Design Optimization and Control System of a Cascaded DAB–Buck Auxiliaries Power Module for EV Powertrains

Auxiliary power demand in battery electric vehicles continues to increase as manufacturers transition toward multi-low-voltage architectures that combine 48 V and 12 V buses to improve load distribution flexibility and overall system efficiency. This paper evaluates several auxiliary power module (APM) architectures in terms of scalability, efficiency, complexity, size, and cost for supplying two low-voltage buses (e.g., 48 V and 12 V) from the high-voltage battery. Based on this assessment, a cascaded APM configuration is adopted, consisting of an isolated dual active bridge (DAB) converter followed by a non-isolated synchronous buck converter. A multi-objective optimization framework based on the NSGA-II algorithm is developed for the DAB stage to maximize efficiency and power density while minimizing cost. The optimized 13 kW DAB stage achieves a peak efficiency of 95% and a power density of 4.1 kW/L. For the 48 V/12 V buck stage, a 2 kW commercial GaN-based converter with a mass of 0.5 kg is used as the reference design, achieving a peak efficiency of 96.5%. Dedicated PI controllers are designed for both the DAB and buck stages using their respective small-signal models to ensure tight regulation of the two LV buses. The overall system stability is verified through impedance-based analysis. Experimental validation using a DAB prototype integrated with a multi-phase buck converter confirms the accuracy of the DAB loss modeling used in the design optimization framework as well as the control design implemented for the cascaded converters.