Load and Source Battery Simulator Based on Z-Source Rectifier

This paper proposes a battery simulator (BS) based on a Z-source rectifier (ZSR), with the intention of emulating the discharge or charge characteristic of an actual lithium-polymer battery with high voltage and large capacity. The proposed BS is used for power testing for battery applications. The battery model, combined with a Shepherd model and a Thevenin model, is adopted to freely change the properties and specifications of the battery and to replicate the dynamic behavior of the battery, which is discretized to utilize the digital controller of the BS. The closed-loop voltage controller at the dc side of the ZSR is designed to emulate the rapid dynamic characteristics of the battery based on small-signal methods, considering the influence of the components of the impedance network. In this paper, battery voltage control algorithm (BVCA) is also utilized to minimize the voltage stress across switches while controlling two dc-side voltages within a wide range of output voltages. Simulation and experimental results are provided to verify the BS of the new feature and the proposed control method.