SLUAAX1 July 2024 UCC24624
In energy storage systems (ESS), bidirectional isolated DC/DC is usually used to charge and discharge batteries.
Among the different isolated bidirectional DC/DC topologies, LLC resonant converters can easily implement soft switching over the full-load range, offering significant advantages in high-efficiency applications. The CLLLC topology is the basis of the LLC topology, which adds a resonant tank on the secondary side to enable symmetric gain in both forward and reverse mode.
In traditional bidirectional CLLLC resonant converters, as shown in Figure 1-1, the body diodes of the MOSFET form an uncontrolled rectification network. Compared to fast recovery diodes, body diodes can seriously reduce efficiency due to the larger reverse recovery current, longer reverse recovery time, higher voltage drop, and lower rated on-current.
The most effective way to solve this problem is to use synchronous rectification (SR) technology. By replacing the body diode with a MOSFET in a rectified network, the current now flows through the MOSFET channel. The MOSFET has a small on-resistance which effectively reduces rectified conduction losses.
Traditional synchronous rectification strategies can be divided into the following categories: