Research Articles
Zero-current-switching pulse charger for high capacity batteries in renewable energy applications
Authors:
Sunil G Abeyratne ,
LK
About Sunil G
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya.
Nirmana Perera,
LK
About Nirmana
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya.
Hiranya Jayakody,
LK
About Hiranya
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya.
Kosala Samarakoon,
LK
About Kosala
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya.
Rukshan Bulathge
LK
About Rukshan
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya.
Abstract
Fast charging of high capacity batteries is of great concern, especially in renewable energy and electric vehicle (EV) applications. Pulse charging has become the preferred method for fast charging with heavy currents. However, it presents drawbacks due to switching losses involved in hardswitching of semiconductor devices. This paper presents a soft switched pulse charging mechanism for high capacity Pb-acid and Li-ion batteries, which minimises switching losses that makes the methodology very suitable for implementing the National Electric Code (NEC) level-1, level-2 chargers or specially the level-3 charger more conveniently for EVs. The fully clamped quasi-resonant DC link (FCQDL) converter generates current pulses to charge the battery in a zero-current switching (ZCS) manner to minimise switching losses. The simulated and experimental results show that the proposed charger can implement constant current (CC) and constant voltage (CV) modes of charging. The experimental results show that the proposed charging methodology reduces the charging time of Pb-acid batteries by 14.01 % in contrast to the conventional CC-CV charging method. Furthermore, discharging curves for the conventional and pulse charging methods are compared to evaluate the effective useful charge that is put into the battery. The results reveal that the effective charge capacity of a battery is significantly improved due to the use of pulse charging.
How to Cite:
Abeyratne, S.G., Perera, N., Jayakody, H., Samarakoon, K. and Bulathge, R., 2016. Zero-current-switching pulse charger for high capacity batteries in renewable energy applications. Journal of the National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka, 44(3), pp.301–312. DOI: http://doi.org/10.4038/jnsfsr.v44i3.8011
Published on
28 Sep 2016.
Peer Reviewed
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