Research Projects

The front-end AC-DC converter is crucial in on-board charging (OBC) solutions, requiring reduction in input current harmonics, output voltage regulation, and power factor correction (PFC). Conventional boost PFC converter topologies, which use a diode bridge rectifier (DBR) and boost converter, have high output capacitor current ripple and DBR losses, posing challenges like heat dissipation. Researchers have explored bridgeless (BL) topologies, which have been proposed for BL-based topologies derived from boost, buck-boost, CuK, and SEPIC. PFC is a basic part of EV chargers, and PFC-based AC-DC converters serve the purpose of obtaining an efficient OBC. The complexity and inability towards natural PFC in continuous conduction mode (CCM) operation for AC-DC power conversion paves the way for discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) converters. This proposal aims to design and implement converters for level 2 PFC AC-DC charging solutions with reduced device count (RDC) that can operate for wide input voltage ranges. The reduced number of sensors is sufficient enough to control DCM with higher power density using wide band gap (WBG) devices. This OBC solution will be cost-effective and demonstrate high efficiency (96%). The converters will be compact in size and housed inside the vehicle, maintaining current THD within acceptable limits as specified by regulatory standards like IEC 61000-3-2. The project aims to develop an industry-grade on-board charger by bridging existing research gaps with industry involvement.