A Multiport Partial Power Converter for Smart Home Applications

Multiport architectures based on multiwinding transformers allow the connection of multiple electrical components to achieve smart home functionality. However, existing solutions use full-power semiconductor devices or are constrained by the complexity of the multiwinding transformer design. As an alternative, this work proposes a new multiport partial power converter (PPC) architecture. The proposed multiport PPC architecture enables the partial power by using the series resonant converter based dc transformer. In contrast to the prior art solutions, the proposed converter can be built using partial power semiconductor devices, and only a single transformer rated for a part of the overall power is required. The operating principle and design criteria are also described in the article. The effect of partial power utilization is analyzed in detail. Finally, the proposed topology has been validated using a 3 kW prototype.