A Unified Modulated Model Predictive Control for a Two-Stage AC-DC Converter Interfacing a Vanadium Redox Flow Battery

With the increasing integration of renewable energy sources into electrical grids, energy storage systems have become crucial for stability and regulation. Thus, dedicated two-stage AC-DC converters are essential for integrating batteries into the grid infrastructure. These converters typically employ either single-phase or three-phase inverters paired with a Dual Active Bridge (DAB) in a back-to-back configuration, ensuring high efficiency and galvanic isolation. The conventional control scheme for such converters involves two separate PI-based control loops, one for each stage. This paper proposes a novel control strategy based on a Modulated Model Predictive Control (MMPC) algorithm for a two-stage AC-DC converter. The proposed approach utilizes a single cost-function optimization routine to simultaneously control both the grid-side and the battery-side stages, simplifying the control architecture and enhancing performance. Finally, the proposed MMPC is implemented on a DSP and FPGA-based board and the experimental results show that the proposed solution achieves faster dynamics than conventional control with no overshoots or undershoots.