Citation :

G Indira Kishore, M Venkatesh, K.Ramalingeswara Prasad, Yetchina Divyasri, "Modular Three-Phase High Step-Up Converter with Switched Capacitors for EV Charging with Improved Power Quality," International Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, vol. 13, no. 7, pp. 145-158, 2026. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/23488379/IJEEE-V13I7P108

Abstract

Environmental awareness, coupled with tightening regulations regarding greenhouse emissions, is putting pressure on the automotive industry to shift towards sustainable propulsion methods, with vehicle electrification emerging as a feasible solution for effective CO₂ reduction. As Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs), Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs), and Plug-In Hybrids (PHEVs) find their place in the market, standardization efforts by international organizations such as SAE, CHAdeMO, and IEC have been made in developing charging standards; however, the grid-scale adoption of EVs poses significant challenges in terms of harmonic generation, increased peaks in demand, and voltage fluctuation at the point of supply. High-speed charging beyond 150 kW entails the use of highly efficient step-up AC-DC converters that also adhere to IEC 61000-3-2 harmonic limits. These requirements are not easily met by existing rectification techniques, including the traditional single-stage three-phase rectifier topology, Modular Multilevel Converter, and Vienna Rectifier, all of which face trade-offs between increased circuit complexity, component costs, current imbalance, and power losses. In this paper, a three-phase modular switched-capacitor Power Factor Correction (PFC) converter that generates an output voltage of 1600 V from a 230 V AC per-phase supply is presented. The proposed converter consists of three phases, each containing a full-wave rectifier bridge, two boost inductors, one active switch, and a three-level switched capacitor voltage multiplier. The phase modules operate in quadrature relative to each other to ensure symmetrical input currents. The switched capacitor-based configuration reduces the voltage stress across the devices to a small portion of the output level. This translates to reduced device costs and thermal management issues compared to existing PFC topologies. Dual-loop average current control architecture is adopted to provide regulation of the DC bus voltage and power factor correction through input current shaping. The simulation results obtained in MATLAB/SIMULINK prove that the output current waveform produced by the converter contains very little harmonics with the total harmonic distortion being only 5.38% when considering the fundamental value of 18.63A, which conforms to the limit imposed by IEC 61000-3-2. The output voltage shows good regulation with a constant value of 1600V under steady-state and dynamic load variations. Hardware testing of the designed converter on the Opal-RT system has verified the results from the computer simulations. It can be concluded that the developed converter is applicable for high-power electric vehicle fast charging stations.

Keywords

High Voltage Gain, Modular Three-Phase Converter, Switched Capacitor Topology, Power Factor Correction (PFC).

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