IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 27, NO.

5, MAY 2012 2231

Letters
Nonisolated Bidirectional DC–DC Converters With Negative-Coupled Inductor
Hongfei Wu, Juejing Lu, Wei Shi, and Yan Xing

Abstract—A novel solution for nonisolated bidirectional dc–dc

converters (NI-BDCs) with advantages of simple topology, high ef-
ficiency, and high reliability is proposed. A small negative-coupled
inductor (NCI) is employed to split the switch branch in the NI-
BDC into two power flows clearly and prevent the freewheeling
current from flowing through the body diode of MOSFET. As a
result, the reverse-recovery problem of the MOSFET’s body diode Fig. 1. Bidirectional boost/buck dc–dc converter.
is alleviated. The topology method is presented and a family of
NI-BDCs with NCI is proposed. The idea is further extended to a
positive-coupled-inductor (PCI) solution by merging the NCI and
the filter inductor into a PCI. And a family of NI-BDCs with PCI is
proposed. The key operational principle and design consideration
are presented with experimental results given.
Index Terms—Bidirectional converter, coupled inductor, dc–dc
converter, reverse recovery, topology.

Fig. 2. Improved bidirectional boost/buck dc–dc converter.

I. INTRODUCTION
IDIRECTIONAL dc–dc converters (BDCs) are widely
B used in many applications such as battery charg-
ing/discharging and power transmission between dc buses for
the satellite [1], uninterruptible power supplies [2], and re-
newable energy systems [3]. The nonisolated BDC (NI-BDC)
[6]–[17] offers a simple topology and control. And it is prior
to an isolated one, where isolation is not required for higher
efficiency, higher power density, and lower cost.
The basic bidirectional buck/boost converter is shown in
Fig. 1. It can operate either in the buck state or the boost state.
In the buck state, S1 operates as the main switch, while S2 as the
synchronous rectifier (SR-MOSFET). And in the boost state, S2
operates as the main switch and S1 as the synchronous rectifier.
The bidirectional buck/boost converter is the simplest NI-BDC
topology, but unfortunately it suffers from the reverse-recovery
problem of SR-MOSFET’s body diode when it operates in con-
Manuscript received July 19, 2011; revised October 17, 2011; accepted
December 11, 2011. Date of current version February 27, 2012. This work was
supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China through Project
51077071, by the Transformation of Scientific and Technological Achievements
in Jiangsu Province under Grant BA2008001, and by the Foundation of State
Key Lab of Power System under Grant SKLD10KM02. Recommended for pub-
lication by Associate Editor R. Ayyanar.
The authors are with the Jiangsu Key Laboratory of New Energy Gen-
eration and Power Conversion, College of Automation Engineering, Nan-
jing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China
(e-mail: wuhongfei@nuaa.edu.cn; lujuejing@nuaa.edu.cn; shiwei030410520@
nuaa.edu.cn; xingyan@nuaa.edu.cn).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPEL.2011.2180540
0885-8993/$26.00 © 2011 IEEE
tinuous conduction mode (CCM) in the applications with tens
volts or higher voltage [14]. It will cause the problems of ex-
tremely huge current and voltage spikes, switching losses, and
electromagnetic interference (EMI) noise.
To overcome the reverse-recovery problem, an effective so-
lution is to replace the MOSFET with a combined switch, as
shown in Fig. 2 [1]. Taking S1 as an example, a Schottky diode
D1 is in series with S1 to prevent the body diode of S1 from
conducting while another diode D3 with better reverse-recovery
characteristics is in parallel with S1 to freewheel the current.
But the additional conduction loss of the block diodes will af-
fect the efficiency. The reverse-recovery problem can also be
alleviated by operating the converter in discontinuous conduc-
tion mode [4]. However, the power switches have to suffer a
much higher current stress and conduction loss. Soft-switching
techniques such as resonant [5], [6], control-type soft switch-
ing [7], [8], and active clamp [9] offer alternative solutions for
high-voltage applications. However, it is not a preferred solution
for low-to-medium voltage application since turn-on loss is not
the dominating power loss, and it may complicate the control of
the converter or lead to higher voltage and/or current stress on
devices.
Using a coupled inductor to swap the current from the original
diode with an auxiliary diode and to alleviate problems of diode
reverse recovery has been proposed in [11]–[14] . This concept
has been applied to unidirectional dc–dc converters, such as
boost [11], [12], buck–boost [13], and single-ended primary-
inductor converter [14]. However, this method can only be ap-
plied to the unidirectional dc–dc converter and it is not valid
for the BDC. The major contribution of this letter is to pro-
pose a universal solution for NI-BDCs operated in CCM by
2232
Fig. 3. Derivation of the bidirectional buck/boost converter with NCI. (a)
Combined bidirectional buck/boost converter. (b) Bidirectional buck/boost con-
verter with NCI.
Fig. 4. Idealized waveforms of the proposed bidirectional buck/boost con-
verter in buck state.
employing a small negative-coupled inductor (NCI) to alleviate
the problems of reverse recovery of the MOSFET’s body diode.
Different from the concept proposed in [11]–[14], the NCI is
used to prevent the freewheeling current from flowing through
the body diode of MOSFET, but not to swap the current from
the original branch with the other one. The proposed NI-BDCs
have merits of low reverse-recovery loss, high reliability, and
easy control.
II. BIDIRECTIONAL BUCK/BOOST TOPOLOGY WITH NCI
A combined bidirectional buck/boost converter with a shared
inductor is illustrated in Fig. 3(a). Take the buck state as an
example. When S1 is OFF, we hope that the inductor current
flows totally through the diode D1 instead of the body diode of
S2 . Aiming at this, a small NCI, i.e., L, is introduced to prevent
the current from flowing through the body diode of S2 , as shown
in Fig. 3(b). With the introduced NCI, the switches and diodes
are split into two power flow paths clearly with S1 , D1 for buck
direction and S2 , D2 for boost direction, respectively.
Take the buck state as an example to analyze. The following
assumptions are made: 1) all devices are ideal, 2) the coupling
coefficient of the NCI is 1, and 3) i1 , i2 , and iLf are the current
through the two windings of the NCI and filter inductor as
illustrated in Fig. 3(b). The ideal waveforms of the proposed
converter in buck state are shown in Fig. 4.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 27, NO. 5, MAY 2012
Mode I [t0 –t1 ]: When S1 is ON, D1 and S2 are OFF. The
induced potential of the NCI leads to a positive voltage vNCI on
D2 and keeps D2 OFF. Therefore, i1 = iLf and i2 = 0. The bias
current of the NCI flows into the dotted end, whose direction is
the same as i1 .
Mode II [t1 –t2 ]: At t1 , S1 is turned OFF and D1 ON. The
bias current of the NCI remains unchanged and flows from the
dotted end to the undotted end. The voltage vNCI blocks S2 ’s
body diode from conducting, which means the current i1 ( = iLf )
swaps from S1 to D1 , but not S2 ’s body diode.
As a result, the NCI prevents the current from flowing through
S2 ’s body diode and holds i2 = 0 and i1 = iLf when S1 is
OFF. That means when the proposed bidirectional buck/boost
converter works in the buck state, only S1 , D1 work, which is
the same as that in a unidirectional buck converter.
III. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A. Experimental Results
A prototype for satellite application with the proposed topol-
ogy is built. The parameters are VH = 120 V (±5% when as
input), VL = 80 V (±5% when as input), rated power: 1000 W,
switching frequency: 100 kHz, Lf = 25 μH, magnetizing induc-
tance and coupling coefficient of the NCI: L = 4.6 μH and kN =
0.88, S1 and S2 : IXTQ82N25, and D1 and D2 : DSA90C200HB.
The experimental results in buck and boost states at full load
are given in Fig. 5(a) and (b), respectively. The waveforms of
i1 and i2 in Fig. 5(a) show that a very small current i2 flows
through S2 and D2 branches in the buck state and the waveforms
are almost the same as that in a basic buck converter consisted
of S1 , D1 and an filter inductor with the inductance of (Lf +
L). It is also shown in Fig. 5 that there are small voltage spikes
on the MOSFET S1 thanks to the Schottky diode D1 instead
of S2 ’s body diode, freewheeling. Fig. 6(b) tells the same story
in the boost state. The tested efficiencies of the proposed BDC
with an NCI and the conventional BDC, as shown in Fig. 1,
are given in Fig. 6. The parameters and devices used in the
two tested prototypes are the same. It can be seen that, with
the proposed BDC, efficiencies of 97.6% and 97.3% at full
load in buck and boost states have been achieved. Compared to
the conventional BDC, efficiency has been improved more than
0.5% at full load and more than 2% at light load because the
conduction loss of the conventional BDC at light load is much
higher than that of the proposed BDC. Experimental results
verify that the NCI solution really prevents the freewheeling
current from flowing through the body diode of the MOSFET
and offers a high efficiency over a wide load range.
B. Discussion
1) Impact of the Parasitic Parameters: As seen from the
experimental waveforms, the parasitic capacitor of the MOSFET
will resonate with the NCI when the MOSFET is OFF. Take the
buck state as an example to analyze. Assume that iLf is constant
during the resonance because the value of Lf is much larger
than that of the L.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 27, NO. 5, MAY 2012 2233

Fig. 7. Equivalent circuits of the bidirectional buck/boost converter with NCI

in buck state: (a) t < t0 , (b) [t0 , t1 ], and (c) [t1 , t2 ].

value, i2 pk , at t1
 
2L CDS
Fig. 5. Experimental waveforms at full load in (a) buck state and (b) boost i2 pk = VH − (VH − VL ) . (2)
Lf + L 2(1 + kN )L
state.

During [t1 , t2 ], the body diode of S2 begins to conduct when

vDS2 = 0 at t1 , as shown in Fig. 7(c). And i1 and i2 decrease
with the same slope as given by (3), until i2 = 0 and the body
diode of S2 turns off at t2 . Then, CDS2 and the NCI reresonate
again

di1 di2 1 VL VL
= = ≈ . (3)
dt dt 2 Lf + 1−k
2 L
N 2L f

Based on the previous analysis, the body diode of S2 is not

Fig. 6. Conversion efficiency versus output power of the proposed BDC with
NCI and the conventional BDC without NCI.
During t < t0 , S1 is ON, CDS2 resonates with the NCI, and
the equivalent circuit is given in Fig. 7(a); vDS2 will damp to
a voltage given by (1) at the end of this mode, as shown in
Fig. 5(a)
2L
vDS2 = VH − (VH − VL ).
Lf + L
During [t0 , t1 ], when S1 is turned OFF at t0 , CDS2 discharges
and resonates with the NCI again, equivalent circuit is shown
in Fig. 7(b), until vDS2 resonates to zero and i2 reaches its peak
prevented from conducting absolutely. But the current through
it, root caused by the discharging of CDS2 , is extremely small
and brings little power loss. On the other hand, because the
current through S2 ’s body diode is very small and decreases
slowly, it leads to a little reverse-recovery problem, as shown in
the experimental waveforms. The oscillation may cause some
EMI issues, but compared to the EMI introduced by the reverse
recovery of MOSFET’s body diode, these issues have been de-
graded because the di/dt and dv/dt caused by the oscillations are
limited by the leakage inductance of the coupled inductor.
2) Design Consideration: To alleviate the reverse-recovery
(1)
problems associated with the body diode of S2 , the current
through S2 ’s body diode should be decreased to zero before
S1 is turned ON, which requires i2 pk in (2) to satisfy
ΔiL f VL Toff
i2 pk < ≈ (4)
2 2(L + Lf )
2234
Fig. 8. Examples NI-BDCs with NCI. (a) bidirectional buck–boost. (b) bidi-
rectional cuk.
Fig. 9. Merging of the NCI and filter inductor.
where ΔiLf is the ripple of iLf and Toff is the off time of S1 in a
switching cycle. Assume Lf = xL; then, the value of L and kN
should be designed to satisfy
 
2CDS 2 in Fig. 3(a) if kP = 1. Therefore, the smaller the kP , the bet-
L(1 + kN ) > VH − (VH − VL ) . (5)
Δi2L f x+1
The design procedure of Lf , L, and kN is as follows: first,
determine the value of ΔiLf according to the specifications of
the converter, then the value of Lf + L can be derived according
to (4); second, select the value of kN ; third, calculate the value
of L and Lf (Lf = xL) according to (5). It can be seen that a
larger value of kN means a smaller value of L and a larger value
of Lf . Therefore, a larger value of kN or a tightly coupled NCI
is expected in the design procedures.
3) Easy Control and High Reliability: The MOSFETs, S1
and S2 , in the proposed bidirectional buck/boost converter are
driven separately for the buck and boost operations. There-
fore, there are no issues concerning soft start and shoot-through
caused by the MOSFETs in the complementary operation [3].
In addition, the control of power flow of the proposed BDC
is the same as the conventional BDCs. As a result, both easy
control and high reliability can be achieved with the proposed
bidirectional buck/boost topology.
IV. EXTENSION OF THE PROPOSED TOPOLOGY
The idea, preventing the freewheeling current from flowing
through the body diode by employing a small NCI, is also valid
for other NI-BDC topologies. Some of the NI-BDCs with the
NCIs are examples given in Fig. 8.
The NCI and the filter inductor Lf in the proposed NI-
BDC can be merged together and represented by an equivalent
positive-coupled inductor (PCI), as illustrated in Fig. 9. And
then a family of NI-BDCs with PCIs can be derived with some
of them given in Fig. 10 as examples.
In the extreme cases, the topology in Fig. 10(a) will be equiv-
alent to a direct combination of the buck and boost converters
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 27, NO. 5, MAY 2012
Fig. 10. NI-BDCs with PCI: (a) bidirectional buck/boost, (b) bidirectional
buck-boost, and (c) bidirectional cuk.
with separated filter inductors if the coupling coefficient of the
PCI kP = 0. And it will be the same as the topology given
ter. However, a small kP may affect the power density of the
converter. The operation principle of the two types of NI-BDC,
with NCI and PCI, is the same. The main consideration on the
structure of the coupled inductor is the power density of the
converter.
V. CONCLUSION
A novel and universal solution for the nonisolated bidirec-
tional dc–dc converter (NI-BDC) with high efficiency, high re-
liability, and easy control has been proposed and a family of NI-
BDCs has been derived. By employing a small NCI to split the
switch-branch in an NI-BDC into two power flow paths clearly
and prevent the freewheeling current from flowing through the
body diode of the MOSFETs, the reverse-recovery problem of
MOSFET’s body diode is alleviated. The tested efficiencies with
a 1 kW 120 V/80 V bidirectional buck/boost converter prototype
are 97.6% and 97.3% at full load in buck and boost states, re-
spectively. The NCI can also be merged with the filter inductor
into a PCI and bring a family of NI-BDCs with the PCI.
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