Investigation on converter topologies and energy management schemes for light electric vehicle

Abstract

The environmental and energy issues have propelled the need of Electric vehicles (EV) and this mode of transportation is progressing expeditiously combating diverse barriers. The major challenges include enhancing the driving range, battery life and power capability. To address the above issues, this thesis explores the performance of EV with Hybrid Energy Storage System (HESS) employing Li-ion battery and Ultracapacitor (UC). A comprehensive modelling of various system components of 3-wheeled Light Electric vehicle (LEV) based on Indian Driving Cycle (IDC) is presented to aid in the sizing of ESS. A bi-directional DC/DC converter (BDC) acts as an interface between the energy sources and ensures efficient power flow. Thus the choice of the BDC gains significance and there is a need to arrive at a suitable topology. In this perspective, this work presents a comparative study of conventional buck-boost, switched capacitor Luo and Multilevel Modular Capacitor clamped Converter (MMCC) topologies based on current ripple and transfer efficiency. The results indicate the suitability of MMCC topology for a 3-wheeled LEV. newline