T01.8 - A Multistage Soft Start-up Technique for SHB-FB Type DAB Converter Considering Precharge of DC Blocking Capacitors

Tuesday, March 24, 2026

11:20 AM - 11:40 AM CT

Location: 214A

Technical Lecture Presenter(s)

YL

Yanda Lyu

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Co-Author(s)

ZL

Ziwei Liang

The university of Tennessee
Debanjan Chatterjee, PhD

ABB Corporate Research
ZD

Zhou Dong

ABB
Fred Wang, PhD

University of Tennessee Knoxville
HB

Hua Bai

University of Tennessee Knoxville

Soft start-up in Dual-Active-Bridge (DAB) converters is a significant challenge due to the need to mitigate initial inrush currents. This challenge is even more pronounced in the Stacked Half-Bridge Full-Bridge (SHB-FB) converter incorporating an additional blocking capacitor and is a derivative of the conventional DAB converter. This paper initially assesses the start-up issues introduced by the dc blocking capacitor in the SHB-FB converter, which has received limited attention in existing literature. Then, a multistage soft start-up technique for the SHB-FB converter is proposed, considering the precharging process of the dc blocking capacitor. The technique is first validated through simulations and further experimentally verified with a Gallium Nitride (GaN)-based SHB-FB converter. The start-up challenges arising from the blocking capacitor are addressed, and experimental results show a 74% decrease in the initial inrush current compared with the hard start-up condition