A Modified Bridgeless Cuk Converter based EV Charger with Improved Power Quality

A new bridgeless Cuk converter based electric vehicle (EV)charger with improved power quality features, is proposed in this work. The proposed bridgeless Cuk converter, at its fore-end, improves the input power factor of the charger in voltage follower mode control. However, battery charging for EV, is performed in constant current (CC)and constant voltage (CV)regimes using a flyback DC-DC converter. The proposed BL converter utilizes single semiconductor switch for PFC operation during both halves of line voltage at the cost of only one additional diode. However, cost of extra switch during independent supply halves, is avoided. Both the converters are designed for discontinuous current operation to achieve in-built zero current switching as well as low line current total harmonic distortion as per recommended IEC 61000-3-2 standard. The effectiveness of proposed converter is validated using a prototype for steady state as well as over sudden fluctuations in supply voltage from 160V-260V. A comparison of the proposed charger to the conventional diode bridge rectifier fed charger, is shown to demonstrate the improved charger performance.