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Module - 3
Power Electronics of EV

By
Dr. Jayasankar V N
Associate Professor
Department of EEE
The National Institute of Engineering Mysuru

Electric Vehicles - Module 3

 Power conversion in EV
• Power Conversion in EV - Traction path

Input filter+
Input filter+ Traction
Bidirectional
Battery DC/AC Motor
DC/DC
Converter
Converter

• Power Conversion in EV – Charger System

EMI Filter+
DC/AC/DC Converter
AC/DC Battery
Grid with high freq.
Converter+
transformer isolation
Filter

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 Power conversion in EV

Electric Vehicles - Module 3 3

 Power conversion in EV – In the Traction Path
• Bi-directional DC/DC converters are normally employed to facilitate power flow in both
directions. i.e., motoring mode and regenerative braking mode.
• In forward power flow mode, the upper switch of the converter is turned off, and the lower
switch is the active switch.
oThe duty cycle of the active switch is controlled by using the PWM pulses generated by
the control unit – Boost Mode
• In reverse power flow mode, the lower switch of the converter is turned off, and the upper switch
is the active switch
oThe duty cycle of the active switch is controlled
 Power conversion in EV – In the Traction Path
• Three-phase Sine PWM Inverter:
• The output of the DC/DC converter is connected to motor
inverter, which converters DC to AC by switching on and
off the power semiconductor switches.
• The switching pulses for each switches are generated by
sinusoidal PWM technique, by comparing high-frequency
Three-phase Voltage Source Inverter
carrier waves with three-phase sinusoidal reference waves.
– circuit diagram
• The switches in the same leg cannot be turned on
simultaneously. So switching pulse of S1 is “NOT” ed to get
the switching pulse of S4 and so on.
oIf S1 and S6 are turned on simultaneously, Vab = +Vi
oIf S3 and S4 are turned on simultaneously, Vab = -Vi
oIf S1, S4, S3 and S4 are off, Vab = 0 Carrier and modulating signals
for sinusoidal PWM
• The fundamental components of output line-line voltages
are sinusoidal and 1200 phase shifted.

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 Power conversion in EV – In the Traction Path
• The sinusoidal PWM technique significantly
reduces the size of the inverter output filter by
shifting the output voltage harmonics to high
frequency.
• The three-phase output AC voltage runs the
motor connected to it.
Three-phase Voltage Source Inverter • During regenerative braking, the inverter
– circuit diagram switches are turned off, and the converter acts
as a diode bridge rectifier.
• By controlling the pulse widths of the inverter
switches, we can control the speed and torque
of the motor using appropriate control
algorithms.

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 Power conversion in EV – In the Traction Path

Three-phase Voltage Source Inverter

– circuit diagram
If S1 and S6 are turned on simultaneously, Vab = +Vi
If S3 and S4 are turned on simultaneously, Vab = -Vi
If S1, S4, S3 and S4 are off, Vab = 0

Contents in this slide to be

implemented as assignment, not
included for theory exam
Electric Vehicles - Module 3 7
 Power conversion in EV – In the Traction Path

Three-phase Voltage Source Inverter – simulation in PSIM

Contents in this slide to be

implemented as assignment, not
Three-phase Voltage Source Inverter –
included for theory exam
output L-L voltages
Electric Vehicles - Module 3 8
 Battery charging system fundamentals
•Battery charging connects the vehicle to the electric grid.
•Basic Requirements for Charging System:
o Safety
o Reliability
o User-friendliness
o Power levels and charging times
o Communications
o Standardization

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 Basic Requirements for Charging System
• Safety:
• The battery charger system must minimize the risk of electrical shock, fire, and injury to the end
user for a wide range of operating and fault conditions.
• The system must provide various levels of insulation and safety checks in order to ensure a safe
system.
• Follow electrical safety standards which are used around the world.
• Reliability:
• The automotive environment is very harsh, a car is driven in the dry heat of the desert, the
freezing cold, or the humid conditions. The car is exposed to significant shock and vibration in
addition to corrosive solvents, salt, water, and mud.
• The electrical connector must be designed to withstand over 10,000 insertions and withdrawals
in these harsh conditions and still remain safe for the consumer for the many fault scenarios.
• User-friendliness:
• The present method of fueling a vehicle with an internal combustion engine is simple and
straightforward.
• EV charging must also be simple and should pose minimal challenge to EV users or to young
children whom a parent may send to “plug in the car.”
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 Basic Requirements for Charging System
• Power levels and charging times:
• The charging time for an EV can range from tens of minutes, if high-power charging is used, to many
hours, if low-power chargers are used.
• Thus, for EVs to gain widespread acceptance, the charging power levels should be maximized in order
to reduce the charging times.
• Communication:
• At a basic level, the plug and cable assembly must not only transmit power, but must also provide a
communications path between the charger and the vehicle in order to ensure a safe and optimized
power flow.
• Simple messages relating to availability, maximum power output, charging time, and problem or fault
reporting are also critical communications.
• Standardization:
• An advantage of a commonly agreed standard is that the automotive companies do not have to
compete on the charging but can focus on the vehicle.
• The equipment must also comply with standards to limit electrical noise emissions, commonly known
as electromagnetic interference (EMI), and to increase immunity to unwanted emissions from other
equipment or from events, such as lightning strikes.

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 Power Conversion in EV – Charger System

Circuit diagram for battery charging

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 Power Conversion in EV – Charger System
• The electrical grid provides alternating current (ac) voltages and currents at an
electrical frequency. Voltages and frequency is low and is typically 50 Hz or 60 Hz.
• A battery requires direct current (dc) electricity, and so the first stage of the
power conversion is to rectify and filter the ac waveform from the grid to dc.
• However, this first-stage conversion to dc cannot be supplied directly to the
battery, as a transformer is typically required to order to provide electrical safety
to the user.
• Thus, the dc is chopped to create a stream of very high-frequency ac (hfac)
waveforms.
• Frequencies of tens or hundreds of kilohertz are common to minimize transformer
size.
• A transformer is used to provide a physical barrier in the electrical path between
the ac grid and the battery and to minimize failure modes which could result in
life-threatening mishaps.
• The high-frequency ac is rectified and filtered to create dc to supply the battery.
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 Charger Architectures
a. Conductive charging: ac charging
•Conductive charging means that the vehicle is electrically connected to the off-
board powering system by a conductive plug and socket assembly, similar to the
operation of common household electrical appliances.
•Generally, vehicles feature a low-to-medium power onboard charger, with ac being
supplied from the electrical grid to the vehicle.

Conductive ac charging power block diagram

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 Charger Architectures
a. Conductive charging: ac charging (cont.)

Conductive ac charging circuit diagram

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 Charger Architectures
a. Conductive charging: ac charging (cont.)
• The residual current circuit breaker (RCCB) detects an imbalance in the line and neutral
currents, usually between about 5 to 20 mA, and triggers a circuit breaker to take the charger off-
line to prevent fatalities.
• EMI filter: Switching power electronics can generate significant radiated and conducted noise,
known as electromagnetic interference. A high-current filter with common-mode and
differential-mode stages is required to meet legal emission standards
• Rectifier: A simple diode bridge rectifies the 50/60 Hz ac waveform.
• Boost PFC: A boost converter, typically switching at tens or hundreds of kHz, chops up the low-
frequency rectified power and boosts it to a voltage level of about 400 Vdc, a value higher than
the peak ac value.
• DC link: An electrolytic capacitor is usually used for bulk storage to filter the 50/60 Hz
component.

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 Charger Architectures
a. Conductive charging: ac charging (cont.)
• DC-hfac converter: A full-bridge or H-bridge converter is used to convert the nominal 400 V DC
link voltage into a high-frequency pulse stream going from -400 V to +400 V at the switching
frequency.
• Transformer: The high-frequency pulse stream is galvanically isolated for safety by the
transformer. The pulse stream must be high frequency in order to minimize the size and weight of
the transformer.
• Rectifier-filter: The output of the transformer secondaries are rectified and filtered to create dc
current to charge the battery.

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 Charger Architectures
a. Conductive charging: dc charging
•For enabling high power EVs to rapidly charge, high-power charger architecture
need to be used.
•High-power chargers can be very large physically and are designed as stationary off-
board devices to be operated in a similar manner to a gasoline pump at a filling
station.
•In this case, the charger is off-board, and dc is supplied on-board.

Electric Vehicles - Module 3 Conductive dc charging power block diagram 18

 Charger Architectures
b. Wireless or inductive charging
•Wireless or inductive charging uses the magic of transformer coupling to couple power from
the grid to the vehicle without conductive contacts.
•Such an approach can result in safety enhancements and consumer ease of use, but also
comes with significant engineering challenges.
•For wireless charging, the partition between the on-board and off-board components of the
charging system is within the transformer itself.

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 Charger Architectures
b. Wireless or inductive charging (cont.)
• The basic principle underlying inductive coupling is
that the two halves of the inductive coupling
interface are the primary and secondary of a
separable two-part transformer.
• When the charge coupler (i.e., the primary pad) is
placed side by side with the vehicle inlet (i.e., the
secondary pad), power can be transferred
magnetically with complete electrical isolation, as
with a standard transformer.
• An off-vehicle high-frequency power converter supplies power to the cable, coupler, vehicle charging
inlet, and battery load.
• The coupler is attached via the cable to the off vehicle charging station. When the coupler is inserted
into the vehicle inlet, power from the coupler is transformer-coupled to the secondary, rectified, and fed
to the battery by the battery cable.

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 Charger Architectures
b. Wireless or inductive charging (cont.)
• Challenges of inductive charging:
o The transformers by their nature are loosely coupled as significant displacements can
occur between the primary and secondary windings, resulting in very high leakage
inductances and a very low magnetizing inductance.
o In addition, these inductances can exhibit significant variation during operation due to
the alignment of the secondary winding on the vehicle and the off-vehicle primary
winding.
o The long cables result in additional leakage inductance.
o Safety issues, such as the effects of radiation on humans and animals and the
presence of metal objects in the magnetic fields.

• A resonant converter with a series-parallel LC-LC resonant converter can handle the high
leakage and low magnetizing inductances.

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 Charger Architectures
b. Wireless or inductive charging (cont.)

Inductive charging resonant topology – circuit diagram

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 Charger Architectures
b. Wireless or inductive charging (cont.)
• Series-parallel LC-LC converter
• The resonant full bridge converter has additional discrete capacitors, CAU, CAL, CBU, and CBL,
which are added across the switches and are necessary to enable a zero-voltage turn-off of
the switch.
• The switches turn on at zero current while the diodes turn off at zero current – avoiding
switching loss (Zero current switching on).
• When the switches are turned off, and the inductor current rapidly transitions to the two
capacitors, thus maintaining the switch voltage zero (Zero voltage switching off)
• The series-resonant tank components are Los and Cs to handle the high leakage and low
magnetizing inductances.
• A discrete capacitor Cp is placed on the transformer secondary to create a resonance with
the magnetizing inductance of the transformer, to cancel the effects of the low magnetizing
inductance.
• The output is rectified using a diode bridge rectifier with diodes D1–D4, and the output is
filtered using a capacitive filter.
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 Charger Architectures
c. Integral charging (unified system for traction and battery charging)
•Integral charging reconfigures the traction power electronics and machine to re-
employ the components to also perform the power conversions required for charging.
•Such an approach reduces the overall parts count on the vehicle while requiring
additional measures on electrical safety and isolation.
•A significant advantage of the integral charging approach is that the power flow can be
made bidirectional, the vehicle can supply power back to the local grid if required.

Electric Vehicles - Module 3 Integral ac charging power block diagram 24

 Charger Architectures
C. Integral charging (unified system for traction and battery charging) (cont.)

• The on-board charger is placed inside the

vehicle which provides flexibility to charge
from the ac mains and does not need any
expensive infrastructure. However, these
chargers are limited to low power level,
capable of slow charging, and have negative
impact on the vehicle’s weight.

• One solution is to design high power on-board

chargers without increasing the weight and
cost of the system by re-utilizing the existing
electric traction motor and power electronics
components for the charging.

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 Charger Architectures
C. Integral charging (unified system for traction and battery charging) (cont.)

• To obtain higher power density, integrated bidirectional OBC could offer a more
efficient and power-dense solution.
• Thus, due to the bidirectional features of OBCs
• vehicle-to-grid (V2G) functionality which can transfer electrical energy back to the
grid during peak demand.
• vehicle-to-home (V2H), vehicle-to-device (V2D), or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V),
which leads to an increase in the power transfer capability.

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 Charger Architectures
C. Integral charging (unified system for traction and battery charging) (cont.)

• iOBCs build a closer integration of the motor and

power electronics components (i.e., electric motor and
traction inverter) for charging instead of using separate
power electronics stages (e.g., AC/DC and DC/DC) and
bulky inductors.
• The iOBCs use the motor windings as a filter
inductance to improve the grid current quality.
• In addition, in iOBC topologies, the propulsion inverter
serves as an active front end (AFE) bidirectional
AC/DC converter during charging.
• Due to the usage of a high-power inverter as a AFE
AC/DC converter, the iOBC’s charging power level can
be increased beyond 40 kW.

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 Boost Converter for Power Factor Correction
•The front-end of the charger is a power-factor-correction stage utilizing a boost converter.
•The input current is controlled to be in phase with the supply voltage.
• This is achieved by using two control loops:
o an inner current loop
o an outer voltage loop.
•The converter typically achieves very high power factors with values greater than 0.99
being reasonable at full load

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 Boost Converter for Power Factor Correction
• The boost converter controls the inductor current iL to
be in phase with the rectified input voltage vRB.
• The inductor current carries the PWM ripple current.
• The capacitor at the output of the rectifier CR is there
to filter the PWM ripple current of the inductor.

Power Circuit

Controller block diagram

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