level DC–DC converter for automotive applications
Abstract
In battery/ultracapacitor electric vehicles, a bidirectional dc/dc converter is employed to process the power according to the power references obtained from the energy management controller. The selection of this converter is of critical importance for the overall system efficiency and size. This study proposes using a three-level dc/dc converter and provides a comprehensive comparison with the conventional two-level and interleaved bidirectional buck/boost converters in terms of magnetic component size/weight and overall efficiency. Unlike the comparative studies presented in the literature, where the efficiency comparison of converters is conducted based on given fixed input and output parameters, power references obtained from a wavelet-transform-based energy management strategy with varying energy source voltages and traction power are considered in this paper. The results of the analyses show that a three-level converter exhibits higher overall efficiency and has smaller size inductor. A 1-kW bidirectional three-level dc/dc converter is designed as a proof of concept, which exhibits 93.2% peak efficiency at 200-kHz switching frequency.
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The operating principle of the three-level bidirectional converter is based on a capacitive voltage divider, which splits the input or output voltage into two equal parts, ensuring each switching device is subjected to only half of the total voltage stress.
“The operating principle of the three-level bidirectional converter is based on a capacitive voltage divider, which splits the input or output voltage into two equal parts, ensuring that each switching device is subjected to only half of the total input or output voltage stress [58].”
From Bidirectional DC-DC Converter Topologies for Hybrid Energy Storage Systems in Electric Vehicles: A Comprehensive Review (2025) · cites this paper as [58]
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“The operating principle of the three-level bidirectional converter is based on a capacitive voltage divider, which splits the input or output voltage into two equal parts, ensuring that each switching device is subjected to only half of the total input or output voltage stress [58].”
- Authors
- Dusmez, S., Hasanzadeh, A., & Khaligh, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- Venue
- IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics
- Published
- 2015-05
- Volume
- 62
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 3305-3315
- ISSN
- 0278-0046 (ISSN-L)
- 1557-9948
- OpenAlex
- W2144165861
- Cited by
- 204
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 5
- FWCI
- 5.14
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems Division (1307228)
- Genovation Cars Inc.
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Advanced DC-DC Converters
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Multilevel Inverters and Converters
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Automotive Engineering › Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Technologies
- Keywords
- bidirectional DC-DC converter, three-level converter, automotive power electronics, electric vehicles, energy management strategy, wavelet transform, converter efficiency, interleaved buck-boost converter, two-level converter, traction power
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