Title: Efficient braking energy recovery using bidirectional step-up converter in fuel cell and battery electric vehicles

Authors: Serkan Dusmez; Bulent Vural; Mehmet Uzunoglu; Ali Rifat Boynuegri; Zhihao Li

Addresses: Department of Electrical Engineering, Power Electronics and Drives Laboratory, University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W. Campbell Rd., Richardson, TX, 75093, USA ' Department of Electrical Engineering, Smart Home and HIL Laboratory, Yildiz Technical University, Davutpasa Caddesi, Esenler, Istanbul, 34220, Turkey ' International Burch University, Francuskerevolucije bb, Ilidza, 71210, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina ' Department of Electrical Engineering, Yildiz Technical University, Davutpasa Caddesi, Esenler, Istanbul, 34220, Turkey ' GE Global Research, 1 Research Circle, Niskayuna, NY, 12309, USA

Abstract: The topology of the power conditioning unit (PCU) that is used with energy storage system (ESS), has a vital role especially in braking energy recovery. In recent studies, conventional bidirectional half-bridge topology is widely used as a PCU for ESSs. Due to its structure, it does not have the capability of capturing braking energy when the voltage across the motor terminals is lower than ESS voltage. This study investigates the feasibility of utilising a PCU with stepping up capability in regenerative braking operation mode, focusing on the additional braking energy that can be captured in comparison with that of the conventional half-bridge buck/boost converter. In order to verify the advantageous of the proposed approach in braking energy recovery, two 1 kW prototypes, a conventional half-bridge buck-boost and cascaded buck-boost converters are designed and tested for three different drive cycles including normalised version of ECE-15.

Keywords: bidirectional converters; electric vehicles; regenerative braking; ultra-capacitors; fuel cells; power conditioning units; PCUs; energy storage systems; ESS; braking energy recovery; vehicle braking.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPT.2015.070363

International Journal of Powertrains, 2015 Vol.4 No.2, pp.89 - 105

Received: 05 Sep 2013
Accepted: 15 Apr 2014
Published online: 03 Jul 2015 *

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