Review of Active Front-End Rectifiers in EV DC Charging Applications

Abstract

Active Front-End (AFE) rectifiers have regained momentum as the demand for highpowerElectric Vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure increases exponentially. AFE rectifiers have highefficiency and reliability, and they minimize the disturbances that could be generated due to theoperation of the EV charging systems by reducing harmonic distortion and operating close to theUnity Power Factor (UPF). The purpose of this review is to present the current state-of-the-art AFErectifiers used in fast chargers, focusing on the comparison between different AFE topologies andtheir components, as well as modular AFE solutions. Furthermore, different control strategies of AFEconverters are presented and compared. Some of their more widely used control techniques, namelyVoltage Oriented Control (VOC), Direct Power Control (DPC), Hysteresis Current Control (HCC),and Model Predictive Control (MPC), have been implemented, and their performance compared.Centralized and distributed control systems are compared for operating parallel AFE rectifiers formodular, fast charging systems. An overview of cooling systems and reliability evaluation tools isalso presented. Finally, trends and future outlooks are analyzed.