1906 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 66, NO.

3, MARCH 2019

Robust Circuit Parameters Design for the

CLLC-Type DC Transformer in the
Hybrid AC–DC Microgrid
Jingjing Huang , Member, IEEE, Xin Zhang , Member, IEEE, Zhikang Shuai , Senior Member, IEEE,
Xinan Zhang, Member, IEEE, Peng Wang , Fellow, IEEE, Leong Hai Koh,
Jianfang Xiao, Member, IEEE, and Xiangqian Tong

Abstract—CLLC-type dc transformer (CLLC-DCT) is very

popular in the hybrid ac–dc microgrid thanks to its high-
power density advantage and good bidirectional power
transfer capacity. In the hybrid ac/dc microgrid, the open-
loop control is always utilized by the CLLC-DCT to coop-
erate with the bidirectional interlinking converter to realize
the power and voltage conversion between the ac and dc
bus. This paper first studies the circuit parameters design
of the open-loop controlled CLLC-DCT with consideration of
such a realistic problem: The real inductors/capacitors val-
ues are actually different with their theoretically designed
values due to the operation power and temperature vari-
ation. To solve this problem, a robust circuit parameters
design scheme is proposed for the CLLC-DCT in this pa-
per. With the proposed scheme, the designed CLLC-DCT
exhibits good power transmission and voltage regulation
ability in the hybrid ac/dc microgrid even when its actual in-
ductors/capacitors values vary with the practical power and
temperature. The robust design method is experimentally
verified in a hybrid ac/dc microgrid prototype.
Index Terms—CLLC, dc transformer, hybrid ac/dc micro-
Fig. 1. Hybrid ac/dc microgrid, BIC, and DCT. (a) Hybrid ac/dc micro-
grid, robust parameters design, voltage conversion gain grid and its three BCS cases. (b) BIC. (c) DCT.
(VCG).
I. INTRODUCTION
OWADAYS dc microgrid has become more and more
Manuscript received December 23, 2017; revised March 24, 2018; ac-
cepted April 22, 2018. Date of publication May 10, 2018; date of current
N popular due to the rapid development of renewable dc
sources and dc loads [1], [2]. However, in dc microgrid, the dc
version October 31, 2018. This paper was supported by the START-UP
GRANT (SUG) of Nanyang Technological University: “Stability, Relia- power from the wind turbine generators should be converted into
bility and Advanced Control of Power Electronic Systems (SCOPES)”. dc power by ac/dc conversion technique, which needs multiple
(Corresponding author: Xin Zhang.) conversion steps and introduces additional system power loss
J. Huang is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Xi’an Uni-
versity of Technology, Xi’an 710048, China, and also with the School of as well as the dc microgrid complexity [3], [4]. Hence, the
Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, hybrid ac/dc microgrid has come up to facilitate the connection
Singapore 639798 (e-mail: [email protected]). of various renewable ac and dc sources and loads [5], [6].
Xin Zhang, X. Zhang, and P. Wang are with the School of Elec-
trical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, The topology of the hybrid ac/dc microgrid, as shown in
Singapore 639798 (e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]. Fig. 1, can be directly utilized in the nanogrid to support the
sg; [email protected]). low-power applications, such as the remote small villages, island
Z. Shuai is with the College of Electrical and Information Engineer-
ing, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China (e-mail: zhikangshuai@ without power, emergency power supply under natural disaster,
hotmail.com). etc. [7]–[9]. When the high-power application is required, more
L. H. Koh and J. Xiao are with the Energy Research Institute, Nanyang modular consisted by Fig. 1 can be introduced in parallel or
Technological University, Singapore 639798 (e-mail: marcuskoh@
pmail.ntu.edu.sg; [email protected]). series. As seen from Fig. 1(a), the dc and ac submicrogrids are
X. Tong is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Xi’an Univer- interlinked by a bus conversion system (BCS). Currently, the
sity of Technology, Xi’an 710048, China (e-mail: [email protected]). BCS has three typical cases.
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. 1) Case 1 of the BCS is a bidirectional interlinking converter
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIE.2018.2835373 (BIC), which is essentially a bidirectional three phase
0278-0046 © 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.

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HUANG et al.: ROBUST CIRCUIT PARAMETERS DESIGN FOR THE CLLC-TYPE DC TRANSFORMER IN THE HYBRID AC–DC MICROGRID 1907

inverter [see Fig. 1(b)]. However, due to the limitation of

the three-phase inverter, the Case 1 of BCS only can link
special voltage grade dc and ac bus. For instance, it can
link 230 V/50 Hz 3Φ ac bus to a 700V dc bus, but cannot
link the above ac bus to a 380V dc bus. Besides, Case 1
of BCS does not have galvanic isolation [10].
2) Case 2 of the BCS is a BIC cascaded with an ac trans-
former (ACT). This ACT is a low-frequency isolated
transformer whose frequency is the same with the ac bus.
As a result, the Case 1 of the BCS not only realizes the
galvanic isolation, but also becomes capable of linking
Fig. 2. Three power flow scenarios in the hybrid ac/dc microgrid.
any dc and ac bus via changing the ACT turn ratio [11].
Nonetheless, the low-frequency ACT reduces the power
density and transmission efficiency of the hybrid ac/dc lowing two challenges to the CLLC-DCT circuit parameters
microgrid. design.
3) Case 3 of the BCS is a dc transformer (DCT) cascaded 1) How to guarantee a good PT ability of the open-loop
with a BIC. In Fig. 1(c), since the DCT employs the high- controlled CLLC-DCT via a suitable circuit parameters
frequency transformer (HFT) instead of the ACT, it not design?
only inherits the Case 3 of the BCS advantage, but also 2) How to eliminate the negative impact of the actual
improves the power density and transmission efficiency inductors/capacitors values changes on the open-loop
of the hybrid ac/dc microgrid [12]. controlled CLLC-DCT? For instance, for an open-loop
This paper will focus on the Case 3 of the BCS in the hybrid controlled CLLC-DCT, even if its inductors and ca-
ac/dc microgrid, especially on its DCT design. pacitors have already been theoretically designed very
Frankly speaking, DCT is not a new concept. In theory, all the well to ensure the voltage conversion gain (VCG), its
dual-active-bridge (DAB) topologies can be utilized for the DCT actual inductors and capacitors values may be different
[13]. Among the existing DAB topologies, the resonant DAB from their designed values and vary with their operation
topologies have attracted lots of research attentions owing to its power and temperature [23]. The problem is: the
simple structure and small power loss [14]–[17]. These topolo- CLLC-DCT may lose its required VCG due to the actual
gies can be enumerated as LLC-type DAB [14], asymmetric inductors/capacitors values changing in practice, which
CLLC-type DAB [15], and symmetric CLLC-type DAB [16], directly affects both the control and the modulation of
[17]. However, both the LLC-type and the asymmetric CLLC- the BIC and may deteriorate the power quality. Besides,
type DAB topologies present different characteristics between the instability problem may be induced [24], [25].
forward and backward power transmission (PT) mode due to Therefore, this paper proposes a robust circuit parameters de-
their different turn ratio and the asymmetric structure of the sign method for the CLLC-DCT in the hybrid ac/dc microgrid to
resonant networks. Therefore, they are not competitive for the overcome the above two challenges. With the proposed design
DCT in the hybrid ac/dc microgrid, which requires equivalent method, the open-loop controlled CLLC-DCT can keep good
bidirectional PT function [18]. In view of its equivalent high PT PT and voltage regulation ability in the full load range even
capability for both forward and backward modes, the symmetri- with the presence of inductors/capacitors’ value variations. The
cal CLLC-type DAB topology is recommended for the DCT in rest of this paper is organized as follows. The power flow scenar-
the hybrid ac/dc microgrid [19]. For simplicity, this paper uses ios of the hybrid ac/dc microgrid and the CLLC-DCT control
the terminology CLLC-DCT for the symmetrical CLLC-type scheme are reviewed in Section II. In Section III, the robust
DAB topology-based DCT. circuit parameters design scheme is presented for the CLLC-
In the conventional CLLC-DCT applications such as electric DCT. Experimental verifications are illustrated in Section IV,
vehicle [20] and battery charging [21], the CLLC-DCT is usu- and Section V summarizes this paper.
ally an independent power converter that regulates the target
voltage/power to its reference value via a closed-loop control. II. REVIEW: POWER FLOW SCENARIOS OF THE HYBRID
It is very robust to the power variation and circuit parame- AC/DC MICROGRID AND THE CLLC-DCT CONTROL SCHEME
ters changing. As a result, in these traditional applications, the
CLLC-DCT does not need to pay more attention to its circuit A. Power Flow Scenarios of Hybrid AC/DC Microgrid
parameters design. As shown in Fig. 2, there are three typical power flow scenar-
However, the hybrid ac/dc microgrid is a new application for ios in the hybrid ac/dc microgrid.
the CLLC-DCT, where the CLLC-DCT has to cooperate with 1) Scenario I: In this scenario, the power flows from the
the BIC [see Fig. 1(a)] instead of being an independent power dc bus to the ac bus. For the dc bus side, the PV is cooperated
converter [12], [22]. In such applications, since the conversion with the battery to support the dc bus and to feed the dc load. If
power is already closed-loop controlled by the BIC, the CLLC- the PV generation exceeds load demand, the dc bus charges the
DCT usually utilizes the open-loop control. Unfortunately, the battery; if the PV generation is insufficient for load feeding, the
performance of the open-loop control heavily depends on the battery discharges to support the dc bus. For the dc bus side, the
circuit parameters of the CLLC-DCT. This brings the fol- power comes from the dc bus, the wind power and the utility

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1908 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 66, NO. 3, MARCH 2019

Fig. 3. Cooperation between the DCT and the BIC.

grid (UG) collaborate to support the ac bus and the ac load. If the
wind power is sufficient, the ac bus will transfer the extra power
to the UG; if the wind power is insufficient, the UG will support
the ac bus. Between the dc and ac buses, the DCT cooperates
with the BIC to transmit the power from the dc side to the ac
side, where the power flows from the low-voltage (LV) side to
the high-voltage (HV) side of the DCT. Fig. 4. Example CLLC-DCT and its control scheme in the hybrid ac/dc
2) Scenario II: In this scenario, the dc bus and ac bus are microgrid. (a) Example CLLC-DCT. (b) 50% duty ratio-based open loop
control scheme.
independent of each other. For the dc bus side, the PV and
battery have enough power to support the dc load. For the dc
bus side, the wind power and UG also have sufficient power to C. Control Scheme of the CLLC-DCT in the Hybrid
feed the ac load. Between the dc bus and the ac bus, there is no AC/DC Microgrid
power flow through the DCT or BIC.
Since the BIC plays the power closed-loop control role in the
3) Scenario III: In this scenario, the power flows of the dc
hybrid ac/dc microgrid, 50% duty ratio open-loop control is usu-
and ac bus sides are the same with the Scenario I. The only
ally utilized by the DCT to help the BIC realize its PT function
difference is that the power flows from the ac bus to the dc bus.
due to its simple and low-cost (do not need any voltage/current
It is worth mentioning that the power flows from the HV to LV
sensors) advantages [28].
side of the DCT at this scenario.
Considering this paper focus on the CLLC-DCT, an example
CLLC-DCT is presented in Fig. 4(a) to further describe its 50%
duty ratio-based open-loop control. As seen, the CLLC-DCT
B. Cooperation Between the DCT and the BIC
contains three parts: an LV side H-bridge which formed by
According to the analysis in Section II-A, the DCT and the S1 ∼S4 , a CLLC-type HFT, a HV side H-bridge which formed
BIC work together to transfer the power between the dc bus by S10 ∼S40 . As shown in Fig. 4(b), the 50% duty ratio open-
and the ac bus. As shown in Fig. 3, where PH and PL are the loop control of the DCT sends 50% duty ratio drive signal to turn
HV and LV side power of the DCT, respectively, the detailed ON/OFF S1&4 & S10&40 . Meanwhile, its complementary signal
collaboration forms of the DCT and the BIC can be described is sent to drive S2&3 & S20&30 .
as follows. As discussed in the introduction, the performance of the open-
1) The transmission power (see PT in Fig. 3) between the dc loop control heavily depends on the circuit parameters of the
bus and the ac bus is closed-loop controlled by the BIC, CLLC-DCT. This requires the CLLC-DCT to pay more attention
whose power reference is allocated by the system-level to its circuit parameters design to help the open-loop control to
energy management system (EMS) communication bus guarantee the PT and voltage regulation.
[26].
2) There are two functions of the DCT. One is to help the III. ROBUST CIRCUIT PARAMETERS DESIGN OF THE
BIC to realize the required PT. Another one is to keep its CLLC-DCT IN THE HYBRID AC/DC MICROGRID
HV voltage (VH in Fig. 3, also the BIC input voltage) in
an allowable range to guarantee that the BIC can work In this section, a robust circuit parameters design method
well [27]. of the CLLC-DCT is proposed with full consideration of such
It is worth mentioning that since both dc-bus voltage and a realistic problem: The real inductors/capacitors values are
ac-bus voltage are already controlled by the dc submicrogrid actually different with their theoretically designed values when
and ac submicrogrid, respectively. The DCT and BIC do not their operation power and temperature are varied.
need to control the dc or dc-bus voltage in the hybrid ac/dc The target designed parameters, requirements, challenges, ro-
microgrid. bust design method, and design example are discussed succes-
sively in this section.

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HUANG et al.: ROBUST CIRCUIT PARAMETERS DESIGN FOR THE CLLC-TYPE DC TRANSFORMER IN THE HYBRID AC–DC MICROGRID 1909

A. Target Designed Parameters

1) Actual Parameters to be Designed: As shown in
Fig. 4(a), the CLLC-DCT contains two H-bridges and one
symmetrical CLLC-type HFT. Therefore, the circuit parameters
design of the CLLC-DCT is actually its HFT design, whose
circuit parameters includes the following:
1) turn ratio of the HFT: n;
2) leakage inductances: Lr 1 and Lr 2 ;
3) magnetizing inductances: Lm 1 and Lm 2 ;
4) series resonant capacitors: Cr 1 and Cr 2 .
2) Intermediate Parameters to be Designed: However,
the parameters design of the Lr 1 , Lr 2 , Lm 1 , Lm 2 , Cr 1 , Cr 2 are
interacted with each other. It is difficult to give the individual Fig. 5. Equivalent circuit model of the CLLC-HFT. (a) Power flows from
equation of Lr 1 , Lr 2 , Lm 1 , Lm 2 , Cr 1 , Cr 2 . As a result, a series LV side to HV side. (b) Power flows from HV side to the LV side.
of intermediate design parameters are proposed in this section
to help the CLLC-DCT parameters design, whose definitions B. Design Requirements
are as follows. 1) CLLC-DCT Tasks in the Hybrid AC/DC Microgrid: Ac-
1) Theoretical resonant angular frequency of Lr 1 and Cr 1 cording to Section II-B, there are two main tasks of the CLLC-
(Lr 2 and Cr 2 ): ωr T . DCT in the hybrid AC/DC microgrid.
2) The quality factor of the CLLC-HFT when the power 1) Guarantee the PT of the CLLC-DCT at bidirectional
flows from the LV side to the HV side: Q1 . power flow directions.
3) The quality factor of the CLLC-HFT when the power 2) Guarantee the required input voltage of the BIC in an
flows from the HV side to the LV side: Q2 . allowable voltage range to ensure the BIC can work well.
4) The ratio of Lm 1 and Lr 1 (Lm 2 and Lr 2 ): k. The above two tasks determine the circuit parameters design
The expression of the ωr T , Q1 , Q2 , and k are as follows: requirements of the CLLC-DCT.
  2) Design Requirements based on PT: For the conve-
ωr T = 1/ Lr 1 Cr 1 = 1/ Lr 2 Cr 2 (1)
 nience of deriving the PT expressions, the equivalent circuit
Q1 = n2 Lr 1 /Cr 1 /Req H (2) model of the CLLC-HFT has been depicted in Fig. 5.
  2  In Fig. 5, the port voltage of the CLLC-HFT, vAB(CD) , is a
Q2 = Lr 2 /Cr 2 / n Req L (3) square waveform whose up and down voltages are VL (H ) and
k = Lm 1 /Lr 1 = Lm 2 /Lr 2 (4) −VL (H ) , respectively, which can be mathematically expressed
by the Fourier series form as follow:
where Req H is equal to the ratio of the instantaneous vCD and ∞

4VL (H ) 1
iCD when the power flows from the LV side to the HV side; Req L vAB(CD) = sin(mωs t) (13)
is equal to the ratio of the instantaneous vAB and iAB when the π m =1,3,5....
m
power flows from the HV side to the LV side, whose expressions
where ωs = 2πfs . fs is the switching frequency of the
are as follows [29]:
CLLC-DCT.
  According to Fig. 5, iAB(CD) can be expressed as
Req H = vCD /iCD |p L →H = 8VH2 / π 2 PH (5)
  iAB(CD) = IAB(CD) sin(ωs t + ϕ) (14)
Req L = vAB /iAB |p H →L = 8VL2 / π 2 PL (6)
where IAB(CD) is the peak value of iAB(CD) which meets ICD =
where VL is the dc-bus voltage. −IAB /n. The angle ϕ can be expressed as [12], [28]
It is worthy explaining
√ that since the √ CLLC-HFT is a symmet-   
rical transformer, 1/ Lr 1 Cr 1 = 1/ Lr 2 Cr 2 and Lm 1 /Lr 1 = 2 1
ϕ|LV→HV ≈ arctan 2n ωs Lr 1 − /Req H (15a)
Lm 2 /Lr 2 are valid in (1) and (4). ωs Cr 1
By (1)–(4), if ωr T , Q1 , Q2 , and k have been designed, the   
1
Lr 1 , Lr 2 , Lm 1 , Lm 2 , Cr 1 , and Cr 2 can be derived as follows: ϕ|HV→LV ≈ arctan 2 ωs Lr 2 − /n2 Req L (15b)
ωs Cr 2
Lr 1 = Q1 Req H /n2 ωr T (7) According to (13)–(15), the average power of the CLLC-DCT
2 can be derived as
Lr 2 = n Req L Q2 /ωr T (8) 2π
ωs ωs
Lm 1 = kQ1 Req H /n ωr T 2
(9) pL (H ) ≈ pAB(CD) = vAB(CD) iAB(CD)
2π 0
Lm 2 = kn2 Req L Q2 /ωr T (10) 2VL (H ) IAB(CD) cos ϕ
= . (16)
2
Cr 1 = n / (ωr T Q1 Req H ) (11) π
  According to (16), the relationship among vAB(CD) , iAB(CD) ,
Cr 2 = 1/ ωr T n2 Req L Q2 . (12) and pL (H ) are presented in Fig. 6. Fig. 6(a) and (b) shows the

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1910 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 66, NO. 3, MARCH 2019

According to (19), from the VCG point of view, the design

requirement of the CLLC-DCT can be summarized as: M should
satisfy (19) at any operation case of the CLLC-DCT in the hybrid
ac/dc microgrid.

C. Design Challenges and Criteria

1) Reality Design Problem: Actual Inductor and Capac-
itor Values are Different With Their Designed Values: It is
known that, the actual inductor and capacitor values are not
constant and may be varying with their operation power, volt-
age, current, and temperature [31]. Besides, different inductor
or capacitor has different practical parameters variation range.
For simplicity, this paper defines the variation ranges of the
actual inductor and capacitor values in a unified form
Fig. 6. Relationship among v AB(CD) , iAB(CD) , and p L (H ) . (a) v AB and
iAB . (b) v CD and iCD . (c) p L versus ϕ. (d) p H versus ϕ. LxA ∈ [(1 − ζ%) LxD , (1 + ζ%) LxD ] (20a)

waveform of vAB(CD) and iAB(CD) with ϕ = 0, ϕ > 0 and ϕ < 0. CxA ∈ [(1 − ξ%) CxD , (1 + ξ%) CxD ] (20b)
Fig. 6(c) and (d) shows the pL versus ϕ and pH versus ϕ curves. where Lx represents Lr 1 , Lr 2 , Lm 1 , and Lm 2 ; Cx represents
It can be seen that pL (H ) is inversely proportional to |ϕ| and has Cr 1 , and Cr 2 .LxD and CxD are the designed value of the Lx
maximum value when ϕ = 0. and Cx . LxA and CxA are the actual value of the Lx and Cx .
Therefore, if the CLLC-DCT wants to keep maximum PT ζ% and ξ% are the possible variation ranges of Lx and Cx ,
capacity in both power flows, it should let ϕ = 0. Substituting respectively [20], [28].
ϕ = 0 to (15), it can be obtained that: Therefore, according to (20), a realistic problem comes up
  to the CLLC-DCT design: Even if the inductors and capacitors
ωr T = 1/ Lr 1 Cr 1 = 1/ Lr 2 Cr 2 = ωs = 2πfs . (17)
are designed very well to guarantee the PT and VCG ability of
According to (17), from the PT point of view, the design the CLLC-DCT, their actual values may be different with their
requirement of the CLLC-DCT can be summarized as: ωr T = designed values and changed with the working condition. So,
2πfs . the performance of the CLLC-DCT may not meet the designed
3) General Design Requirement Based on VCG: As requirement in practice.
shown in Fig. 4(a), VL is the dc-bus voltage and is maintained 2) Challenges and Criteria on the PT-based Design
by the dc submicrogrid. In practice, there will be some volt- Requirement:
age fluctuation of the VL to cooperate with the power dispatch a) Challenges on the PT-based Design Require-
scheme of the EMS [5]. In this paper, the actual variation range ment: In Section III-B2, the√PT-based design √ requirement of
of VL is described as (18a). the CLLC-DCT is ωr T = 1/ Lr 1 Cr 1 = 1/ Lr 2 Cr 2 = 2πfs .
Besides, the input voltage of the BIC VH is also limited to a It is known that fs is the switching frequency of the CLLC-
specific range in practice [27]. First, since the BIC is essentially DCT and is constant with a 50% duty√ ratio open-loop
√control.
a bidirectional three phase inverter, VH should guarantee that Therefore, for a CLLC-DCT, ωr T = 1/ Lr 1 Cr 1 = 1/ Lr 2 Cr 2
the BIC can support the ac-bus voltage, and hence, cannot be too is required to be equal to a constant value 2πfs . However, as
low. Second, since large VH means large voltage stress of the discussed in Section III, the actual values of the Lr 1 , Lr 2 ,
BIC, VH cannot be too high either. Here, the allowable voltage Cr 1 , and Cr 2 are not constant and changing with different
range of the VH is described as (18b) power/temperature conditions.
√ √ In other words, the requirement:
VL ∈ [(1 − β%) · VL R , (1 + β%) · VL R ] (18a) ωr T = 1/ Lr 1 Cr 1 = 1/ Lr 2 Cr 2 = 2πfs cannot be met in all
the power/temperature conditions. This is a challenge on the
VH ∈ [(1 − α%) · VH R , (1 + α%) · VH R ] (18b) PT-based design requirement of the CLLC-DCT.
where VL R is the rated voltage of the VL ; VH R is the rated b) Criteria on the PT-based Design Requirement:
voltage of the VH . β% and α% are the allowable variation Considering the CLLC-DCT mostly operates at rated power
ranges of VL R and VH R , respectively [30]. and temperature conditions in the hybrid
√ ac/dc microgrid,
√ this
For convenience, the VCG of the CLLC-DCT from the LV paper suggests to design ωr T = 1/ Lr 1 Cr 1 = 1/ Lr 2 Cr 2 =
side to the HV side is defined as M. In (18), in order to make the 2πfs according to the rated power and temperature conditions,
BIC input voltage always stay in an allowable range [i.e., (18b)] which can be expressed as
 
with the change of the dc-bus voltage [i.e., (18a)], the required ωr T R = 1/ Lr 1R Cr 1R = 1/ Lr 2R Cr 2R = 2πfs (21)
range of the M can be derived as
where ωr T R , Lr 1R , Lr 2R , Cr 1R , and Cr 2R are the values of the
M = VH / (nVL ) ∈ [Mm in , Mm ax ] (19a) ωr T , Lr 1 , Lr 2 , Cr 1 , and Cr 2 at the rated power and temperature
Mm in = (1 − α%) · VH R / [n · (1 + β%) · VL R ] (19b) conditions of the CLLC-DCT.
Therefore, (21) is the design criterion of the CLLC-DCT from
Mm ax = (1 + α%) · VH R / [n · (1 − β%) · VL R ] . (19c) the PT point of view.

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HUANG et al.: ROBUST CIRCUIT PARAMETERS DESIGN FOR THE CLLC-TYPE DC TRANSFORMER IN THE HYBRID AC–DC MICROGRID 1911

3) Challenges and Criteria on the VCG-based Design

Requirement:
a) Challenges on the VCG-based Design Require-
ment: According to Fig. 5(a), M can be derived as
VH vC 1 D 1 k
M (Q1 , ω∗ , k) = = =√
nVL vAB 2
λ3 k + λ2 k + λ1
(22)
where k refers to (4), λ1 , λ2 , and λ3 are expressed as
 2
λ1 = ω∗2 − 1 Q21 (ω∗2 − 1)2 + ω∗2 /ω∗6 (23a) Fig. 7. Challenge of the VCG-based design requirement of the
  CLLC-DCT.
λ2 = 2 ω∗2 − 1 2Q21 (ω*2 − 1)2 + ω∗2 /ω*4 (23b)
 2
λ3 = 4Q21 ω∗2 − 1 /ω*2 + 1 (23c) M ∈ [Mm in , Mmax ] when Q1 is varied from 0 to Q1 m ax and
when ω∗ is changed between ω∗m i n and ω∗m a x .
where Q1 refers to (2), ω∗ is expressed as To make the relationships between PT, VCG, and ω∗ more
      accessible, the following steps are summarized.
ω∗ = ωs / 1/ Lr 1 Cr 1 = ωs / 1/ Lr 2 Cr 2 . (24)
Step 1: To achieve the maximum pL (H ) in (16), ϕ = 0 should
According to (22), M is affected by Q1 , ω∗ , and k, whose be ensured.
variation ranges are as follows. Step 2: To achieve ϕ = 0 in (15), (17) can be derived.
For Q1 : According to (2) and (20), it can be derived that the Step 3: Define ω∗ = ωs /ωr T , the maximum PT is ensured
actual Q1 is varied in the following range: when ω∗ = 1.
Step 4: The M should satisfy the VCG requirement around
Q1 ∈ [0, Q1max ] (25a) ω∗ = 1 to maintain the maximum PT simultaneously.
 b) Criteria on the VCG-based design requirement:
2 (1 + ζ%) Lr 1R According to (22), if M is required to be always between
Q1max = n /Req H m in (25b)
(1 − ξ%) Cr 1R [Mm in , Mmax ], the following equations can be obtained:
 
where Req H m in refers to (5) and 18(b) and can be expressed as Δ 1
M ≤ Mmax ⇒ F1 (k) = λ3 − 2 k 2 + λ2 k + λ1 ≥ 0
  Mm ax
Req H m in = 8[(1 − α%) · VH R ]2 / π 2 PH R (25c)
(28a)
where PH R is the HV side rated power of the CLLC-DCT.  
Δ 1
For ω∗ : According to (20), (21), and (24), it can be derived M ≥ Mm in ⇒ F2 (k) = λ3 − 2 k 2 + λ2 k + λ1 ≤ 0.
that the actual ω∗ is varied in the following range: Mm in
(28b)
ω∗ ∈ [ω∗m i n , ω∗m a x ] (26a)
 Therefore, the challenges in Fig. 7 can be transferred into
ω∗ m in = (1 − ζ%)(1 − ξ%) (26b) a simple mathematical question: how to guarantee F1 (k) and
 F2 (k) can always find valid k to ensure F1 (k) ≥ 0 and F2 (k) ≤
ω∗m a x = (1 + ζ%)(1 + ξ%). (26c) 0 during Q1 ∈ [0, Q1 m ax ] and ω∗ ∈ [ω∗m i n , ω∗m a x ].
For k: According to (4), (20), and (21), it can be derived that According to (23), it can be obtained that
the actual k is a constant value λ1 ≥ 0 (29a)
Lm 1R Lm 2R
k= = (27) λ2 ≥ 0 or λ2 ≤ 0 (29b)
Lr 1R Lr 2R
λ3 ≥ 1. (29c)
where Lm 1R and Lm 2R are the values of the Lm 1 and Lm 2 at
the rated power and temperature conditions of the CLLC-DCT. According to (4), it can be obtained that
It is worthy explaining that, since Lm 1 (Lm 2 ) and Lr 1 (Lr 2 )
are the magnetic inductor and leakage inductor of the CLLC- k > 0. (30)
HFT and sharing the same magnetic core. Thus, once the wire
Define
winding method and magnetic ferrite core are confirmed, the  
value of k will become relatively stable when the CLLC-HFT Δ 1
ΔF 1 = λ22 − 4λ1 λ3 − (31a)
operating within its maximum permitted temperature. There- Mm2 ax
fore, k is regarded as constant in this paper, which is always  
Δ 1
equal to (27) at any power/temperature conditions [17], [29]. ΔF 2 = λ22 − 4λ1 λ3 − . (31b)
Mm2 in
Therefore, by Section III-B3, (25) and (26), the challenge of
completing the VCG-based design requirement of the CLLC- By (28)–(31), Table I shows the case studies of the solu-
DCT can be presented in Fig. 7, i.e., how to always guarantee tions of F1 (k) ≥ 0. It can be seen that, F1 (k) always can

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1912 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 66, NO. 3, MARCH 2019

TABLE I TABLE II
CASE STUDIES OF THE SOLUTIONS OF F1 (k) ≥ 0 CASE STUDIES OF THE SOLUTIONS OF F2 (k) ≤ 0

temperature condition with consideration of the possible pa-

find suitable k to ensure F1 (k) ≥ 0 during Q1 ∈ [0, Q1 m ax ] and rameters variation of the actual Lr 1 , Lr 2 , Lm 1 , Lm 2 , Cr 1 , Cr 2 .
ω∗ ∈ [ω∗m i n , ω∗m a x ]. As a result, the designed CLLC-DCT can enjoy good PT and
Similarly, Table II shows the case studies of the solutions of VCG ability during Q1 ∈ [0, Q1 m ax ] and ω∗ ∈ [ω∗m i n , ω∗m a x ].
F2 (k) ≤ 0. It can be seen that, only when λ3 < (1/M2m in ), F2 (k) 1) Design of n: In this paper, n is designed according to the
can find suitable k to ensure F2 (k) ≤ 0 during Q1 ∈ [0, Q1 m ax ] rated LV side voltage VL R and the rated HV side voltage VH R
and ω∗ ∈ [ω∗m i n , ω∗m a x ].
In Tables I and II, taking into account 29(c), if F1 (k) and n = VH R /VL R . (33)
F2 (k) want to find valid k to simultaneously ensure F1 (k) ≥ 0 2) Design ωr T R , Q1 R , Q2 R and kR : Here, ωr T R , Q1R , Q2R
and F2 (k) ≤ 0 during Q1 ∈ [0, Q1 m ax ] and ω∗ ∈ [ω∗m i n , ω∗m a x ], and kR refers to ωr T , Q1 , Q2 and k at the rated power and
the following condition should be satisfied: temperature condition.

Q1 ∈ [0, Q1 m ax ] a) Design of ωr T R : According to the PT-based design
1
1 ≤ λ3 ≤ 2 , when . (32) criteria in Section III-C(b), ωr T R should meet (21).
Mm in ω∗ ∈ [ω∗ m in , ω∗ m ax ] b) Design of Q1R : Substituting (23c) into (32), the
Here, (32) is the design criterion of the CLLC-DCT from the VCG-based design criterion of the CLLC-DCT can be re-
VCG point of view. described as
 
ω∗ 1 − Mm2 in Q1 ∈ [0, Q1 m in ]
D. Robust Circuit Design Method for the CLLC-DCT 0 < Q1R ≤ when .
2Mm in |ω∗2 − 1| ω∗ ∈ [ω∗ m in , ω∗ m in ]
According to the Design Criteria
(34)
In this section, a robust circuit design method has been pro-
posed to design the Lr 1 , Lr 2 , Lm 1 , Lm 2 , Cr 1 , Cr 2 of the CLLC- For convenient, define
DCT according to the proposed design criteria in Section III- 
C. With the robust circuit design method, this paper designs ω∗ 1 − M2m in Δ
= Q1R X (35)
the Lr 1 , Lr 2 , Lm 1 , Lm 2 , Cr 1 , Cr 2 at the rated power and 2Mm in |ω∗2 − 1|

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HUANG et al.: ROBUST CIRCUIT PARAMETERS DESIGN FOR THE CLLC-TYPE DC TRANSFORMER IN THE HYBRID AC–DC MICROGRID 1913

Therefore, it can be derived that

  
Lr 2R n2 Lr 1R (1 − ξ%)
= = Q1R X m in Req H m in .
Cr 2R Cr 1R /n2 (1 + ζ%)
(42)
According (3) and (42), Q2R can be expressed as
  
Q1R X m in Req H m in (1 − ξ%)
Q2R = . (43)
n2 Req L R (1 + ζ%)

Fig. 8. Q 1 R X versus ω ∗ curve. Since Req H R = n2 Req L R , according to (41) and (43), it can
be obtained that Q1R = Q2R .
d) Design of kR : According to (33) and (19), it can be
Substituting 19(b) and (33) into (35), it can be further derived obtained that
that
 (1/Mm2 in ) > 1, (1/Mm2 ax ) < 1. (44)
1 − [(1 − α%)/(1 + β%)]2 · ω∗ Therefore, (32) is belonging to the following six cases in
Q1R X = . (36)
2 [(1 − α%)/(1 + β%)] · |ω∗2 − 1| Tables I and II.
2
Case 1: λ3 > (1/ Mmax ), ΔF 1 < 0, λ2 < 0. Here, if k > 0,
According to (26) and (36), Fig. 8 depicts the Q1R X versusω∗ F1 (k)e0.
curve. In Fig. 8, it can be obtained that 2
Case 2: λ3 > (1/ Mmax ), ΔF 1 < 0, λ2 > 0. Here, if k > 0,
F1 (k)ࣙ0.
Q1R X = min Q1R X |ω ∗ =ω ∗ m in , Q1R X |ω ∗ =ω ∗ max (37a) Case 3: λ3 > (1/ Mmax 2
), ΔF 1 e0, λ2 < 0. Here, if 0 < k < k1
Q1R X |ω ∗ =ω ∗ m in or k > k2 , F1 (k)e0.
2
 Case 4: λ3 > (1/ Mmax ), ΔF 1 e0, λ2 > 0. Here, if k >0,

1 − [(1 − α%)/(1 + β%)]2 · (1 − ζ%)(1 − ξ%) F1 (k)e0.
= Case 5: λ3 < (1/ Mm2 in ), ΔF 2 e0, λ2 < 0. Here, if k > k4 ,
2 [(1 − α%)/(1 + β%)] · [1 − (1 − ζ%)(1 − ξ%)]
F2 (k) ≤ 0.
(37b)
Case 6: λ3 < (1/ Mm2 in ), ΔF 2 e0, λ2 > 0. Here, if k > k4 ,
Q1R X |ω ∗ =ω ∗ max F2 (k) ≤ 0.
 According to the above cases study, if it requires F1 (k)e0 and

1 − [(1 − α%)/(1 + β%)]2 · (1 + ζ%)(1 + ξ%) F2 (k) ≤ 0 during Q1 ∈ [0, Q1 m ax ] and ω∗ ∈ [ω∗m i n , ω∗m a x ], k
= . should satisfy
2 [(1 − α%)/(1 + β%)] · [(1 + ζ%)(1 + ξ%) − 1]
(37c) k > max(k2 , k4 ) (45)
where, k2 and k4 can be derived via letting F1 (k) = 0 and
Substituting (37) into (34), the VCG-based design criterion F2 (k) = 0, respectively,
of the CLLC-DCT can be further described as    
1 4λ  1
1
0 < Q1R ≤ Q1R X m in when Q1 ∈ [0, Q1max ] . (38) k2 = −λ2 + λ22 − 4λ1 λ3 + 2 λ3 − 2
2 Mm ax Mm ax
Therefore, in this paper, in order to meet (38), Q1R is recom- (46a)
mended to be designed as follows:   
1 4λ1  1
k4 = −λ2 + λ22 − 4λ1 λ3 + λ3 − 2 .
Q1R X m in = Q1max . (39) 2 Mm2 in Mm in
(46b)
According to (39) and 25(b), it can be derived as
 It is worth pointing out that a larger k means a larger size of
 the CLLC-HFT in practice, therefore, this paper recommends to
Lr 1R Q1R X m in Req H m in (1 − ξ%)
= . (40) select the minimum value of k with the allowed range of (45).
Cr 1R n2 (1 + ζ%)
3) Design Lr 1 R , Lr 2 R , Lm 1 R , Lm 2 R , Cr 1 R , and Cr 2 R : Lr 1R ,
According to (2) and (40), Q1R can be expressed as Lr 2R , Lm 1R , Lm 2R , Cr 1R , and Cr 2R is the Lr 1 , Lr 2 , Lm 1 , Lm 2 ,
Cr 1 , and Cr 2 at the rated power and temperature condition. They

Q1R X m in Req H m in (1 − ξ%) can be obtained via ωr T R , Q1R , Q2R , and kR and (7)–(12).
Q1R = . (41)
Req H R (1 + ζ%)
E. Design Example
c) Design of Q2R : Since the CLLC-HFT is a sym- In this section, the proposed robust circuit parameters design
metrical transformer, Lr 2R = n2 · Lr 1R , Cr 2R = Cr 1R /n2 . method has been utilized to design a detailed CLLC-DCT. It is

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1914 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 66, NO. 3, MARCH 2019

Fig. 10. Measured (k − k R )/k R under different temperatures.

Fig. 9. Parameters design procedure of the CLLC-DCT.

Fig. 11. Three-dimensional gain curve of the designed CLLC-DCT.

worthy to mention that the proposed method is general, and the
following design is only an example to show the effectiveness
of the proposed method.
1) Specification of the Designed CLLC-DCT:
1) PH R = PL R = 6 kW; fs = 100 kHz.
2) VL R = 380 V, VH R = 760 V.
3) ζ% = ξ% = 4%, α% = β% = 2%.
It is noted that the deviation 4% for the resonant parameters
is achieved by the offline measurements under different tem-
peratures (see Fig. 13 in Section IV). It may be different when
the resonant components are made with a different structure,
materials, etc.
2) Robust Parameters Design of the CLLC-DCT: Accord-
ing to Section III-D, the whole design procedure of the CLLC- Fig. 12. CLLC-DCT-based hybrid ac/dc microgrid prototype.
DCT is summarized in Fig. 9, with the details elaborated as
follows.
and (26), it can be obtained that Mm in = 0.96, Mmax = 1.04,
Step 1: According to (33), n = 2.
Q1 ∈ [0, 1.786], ω∗ ∈ [0.96, 1.04]. In order to verify the correct-
Step 2: According to (21), ωr T R = 628 × 103 rad/ s.
ness of the designed parameters, a three-dimensional gain curve
Step 3: According to (41) and (43), Q1R = Q2R =
is depicted in Fig. 11 with respect to the variation of Q1 and ω∗ . It
1.786.
is shown that all the M curves are located within [Mm in , Mmax ].
Step 4: According to (45), kR > 24. So, kR = 25 is selected.
Therefore, the design example is successful.
Step 5: According to (7)–(12) and ωr T R , Q1R , Q2R & kR , it
can be obtained the values of the Lr 1R , Lr 2R , Lm 1R ,
Lm 2R , Cr 1R , and Cr 2R : IV. EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION
1) Lr 1R = 56 μH; Lr 2R = 223 μH; According to the design example in Section III-E, a real
2) Lm 1R = 1.4 mH; Lm 2R = 5.6 mH; CLLC-DCT has been developed and integrated into a hybrid
3) Cr 1R = 0.045 μF; Cr 2R = 0.011 μF. ac/dc microgrid prototype as shown in Fig. 12, where the BIC
The variations of k under different temperatures are summa- is controlled by DSPACE, and the CLLC-DCT is controlled by
rized in Fig. 10. It can be observed that the value of k is relatively a digital signal processor TMS320F28335. The other specifica-
stable with the maximum fluctuation range less than ±0.88%, tions of the CLLC-DCT are summarized in Table III.
when operating within the maximum permitted temperature. Based on the experimental prototype CLLC-HFT shown in
That is why we consider k as a constant in this paper. Fig. 12, the parameters Lm 1(2) , Lr 1(2) and Cr 1(2) under the
3) Design Verification: In this design example, ζ% = ξ% various temperatures have been measured offline. The param-
= 4%, α% = β% = 2%, therefore, according to (19), (25), eter deviation percentage is summarized in Fig. 13. It can be

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HUANG et al.: ROBUST CIRCUIT PARAMETERS DESIGN FOR THE CLLC-TYPE DC TRANSFORMER IN THE HYBRID AC–DC MICROGRID 1915

TABLE III
SPECIFICATIONS OF THE CLLC-DCT

Fig. 15. DC voltage tracking performance of CLLC-DCT.

Fig. 13. Parameter deviation percentage (%) under different

temperatures.

Fig. 16. Experimental waveforms (v L and v H ) of the CLLC-DCT when

changing from half power to full power with different ω ∗ and power flow.
(a) ω ∗ = 1 @ power flows LV→HV. (b) ω ∗ = 1 @ power flows HV→LV.
(c) ω ∗ = 0.96 @ power flows LV→HV. (d) ω ∗ = 0.96 @ power flows
HV→LV. (e) ω ∗ = 1.04 @ power flows LV→HV. (f) ω ∗ = 1.04 @ power
flows HV→LV.
Fig. 14. Experimental waveforms of the CLLC-DCT with rated power.
(a) v AB , v CD , iAB , and iCD at power flows HV→LV. (b) P L and P H at
power flows HV→LV. (c) v AB , v CD , iAB , and iCD at power flows LV→HV. reduced or increased. Therefore, the CLLC-DCT can operate as
(d) P L and P H at power flows LV→HV. an ideal DCT at ω∗ = 1, which indicates that the dc voltage of
BIC will be well maintained at its desired value when VL is well
observed that the maximum deviation is less than ±4% of the regulated.
rated value, which is consistent with the parameter variation Fig. 16 shows the experimental waveforms of the CLLC-DCT
selected in Section III-E. when changing from half power to full power with different
ω∗ (ω∗ = 1, 0.96, 1.04) and power flow (power flows LV→HV,
A. Experimental Waveforms of the CLLC-DCT With HV→LV). It can be seen that, VL and VH can always keep
Bidirectional Power Flow constant at different cases. It proves that the proposed robust
circuit design method is effective and can guarantee the VCG of
The vAB , vCD , iAB , iCD , PH , and PL of the CLLC-DCT are
the designed CLLC-DCT when the power and ω∗ are changing.
depicted in Fig. 14. As shown in Fig. 14(a), both the vAB and
iAB and vCD , and iCD are basically kept in phase to ensure the
rated power (6kW) transmission when the power is transmitted B. PT Ability Verification of the CLLC-DCT
from the HV side of the CLLC-DCT to its LV side. Fig. 14(b) In practice, the power efficiency of the CLLC-DCT can di-
shows the power waveforms at this power flow case. Similarly, rectly reflect its PT ability. As shown in Fig. 17, the bidirectional
Fig. 14(c) and (d) gives the same CLLC-DCT experimental power efficiencies of the CLLC-DCT have been measured when
waveforms when the power transmitted from the LV side of the its power and ω∗ are changing.
CLLC-DCT to its HV side. In Fig. 17(a), the power bidirectional efficiencies of the
The tracking performance of the CLLC-DCT under the CLLC-DCT at full-load range when ω∗ = 1 is given. It is worthy
changing dc bus has been verified at ω∗ = 1 when the LV side to mention that the impact induced by the resonant parameters
voltage VL is changed. It can be observed from Fig. 15 that the variations under the different environmental temperatures are
HV side voltage VH is kept pace with VL , no matter the VL is also needed to be analyzed, which results in 0.96 ≤ ω∗ ≤ 1.04.

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1916 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 66, NO. 3, MARCH 2019

Fig. 17. Efficiency of the CLLC-DCT at bidirectional power flows.

(a) At full-load range when ω ∗ = 1. (b) When ω ∗ changed from 0.96
to 1.04 at rated power condition.

Fig. 18. M of the CLLC-DCT. (a) At full-load range when ω ∗ = 1.

(b) When ω ∗ changed from 0.96 to 1.04 at rated power condition.

However, the temperature is hardly regulated. Therefore, the

switching frequency is regulated online as an equivalent ap-
proach to achieve ω∗ (0.96 ≤ ω∗ ≤ 1.04) for analyzing the ro-
bustness of the designed parameters. In Fig. 17(b), the power
bidirectional efficiencies of the CLLC-DCT when ω∗ changed
from ω∗ m in (0.96) to ω∗ m ax (1.04) at rated power condition is
given. It can be seen that, the CLLC-DCT enjoys good bidirec-
tional power efficiencies.

C. VCG (M) Verification of the DCT Fig. 19. Waveforms under high-power operation. (a) Scheme of the
In order to verify the VCG of the designed CLLC-DCT from BIC and DCT parallel branches. (b) AC voltage and current in phase A
of BIC1 , and the dc voltages of BIC1 (2 ) when p T 1 (2 )r e f changed from 3
the LV side to the HV side against to the power and parameters to 6 kW. (c) DC voltage and power of DCT1 (2 ) when p T 1 r e f (p T 2 r e f ) is
variation, M has been measured at Fig. 18. In Fig. 18(a), the set as 6 kW(1.8 kW), 5.5 kW(2.3 kW), and 5.8 kW(2 kW), respectively.
M of the CLLC-DCT at full-load range when ω∗ = 1 is given.
In Fig. 18(b), the M of the CLLC-DCT when ω∗ changed from Case 1: Both the dispatched desired power pT 1r ef and pT 2r ef
ω∗ m in (0.96) to ω∗ m ax (1.04) at rated power condition is given are changed from 3 to 6 kW. It can be observed from Fig. 19(b)
by adopting the similar approach as described in Section IV-B, that the HV side voltage of the CLLC-DCT VH 1 and VH 2 are
which is basically consistent with the theoretical value. It can basically kept the same with each other. Meanwhile, the ac
be seen that, the CLLC-DCT can always keep its M between the voltage and current waveforms in phase A of BIC1 verify that
Mm in (0.96), and Mmax (1.04). Therefore, the designed CLLC- the transmission power can be effectively ensured.
DCT enjoys robust VCG. Case 2: The two parallel branches shown in Fig. 19(a) provide
Up to this moment, the experimental results have verified 7.8 kW for the high-power requirement when pT 1r ef (pT 2r ef )
the correctness of the proposed robust circuit parameters design is allocated as 6 kW (1.8 kW), 5.5 kW (2.3 kW), 5.8 kW (2 kW)
method. in turn. In Fig. 19(c), VH 1 and VH 2 are stable and kept same as
each other when the power allocation is changing.
D. Characteristics of the CLLC-DCT Under the These results verify that since the power management is en-
High-Power Condition sured by BIC, the performance of the CLLC-DCT will be effec-
tively ensured no matter how many CLLC-DCT there are when
To verify the feasibility of the CLLC-DCT at high-power ap-
the BIC works well.
plication, two BIC and CLLC-DCT parallel branches are also es-
tablished with the schematic shown in Fig. 19(a), where VH 1(2)
V. CONCLUSION
indicates the dc voltage of BIC1(2), and pT 1(2)r ef denotes the
dispatched desired power of BIC1(2) from EMS. The results are In this paper, a robust circuit parameters design method was
shown in Fig. 19(b) and (c), respectively. proposed for the CLLC-DCT in the hybrid ac/dc application.

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HUANG et al.: ROBUST CIRCUIT PARAMETERS DESIGN FOR THE CLLC-TYPE DC TRANSFORMER IN THE HYBRID AC–DC MICROGRID 1917

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1918 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 66, NO. 3, MARCH 2019

[29] J. H Jung, H.-S. Kim, M.-H. Ryu, and J.-E. Baek, “Design methodology Xinan Zhang (S’10–M’14) received the B.E.
of bidirectional CLLC resonant converter for high-frequency isolation of degree in electrical engineering and automa-
DC distribution systems,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 28, no. 4, tion from Fudan University, Shanghai, China, in
pp. 1741–1755, Apr. 2013. 2008, and the Ph.D. degree in electronic and
[30] P. C. Loh, D. Li, Y. K. Chai, and F. Blaabjerg, “Autonomous operation of electrical engineering from Nanyang Technolog-
hybrid microgrid with AC and DC subgrids,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., ical University (NTU), Singapore, in 2014.
vol. 28, no. 5, pp. 2214–2223, May 2013. Then, he was a Postdocoral Researcher with
[31] C. Carretero, J. Acero, R. Alonso, J. M. Burdio, and F. Monterde, “Tem- NTU and the University of New South Wales
perature influence on equivalent impedance and efficiency of inductor from 2014 to 2017. He joined NTU as a Lecturer
systems for domestic induction heating appliances,” in Proc. IEEE 22nd in June 2017. His research interests include
Annu. Power Electron. Conf., 2007, pp. 1233–1239. electrical machine drives, control and modula-
tion of power electronic converters, and management of hybrid energy
storage systems.

Jingjing Huang (S’11–M’18) received the B.S. Peng Wang (F’18) received the B.Sc. degree
degree from the Henan University of Science in electronic engineering from Xi’an Jiaotong
and Technology, Luoyang, China, in 2008, and University, Xi’an, China, in 1978, the M.Sc. de-
the Ph.D. degree from Xi’an Jiaotong University, gree in electronic and electrical engineering
Xi’an, China, in 2014, both in electrical engineer- from Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan,
ing. China, in 1987, and the M.Sc. and Ph.D. de-
Since April 2014, she has been a Lecturer grees in electrical engineering from the Univer-
with the Xi’an University of Technology, Xian, sity of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada,
China. Since December 2016, she has been in 1995 and 1998, respectively.
a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with Nanyang He is currently a Professor with the School of
Technological University, Singapore. Her re- Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang
search interests include renewable energy system, high-frequency trans- Technological University, Singapore.
former, hybrid ac/dc microgrid, and high-power converters.

Leong Hai Koh received the B.Eng. (first class)

and the Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering
from Nanyang Technological University (NTU),
Xin Zhang (M’15) received the Ph.D. degree Singapore, in 1994 and 2015, respectively.
in automatic control and systems engineering He is currently a Senior Scientist with Energy
from the University of Sheffield, Sheffield, U.K., Research Institute, NTU. His current research
in 2016, and the Ph.D. degree in electronic and interests include smart grid, energy informa-
electrical engineering from Nanjing University of tion and management system, hybrid ac/dc mi-
Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China, crogrid, renewable energy and integration, and
in 2014. power system modeling and simulation.
He is currently an Assistant Professor of
power engineering with the School of Electri-
cal and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Tech-
nological University, Singapore. From January
2017 to September 2017, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with
the City University of Hong Kong. From February 2014 to December
2016, he was a Research Associate with the University of Sheffield. His
research interests include power electronics, power systems, and ad- Jianfang Xiao (S’11–M’16) received the B.Sc.
vanced control theory, together with their applications in various sectors. degree in electronic and electrical engineer-
Dr. Zhang was the recipient of highly prestigious Chinese National ing (with first-class Hons.) in 2011 from the
Award for Outstanding Students Abroad in 2016. School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineer-
ing, Nanyang Technological University (NTU),
Singapore, where he received the Ph.D. de-
gree in electronic and electrical engineering from
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering,
in 2015.
Zhikang Shuai (S’09–M’10–SM’17) received He is currently a Research Fellow with the
the B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engi- Energy Research Institute, NTU.
neering from the College of Electrical and Infor-
mation Engineering, Hunan University, Chang-
sha, China, in 2005 and 2011, respectively.
Between 2009 and 2012, he was a Profes- Xiangqian Tong received the B.S. degree from
sor with the Hunan University, and an Associate the Shaanxi Institute of Technology, Hanzhong,
Professor in 2013. Starting in 2014, he became China, in 1983, the M.S. degree from Xi’an Uni-
a Professor with Hunan University. His research versity of Technology, Xi’an, China, in 1989, both
interests include power quality control, power in electronic and electrical engineering, and the
electronics, and microgrid stability analysis and Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Xi’an
control. Jiaotong University, Xi’an, in 2006.
Dr. Shuai is an Associate Editor of the IEEE JOURNAL OF EMERGING He is currently a Professor and the Academic
AND SELECTED TOPICS IN POWER ELECTRONICS, CSEE Journal of Power Leader of Electrical Engineering with the Xi’an
and Energy Systems, and Chinese Journal of Electrical Engineering. He University of Technology, Xi’an, China. His re-
is a recipient of the 2010 National Scientific and Technological Awards search interests include the application of power
of China, the 2012 Hunan Technological Invention Awards of China, and electronics in power system and control of power quality, especially the
the 2007 Scientific and Technological Awards from the National Mechan- power filter, static synchronous compensator, and high-voltage direct
ical Industry Association of China. current.

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