IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 55, NO.

1, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019 563

Small-Signal Stability Assessment and Active

Stabilization of a Bidirectional Battery Charger
Vishnu Mahadeva Iyer , Student Member, IEEE, Srinivas Gulur , Student Member, IEEE,
and Subhashish Bhattacharya , Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract—A two-stage electric vehicle (EV) battery charger

typically consists of an ac–dc converter cascaded with a dc–dc con-
verter. In such a cascaded system, maintaining stability at the inter-
mediate dc link is imperative for reliable operation of the battery
charger under different operating modes. This paper addresses
the intermediate dc-link stability challenges that exist in a bidirec-
tional two-stage grid connected single-phase battery charger. It is
Fig. 1. Two-stage grid connected on-board EV charger.
delineated that the small-signal load-dependent resistance of the
ac–dc converter plays a crucial role in determining the stability of
the bidirectional battery charger. A virtual-resistor-based active
damping control strategy that does not require any additional and better line-disturbance rejection features. A typical two-
sensors is explored for the ac–dc converter to stabilize the cascaded stage battery charger consists of an ac–dc front-end stage with
system under all operating modes irrespective of the power flow power factor correction (PFC) capability and a dc–dc stage fea-
direction. Experimental results on a grid-connected single-phase
battery charger hardware prototype are presented to validate the
turing a high-frequency transformer for galvanic isolation [6],
proposed models and showcase the improvement in the dc-link sta- [7]. A popular circuit topology for realizing an on-board EV
bility due to the virtual-resistance-based active damping approach. charger given in Fig. 1 is studied in this paper [8]–[10]. This
on-board charger consists of a single-phase grid-integrated volt-
Index Terms—AC–DC power converters, active damping, active
stabilization, battery charger, dual active bridge (DAB), impedance age source converter (VSC) cascaded with a dual active bridge
modeling, small-signal modeling, stability, virtual resistance, volt- (DAB) based dc–dc converter that provides galvanic isolation
age source converter (VSC). between the battery and the grid. This EV charger is capable of
handling bidirectional power flow so that the charger can be used
I. INTRODUCTION for vehicle to home or vehicle to grid (V2G) applications and
HE adoption rate of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and for providing reactive power (VAR) support to the grid in addi-
T plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) is seeing a rapid
growth. This can primarily be attributed to increasing public
tion to the conventional grid to vehicle (G2V) battery charging
operation.
awareness regarding the impact of greenhouse gas emissions It is well known that cascaded converter systems are prone to
combined with the recent advancements in battery technology. instabilities as a result of impedance interactions between the
With more than 750 000 BEVs and PHEVs sold in 2016 [1], the power electronic converters. Several methods, such as Middle-
total number of battery-powered vehicles on road surpassed a brook criterion, gain-margin and phase-margin (GMPM) cri-
major milestone of 2 million units. The battery charging system terion, passivity criterion, pole location visualization, etc., are
is a critical component in any electric vehicle (EV). Generally, available and popularly used to assess the stability of such cas-
an EV charger can consist of either a single-stage or a dual- caded systems [11]. Stability-related analysis in cascaded sys-
stage-based power conversion scheme [2]–[5]. Two-stage EV tems with bidirectional power flow capability is still an active
chargers are preferred over their single-stage counterparts ow- area of research due to the complexity introduced by the feed-
ing to the usage of simpler topologies, easier control designs, back loops of the individual systems.
In [12], the effects of bidirectional power flow on stability
Manuscript received December 16, 2017; revised March 23, 2018 and July have been studied for a single-phase VSC connected to a DAB
2, 2018; accepted September 6, 2018. Date of publication September 18, 2018; converter. However, the control methodology used to regulate
date of current version December 12, 2018. Paper 2017-IPCC-1336.R2 pre- the common dc link of the cascaded system is dynamically
sented at the 2017 IEEE 6th International Conference on Renewable Energy
Research and Applications, San Diego, CA, USA, Nov. 5–8, and approved for changed based on the direction of power flow. This approach is
publication in the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS by the In- quite complicated as it prevents a seamless mode transition when
dustrial Power Converter Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society. the power flow reverses. Moreover, the dynamic performance,
(Corresponding author: Vishnu Mahadeva Iyer.)
The authors are with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, stability margins, etc., will be different for different operating
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695 USA (e-mail:,vmahade@ modes. In addition to this, extensive literature is available on the
ncsu.edu; [email protected]; [email protected]). stability analysis for cascaded dc–dc systems, distributed power
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. systems, or microgrid based on dc–dc converters, ac–dc rec-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIA.2018.2871101 tifiers, and dc–ac inverters. Stabilizing such cascaded systems
0093-9994 © 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.

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564 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 55, NO. 1, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019

may necessitate modification of input or output impedances

of the individual converters. Impedance alteration has been
explored in past literature by either adding passive/active circuit
components to the existing system or by actively modifying
the feedback loops of the individual converters. Inclusion of
additional passive or active components can increase both cost
and size of the overall system. Actively modifying the converter
control structure is more attractive but entails methodical
analysis and implementation of additional control loops.
This paper analyzes the stability of a two-stage single-phase
grid-connected bidirectional EV charger using simplified small-
signal impedance models. In order to accurately predict the sta-
bility of cascaded systems, the interactions between closed-loop
unterminated impedances of the individual converters need to be
assessed [13], [14]. In this paper, the unterminated impedance Fig. 2. Control strategy for the EV charger. (a) VSC control structure.
model of a voltage-controlled single-phase VSC is revealed to (b) DAB control structure.
contain a load-dependent term that would lead to a negative re-
sistance emulation in the reverse power mode (also true for any
bidirectional ac–dc converter with PFC capability). A signifi- sufficient conditions for intermediate dc-link stability are pre-
cant drawback, in many of the previously discussed literature, is sented and the proposed virtual-resistance-based active damping
the omission of small-signal load-dependent resistance model scheme is discussed. In Section V, extensive hardware results
of the VSC and its effect on the cascaded converter stability from a grid-connected single-phase EV charger prototype are
[15]–[18]. In [19], the stability of a bidirectional cascaded sys- presented to validate the analytical models and the effectiveness
tem is studied and it is concluded that a voltage-controlled con- of the proposed control scheme.
verter supplying power to a power-controlled converter would
be inherently less stable. This paper demonstrates that the above-
II. EV CHARGER CONTROL STRATEGY
mentioned claim is not true when an ac–dc converter, such as
the single-phase VSC, is used as the voltage-controlled element. The control structure of the EV charger has to be decided
The negative resistance emulated within the unterminated VSC for modeling the closed-loop small-signal impedance transfer
output impedance can lead to instability when power is injected functions that become critical in the stability analysis of the
from the power-controlled converter into the voltage-controlled charger. This section presents the control strategy for the EV
converter (battery discharging or V2G mode) as well. charger topology that is derived from popular control structures
The main contributions of this paper are broadly listed as that are typically used in cascaded ac–dc and dc–dc systems and
follows. is shown in Fig. 2.
1) The stability of the unterminated single-phase VSC in both The battery charging characteristics and different charging
rectifier and inverter modes of operation is demonstrated protocols need to be understood for developing the control
to be significantly different due to the presence of a load- scheme for any EV battery charger. In general, a typical Li-
dependent resistance. ion EV battery charge cycle consists of a constant current (CC)
2) Further, it is proven that this load-dependent resistance charging region followed by a constant voltage (CV) charging
could destabilize the operation of the bidirectional charger region [20]. The next step is to decide as to which converter will
in the reverse power mode. This is different from the be responsible for regulating the intermediate dc-link voltage.
instability associated with constant power loading in a In this paper, the ac–dc, single-phase VSC is chosen to regulate
cascaded system that is widely reported in the literature. the dc-link voltage.
3) Comprehensive unterminated large and small-signal mod-
els of the VSC and DAB converter under all operating
modes are presented to aid the impedance-based stability A. Single-Phase VSC Control
analysis. Vector control strategy is used to control the single-phase
4) A virtual-resistor-based active damping approach is pre- VSC as discussed in [21] and [22]. A second-order generalized
sented and analyzed to modify the output impedance of integrator based phase-locked loop is used for grid synchro-
the VSC and improve the stability of the cascaded system nization [23]. The control structure is illustrated in Fig. 2(a).
under all operating modes irrespective of the power flow Grid-voltage vector is aligned along the q-axis, and hence, the
direction. q-axis current corresponds to the active power flow and the d-
This paper is organized into different sections based on con- axis current corresponds to the reactive power flow. An outer
verter modeling, feedback control design, and impedance-based voltage loop, that utilizes a proportional-integral (PI) controller,
stability analysis. In Section II, the overall control strategy is used to regulate the dc link voltage and an inner current loop,
for the EV charger is discussed. Section III covers the battery that utilizes a proportional-resonant (PR) controller, is used to
charger small-signal modeling. In Section IV, the necessary and control the grid-side ac current.

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IYER et al.: SMALL-SIGNAL STABILITY ASSESSMENT AND ACTIVE STABILIZATION OF A BIDIRECTIONAL BATTERY CHARGER 565

B. DAB Converter Control

The DAB converter is controlled to realize different bat-
tery charging and discharging modes, such as the CC mode,
CV mode, and V2G mode. The control structure for the DAB
converter is shown in Fig. 2(b). For V2G operation, the DAB
converter is controlled in the CC mode with a negative cur-
rent reference. PI-based controller is used to achieve current or
voltage regulation.

III. MODELING OF THE BATTERY CHARGER

The closed-loop small-signal impedance models for the un-
terminated converter systems are derived in this section.

A. Single-Phase VSC Modeling

A simplified average model of the single-phase lossless VSC
can be derived by analyzing the power balance relationship
di g
vg (t)ig (t) − ig (t)Lg dt
idc (t) = f (vg (t), ig (t), vdc (t)) =
vdc (t)
(1)
Fig. 3. Single-phase VSC dc port modeling. (a) Unterminated VSC. (b) Av-
where idc (t), vg (t), ig (t), and vdc (t) refer to the instantaneous erage model of the dc port. (c) Small-signal model of the dc port.
values of dc current, grid voltage, grid current, and dc voltage,
respectively.
It has been reported that, the low-frequency dc-link dynamics
unterminated VSC ZoutVSC–OL (s) can be obtained from Fig. 3(c)
in active rectifiers is dominantly affected by the active power
flow that is represented by the q-axis current component in the ro
model. This is attributed to the reactive power (represented by ZoutVSC–OL (s) = (5)
ro Cdc s + 1
the d-axis current component) having minimal impact on the √
input power to output power relationship, as the output port is a 2Vdc2
where ro = is the emulated load-dependent small-
dc port [24]. Vgrm s Iq
However, in a single-phase converter, the dc-link quantities signal resistance of the VSC dc port. The presence of such
contain a double line-frequency component. The average dc-link a small-signal load-dependent resistor has been reported for a
current Idc is decided by the active power flow, which in turn can boost converter PFC front-end rectifier in [25]. Small-signal
be expressed as a function of the rms grid voltage Vgrm s , dc-link impedance models presented for single-phase active recti-
voltage Vdc , and the active component of grid current Iq . Here, fiers/inverters analyzed in literature seem to ignore the exis-
the average dc-link current refers to a current that is devoid of tence of such an ac resistance component. Omission of this
any double line-frequency component since it is averaged over load-dependent ac resistance can lead to incorrect conclusions
one half of the line period about system stability. Unlike in a unidirectional boost PFC rec-
tifier, the presence of such a load-dependent resistor in an active
Vgrm s
Idc = √ Iq (2) rectifier can have different implications based on the power flow
2Vdc direction. The ac resistance ro is inversely proportional to the
The VSC dc port small-signal model can now be obtained by steady-state value of the active component of current Iq . During
perturbing and linearizing (2) forward power flow (G2V mode), Iq is always positive resulting
 in a positive resistance emulation, whereas during reverse power
∂f  flow (V2G mode), the polarity of Iq gets inverted leading to a
Idc + îdc (t) = f (Vgrm s , Iq , Vdc ) + v̂grm s
∂v̂grm s v̂ g r m s =V g r m s negative resistance emulation. This can have an adverse effect
  on system stability during V2G operation.
∂f  ∂f  The small-signal representation of the dq frame based vector
+ îq î =I + v̂dc (3)
∂ îq  q q ∂v̂dc v̂ dc =V dc control implementation for the VSC shown in Fig. 2(a) is given
Iq Vgrm s Vgrm s Iq by Fig. 4. The control loop gain LVSC (s) can be expressed as
îdc = √ v̂grm s + √ îq − √ 2 v̂dc (4) V 
2Vdc 2Vdc 2Vdc grm s
LVSC (s) = Cv (s)Tc (s) √ ZoutVSC–OL (s)H(s) (6)
The circuit diagram, average and small-signal representation 2Vdc
of the dc port of the unterminated VSC converter, is shown where Tc (s) is the closed-loop current reference tracking trans-
in Fig. 3. The small-signal open-loop output impedance of the fer function.

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566 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 55, NO. 1, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019

Fig. 4. Small-signal model of the VSC control structure.

The unterminated VSC small-signal closed-loop output

impedance, which will be used in impedance-based stability
analysis, can now be derived from Fig. 4.
v̂dc  ZoutVSC–OL (s)
ZoutVSC–CL (s) = −  = . (7)
îDAB−in v̂ g r m s =0 1 + LVSC (s)

B. DAB Converter Modeling

The reduced order DAB converter model is dependent on
Fig. 5. DAB converter modeling. (a) DAB converter fed from an ideal voltage
the type of the pulsewidth modulation scheme used. In this pa- source. (b) Average model. (c) Small-signal model.
per, the model for a traditional single phase-shift modulated
DAB converter fed from an ideal voltage source as shown in
Fig. 5(a) is derived to perform an impedance-based stability By using (10)–(12), the small-signal model of the DAB con-
analysis. In single phase-shift modulation, the primary and sec- verter can be obtained as shown in Fig. 5(c). The small-signal
ondary bridges in a DAB converter are switched to generate 0.5 open-loop output impedance of DAB converter ZoutDAB–OL (s)
duty ratio square wave voltages of fixed frequency across the can be obtained from Fig. 5(c)
inductor L. By controlling the phase shift φ between the bridge
voltages, the amount of active power transfer can be controlled. Zbat (s)
ZoutDAB–OL (s) = (13)
The steady-state power flow analysis in a phase-shift-modulated Zbat (s)Cout s + 1
DAB converter is presented in [26].
The DAB converter has multiple operating modes and the
By averaging the DAB converter input port current
small-signal control block diagram needs to be derived for each
iDAB−in (t) over a switching cycle Ts , the average input cur-
case.
rent IDAB−in can be obtained as follows:
1) CV Charging Mode: During the CV charging mode, the
D(1 − |D|)Vout Ts control objective of the DAB converter is to regulate the voltage
IDAB−in = (8)
2nL at its output port where the battery is connected. The voltage
where D = φ/π, −π/2 < φ < π/2. regulator system small-signal model can be represented as in
Similarly, by averaging the output current waveform iout (t) Fig. 6(a). The control loop gain LCV–DAB (s) is expressed as
over a switching cycle, the average output current Iout can be follows:
obtained as follows: LCV–DAB (s) = Cv −DAB (s)e−sT d λVdc ZoutDAB–OL (s) (14)
D(1 − |D|)Vdc Ts
Iout = (9) 2) CC Charging Mode and V2G Mode: During both CC
2nL charging mode and V2G mode, the control objective of the
By using (8) and (9), the reduced-order average model of the DAB converter is to regulate the battery port dc current. During
DAB converter can be obtained as shown in Fig. 5(b). The the CC charging mode, the current reference is positive whereas
average model can be perturbed and linearized to obtain the in the V2G mode, there will be an inversion in the sign of
small-signal model the current reference. The current regulator system small-signal
model can be represented as in Fig. 6(b). The control loop gain
îDAB−in = βv̂out + λVout dˆ (10)
LCC–DAB (s) can be expressed as follows:
dv̂out
Cout = îout − îbat (11) ZoutDAB–OL (s)
dt LCC–DAB (s) = Cc–DAB (s)e−sT d λVdc (15)
Zbat (s)
îout = βv̂dc + λVdc dˆ (12)
where Cv −DAB (s) and Cc−DAB (s) are the controller transfer
where β = Ts
2n L D(1 − |D|) and λ = Ts
2n L (1 − 2|D|). functions corresponding to CV mode and CC/V2G modes,

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IYER et al.: SMALL-SIGNAL STABILITY ASSESSMENT AND ACTIVE STABILIZATION OF A BIDIRECTIONAL BATTERY CHARGER 567

Fig. 7. Closed-loop output impedance bode plot of a single-phase 1.5-kW

unterminated VSC for a specific voltage controller design (K p = 0.03,
K i = 1.0).

TABLE I
VSC CONVERTER SPECIFICATIONS

Fig. 6. Small-signal regulator models for a DAB converter. (a) CV charging

mode. (b) CC charging and V2G modes.
TABLE II
DAB CONVERTER SPECIFICATIONS
respectively. The digital delay e−sT d , where Td denotes the
delay time, can be modeled using its Padé approximant
1− sT d
e−sT d = 2
sT d
(16)
1+ 2
The small-signal closed-loop input impedance of the DAB con-
verter ZinDAB-CL (s) under any operating mode can be expressed
as follows:
    C. Validation of the Presented Models
1 1 L(s) 1 1
= +
ZinDAB–CL (s) ZN (s) 1 + L(s) ZD (s) 1 + L(s) The accuracy of the closed-loop impedance expressions de-
(17) rived are validated by performing small-signal analysis using
switching circuit simulations. The parameters of the VSC and
where L(s) corresponds to the control-loop gain based on the
the DAB converter used for this study are presented in Tables I
operating mode
 and II, respectively.
LCV–DAB (s) in CV charging mode Fig. 7 captures the small-signal closed-loop output impedance
L(s) = (18) of an unterminated VSC under both rectifier mode and inverter
LCC–DAB (s) in CC charging or V2G mode
mode of operation. The results from switching simulation are
where ZD (s) and ZN (s) are the driving point and null driving in close agreement with the analytical model based on (7). The
point impedances as seen from the DAB input port in Fig. 5(c) unterminated VSC small-signal closed-loop output impedance
and can be expressed as follows: contains a load-dependent term that behaves as a positive re-
 sistance during forward power flow (rectifier mode) and as a
v̂dc (s)  1 negative resistance during reverse power flow (inverter mode)
ZD (s) =  = 2 (19)
îDAB−in (s) d(s)=0
ˆ
β Zout–OL (s) conditions at low frequencies. Hence, an improved damping is
 observed in the rectifier mode as compared to the inverter mode.
v̂dc (s)  Vdc Fig. 8 captures the small-signal closed-loop input impedance
ZN (s) =  =− (20)
îDAB−in (s)  Vout β
v̂ out (s)→0, î out (s)=0
of a DAB-based battery charging converter fed from an ideal
voltage source. The DAB converter could be operating in CV
The small-signal input impedance can be approximated as charging mode, CC charging mode, or V2G mode. All the three
ZN (s) at low frequencies where |L| is large. It follows the open- scenarios are considered in Fig. 8(a)–(c). The input impedance
loop impedance ZD (s) at high frequencies where |L| is small calculated based on the analytical expression presented in (17)
[25]. So, for low-frequency stability assessments, the simplified closely matches with the switching simulation results. The plots
expression ZinDAB–CL (s) ≈ ZN (s) can be used. confirm that the DAB converter input impedance can indeed

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568 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 55, NO. 1, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019

Fig. 8. Closed-loop input impedance bode plot of a 1.5-kW DAB converter fed by an ideal 400-V dc voltage source. (a) CV charging. (b) CC charging. (c) CC
discharging. In all cases, control bandwidth is chosen to be 700 Hz.

ZoutVSC–CL (s)
where TG (s) = is referred to as the system loop
ZinDAB–CL (s)
gain or minor loop gain in literature.
Based on (23), the necessary and sufficient conditions for
ensuring common dc-link stability can be postulated as follows.
1) Closed-loop stability of the unterminated VSC.
2) Stability of 1/(1 + TG (s)).
Fig. 9. Simplified representation of the common dc link. First, the closed-loop stability of the unterminated VSC is
investigated. The parameters of the VSC considered for this
be approximated as ZinDAB–CL (s) ≈ ZN (s) irrespective of the study are given in Table I. A simple PI controller of the form
operating mode, provided the control bandwidth of the DAB Cv (s) = Kp + Ki /s is chosen as the dc bus voltage controller.
converter is high enough. The closed-loop input impedance of A parameter sweep is performed where the dc bus voltage con-
the DAB converter behaves as a negative resistance during for- troller parameters Kp (0 < Kp < 0.2) and Ki (0 < Ki < 10)
ward power flow and as a positive resistance during reverse are varied to assess the stability bounds of the unterminated
power flow conditions at low frequencies. VSC. The bounds for Kp and Ki can be selected based on the
maximum permissible bandwidth of the dc voltage control loop
IV. DC-LINK STABILITY ASSESSMENT AND PROPOSED (upper limit chosen as 30 Hz for this study). Fig. 10 shows the
VIRTUAL-RESISTOR-BASED ACTIVE DAMPING closed-loop pole migrations of the unterminated VSC when dc
CONTROL SCHEME bus voltage controller parameters are varied. Fig. 10(a) and (b)
correspond to the rectifier mode operation and it can be seen
This section details the stability considerations of the common
that the closed-loop poles are confined to the left half plane
dc link based on the converter impedance models derived in
indicating a stable operation. Fig. 10(c) and (d) pertain to the
Section III. Further, a virtual-resistance-based active damping
inverter mode operation. The closed-loop poles migrate to the
scheme is explored to improve the system stability and its design
right half plane for certain controller values indicating regions
considerations are outlined.
of instability in this operating mode.
Fig. 11 compares the stability margins of the unterminated
A. Common DC-Link Stability Assessment VSC during the rectifier mode and inverter mode for different
The simplified equivalent representation of the common dc dc bus voltage controller designs. The stability margin available
link is given in Fig. 9 during the inverter mode operation is lower than that of the recti-
fier mode for any controller design. Moreover, for low values of
ZinDAB-CL (s)
v̂dc = v̂dc(UT) (21) Kp , the negative phase margin in the inverter mode indicate an
ZoutVSC − CL (s) + ZinDAB − CL (s) unstable operation. The significance of the unterminated VSC
where v̂dc(UT) is the unterminated output dc voltage of the VSC model with a load-dependent resistance derived in Section III
given as is re-emphasized. The model predicts that there is a negative
load-dependent resistance emulation during the inverter mode,
∗ LVSC (s)
v̂dc(UT) = v̂dc (22) which explains the corresponding lower stability margins.
1 + LVSC (s) Further, the stability of the term 1/(1 + TG (s)) is investi-
∗ gated. The value of VSC and DAB converter parameters used
where v̂dc is the dc-link voltage reference as in Fig. 4.
   for this study are given in Tables I and II, respectively. To assess
∗ LVSC (s) 1 thestability of 1/(1 + TG (s)), it is
v̂dc = v̂dc (23) enough to look at the zeros
1 + LVSC (s) 1 + TG (s) of ZoutVSC–CL (s) + ZinDAB–CL (s) as they correspond with the

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IYER et al.: SMALL-SIGNAL STABILITY ASSESSMENT AND ACTIVE STABILIZATION OF A BIDIRECTIONAL BATTERY CHARGER 569

Fig. 10. Loci of the dominant closed-loop pole location of a single-phase 1.5-kW unterminated VSC with conventional control. (a) and (b) pertain to rectifier
mode operation, whereas (c) and (d) correspond to the inverter mode operation.

Fig. 11. Stability margin plots of a single-phase 1.5-kW unterminated VSC

with conventional control.

Fig. 13. Small-signal VSC control structure. (a) Introduction of a virtual

resistance at the dc port. (b) Practical implementation of the active damping
controller D(s).

Fig. 12. Loci of the dominant pole location of 1/(1 + T G (s)) with conven- B. Proposed Virtual-Resistance-Based Active Damper
tional control. Results correspond to 1.5-kW operation of the charger when the
output voltage V out = 400 V. The bidirectional battery charger could exhibit instability in
both forward and reverse power flow conditions. This can be
poles of 1/(1 + TG (s)). In Section III-C, it was demonstrated attributed to the negative resistance emulation inherent to the
that the closed-loop VSC output impedance contains a load- system. For the operating point considered in Figs. 10–12, there
dependent term that acts as a positive resistance for forward are Kp and Ki combinations that can achieve stable operation of
power flow and a negative resistance for reverse power flow. the cascaded system. A higher Kp value can improve the system
Also, the DAB converter closed-loop input impedance behaves stability. But there are several challenges in trying to improve
as a negative resistance for forward power flow and a posi- the system stability using such a conventional control approach.
tive resistance for reverse power flow irrespective of the control First, the presence of double line-frequency ripple in the dc
approach used. For a given operating power, a similar pole mi- bus of the single-phase VSC imposes a limitation on the dc bus
gration pattern can be observed as in Fig. 12 under all operating voltage controller design. The bandwidth of the dc bus voltage
modes. Irrespective of the power flow direction, a negative in- control loop is typically chosen to be low (by choosing a low
cremental resistance is emulated within the system either by the enough Kp and Ki ) so as not to cause an increased total har-
load converter (DAB converter in this case) or by the source monic distortion (THD) in the grid currents. To minimize current
converter (voltage-controlled converter, VSC in this case). This THD at higher voltage loop control bandwidths, a low-pass or
emulated negative incremental resistance can potentially desta- notch filter may be added to the feedback or feedforward path
bilize the system. The dominant pole of 1/(1 + TG (s)) mi- in the voltage loop. However, this approach can significantly
grate towards the right half plane for lower values of the VSC reduce the stability margin of the dc voltage loop. This imposes
dc voltage controller parameter Kp , indicating lower stability a severe restriction on the range of Kp and Ki values of the PI
margins. controller used for dc bus voltage regulation.

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570 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 55, NO. 1, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019

Fig. 14. Loci of the dominant closed-loop pole location of a single-phase 1.5-kW unterminated VSC—proposed control with virtual resistance (R ac = 50 Ω)
based active damping. (a) and (b) pertain to the rectifier mode operation, whereas (c) and (d) correspond to the inverter mode operation.

Fig. 15. Stability margin plots of a single-phase 1.5-kW unterminated VSC—

proposed control with virtual resistance (R ac = 50 Ω) based active damping. Fig. 16. Closed-loop output impedance bode plot of a single-phase 1.5-kW
VSC for a specific voltage controller design (K p = 0.03, K i = 1.0, R ac =
50 Ω).
Further, in a battery charging application, the load variation
is very wide (full load corresponding to completely discharged
battery to no load corresponding to completely charged battery). The stability conditions of the cascaded system is revisited
So, choosing a stable controller value based on the full-load with the proposed virtual-resistance-based active damping con-
operating point given by Figs. 10–12 may not ensure stability at trol approach. The value of VSC and DAB converter parameters
all intermediate load points. used for this study are given in Tables I and II, respectively.
A virtual-resistance-based active damping scheme is explored Fig. 14 shows the closed-loop pole migrations of the untermi-
for the VSC to improve the stability of the common dc link and nated VSC with the proposed control approach when the dc bus
the modified VSC control structure is presented in Fig. 13. voltage controller parameters are varied (0 < Kp < 0.2, 0 <
The structure in Fig. 13(a) introduces a small-signal resistance Ki < 10). Fig. 14(a) and (b) correspond to the rectifier mode
Rac at the dc port of the VSC. For practical implementation, the operation, whereas Fig. 14(c) and (d) pertain to the inverter mode
block diagram in Fig. 13(a) is manipulated to get Fig. 13(b). operation. It can be seen that the closed-loop poles are confined
The active damping controller D(s) can be designed as follows: to the left half plane for all operating modes as opposed to

√  the case with the conventional control scheme represented by

1 2Vdc 1 Fig. 10.
D(s) = (24) Fig. 15 compares the stability margins of the unterminated
Rac Vgrm s Tc (s)
VSC with the proposed virtual-resistance-based active damping
At low frequencies, the closed-loop current reference tracking control during the rectifier mode and inverter mode for differ-
transfer function Tc (s) ≈ 1. So, the expression for the active ent dc bus voltage controller designs. The stability margins are
damping controller D(s) can be further simplified as follows: improved for all operating modes as compared to the case with
√ the conventional control scheme represented by Fig. 11.
1  2Vdc  Fig. 16 investigates the effect of the proposed control on the
D(s) = (25)
Rac Vgrm s VSC output impedance. As expected, the output impedance
where Rac is the virtual resistance value that can be selected of the unterminated VSC gets damped under both rectifier
based on the desired stability margin. The small-signal closed- and inverter modes. This is attributed to the virtual resistance
loop output impedance of the unterminated VSC with the pro- Rac emulated at the dc port of the VSC. The results should be
posed control approach is given by compared with the impedance plots based on the conventional
control approach presented in Fig. 7. The results from switching

v̂dc  Zeq (s) simulation closely agrees with the analytical model thereby
ZoutVSC–CL (s) = −  = (26) validating the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.
îDAB−in v̂ g r m s =0 1 + LVSC (s)
Finally, the stability of the term 1/(1 + TG (s)) is in-
ZoutVSC–OL (s)Rac vestigated with the proposed control approach. A similar
where Zeq (s) = .
ZoutVSC–OL (s) + Rac pole migration pattern can be observed in Fig. 17 under all

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IYER et al.: SMALL-SIGNAL STABILITY ASSESSMENT AND ACTIVE STABILIZATION OF A BIDIRECTIONAL BATTERY CHARGER 571

bility of 1/(1 + TG (s)). One of the most popular approaches is

Middlebrook’s stability criterion [25], which stipulates that the
magnitude of the system loop gain TG (s) should be less than
unity to ensure the stability of 1/(1 + TG (s)), that is
  Z 
   outVSC–CL  1
TG (s) =  < , GM  1 (27)
ZinDAB–CL GM
where GM refers to the desired gain margin. The limitation of
Middlebrook’s criterion is that it takes into account only the
magnitude of the loop gain and this could result in a conserva-
tive design in terms of sizing of passive components, such as the
Fig. 17. Loci of the dominant closed-loop pole location of 1/(1 + T G (s))— minimum dc-link capacitance needed for ensuring the stability
proposed control approach with virtual resistance (R ac = 50 Ω) based active
damping.
in a cascaded system. GMPM criterion is a modified version of
Middlebrook’s criterion where both the magnitude and phase
information of the system loop gain TG (s) are considered for
operating modes for any power flow direction. This will ensure
stability assessment [27]. GMPM criterion allows the violation
identical transient performance under all operating modes. The
of (27) in some frequency range while guaranteeing desired
dominant pole of 1/(1 + TG (s)) is confined to the left half
phase margin PM so that the Nyquist criterion is always satis-
plane for the range of VSC dc voltage controller values under
fied. The following condition needs to be satisfied to ensure the
consideration indicating a stable operation. The results can
stability if (27) is violated:
be compared with the pole migration pattern observed with  
 
the conventional control scheme represented by Fig. 12. ∠ZoutVSC–CL − ∠ZinDAB–CL  ≤ 180◦ − PM (28)
The virtual-resistance-based control method offers the de-
signer an additional flexibility. The proposed virtual-resistance- Design of D(s) is based on stability margins of LVSC (s),
based structure is a classic example of a two-degrees-of-freedom (27), and (28). The virtual resistance Rac is chosen to prevent
controller. The voltage controller can now be designed to achieve impedance interactions or to ensure a good PM if there is an
a low bandwidth to satisfy grid current THD requirements, impedance interaction to prevent undesirable voltage oscilla-
whereas the virtual resistance can be tuned to get sufficient tions.
damping, and hence, improved stability margin at all operating
points. The advantages of the proposed virtual-resistance-based D. Design Example
active damping control are listed as follows.
The specifications of the EV charger used for the design are
1) It does not require any additional sensing components.
given in Tables I and II, respectively. The VSC and DAB con-
2) It can achieve stability at any operating point irrespec-
verter controller parameters used for obtaining the analytical
tive of the bandwidth of the voltage loop and power flow
plots in Figs. 18 and 19 are given in Tables III and IV, respec-
direction.
tively.
3) In this, a simple proportional gain can be used as the
Fig. 18(a)–(c) show the small-signal VSC and DAB converter
damping controller D(s).
impedances for a 1.5-kW loading condition when the charger is
4) It permits seamless mode transitions.
operated in the CV charging mode, CC charging mode, and V2G
mode, respectively. In all three cases, the VSC dc-link controller
C. Stability-Oriented Design of VSC DC Voltage Controller bandwidth is chosen to be around 13 Hz. A PI controller Cv (s)
The VSC dc voltage control system design involves the design (Kp = 0, Ki = 10) is used for regulating the VSC dc link. This
of two controllers. A main controller Cv (s) responsible for controller has been specifically chosen to demonstrate the insta-
reference tracking and an active damper D(s) responsible for bility caused when the value of Kp → 0, as shown in Fig. 10(c)
cascaded system stability. The controller Cv (s) is designed for a and (d). The DAB converter output voltage/current controller
desired voltage loop bandwidth based on the unterminated VSC bandwidth is chosen to be around 600 Hz for all the three op-
loop gain LVSC (s). The controller D(s) is then designed to erating modes. Two sets of impedance plots are shown for the
ensure the system stability. A stability-oriented controller design VSC corresponding to two different control schemes (conven-
should ensure the following. tional and proposed) when the intermediate dc-link voltage Vdc
1) Closed-loop stability of unterminated VSC. is maintained at 400 V.
2) Stability of 1/(1 + TG (s)). It can be observed that there is an impedance interaction be-
Even though the pole location visualization discussed in tween the conventionally controlled VSC and the DAB converter
Sections IV-A and IV-B can be used to assess the system stabil- at around 13 Hz for all the three operating modes (CV, CC, and
ity, it is nontrivial to use it as a design tool. Frequency-domain V2G), as shown in Fig. 18. In forward power flow modes (CV
approaches are recommended for designing D(s). and CC), the system is on the verge of instability as there is no
The closed-loop stability and corresponding stability mar- phase margin available. The stability margins are deteriorated
gins of the unterminated VSC can be inferred from the loop due to the constant power loading effect of the DAB converter.
gain LVSC (s). There are several frequency-domain techniques In the reverse power mode (G2V), the GMPM criterion is vio-
available in the literature that can be used to analyze the sta- lated indicating that the cascaded system will be unstable. Here,

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572 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 55, NO. 1, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019

Fig. 18. Converter impedance plots at 1.5 kW. (a) CV charging mode. (b) CC charging mode. (c) V2G mode.

TABLE III
CONTROL PARAMETERS FOR VSC

Fig. 19. Loop gain of the unterminated VSC operating at 1.5 kW. (a) Con- TABLE IV
ventional control. (b) Proposed control. CONTROL PARAMETERS FOR DAB CONVERTER

tion (V2G mode), the unterminated VSC is stabilized thereby

achieving a superior phase margin [refer Fig. 19(b)].

V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In order to validate the analytical claims, extensive tests were
conducted on a single-phase grid-connected EV charger proto-
Fig. 20. Laboratory prototype converter used for experimental tests. type shown in Fig. 20. The converter and controller parameters
are given in Tables I–IV.
Fig. 21(a) corresponds to the CV charging mode operation at
the instability can be attributed to the negative incremental re- 1.5 kW where a conventional PI controller was used to regu-
sistance associated with the VSC output impedance due to the late the dc link. The VSC dc link and the DAB converter output
reversal of power flow. voltage references were slowly ramped to the rated conditions to
Further, Fig. 19(a) showcases the stability margins of the un- avoid any kind of start-up disturbances, which could have man-
terminated VSC operating with a conventional control scheme. ifested as unstable oscillations leading to system failure. After
It can be seen that the unterminated VSC is unstable in the reaching the steady-state operating point, the VSC dc link was
inverter mode of operation (indicated by the negative phase perturbed with a step voltage change of 20 V for capturing the
margin) while it is stable in the rectifier mode. unstable oscillations. The oscillation frequency was observed to
Alternatively, when the proposed control scheme with active be around 13 Hz as predicted by the analytical model. Fig. 21(b)
damper (Cv (s) = 10/s, D(s) = 0.0471 with Rac = 50 Ω) is represents the same scenario with the proposed controller reg-
used to regulate the VSC dc link, the system stability margins ulating the dc-link voltage. As expected, a stable response was
are considerably improved for all operating modes. In forward observed.
power flow conditions (CV and CC modes), the impedance Fig. 22(a) corresponds to the CC charging mode operation
interactions are avoided, whereas in reverse power flow condi- at 1.5 kW where the conventional PI controller was used to

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IYER et al.: SMALL-SIGNAL STABILITY ASSESSMENT AND ACTIVE STABILIZATION OF A BIDIRECTIONAL BATTERY CHARGER 573

Fig. 21. Experimental results at 1.5 kW in the CV charging mode (forward Fig. 23. Experimental results at 1.5 kW in the V2G mode (reverse power
power flow). (a) Unstable grid-connected operation with conventional control flow). (a) Unstable operation with the conventional control scheme—converter
scheme. (b) Stable grid-connected operation with the proposed control scheme. feeding a local ac load, grid connection could not be established owing to
repeated system failures. (b) Stable grid-connected operation with the proposed
control scheme.

the dc-link voltage. A stable response was observed as predicted

by the analytical model.
Fig. 23(a) corresponds to the V2G mode of operation
where the conventional PI controller was used to regulate
the dc link. A similar start-up sequence was followed where
the VSC dc link and the battery discharging current references
were ramped up. The EV charger prototype could not remain
grid connected due to the severe unstable oscillations on the
intermediate dc link. This instability, owing to the negative re-
sistance emulation in the VSC under reverse power flow condi-
tions, was correctly predicted by the analytical model. Fig. 23(b)
represents a stable grid-connected scenario at 1.5 kW with the
proposed controller regulating the dc-link voltage.

VI. CONCLUSION
The intermediate dc link stability in a bidirectional grid
connected battery charger comprising of a single-phase VSC
cascaded with a DAB converter has been systematically ana-
lyzed under all modes of operation. It is demonstrated that the
Fig. 22. Experimental results at 1.5 kW in the CC charging mode (forward
power flow). (a) Unstable grid-connected operation with the conventional con- small-signal load dependent resistance component of the un-
trol scheme. (b) Stable grid-connected operation with the proposed control terminated VSC output impedance acts as a negative resistance
scheme. during the inverter mode of operation jeopardizing the VSC sta-
bility. This load dependent resistance further plays an important
regulate the dc link. Once the VSC dc-link reference and the role in accurately assessing the bidirectional stability of the in-
battery charging current reference were ramped up to the rated termediate dc link in a cascaded battery charger system. Closed
conditions, a step change in voltage corresponding to 20 V was loop input and output impedance transfer functions suited to
initiated in the VSC dc link. 13 Hz unstable oscillations, as pre- carry out impedance-based stability analysis are derived for
dicted, were observed that eventually led to a system failure due each stage of the battery charger based on the presented small-
to saturation of the grid-side filter inductor. Fig. 22(b) repre- signal models. The average and small-signal models for both the
sents a similar scenario with the proposed controller regulating converters are analyzed and verified using circuit simulations

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574 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 55, NO. 1, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019

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6th Int. Conf. Renewable Energy Res. Appl., San Diego, CA, USA, Nov. University, Chennai, India, in 2010, and the M.S de-
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[12] H. Krishnamurthy and R. Ayyanar, “Stability analysis of cascaded con- versity, Raleigh, NC, USA.
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[13] T. Suntio and D. Gadoura, “Use of unterminated two-port modeling tech- 2015. His research interests include modeling and
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1412, Nov. 2003. India, in 1988, and the Ph.D. degree from the Uni-
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applications enabled by 15 kV SiC IGBTs and 10 kV SiC MOSFETs based in 2003, all in electrical engineering.
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3360, Jul. 2015. vision, Westinghouse/Siemens Power T&D, during
[17] C. Wang, X. Li, L. Guo, and Y. W. Li, “A nonlinear-disturbance-observer- 1998–2005. In August 2005, he joined NC State Uni-
based dc-bus voltage control for a hybrid ac/dc microgrid,” IEEE Trans. versity, Raleigh, NC, USA, where he is currently the
Power Electron., vol. 29, no. 11, pp. 6162–6177, Nov. 2014. Duke Energy Distinguished Professor in electrical and computer engineering.
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forward control for solid-state transformer,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., Power America Institute. A part of his Ph.D. research on active power filters was
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[19] Y. Tian, P. C. Loh, Z. Chen, F. Deng, and Y. Hu, “Impedance interactions interests include solid-state transformers, MV power converters, FACTS, utility
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pp. 2482–2491, 2016. SiC devices.

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