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A nonisolated single-stage on-board charger for electric vehicles has been proposed to increase system efficiency and power density in previous works. However, its ability to achieve high efficiency is limited by variations in the electric utility and battery, especially during the step-down operation. This paper proposes an advanced control algorithm that improves system efficiency in the step-down mode by controlling each switch asymmetrically using a phase-shift control. The proposed algorithm consists of only one controller, which prevents transient states from causing variations in the controller. The algorithm decreases the magnitude and ripple of the inductor current, which improves the charging efficiency by approximately 4.1% over at the 3.7-kW full load that of the conventional algorithm in the step-down mode, and measured total harmonic distortion and power factor are 3.2% and 0.995, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to an increasing in-vehicle electric load demand, a new 48-V electric system architecture proposed by German premier car manufacturers has been gaining increasing attention recently for electrified vehicles. In this paper, a multiple-voltage bus converter for the 48-V and existing 12-V dual supply system, providing additional flexible dc bus voltages, is proposed. The proposed converter can provide a dual flexible dc voltage bus and an additional dependent voltage bus while simultaneously managing the 12-V supply net using only one single-leg switch pole and a diode. The additional dc voltage buses will provide more options to accommodate variable electric load components in a vehicle, improving their power density. Due to the multiple control objectives, the single-leg pole requires a multimode switching strategy to regulate the additional bus voltages. To improve the onboard vehicle system reliability and performance, an impedance network structure is implemented in the converter to obtain a dead-time-free pulsewidth modulation (PWM). Simulation and experimental results are presented to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed structure and control method. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To process the power in hybrid energy systems using a reduced part count, researchers have proposed several multiinput dc–dc power converter topologies to transfer power from different input voltage sources to the output. This paper proposes a novel bidirectional nonisolated multi-input converter (MIC) topology for hybrid systems to be used in electric vehicles composed of energy storage systems (ESSs) with different electrical characteristics. The proposed converter has the ability to control the power of ESSs by allowing active power sharing. The voltage levels of utilized ESSs can be higher or lower than the output voltage. The inductors of the converter are connected to a single switch; therefore, the converter requires only one extra active switch for each input, unlike its counterparts, hence resulting in reduced element count. The proposed MIC topology is compared with its counterparts concerning various parameters. It is analyzed in detail, and then, this analysis is validated by simulation and through a 1-kW prototype based on a battery/ultracapacitor hybrid ESS. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents the design and control of a high-efficiency multiphase dc–dc converter for a truck auxiliary power unit (APU) fed by a fuel-cell stack. The power-stage design methodology and the operation of the designed power stage used to achieve high efficiency are described in detail. To operate the designed converter as a truck APU, the mode transfer control scheme, where smooth transitions of the voltage and current control modes are necessary, is proposed, and the current controller design procedure is described. A 5-kW four-phase dc–dc converter prototype is built with the proposed power-stage configuration, and the proposed control strategy is applied to control the dc–dc converter. The efficiency of the converter is more than 99.5% at near 10% load and above 98% from 10% to 100% load range. Simulations and experimental results are provided to verify the feasibilities of dc–dc converter operation and the proposed control strategy in the truck APU application. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) will play a vital role in future sustainable transportation systems due to their potential in terms of energy security, decreased environmental impact, improved fuel economy, and better performance. Moreover, new regulations have been established to improve the collective gas mileage, cut greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce dependence on foreign oil. This paper primarily focuses on two major thrust areas of PHEVs. First, it introduces a grid-friendly bidirectional alternating current/direct current ac/dc–dc/ac rectifier/inverter for facilitating vehicle-to-grid (V2G) integration of PHEVs. Second, it presents an integrated bidirectional noninverted buck–boost converter that interfaces the energy storage device of the PHEV to the dc link in both grid-connected and driving modes. The proposed bidirectional converter has minimal grid-level disruptions in terms of power factor and total harmonic distortion, with less switching noise. The integrated bidirectional dc/dc converter assists the grid interface converter to track the charge/discharge power of the PHEV battery. In addition, while driving, the dc/dc converter provides a regulated dc link voltage to the motor drive and captures the braking energy during regenerative braking. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]