Design and Real-Time Implementation of a Control System for SiC Off-Board Chargers of Battery Electric Buses

Haaris Rasool, Boud Verbrugge, Shahid Jaman, Ekaterina Abramushkina, Thomas Geury, Mohamed El Baghdadi and Omar Hegazy
Additional contact information
Haaris Rasool: MOBI-EPOWERS Research Group, ETEC Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussel, Belgium
Boud Verbrugge: MOBI-EPOWERS Research Group, ETEC Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussel, Belgium
Shahid Jaman: MOBI-EPOWERS Research Group, ETEC Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussel, Belgium
Ekaterina Abramushkina: MOBI-EPOWERS Research Group, ETEC Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussel, Belgium
Thomas Geury: MOBI-EPOWERS Research Group, ETEC Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussel, Belgium
Mohamed El Baghdadi: MOBI-EPOWERS Research Group, ETEC Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussel, Belgium
Omar Hegazy: MOBI-EPOWERS Research Group, ETEC Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussel, Belgium

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 4, 1-19

Abstract: Emerging wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors, such as silicon carbide (SiC), will enable chargers to operate at higher switching frequencies, which grants the ability to deliver high power and enhances efficiency. This paper addresses the modeling of a double-sided cooling (DSC) SiC technology-based off-board charger for battery electric buses (BEBs) and the design of its control and real-time (RT) implementation. A three-phase active front-end (AFE) rectifier topology is considered in the modeling and control system design for the active part of the DC off-board charger. The control system consists of a dual-loop voltage–current controller and is used to ensure AC to DC power conversion for charging and to achieve the targeted grid current total harmonic distortion (THD) and unity power factor (PF). Linear and nonlinear simulation models are developed in MATLAB/Simulink for optimum control design and to validate the voltage and current control performances. Four types of controllers (i.e., proportional–integral (PI), lead–lag, proportional–resonant (PR), and modified proportional–resonant (MPR)) are designed as current controllers, and a comparative analysis is conducted on the simulation model. In addition, the final design of the dual-loop controller is implemented on the RT–FPGA platform of dSpace MicroLabBox. It is then tested with the charger to validate the control performance with experimental data. The simulation and experimental results demonstrate the correct operation of the converter control performance by tracking the reference commands.

Keywords: e-bus; wide bandgap; active front end; off-board charger; control; real-time implementation; simulation modeling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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