Modular Energy Storage System for Alternative Energy Vehicles

An electrical vehicle environment was established to promote research and technology development in the area of high power energy management. The project incorporates a topology that permits parallel development of an alternative energy delivery system and an energy storage system. The objective of the project is to develop technologies, specifically power electronics, energy storage electronics and controls that provide efficient and effective energy management between electrically powered devices in alternative energy vehicles – plugin electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, range extended vehicles, and hydrogen-based fuel cell vehicles. In order to meet the project objectives, the Vehicle Energy Management System (VEMS) was defined and subsystem requirements were obtained. Afterwards, power electronics, energy storage electronics and controls were designed. Finally, these subsystems were built, tested individually, and integrated into an electric vehicle system to evaluate and optimize the subsystems’ performance. Phase 1 of the program established the fundamental test bed to support development of an electrical environment ideal for fuel cell application and the mitigation of many shortcomings of current fuel cell technology. Phase 2, continued development from Phase 1, focusing on implementing subsystem requirements, design and construction of the energy management subsystem, and the integration of this subsystem into the surrogate electric vehicle. Phase 2 also required the development of an Alternative Energy System (AES) capable of emulating electrical characteristics of fuel cells, battery, gen set, etc. Under the scope of the project, a boost converter that couples the alternate energy delivery system to the energy storage system was developed, constructed and tested. Modeling tools were utilized during the design process to optimize both component and system design. This model driven design process enabled an iterative process to track and evaluate the impact of design alternatives and the impact of changes. Refinement of models was accomplished through correlation studies to measured data obtained from functioning hardware. Specifically, correlation and characterization of the boost converter resulted in a model that was effectively used to determine overall VEMS performance. The successful development of the boost converter can be attributed to utilization of previously proven technologies and adapting to meet the VEMS requirements. This program provided significant improvement in development time of various generations of boost converters. The software strategies and testing results support the development of current energy management systems and directly contribute to the future of similar, commercial products at Magna E-Car Systems. Because of this development project, Magna E-Car Systems is able to offer automotive customers a boost converter system with reduced time to market and decreased product cost, thus transferring the cost and timing benefits to the end use consumer