Abstract
Renewable energy such as wind force and solar light has collected the attention as alternative energy sources of fossil fuel. An energy storage system with an electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC), which balances the demand and supply power, is required in order to introduce the electric power generating system that utilizes renewable energy. Currently, the research and development of these energy storage systems are actively carried out.
In the energy storage system with an EDLC, the DC/DC converter having the function of the bidirectional power flow and the buck/boost performance is essential as an interface and power control circuit. There are two types of the bidirectional buck/boost DC/DC converters. One type consists of two buck/boost DC/DC converters with one reactor. The other type consists of two sets of two-quadrant DC/DC converters with one reactor. This paper discusses the comparison of these types of DC/DC converters with bidirectional power flow and buck/boost performance. The two types of DC/DC converters are estimated for their application to the energy storage system with the EDLC. As the voltage endurance of the device is lower and the mean current is smaller in the latter type of converter despite of having twice the number of devices compared to the former, the latter type of converter has the advantage of a smaller reactor, i.e., core volume and loss, and lower loss in the converter.
