Indian Journal of Science and Technology

Abstract

This paper proposes an active cell equalizing technology by an active clamped forward converter in which the stored energy in the transformer is recycled to the battery pack. This cell balancing circuit prevents the transformer from saturation which may result in power loss. In addition, the clamp capacitor of the proposed cell equalizer can protect active switches from voltage spikes because of the charge balance of the clamp capacitor. Therefore, the proposed balancing circuit has higher efficiency and lower voltage stress than the previous RCD reset circuit based forward-type cell balancing circuit in the literature. In addition, this active cell equalizing circuit operates for all cells to be equilibrated simultaneously. Therefore, the cell balancing speed is faster than the previous balancing circuit in the literature. The operational principle of the proposed circuit in this paper was analyzed and simulated by PSIM software.
Keywords: Active Clamp, Cell Balancing Circuit, Forward Converter, Transformer Saturation