Novel 3 level bidirectional buck converter with wide operating range for Hardware-in-the-Loop test systems

For Hardware-in-the-Loop tests of components for the distribution grid, for example circuit breakers, converter systems are required, which can generate a high power output with fast transients of the output signal. In this paper, a novel 3 level buck converter is presented, which is using 3 different supply voltages to enable a wide voltage operation range. The modulation of the converter is presented and the design of a prototype system is performed and optimized for pulsed power operation. The prototype is compared to a hard-switched NPC-design.