A Comparative Study of Non-Isolated Voltage Balancers Applied to Bipolar DC Microgrids
A. A. Dionizio, L. P. Sampaio, S. A. O. da Silva Department of Electrical Engineering Federal University of Technology – UTFPR-CP, Campus of Cornélio Procópio. Brazil   2026-06-27

Abstract

The imminent expansion of distributed generation by small-scale units associated with renewable sources - such as wind and photovoltaic – combined with the increasing penetration of electric vehicles, highlights the strategic importance of DC microgrids. These systems conventionally adopt two main configurations: unipolar or bipolar. Specifically, in bipolar DC microgrids, converters with multiple voltage levels or voltage balancer converters can be employed. These converters are designed to mitigate the effects between the network terminals, particularly under load imbalance conditions. Hence, this work aims to contribute to a comparative analysis of the main non-isolated voltage balancer topologies, highlighting key aspects such as efficiency, costs, voltage regulation, and current oscillations.

Key words: Bipolar DC microgrid, Non-isolated converters, Voltage balancer.

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