Test bed implementation of 380V DC distribution system using isolated bidirectional power converters

The test bed implementation of a 380V DC distribution system using smart power converters is proposed. The proposed test bed system is composed of DC home appliances modified from conventional AC components, a grid-interactive AC-DC converter for regulating bus voltage, a bidirectional converter for battery power interface, a renewable energy simulator, DC distribution panel board, and its monitoring system. This paper will focus on three power converters: bi-directional AC-DC rectifier, bidirectional DC-DC converter, and unidirectional DC-DC converter for the DC distribution system. Those converters are designed using dual active bridge (DAB) converter and resonant topologies of CLLC and LLC. The performance of the proposed converters was evaluated using prototypes of a 5 kW bidirectional AC-DC converter, a 3 kW bidirectional DC-DC converter, and a 3 kW unidirectional DC-DC converter. Finally, the test bed system has been verified through DC load connecting experiments employing the prototype converters.