CODEN:LUTEDX/(TEIE-5148)/1 -66/(2001 )

Design of an Onboard Battery

Charger for an Electric Vehicle

Simon Heckford

Department of Industrial Electrical Engineering and Automation

Lund University
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I certify that all the material in this thesis

which is not my own work has been identified
and that no material is included for which
a degree has previously been conferred upon me.

Signed: .&x.... w.
... ...
Simon Heckford

DESIGN OF AN ONBOARD BATTERY

CHARGER FOR AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE

SIMONHECKFORD
3m YEAR INDIVIDUAL
PROJECT
2000
Acknowledgements

I would like to express my sincere thanks to Professor Mats Alakiila, my host supervisor
for the project at the Department of Industrial Electrical Engineering and Automation,
Lund Institute of Technology. Without his assistance, I would never have embarked
upon the project, and he gave me invaluable support whilst undertaking the project.

I must also express my gratitude to Per Karlsson, a Ph.D. Student at the department.
Without his knowledge and continual support, undertaking the project would have been a
near-impossible task since I had no previous knowledge of power electronics. He was
always on hand to offer guidance and during the course of the project, it became very
apparent that he has a high tolerance level!!!

Other members of staff who have been of particular assistance during the project are
H&an Skarrie, Bengt Simonsson, and Niklas Fridstrand,, although I must thank everyone
at the department as a whole, for their constant support and goodwill. In addition, I must
also thank Sabine Marksell, a student who was also working on the project and was
always ready to give assistance.

In Exeter, I would of course like to thank Dr Mike Hcmvood, my home supervisor. In

addition, I am very grateful to Lorna Howe and Gavin Tabor, coordinators for the
Erasmus scheme. Without their organization, it would not have been possible for me to
obtain the added benefit of experiencing a different culture whilst carrying out my
project.
 Contents

f. Introduction ................................................................................... 1

1.1 Fast chargkg ...................................................................... 1

1.2 Impact on the @d .............................................................. 3
1.3 Selected solution ............................................................... 5
1.4 Specification ...................................................................... 6
1.5 Particular design problems ................................................ 7
1.6 Disposal of therepoti ......................................................... 7

2. Modulation and Control ............................. ................................... 9

3. Design of Hardware ................................... ................................. 71

3.1 Semiconductors and DC-link capacitance ....................... 11

3.2 AC side inductance ..................... .................................... 11
3.2.1 Calculation of inductance using TFID ........................................ 17
3.2.2 Calculation of inductance using the IEC 1000-3-4 standard ...... 19
3.3 Battery side inductance ............... .................................... 20
3.3.1 Calculation of inductance using fundamental component .......... 20
3.3.2 Calculation of inductance by summing of all components ........24
3.4 Parasitic capacitors on the DC and battery side ...............24

4. Analysis of Zero Sequence Current ......... ................................. 27

5. Implementation of inductances ................................................. 32

6. Conclusions and Recommendations ......................................... 33

7. References .................................................................................. 35

Appendices

Appendixl: The Electric Sniper

Appendix2: AC Propulsion tzero
Appendix3: Similar products
Appendix 4: A Dual Purpose Battery Charger for Electric Vehicles
Appendix 5: Simulink models
Appendix 6: IEC 1000-3-4 standard used for determining L&
Appendix 7: Data sheet giving Fourier Series
Appendix 8: Data Ilom Fourier series calculations
Summary

This report describes the design of an on-board battery charger for an electric sports car.

There are already various battery charger units on the market. However, these are not
specifically designed for this application, and consequently do not provide an ideal
solution. Because these products are not specific to one application, and instead opt to
cover a variety of briefs, they are not ideal. They also tend to be heavier and more
expensive than if the charger was built specifically for one purpose.

The main design considerations were that the charger should be compact and lightweight.
It was also specified that the design should be able to operate using either the single-
phase or three-phase AC supply.

Before the design process for the battery charger COUIC[ commence, it was necessary for
the author to get an appreciation of power electronics, since he had no previous
experience in the subject. The author focused his attention on areas of the subject most
valuable to the project, including becoming familiar with the principle behind battery
chargers.

Once the required knowledge was obtained, the author could begin designing the charger.
The majority of the design was actually undertaken using two soilware packages called
MATLAB and Simulink, whilst also using the knowledge acquired. Regular discussions
were had with the project team in order to ensure that the correct methodology was being
used and a suitable design was duly developed. Possible further work was identified
which could not be carried out within the time constraints of this project.
1. Introduction

With the increasing concerns over environmental ismes, alternatives to the Internal
Combustion Engine (ICE) are gaining greater popularity. The electrically driven vehicle
is the main environmentally friendly alternative.

The Industrial Electrical Engineering and Automation (IEA) department at the Lunds
Tekniska Hogskola (or in English, Lund Institute of Technology and abbreviated to LTH)
has been involved with a project designing and constructing an electric sports car - called
the Electric Sniper - since autumn 1999. The car was originally built with a conventional
engine fi-om Saab, but it was decided to make an electrically powered derivative.

Information regarding the Sniper electric sports car is shown in Appendix 1.

Various staff and another student from the university have been involved in the project,
working on the tasks that were given to the IEA. Ths author’s role was to design the
hardware for the charging unit, essentially a power converter.

The concept of an electric sports car is a fairly recent initiative and, up until recently, a
contradiction in terms, since the performance of electric vehicles is impaired by the
weight penalty of the batteries. However, there is an electric sports car, soon to be
released on the market, whose performance exceeds that of sports cars manufacturers
renowned for producing performance cars, including Porsche and Ferrari. Information on
this model can be found in Appendix 2.

The design of the battery charger uses power electronics. This was a subject that was
unfamiliar to the author at the start of the project. Power electronics can be defined as a
process whereby the voltage and current are optimised to best suit a specific application,
by controlling the flow of electric current.

The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) provide the following formal
definition for Power Electronics by stating “This technology encompasses the use of
electronic components, the application of circuit theor,y and design techniques, and the
development of analytical tools toward efficient electronic conversion, control, and
conditioning of electric power.”

1.1 Fast charging

Charging of a battery is achieved by supplying a DC current. Through an electro-

chemical process, the current provides electrical charge that is stored in the battery.
Current is defined as the transport of electrical charge, per unit time. As a result, the
energy delivered during the process of charging is determined by both the amount of DC

1
current supplied and the time elapsed. Electrical energy is transferred from a generator to
the consumer in AC quantities. Consequently, such energy has to be converted into DC
quantities. This is a primary role for the battery charger.

There is one underlying problem regarding the Electric Vehicle (EV), dictating that is not
yet a very practical alternative to cars fuelled by a combustion engine. Whereas, a
vehicle with an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) can be refbeled in a couple of minutes,
recharging an EV inevitably takes longer.

It is possible to charge an EV in approximately one or two hours. Charging by this

method is called fast charging. In order to offer a realistic alternative to the ICE, fast
charging is the only practical method of charging an EV. However, in order to provide
75 kW, a very large charger is required. This would mean that it could not be contained
within the car, and hence it is mounted externally of the vehicle, and used at a “charger
station”. Such a charger exists and is called the DUAL battery charger and two
prototypes are in use in Sweden: one in Malmo and another in Stockholm. It is able to
charge a bus using 375 V batteries, at a current of 2CIOA,corresponding to the 75 kW
power.

As a result of fast charging, an owner of an EV can expect a far more substantial driving
range, in comparison to the conventional charger, forth e same charge duration. This can
be perhaps twice or even three times as much.

Per Karlsson and Martin Bojrup (both Ph.D. Students at the IEA) have designed a unique
oflboard charger. It operates at 10 kW and a photo of this is shown in Figure 1.1. The
knowledge previously acquired by the department, through undertaking this project, was
of great assistance when designing the onboard charger for this project.

Figure 1.1: Offboard battery charger

2
A better alternative to the oflboard charger is to use an onboard charger. Here, the
battery charger is enclosed within the vehicle chassis. This idea is beneficial since it
means that the user is fhr less restricted in where he or she can charge the vehicle. By
using an onboard charger, the owner has increased freedom and the process of charging
the vehicle is far more convenient. The vehicle just needs to be connected to the national
grid, rather than relying on charger stations, as is the case with offboard chargers. The
EV can thus be charged anywhere where there is an electricity socket, for “opportunity
charging”. This means that the EV could be charged overnight, with little inconvenience.
Although charging will basically take longer when using an onboard charger, in
comparison to the offboard charger, charging can easily be undertaken at night, usually
providing adequate power for the following day. Charging the EV overnight has the
added benefit that often, for instance in America, electricity is cheaper at this time.

The EVS that exist today tend to use a maximum charging current of approximately 150
A (if the batteries are liquid-cooled, the current can be increased to 200 A), and the
voltage of the batteries used for European EVS is generally between 100 to 200 V
(usually around 130 V).

Table 1.1 gives the typical charging power and the usual time that is required to achieve
sufilcient charge to drive a distance of 100 km. The ti~blelists three charging methods
for EVS (on-board, off-board and a fast charging station), in addition to a petrol station,
included for comparison.

Fuse / Phase Power / Type Time to achieve enough power

A lme kW to drive 100 km
16 Single 3 On-board 7 hours
16 Three 10 Off-board 2 hours
120 Three 75 Fast charging 15 min

Table 1.1: Table showing the time required to achieve enough power to travel 100
km for various battery chargers for EVS (and a normal petrol station for
comparison)

Information on onboard chargers that are already on the market is shown in Appendix 3.

1.2Impact on the grid

Fast chargers can result in reduced power quality in the grid. The impact that the battery
charger has on the grid is most significant with offboard chargers, which typically use
higher power. The problem is not really of great importance in the case of the design of
this particular charger that is going to be designed as an onboard charger. Still, the

3
charger that has been designed is “grid-fi-iendly” since it draws a sinusoidal line current,
which eliminates low frequency harmonics (especially the 5ti, 7“, 11* and 13*
harmonics).

Neither is the effect a concern for the EV user; he or she simply connects the vehicle to
charge. It is the responsibility of the power provider. ‘The current that is drawn from the
grid, when using an onboard charger, can be approximated as being sinusoidal.

As a result of the non-linear characteristics of power electronics, distorted or non-

sinusoidal currents on the power grid occur. Such distortion also results in voltage
distortion caused by self-impedance in cables and transformers. This eventually leads to
damage, and possibly malfimctions, of sensitive electrical equipment, for example,
computers. The implications of this are, of course, disastrous.

Other battery chargers, based on normal diode rectifiers, increase the low order harmonic
content in the grid currents. Further information concerning this area is discussed in the
early paragraphs of Appendix 4.

The power grid has two stages in the process of distributing power: the transmission
network and the distribution network, together forming a tree and branch-like structure.
The former initially supplies power to various regions, and can provide high power
transfer with low losses. On the other hand, the latter distributes power within these
individual regions. The way in which this distribution occurs causes drops in the voltage
and distortion can be observed. In addition, distortion can occur in the current (and
consequently the voltage) when there is resonance between the conductors and capacitor
banks or loads.

By matching the active power production (in the generators) and the demand (i.e. the
instantaneous energy used by the consumer), accounting for losses in the two types of
network, control o~-the frequency is achieved. Failure- to have such frequency control
will result in an acceleration or deceleration in the generators, causing frequency
variation.

There are various ways in which such distortion can be greatly reduced. Such methods
include reactive power compensation. These include harmonic filtering of currents,
reactive power compensation, and load balancing and peak power generation. Further
analysis of such processes is discussed in Bojrup [1].

There is one important point. Charging an EV during the night can actually help to
minimise the effects on the grid. The load on the power grid at night is relatively low,
resulting in a high voltage. This causes power grid operators to disconnect capacitor
banks, and oflen reactors are inserted in order to maintain the magnitude of the voltage.
By charging EVS overnight, the operation of the power grid can be improved since the
load is smoothed out over the whole day.

4
7.3 Selected solution

There are numerous possible solutions to designing a battery charger for an EV.
However, the author was informed that the general specification had already been agreed.

Figure 1.2: Diagrams of a) the single-phase and b) th~ethree-phase AC supplies

The charger was designed to operate using both the single-phase and the three-phase grid
supplies. Figure 1.2 shows diagrams of the single-phase and three-phase AC supplies.

Onboard chargers typically use the single-phase AC supply due to the advantage of
weight and size. However, three-phase supplies have three times the charging power of
an equivalent single-phase supply, and hence charging takes approximately a third of the
time. This is because all of the three phases can be charged to the same level as the
single-phase device charges just the one phase.

400v Me-Iii h
.x, ’230
v rhs.
rmlmd

\
\

>
:

\, ;
,/
tf\ /
,’
,’
-loo Viii ., ...
we
w, -233v h-m-
nadrd

time

Figure 1.3: Diagram showing the output signal from the three phases

5
In the three-phase situation, the three different phases are called ~ S and T respectively.
Their signals have exactly the same wavelength and amplitude. They differ with a
certain phase shift, 2Tc/3(or 1200). This is shown in Figure 1.3.

Figure 1.4 shows a diagram of the circuit that is the basis for the design of the charger.

dc

Figure 1.4: Diagram of circuit

On the left of the diagram is the input from the power grid. The main (central) region of
the diagram shows the main components within the charger itself and finally, the far right
area of the diagram shows the batteries used to power the electric vehicle.

The circuit primarily consists of a line filter, a three-phase converter, a DC-link capacitor
and a smoothing inductor (which acts to reduce current ripple).

The voltage of the batteries in the vehicle, Vbati,could take a value anywhere in the region
of 50-400 v.

1.4Specifications

Nominal AC grid voltage v nom 400 V rms phase-phase

Maximum power P llkW
Nominal DC-link voltage v& either 650 V, 700 V or 750 V
Nominal AC current Inom 16A
Nominal DC current IdC to be decided
Maximum AC ripple THD n.cm
such that ~-
i ~(i.)’ S 0.6% i~o~or 0.L4
nom r n=40

Maximum DC ripple Dcripple 5 A peak

Switching frequency fSw either 5 kHz or 10 kHz

Table 1.2: Specification showing suggested values

6
Before any design of the battery charger could take place, it was necessa~ to ascertain
various parameters. Table 1.2 shows the initial values that were agreed.

The charger has a rated power of 10kW since the fises used in Swedish households are
16A, meaning that 11 kW can be supplied ilom the household mains.

1.5 Particular design problems

Since the weight of an EV strongly influences its performance, it is important to

minimise the weight as much as possible. Although the lightest design would be to only
undertake the charging using single-phase AC supply, the advantage of using the three-
phase grid in addition was considered to outweigh the ‘weight issue. Since inductors are
heavy, one way in which it is possible to reduce weight is to attempt to reduce the size of
the inductors.

The weight of the EV affects the acceleration, the hill-climbing ability, the speed and the
range. In each case, the performance is reduced.

However, it is also important to ensure that there is also good stability. Therefore, the
distribution of the weight is also an important consideration. This is a factor worth
remembering, but is not directly associated with this project, since these constraints are
mainly determined by the design of the vehicle itself.

It is also sensible to use as low a voltage as possible. For instance, although the nominal
DC-link voltage has not been specified in the early stages of design, it will be preferable
to use the lowest voltage possible.

1.6Disposition of the repofi

The following chapters outline the methodology used to design the overall hardware for
the battery charger, and also to confm that the calculated values are suitable.

Chapter 2 discusses the modulation and control to be used in the battery charger. This
includes a brief description of the fundamental kmowledge acquired during the
undertaking of the project.

Chapter 3 explains the actual design of the hardware fix the charger. This includes the
inductors, capacitors etc.

7
Chapter 4 describes the analysis of the zero sequence current. ‘Ibis chapter describes the
investigation and experimentation into an earth protector (essentially a circuit-breaker)
for the battery charger,

Chapter 5 details how the inductors will be designed and manufactured. This details the
actual process by which the electrical components will be produced, once the specific
values have been ascertained.

Finally, Chapter 6 sets out the conclusions that can be drawn and suggests possible
recommendations on improvements to the design of the battery charger and critically
assesses how the project was undertaken.

8
2, Modulation and Control

It was initially intended to describe the relevant power electronics theory in this section,
and more specifically, battery current control, DC voltage control and AC rectifier
control. However, unfortunately, the restriction on the length of this report dictates that it
is not possible to do so, since the topic is fairly complex and hence it would take a large
proportion of the allowance simply to describe this subject. Although such knowledge is
a pre-requisite in the process of designing the charger, it is not really necessary to go into
the matter my fbrther than the detail given in the subsequent chapters. Instead, this
chapter will describe the packages used to simulate the circuitry to acquire the necessary
values for the design of the battery charger.

Two software programs, called MATLAB and Sirnulink, were used in order to acquire
values for the various inductors and capacitors. Appendix 5 shows various models that
were used during the project.

Figure 2.1 shows part of one of the diagrams shown in Appendix 5, namely the is_x/y
controller. It has been included to show an example of what MATLAB and Simulink are
being used for, undertaking power electronic calculations.

.
#=..”,=*) k
i_sR T:
I I —i
I
(’7J
i_s I Q! b’
II
11. h---=-- %
IOo=pi

Figure 2.1: One of the blocks, and the calculations that are undertaken

The block is basically calculating the following equation.

9
u= = R~i,x+#(i,x* –im)–o),L,i,y Equation 2.1
s

Using a systematic approach, it is possible to see how the equation is produced. The
procedure to “create” the equation is shown on the annckated diagram.

These kinds of calculations are used throughout the blocks in the diagrams shown in
Appendix 5. The diagrams were created by staff at the department, and not created by
the author.

10
3. Design of Hardware

3.1 Semiconductors and DC-link capacitance

The semiconductors and DC-link capacitance were not an area that was the author’s
responsibility. Instead, they were specified at the initial stage of design by staff at the
department. For example, the value for the DC-link capacitor, shown as Cd, in Figure
1.4, was pre-determined using intelligent approximation. To calculate this capacitance
value more accurately, the current spectrum would have to be analysed.

3.2AC side inductance

Initially, it was necessary to ascertain the value for the inductance that is required on the
AC side of the circuit. It was decided to experiment for six cases; for switching
ilequencies of both 5 kHz and 10 kHz, and for each c~fthese, using values of 650, 700
and 750 V for the DC-link voltage. The six cases are shown in Table 2.1.

Case DC-link vokage, V& / V Switching frequency, f,W/ kHz

1 650 5
2 650 10
3 700 5
4 700 10
5 750 5
6 750 10

Table 3.1: Six cases to be simulated

Figure 3.1 shows the output signal for the voltages and Figure 3.2 shows the signals for
the currents for each of the six cases.

Although unfortunately, the plotted results are not very clear, there are important
properties that can be seen from the plots. Firstly, the shapes of all plots are similar (both
for the voltage and the current), only differing in amplitude and frequency.

The diagrams shown in Figure 3.1 actually show plots of three fimctions. The blue plot
shows the triangular carrier, and the amplitude of this is the DC-link voltage. In the case
of a DC-link voltage of 650 V, the maximum voltage is 325 V (half of 650 V) and the
minimum value is –325 V. The yellow plot (and regrettably not really evident) shows the
reference signal, a simple sinusoidal wave. Finally, the pink plot (which is of greatest
importance) illustrates the same sinusoidal reference that has been symetrised, adding the

11
 .— .— .
“r- I

.
,..

d .. + ,. t-. -– ,:, A _..~

—.

650 V, 5 kHz 650 V, 10 kHz

. —, —.r— ——— — —
I —---1

..

% ,. ,,” .:-– A .L ,- —1
L
3.r’--
.“..”,

700 V, 5 kHz 70(1V, 10 kHz

. ,— —.
. .-
..

,.. .

,.. ..
. .I
--- ..

-?? .,, ..,. ,0- m . -?”!

,-..., *.- ,

750 V, 5 kHz 750 V, 10 kHz

—

Figure 3.1: Voltage plots for the six cases

12
 ~.. ___ _.. .— -r--- --—-

I
*L

*A
.

650 V, 5 kHz 650 V, 10 kHz

. ——.7 .——

1“! .+—
—. .—— . . “

I j

-..,“’-. -.

f
* \. \
_— , ---

[;j~_<~
f,: —.. —
+-. ; --.’
.

..L...
%-,
. “’, .
——.

..-* *
.

.
li

-,
.*

__--_-J _+ ..

700 V, 5 kHz 700 V, 10 kHz

“’\,---”~q
.-
1
,-

,:

u-+
,:

“-~
. -
< J
. -..-.——-
.

7“1 .-.&. ..—a

. ,-
?----

750 V, 5 kHz 750 V, 10 kHz

~igure 3.2: Current plots for the six cases

13
 third order harmonic. The only difference between the outputs for the 5 and 10 kHz
plots is that the wavelengths vary (by a factor of two).

At this stage it is important to look for evidence of overmodulation. Overmodulation is

characterised on the voltage plots when the symetrised voltage goes outside the bounds of
the triangular carrier (i.e. less than –325 V, or greater than 325 V, when a DC-link
voltage of 650 V is used). It can be seen that overrnodulation does not occur in any of the
six cases. If overmodulation were observed, it would instantly eradicate that particular
case from firther investigation.

The diagrams in Figure 3.2 show that the amplitude of the current is in the region
between –10 and 10 A. The main difference between the outputs for the two frequencies
is the current ripple. This is the amount of variation of the sinusoidal wave. It is greater
when using the higher frequency.

The relevant part of the diagram shown in Figure 1.4, relating to the AC side, is shown in
greater detail in Figure 3.3.

@ Q.
vt- v!.

Figure 3.3: Inductors on the AC side

The diagram shows three identical sets of components in parallel, labeled a, b and c.
These relate to the three phases from the grid. The voltage, u., is calculated using the
following equation:

ZJa=va-vo Equation 3.1

The following relationship exists between the voltage vDand v,, vb and vC:

Va+vb+vc
V. = Equation 3.2
3

14
Hence, by substituting equation 3.1 into equation 3.2,

Va+vb+vc
u*=v=– Equation 3.3
3

+ 4“
‘u=
Figure 3.4: Circuit for one phase

It is only necessary to investigate one of these sets of components since ua,ub and w are
identical (simply differing in phase) would be calculated by exactly the same method.
Figure 3.4 shows the components for path a.

Figure 3.5 shows the outputs for u,, ub and ~, with respect to time for case 1. The phase
shill between each is clearly visible.

The equation relating the voltage drop across the inductor, assuming the resistance of the
resistor, R, is zero, is given by:

u~ =u~–eo Equation 3.4

It is advantageous to consider the voltage output at a given harmonic. The frequency of

the grid, termed f@, is the fundamental frequency, F, which is 50 Hz in Sweden (60 Hz
in the United States). A harmonic, h, is calculated as:

h= ff Equation 3.5
fnomd.d = fgid

The fi-equency, f, is the frequency at a given point. Harmonics occur at multiples of F

(i.e. F, 2F, 3F, 4F, 5F . . . nF).

For each harmonic, the voltage across the inductor is:

v~,~= j(o~LI~ = vl,~– E~ Equation 3.6

where vl,h is the voltage at the first harmonic and Eh=E~d for h=l and Eh=O for all other
values of h.

15
 _— . .....--_._— ——-—..—-—.
I ““”--–—————7
I 5ooi
I 1

t -500~
o 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 ~1
0.03 0.035 0.04
I time Is

.,

I .5M: —---__/

0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03 0.035 0.04 I

I
5001

-500~ I
! o 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03 0.035 0.04
time Is
_____ _~--,.- _ ..-.——. ——.
-—.—.- ..—

Figure 3.5: Outputs for u,, u~ and UC,with respect to time

16
The current for each harmonic is:

1~=~ Equation 3.7

jm~L

v
1~= “h Equation 3.8
j2@1hL

The constant, fl, is the frequency of the fimdamental component, also previously termed
f@&

The magnitude of Ih is:

Equation 3.9

Therefore, the modulus of Ih is proportional to VLJ/h (a term called the specific current
spectrum). Figure 3.6 shows the spectrums of VLJ/h plotted against frequency, for cases
1 and 2. The results for cases 3 and 5 are practically identical to case 1, only differing in
amplitude, due to the nature of the equation. Similarly, the spectrums for cases 4 and 6
are virtually the same to that of case 2.

As annotated on the spectrums, it is possible to consider the spectrums in terms of h,

simply by dividing the frequency by the grid frequency, i.e. 50 Hz. Peaks are evident
when h is equal to 100, 200, 300 etc. (i.e. multiples of 100). A term for these intervals is
the frequency modulation ratio, mfi

3.2.1 Calculation of inductance using THD

The Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) is given by the following equation. It uses all
harmonics above the H* harmonic.

~=~=~-.;”+~m Equation3.lo
I l,n I I,n I l,n

However, the value of the inductance, L, is not known: instead, it is the desired value that
will be calculated. The inductance, for a given THD, Icanbe calculated. The minimum
inductance value can be obtained by rearranging the equation, as follows:

17
 xx
.;
0.7 , , I

0.6 -

0.5-

0.4 -

0.3 - ,-

0,2 - -

0.1 -

0-”” ii& J,i,lm . . ...__L ., ‘.

0 2 4 6 8
G=51CM3
a)
I.%=tclf=$ f A-1.(x If

“hi
0.35

0.:

0.2:

0.2

0.1

0.05

0 L —

b)

Figure 3.6: Spectrums showing VL,Jh against frequency for a frequency of a) 5

kHz and b) 10 kHz

18
 Equation 3.11

The THD that was suggested for use was 0.6%, complying with a standard called the IEC
1000-3-2. This indicates that the maximum AC ripple cannot exceed 0.6%. The
constant, 11,~,a value of current, is 22.6 A (calculated. by 16 x 42 – since peak values
have been used, but an r.m.s. value should be used instead). The most complex part of
the equation to calculate is the latter component where the square root of the summation
of the specific current spectrum. The aforementioned standard states that the equation
should take into consideration from h=O to h=40.

The results obtained fkom calculating the minimum inductance for the six different cases
are shown in Table 3.2.

Case V&/ v f,. / kHz THD LdC/ ti

1 650 10 0.0082 30.3
2 650 5 0.0075 15.2
3 700 10 0.0080 31.4
4 700 5 0.0075 15.7
5 750 10 0.0079 32.6
6 750 5 0.0079 16.3
Table 3.2: Table giving values of LdCfor the specific cases

3.2.2
Calculation of inductance using the IEC 1000-3-4 standard

Having calculated the values for L& the results appeared to be a little high. The results
acquired from the offboard charger described in section 1.1 were about half these values.
This raised doubt as to the precision of the calculated values.

It was realised that the reason behind these excessively high values was that the THD was
too restrictive. The column of Table 3.2 showing the THD indicates that the THD for
eve~ case is above the 0.6°/0 (0.006) that was initially specified in Table 3.1. As a result,
it was decided to “loosen” the THD as illustrated below,

Since overmodulation did not appear to occur in any of the cases, and it is advantageous
to use as low a voltage as possible, a DC-link voltage of value 650 V was selected. In
any case, the determining parameter affecting the value of LdCis the switching ilequency,
rather than the DC-link voltage. This is shown in Table 3.2 where there is little variation
between Cases 1, 3 and 5 (and similarly Cases 2, 4 and 6), where the switching
frequencies are very close: just the DC-link voltage is different.

Instead of the previously-used standard, another standard, called the IEC 1000-3-4 is
being introduced on 1st January 2001. This standard was selected for calculating Ld..

19
The standard is shown in Appendix 6. It states the Admissible Harmonic Content for
given values of the harmonic, expressed as a given percentage of the fimdarnental current
for odd harmonics, and as either 4 divided by the himnonic number, or 0.6?40 of the
fimdamental of the current for the even harmonics, whichever is the higher. Table 3.3
shows the values that are obtained from the standard, the actual current for the charger,
and calculated values that prove useful in comparing the two.

The calculated value for the Admissible Harmonic content can be compared to the actual
current, which is found from the current spectrum. It is observed that the Admissible
Harmonic Content far exceeds the actual current, for all harmonics. This indicates that
the current need not be a concern at this stage.

Table 3.4 shows the results obtained for the minimum inductance for the two cases using
a DC-link voltage of 650 V. These were calculated using the data previously acquired.

CkiSe Vd.iv f&/kHZ Ldc/mH

1 650 10 17
2 650 5 8.5

Table 3.4: Table giving values of LdCfor a DC-link valtage of 650 V

These newly acquired results are similar to what was exlpected.

3.3 Batiery side inductance

After earlier investigation, it was found that a DC-link voltage of 650 V would be most
suitable for the battery charger. However, a decision was made to keep investigating
values for both switching frequencies of 5 kHz and 10 kHz, to ascertain which is most
suitable.

A few new parameters are introduced in this model.

A voltage, uba~, is calculated as being half the DC-link voltage, i.e. 325 V.

There are two methods of calculating Lb,ti. The first is to look at the fimdarnental
component and the other is to look at the sum of all components.

3.3.1 Calculation of inductance using fundamental component

It was attempted to calculate the Lb,fl value by the summing method using Simulink.
However, some peculiar results were obtained. On looking into the model fiu-ther and
manually calculating the expected results, the error was discovered.

20
 3 19 4.30 0.0125 0.0029
5 9.5 2.15 0.0022 0.0010
7 6.5 1.47 0.0016 0.0011
9 3.8 0.86 0.0012 0.0014
11 3.1 0.70 0.0010 0.0014
13 2.0 0.45 0.0008 0.0018
15 0.7 0.16 0.0008 0.0049
17 1.2 0.27 0.0006 0.0023
19 1.1 0.25 0.0006 0.0023
21 0.6 0.14 0.0005 0.0038
23 0.9 0.20 0.0005 0.0023
25 0.8 0.18 0.0004 0.0024
27 0.6 0.14 0.0004 0.0030
29 0.7 0.16 0.0004 0.0024
31 0.7 0.16 0.0004 0.0022
33 0.6 0.14 0.0003 0.0024

4
6 4/n or 0.6 0.67 or 13.6 0.67 0.0018 0.0027
8 4Jn or 0.6 0.50 or 13.6 0.:50 0.0014 0.0028
10 41n or 0.6 0.40 or 13.6 0.40 0.0011 0.0028
12 4/n or 0.6 0.33 or 13.6 0.33 0.0009 0.0027
14 41n or 0.6 0.29 or 13.6 ().:29 0.0008 0.0027
16 41n or 0.6 0.25 or 13.6 0.25 0.0007 0.0027
18 4h or 0.6 0.22 or 13.6 0.:22 0.0006 0.0027
20 4Jn or 0.6 0.20 or 13.6 (j.;~() 0.0005 0.0027
22 4/n or 0.6 0.18 or 13.6 0.18 0.0005 0.0027
24 41n or 0.6 0.17 or 13.6 0.17 0.0005 0.0027
26 4h or 0.6 0.15 or 13.6 0.15 0.0004 0.0027
28 4h or 0.6 0.14 or 13.6 0.14 0.0004 0.0027
30 41n or 0.6 0.13 or 13.6 0.13 0.0004 0.0027
32 41n or 0.6 0.13 or 13.6 0.13 0.0003 0.0027
34 4/n or 0.6 0.12 or 13.6 0.12 0.0003 0.0027

I(l_act) = 22.6 A

Table 3.3: Calculated values from IEC 1000-3-4 standard

21
The special Fourier series was found, from the data sheet given in Appendix 7, to be
given by the following equation.

2h SiIl(12ZCX)
a. = Equation 3.12
rm

For this general equation, h=UdC=650 V, ct=O.5 and J=: n. Jw. Hence,

f
n.—
Equation 3.13
f.

so,

.n=*=!E!2il n—f n—f

Equation 3.14
f. f.

The results iiom calculating the data using this new method are shown in Appendix 8. It
was discovered that the way Simulink had calculated the equivalent to a., gave simply
positive values, whereas the Fourier series method produced both positive and negative
values, as shown below. This resulted in the anomalous results.

ax = (/)
1300sin ‘z ~
Equation 3.15
m

Hence,

a, =
1300sinn2 (/)
=413.8
N.B. positive since sin(n/2) = 1
z

al =
1300sin 2X(/)2 so N.B.zero since sin(x)= O
2X

as = (/= –137.9
1300sin3z2)
N.B. negative since :sin(3ti2) = -1
3n

Figure 3.7 shows two plots showing a variable termed Ah.~ (used in the simulation)
against h: one actually simulated by Simulink, and another created from the table of
results, from manual calculation, shown in Appendix 8.

The results from calculating the inductance from the simulation model, and firther
calculation, are shown in Table 3.5.

22
 I
40 .“”’.

2
q~ ......

200 .

100 ......

0
.h....+.
.......
......... ..................
.2......,,,, ... ,. ...

0 200 400

a)

57)

m
.>
?
Y
Iw

-X0

-Za)
n ,!.<....:
., ,
b)

Figure 3.7: Plots of Ah.~ against h – a) simulated and b) manually calculated

23
3.3.2Calculation of inductance by summing of all components

The value for Lb.ti can be obtained in another way. For this method, the following
equation is used.

.
U= L$+e Equation 3.16

Hence,

~ = (U- e)At
Equation 3.17
Ai

In this case, U=U& and e=U&/2, meaning the values are 650 V and 325 V respectively.
The change in time, At, is equal to l/2f,W. The current, Ai, is a peak value, so is twice 5
A. So, by substituting these aforementioned values into equation 3.17, the equation is:

(650- 325) ~
2fw _—
_ 325 16.25
—
Lb~u= Equation 3.18
10 2ofw = fw

This means that the corresponding values for Lb.fi,for switching frequencies of both 5kHz
and 10 kHz are 3.25 mH and 1.625 rnH respectively.

cue Vd. / v f&/ ~z Lb,a / ti

1stmethod 2ndmethod
1 650 10 2.6 3.3
2 650 5 1.3 1.6

Table 3.5: Values for Lb,ti, for the two methods

Table 3.5 shows the values for Lb,ti, using this method, in addition to the previous
method.

The second method of calculating Lb,ti was opted for, and hereafter, these values are
used.

3.4Parasitic capacitors on the DC and battery side

Figure 3.8 shows a diagram of the capacitors contained within the car. There are two on
the AC side and a further two on the DC side. These are both extraneous capacitances
and are “unwanted”. They occur between the circuitry and the car itself.

24
I .1 -at

6. :<:--”
~A--- -r , . !1

l=-
8ke!.
*
.
i ~- .Jh ‘;-
,__ —---- ----
1+ 443 ~. !
-, ,. \

Figure 3.8: Diagram showing capacitors for the battery charger

To calculate the capacitance, the diagram can be simplified. This is shown in Figure 3.9.

Figure 3.9: Simplified diagram of capacitors

To calculate the capacitance, the following equation is used.

c=&o$ Equation 3.19

where C is the capacitance, Cois a constant (commonly termed the dielectric constant), A
is the surface area of one face of the plates and d is, the distance between the plates
(contained by the dielectric).

It was estimated that the capacitance on the DC side would have a surface area of about
A4 (approximated to 30 cm by 20 cm) and the distance between the plates would be
around 2 cm. Similarly, on the battery side, appropriate values were thought to be 1 m2
and 10 cm respectively. The value for&o is 8.85 pFm-l (i.e. 8.85 x 10-12Fr”-l).

so,

(0.30x0.20)
c &_ parasitic
=8.85x10-12 X =26.55 x10-’2F
0.02

25
 1
c butt _ parasitic
=8.85x10-12 X— = 88.50 x10-12F’
0.10

Therefore, approximate values for these values of capacitance for the DC and battery
sides would be in the region of 30 pF and 90 pF respectively.

26
4. Analysis of Zero Sequence Current

The zero sequence current is a common mode current originating from a common voltage
shift. This affects the DC-link bus bars when a change of switch state occurs. Such a
voltage shift causes a current flow in all three phases, each with the same phase and
magnitude.

It is necessary to investigate the zero sequence current, in order to ensure that it is not
excessively high.

The complex equation that is used to determine the zero sequence is given below

‘0=AJk2&?J
Equation 4.1

3 jdtifl+ 1 1+ —1
——
2 2jco C~C Chfl
[)

For example, using the values previously acquired, for a switching frequency of 5 kHz,
the zero sequence current is calculated as follows:

uo = U&/2 = 650/2= 325 V

o.)= 2nf,w= 1000OZ
l&=17mH
Lb,~ = 1.3 ti
C&= 30 pF
&~= 90 pF

Substituting the above values into Equation 4.1 gives a value of io of 2.5 mA.

The results acquired for the zero sequence current, botlh using a DC link voltage of 650
V, and for both the single and three-phase cases, are shcwn in Table 4.1.

Switching frequency, f,~ / kHz Zero sequence current, io/ rnA

5 2.5
10 4.9

Table 4.1: Zero sequence current results for both the single-phase and three-phase
scenarios

By plotting the zero sequence current as a function c)f the frequency it is possible to
confirm that these values are correct. Figure 4.1 shows such plots.

27
 ..

. . ......
/

. .... . . .

. . ...

1.4

a)
.-

b)

Figure 4.1: Plots of the zero sequence current as a function of frequency - for
switching frequencies of a) 5 kHz and b) 10 kHz

28
The peaks that are evident in the plots are due to there being no damping in the system.
The relationship between the frequency and the zero sequence current can be considered
as a continuous line.

The overall load is capacitive. This means that the current magnitude is most
significantly determined by the capacitance, and the capacitive current leads the voltage
by 90°.

The earth protector that will be incorporated into the battery charger will break the
circuit, and consequently the charger will cease operating, when there is a current of 30
mA. However, there was uncertainty as to what frequencies this applies. As a result, it
was suggested that experimentation be undertaken in order to distinguish this. Figure 4.2
shows the layout of the apparatus for the experiment.

Figure 4.2: Diagram showing equipment used for experiment

Figure 4.3 shows photos of the equipment used to unde@ce this experiment.

29
 a)

b)

c)

Figure 4.3: Photo of apparatus used in experiment – a) whole circuit including

oscilloscope, b) just the electronic circuitry and c) the earth protector

Unfortunately, the voltage required in order to operate the earth protector is f= greater
than that supplied by the mains supply. As a result, the voltage needed to be increased
using a transformer. This was beyond the scope of the project and is therefore an area for
fbrther investigation. The process that would have been used is detailed below.

For various frequencies, the voltage at which the earth protector switches would be taken
from the oscilloscope. Using Ohm’s Law, the current can simply be calculated, as
follows:

V=IR

30
where V is the voltage, I is the current and R is the resistance.

Hence,

Since the resistance being used is 100 Q, for this case,

IJ-
100

The department will undertake firther analysis, if it is considered necessary, at a later

date. However, it was thought that the zero sequence current would not actually present a
problem.

31
5. Implementation of Inductances

In order to build the charger itsel~ firther time would be required. However, this task is
more time-consuming, rather than challenging. As a result there is little to be gained by
carrying out the construction of the inductors.

The process of acquiring the values required gave the author an understanding of power
electronics and although it is unfortunate that construction could not be undertaken, this
would only serve as practical experience. The department has technicians whose
responsibility is to undertake such tasks.

Hi3kan Skarrie is a Ph.D. Student at the IEA. He is engaged in a project making inductors
and transformers with iron powder or fibre cores. He required some values of inductors
to test his research and it was decided that the results from this project would be ideal for
this purpose. Therefore, he was given the aforementicmed values and the responsibility
of implementation of the inductances was assigned to him, so that the theory fkom his
project could be applied to a real application.

32
6. Conclusions and Recommendations

The onboard battery charger that has been designed for the Electric Sniper is such that it
not only fblfils the brief, but it is also unique in its design, having been designed with this
application solely in mind. This means that the design was carefully considered and all
criteria have been optimised for the charger. For example, the type of inductors used,
which strongly affect the overall weight, has been vigilantly considered.

This onboard charger also uses the three-phase, in addition to the single-phase, AC
supply. This makes it fairly exclusive, in that most on’board battery chargers use simply
the single-phase AC supply. Using the three-phase supply and fhst-charging
methodology means that it is superior to the older, conventional method, since, as clearly
indicated by it’s name, charging occurs at a greater s,peed, and range is therefore also
increased (for the same length of charge).

Also, onboard chargers, when used at night, can actually help by reducing the impact on
the grid. Also, charging at this time may cost less.

Although primarily designed for use with the Electric Sniper, it is very feasible to use this
design for charging the batteries of other EVS. The unique features that are characteristic
in this charger mean that it can be considered as a strong competitor in the market for
battery chargers for use with EVS.

There is fi,uther work that would ideally have been camied out, if more time had been
available. Such improvements would generally be a case of investigating in greater detail
the processes involved in designing the battery charger. These would include
experimenting fhrther with the earth protector, described in Chapter 4.

It is unfortunate that the time restrictions dictated that building of the components, and
the charger on the whole, could not be undertaken by the author. It was recognised that it
would be impossible to undertake all areas of the charger design and construction,
particularly since the author had to acquire a large degree of understanding of power
electronics - which took a large proportion of the project duration - before any design
could take place. Even with the necessary knowledge and experience in power
electronics it would have been difilcult to complete all the tasks in the given time.
Although not critical to the finished product, but more a matter of increased practical
input for the author, it would have been nice to have built the electrical components, and
battery charger itself.

Non-availability of the necessary transformer at the time of experimentation meant that a

full analysis of the zero sequence current could not be undertaken. This is of course an
area that could be investigated if more time was available. If considered beneficial, such
experimentation will be carried out by members of slaff at the department. However

33
such analysis is likely to prove insignificant, since the results seem to suggest that the
zero sequence current will not be an area of concern in the design of the charger.

Overall, the author found the project stimulating, rewarding and educational and hopes
that his work proved usefbl to the project team.

34
7. References

1. M. Bojrup, Advanced Control of Active Filters in a Battery Charger Application,

Licentiate’s Thesis, Department of Industrial Electrical Engineering and
Automation, Lund Institute of Technology, Nov, 1999, P. 7-18

2. P. Karlsson, Quasi Resonant DC Link Converters, Analysis and Design for a

Battery Charger Application, Licentiate’s Thesis, Department of Industrial
Electrical Engineering and Automation, Lund Institute of Technology, 1999

3. Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Lund Institute of

Technology, Elmaskinsystem, 2000

4. M. Bojrup, P. Karlsson, B. Simonsson and M. Alakula, A Dual Purpose Battery

Charger for Electric Vehicles, PESC 98 Conference Proceedings, Fukona, Japan,
Vol. 1, May 1998, pp. 565-570

5. N. Mohan, T. M. Underland and W. P. Robbins, Power Electronics; Converters,

Applications and Design, 2nd Edition, Wiley, New York USA 1995

6. D.I. Crecraft, Gorharn and Sparkes, Electronics, Chapman and Hall, 1993
 Appendix 1

The Electric Sniper

●“
Projekt El Page 1 of 2

The Electric Sniper

Pa s v enska. tac k!

Since autumn 1999 ~ is involved in a project concerning the construction of an electric sports car. The car is a kit
car externally designed by Juha Huhtilainen from Finland and it is called.“the Sniper”. It is manufactured in Eslov,
Scania, Sweden. Originally this car is supposed to hold an engine from a regular Saab 99900. We however, supply it
with an electric drive system developed by ABB especiallyforelectricalvehicles.Here is somepreliminarytechnical
informationabout “theSniper”:

Table: Preliminary data

Motor permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM)

t
On board charger
k~
Batteries =~
Length E~
Wdth =~
llHeight 11735mm II

1!
Weight
Acceleration O.. 100 Icrn/b
IL
1124kg excluding driver and passenger II
w~
Top Speed .w~

Important System Components

file: //C:’\WINDOWSWesktopl,Simon’Projekt E1.htm 13/09100

Projekt El Page 2 of 2

Component ‘=~
Chassisand body =~
DC/DC-converter NIR4 ComponentsAB
IntegralDrive System ABB CorporateResearch
GenesisSealedLeadAcidBatteries =~
Onboardcharger,systemdevelopmen~ batterymanagement
system,etc =~
ToyoProxes@low-rollmg-resistance
ties c~

The creationof the car is a cooperationbetween

. Erik Holmqvist,Eslov, Sweden

. ABB Corporate Research
. NIRA ComponentsAB
● IEA, LundUniversity

Thereare also studentsfromIEA involved in this project.

Our purpose is currently NOT to produce a series built car, but to:

. Create an attractive experimental platform for student and master thesis projects
. Make PR within and outside Lund Institute of Technology
. Participate in races, for example “&esundsrallyt 2000”, August the 25th-27th in the year 2000.

Are you yourself interested in participating in the E-sniper-project, or do you want more information? Please contact
us!: mats. al~la@ieaml~.se or ben~.s~omson@iea.l~ose.

file://C:\WINDOWSU)esktop\SimonWrojekt
E1.htm 13/09/00
 Appendi:x2

AC Propulsion tzero
tzero home Page 1 of 1

Clneof the world’s fastest-

accelerating cars is also one of
the world’s most efficient cars

by AC Propulsion

O to 60 mph 4.1 seconds

1/4 mile 13.2 seconds
Ra[

~rs-
200 horsepower

7 20 kW on-board charger
Powerful anti-slip regeneration

Performance Features FAQs tzero GalIesy How to get the tzero

Hk.m.e
I what’s New I M-we horn presidentIQmz?.awHistw I pressReleases
Productsand TechnologyItzero [In the News IWhitelx IEV In&structure
EmploymentODportunitiesIContactUs ILinks

01999 AC PropulsionInc.,All rightsreserved.

file://C:\WINDOWSUlesktop\Simon\tzero
home.htm 13/09/00
 .

Appendi:x3

Similar Prodlucts
a) K & W Engineering BC-20
b) Brusa NLG41x

,
K&W Engineering,Inc. Page 1 of 1

——
——

BC-20

Specifications:
● Battery pack voltage (user selectable): 72 to 108 volts DC; 114 to 144 volts with optional LB-20.
● Charging current: Adjustable 0-20 amperes. O-25ampere front pa]rnelmeter.
● Float voltage: Adjustable 2.0 to 2.5 volts/cell.
● Input voltage: 110 to 125 VAC, 50/60 Hz
● Brownout/blackout protection: Protecte~ automatic resumption.
● Input/output connections: Screw terminals on barrier-style termin:alblock.
● Safety protection: 30 ampere AC circuit breaker. AC Ground Fault Interrupter. 30 Ampere DC output fuse. Overhe
off, automatic resumption after unit cools down).
✎ Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) suppression: AC RFl faltering included.
● Siie: Height: 6 inches (15.2 cm) Width: 10.5 inches (26.7 cm) Depth: 4.25 inches (10.8 cm)
● Weighh 10 lbs (4.5 kg)
● Cooling Internal ball-bearing fan.
● Mounting Threaded inserts (1/4-20) back and bottom (four each surface).
● Environmental restrictions: Splash-resistant

..—
Pages:lHmg/[BC-21V[;C-2501
DownIoad:[BC-250Batterv Charrer Instinct ion A4anuaIl~nstructionManual for BC-2o Batter-vCharger and LB-20 Line BoostezJ
Dism”butors:[him:hww.innevat”on.s.comkha r~ers.htm~&@. .hww,kta-ev.co~
E-Mail: [kwencineerin_@varldn;t.att.n@l

:file://C:\WINDOWSU)esktop\SimonWC2O.HTM 13/09/00
I
Battery Charger NLG41 x -~
BruSa Elektmik
Battery Ladegerat —
3.4 kW CH -9473 Gains
Tel 0317603530
Fax 081750353$

NLG41X

Data / D*I Value 1V&i Cunditix / 6edingungw

Nan bakry vdage / Battedenennqx mung Ug,.>. 60 c 372 b see ordering &@?Wofr$ I
Nom pmw / Nennleistung I1% 3.6 w I
A4ax,mehs cwrwt/ max. Netzstror I!!(J?M
Cwrenl phase angle/ Strwophasenwinkel
Dstorfkm factor/ Klirrfaktor 403 1,1= 16/

0.92 AUG472

I
7,3kg I
Afr-wokd wrehw /LMtqekUhl@ Version
~wlalicm dandert /Mu&art
C@emfhr fernp. cmge / Betriebtemratur
Rxfwed oufpuii Leistungsreduktbr
:~
Watewu&edmWon 1UUasse~ekWta Vwsim
In.wbtion sfancfm lSchutzart I //=64

I
Operdtin Imp, mge I BetrieWxnperatw T. -25”,, +60 “(
Reduced cdputl Leistungsreduktbr T@ above W ‘C coolant&imp. [retake)
 /

Appendi:x4

A Dual Purpose Battery

Charger for Electric
Vehicles
 A Dual Purpose Battery Charger for Electric Vehicles
M. Bojrup, P. Karlsson, M. Alaki,ila, B. Simonsson
Department of Industrial Electrical Engineering and Automation
Lund Institute of Technology
P.O. BOX 118
22100 Lund
Sweden

ABSTRACT

A dual purpose, high power, off board battery ch~ger
for electric vehicles is presented. For higher viability
and increased usage of the charger, grid conditioning
capabilities are included in the concept. Conventional
power electronic converter topologies are used in a new
application, which combines fast EV battery charging
with active filtering. Furthermore hi-directional power
flow capabilitiesare provided to accommodate grid peak
power requirements. Both simulation and experimental
results are presented in this paper which demonstrate the
capabilities of the new charger.
1. INTRODUCTION
Electric vehicles will become an attractive alternative to
internal combustion engine vehicles in the event that
their range can be extended. One way to achieve this in
the short term is to provide a fast charger infrastructure.
Such a structure would provide greater mobility for the
EV user, since during short stops (<1 hour) the EV
batteries could be charged from typically 20 to 80 % of
nominal charge. This would significantly extend the EV
range.
There are mainly two reasons, why a fast charger infra-
structure has not been built. Firstly, the cost of charg-
ers and corresponding controllers is high. Secondly,
chargers could adversely affect the grid power quality.
The reason for this is that such an increase of power
electronic loads (mainly dicde rectifiem and thyristor
bridge converters) in the distribution network, could
result in voltage distortion and current harmonics. Poor
power quality is aheady a problem in many countries
[1].
This paper introduces a new charger concept which
addresseathe problems indicated. Central to our design
is a dual functionality which implies that the unit has
an efficient charging capability as well as a power line
conditioning role, refer to Figure 1. The latter is benefi-
cial to the grid as power quaMy is improved. The mar-
gin between the rated power and the actual charging
power can be used for power line conditioning, thus
operating the line converter at rated power and mlucing
the amount of grid conditioning dependent on the charg-
ing power. The approach suggested here gives better
utilisation of both the power grid and the battery
charger, which is beneficial to power distributors ad
EV users.
Given the above it is apparent that the dual pwpose
battery charger should have the following capabilities:
● Fast charging of EV batteries
● Grid conditioning capabilities
●Harmonic filtering of currents
●Reactive power compensation
●Load balancing
●Peak power generation
An added controvemialcapability includedhere relatesto
peak power generation which implies that the charger
should be alble to act as an “electronic gasturbine”, i.e.
defiverpower to the utility grid during periods of high
power demi~d or at emergency situations. This can be
done since EV batteries attached to chargers represent a
large potential energy reserve, during a short period of
time energy could be borrowed from the EV batteries in
order to support the grid. This is similar to [2], where a
superconductingmagnetic energy storage device is used
to balance the fluctuating load from a large saw mill.

2. HARDWARE CONFIGURATION

+ The general specifications of the dual purpose battery

Voad charger [3] are listed in Table 1. In [3], further back-
ground infcmnation about the concept is also given.
Figure 1. Grid and battery charger
 Table 1. General specifications of the dual purpose
battery charger
Ratedpower Sn 75 kVA
Grid voltage v“ 400V
Gridfrequency fn 50 Hz
EMC, cable IEC 1000-2-4
Battery voltage ‘bat, 96 to 600 V
Charging current 1~,,, %200A UPto75 kW
Current ripple AIb,,, Illm. lo~o Oflb,U
Grid conditioning S,~ Limited by the margin
between rated power and
actual charging power
Though this is a prototype pre-commercird fast charger,
the Swedish and European EV market and ongoing
standardisationhas been considered. This means that the
charger is designed for conductive charging with the 11-
pin Marechal connector system. This system is deemed
to be standard on electric vehicles from French car
manufacturers.
The dual puqmse battery charger is designed with con-
ventional power electronic converter topologies. The
desiredgrid conditioning capabilities in terms of peak
power generation and harmonic filtering calls for a self
commutated converter topology with bi-dhectional
power flow, This leads to a block schematic representa-
tion of the charger as indicated in Figure 2.
Figure 2. The dual purpose battery charger
It is evident from Figure 2, the dual purpose battery
charger consists of Pulse Width Modulated (PWM)
Voltage Source Convefiers (WCS) based on IGBTs for
high performanceand passive filters for proper attenua-
tion of current harmonics caused by the PWM of the
converters. The three phase PWM VSC is well suited
to its role as line side converter, since the controllabil-
ity of the currents is very high. On the battery side, a
two quadrant DC-DC (Buck-Boost) converter is used
which fulfils the requirements of bidirectional charg-
ing.
Third order passive filters (LCL-filters) are chosen to
attenuate undesired current harmonics caused by the
converters [4]. There are three major benefits with a
LCL-filter compared to the first oder filter (L-filter).
First, higher attenuation at high frequencies since the
LCL-filter increases the attenuation with 60 dB/ckcade
for frequencies above the resonancefrequencyconqxued
to the 20 dB/decadefor the L-filter. Second, the total
inductance (ofthe LCL-filter is smaller than for the L
filter, this can reduce the physical size of the filter ad
simplifies the design and manufactureof the inductors.
Third, since the total reactance of the LCL-filter is less
at lower frequencies, the DC link voltage can be de
cnased since the reactive voltage drop in the passive
filter is smaller for the same current and frequency for
the LCL-fil.ter as the voltage drop is for the L-filter.
These benefits can be concluckl from the brxie plot of
the transfer function from converter output voltage to
line current, see Figure 3.
.> .,... .
. ...
. .....>-%.
. . . . ...
.. .. .. . .. ...
..
. .... ..... .
.. ......
. . . . . ...
. . . .
. . . . . ...
. . .. ......
:. ..... . ....
.. .. .. . .. ....
.. .. .. .. .. .. .....
... .. .. .. ..
. . . . . ... . . . . . .. . . . . . . ..
100 [r-b] 1000 lm
Figure 3. Transfer function from converter output
vol[age to line current (LCLtilter solid,
Lfilter dashed)
The major disadvantages with a LCLfilter are the high
current ripple in LI (the inductors nearest to the con-
verters) caused by the PWM and the increased number
of transducers needed for control purposes. Furthermore,
the reactive power requirementsof the capacitos present
in the passive line filter has to be accommodated by the
convetter as to prohibit reactive grid current when the
unit is operating under idle conditions.
The inductcm are fabricated in tape wound C-cores with
iron tape thickness of 0.1 mm and the windings are
separated along the airgap to reduce airgap losses in the
windings due to fringing flux (especially important for
the imer inductom due to the high switching fkquency
current ripple). Polypropylene capacitom of low ESR
type mainly intended for DC applicationsare used.
The control algorithms are implemented on a Multi
Input Multi Output DSP cad, based on the
TMS320C30 floating point processor. The DSP catd
contains a serial communication interface (RS422).
This interface is used for control of the dual purpose
battery charger by a supervisory controller unit. ‘Ihe
supervisory controller unit contains a payment system,
serial communication with the EV Battery Management
System (BMS) for battery current reference and the
possibility for a power distributor operator to remotely
(via a modem) set the conditioning priorities or getthe
operating data of the dual purpose battery charger.
The power electronics of the dual purpose battery
charger consists IGBT modules. The DC link voltage,
U~C,is chosen to 750 V. A 5 kHz triangular carder
wave modulates the converters which leads to a switch-
ing frequency, f,W,of 5 kHz, The controllers are sampled
with a time interval, T,, of 100 ps.
The charger construction is in the format of an ahunin-
ium cabinet in which the internal sections (line filter,
power electronics, battery filter and control electronics)
are totally shielded from each other. This constructional
approach minimises EMC problems and promotes a
modular implementation of the major component
groups, which in turn simplifies maintenance.
3. CONTROL
In this section the controllers are presented. The overall
control structure contains a DC link voltage controller,
a battery current controller and a line current controller
in the synchronous dq-fmme. For grid conditioning
purposes, a load current identifier is needed to extract
the current components to be conditioned, Figure 4
shows the block diagram of the overall control system.
. i? Uc i,l Ubatt
‘:~ Load current
identifier and
compensator
+*
Iaf
+-++=
12 Uc 11
! I
Figure 4. Block diagram of the overall control system
The DC link voltage controller indicated in Figure 4 is
an anti-windup PI-controller with f&edfor-wad of the
battery current as to achieve a fast line cument response.
The fked fomard term decxeasesthe DC link voltage
variation encountenxi during changes in the charging
current. The bandwidth of the DC link voltage control-
ler is limited by a lowpass filter which in effect decou-
ples the latter for the active filter control function. me
grid conditioning current references are derived from a
load cumentidentifier, which extracts the reactive, har-
monic and imbalance (negative sequence) components
from the load current. These conditioning components,
i,~, are addd to the DC link voltage controller output,
i2~,and acts as the line current EfeEn@ vector, iz, as
may be observed from Figure 4.
The grid conditioning current references are identified
fmm the load current in the synchronous dq-tlame. An
advantage of using the synchronous dq-frame in the
identifier is that everything that is not stationary non-
varying can be attributed to either load changes, imbal-
ance or harmonic currents. The stationary currents, ir~~,
in the d- and q-axis provides information on the reactive
and active current components of the load. Negative
sequencecurrents, i~, appear at twice the fundamental
grid frequency in the dq-frame, since the negative se-
quence vector rotates backwards with fundamental grid
frequencyin the stationary c$-frame. The current har-
monics, i~, are visible at even higher multiples of the
fundamental flequency in the dq-frame. By appropriate
filtering the reactive, negative sequence and harmonic
currents can.be identified from the load current and thus
be fomvardedto the input of the Ioad current compensa-
tors given in Figure 5.
~
+ q ~.
Ifoad
r—-----!
Lowpass
I filter ]
Ban(jpaS In
fund
Lead-Lag:
Activefi~er +.
current
laf
“ “
filter 7“C21OOHZ limitation
$ +“
Highpass Ih ‘Mfi regis’te~ &
3 sample
fiHer L
%: prediction
Figure 5, Load current identifierand compensator
The response time from line current dq-fmm references
to line currents is approximately three samples, calcr.da-
tion time in the DSP takes one sample and the delay
through the LCL-filter is approximately two samples
for frequencies which are of interest for conditioning.
This results in a phase difference between the injected
currents compmd to the desired current references. To
avoid this cffeet a phase compensation scheme of the
grid conditioning current references is introduced. TIE
integral pantof the d-current controller takes care of the
reactive cunent, since it is representedas a non-varying
value in the dq-frame. For the negativesequence cunen~
a simple first order lead lag filter acting on the ~ference
is sufilcient, since only one iiequency is of interest.
The phase compensator for the current harmonics util-
ises the fact that the harmonics are periodic, i.e. what
happens during a given pericd will approximately hap-
pen in the following period. By shifting the harmonic
current referenceinto a shift register with a length ox-
responding to the lowest harmonic frequency of interest
and then reading a value from the previous pericd thee
samples ahead an adequate three sample prediction of
the harmonic currents is achieved as may be obserwxi
from Figure 5. Also shown in this figure is the active
filter current limitation. This module ensures that the
line side converter is not overloaded.The latter is real-
ised by en:wing that the final current refemces ate
limited to fit inside the rated current vector length. The
current limitation is determined by the conditioning
priorities, the output ratios set by an operator and the
amount of capacity that is left over for conditioning
purposes.
The line current controllers are based on the vector The block diagram representation of the line current
equations in the synchronous reference dq-frame, as this controllers in the dq-frarne, including the Smith com-
simplifies the derivation and the implementation of the pensator, is shown in Figure 6.
controller stnwture. The differential equations of the
passive line filter in the synchronous dq-flarnemay be
written as

C.-$iic =-jCOC. iic+7~-~ (1)

L2. ~%=–(R2+jcoL2)” &+iiC-Z

(

Cascaded line current controllers with anti-windup of

the integral parts and feed forwtud of the grid voltage,
are derivedfrom the discretized form of eq. (1) as indi-
cated in eq. (2). Usually, dead beat controllers are pre-
fened for high system bandwidth, but in the case of a
third order filter some careful considerations with ~gatd
to the controller gains has to be done in order to avoid
an oscillatory or unstable system. In any event, the
bandwidth is more or less limited by the resonance
frequencyof the third order filter. These considemtions
dictatea the values scale factors, k, from the dead beat
gain for each controller in the cascade structure. The
discrete line current controller equations are given below
(2)
Figure 6. Block diagram of the line current controllers
The battery current controller is based on the differential
equations of the third order passive filter
d ‘ =–R1. il–uc+ul
L1. ZZL
C .-$uc=il–iz (4)
L2. $2 = –R2 . iz + Uc – uba~
In a similar way as for the line current controllers, a
cawadedbarte~ current controller with anti-windup of
the integral part in the inner loop and feed forward of
the battery voltage is derived by discretization of eq. (4).
Again deadbeat controllers for high system bandwidth
ate desimt. The gain in the proportional parts of the
controller includes scale factors, k, of the dead beat gain
for a less oscillatory system. The discrete battery cur-
rent controllerequations are representedas

L .*
u~=k. ~.(i~–i2)+R2.12+ubotf
RI 12 T’
f=q
i; =kuc &.(u:_uc
T )+; (-3
kil =0.5 (3) s
km =0.2 u~=kil~.‘1 (i~–il)+~.~(i~–il) +4
s ( )
ki2 =1
where
To compensate for the dead time introduced by the
DSP, we have chosen to use Smith compensators for RI
systems with delays as suggested in [5]. The Smith ‘“q
compensator estimates what has happened during the
kil =0.5
last sample with the previous control signal set. The (6)
predictedresult is then forwarded to the measured signal kuC=O
for a gcod estimation of the actual value, which the ki2 =1
controller acts upon. The Smith compensator has the
advantageof coping with overmodulation of the con-
verter compacedwith the dead time compensation used Sufficient performance of the system is achieved with-
in [4]. This stabilises the system so that higher gains out a P-controller on the capacitor voltage (k@) ad
can be chosen in the current controllers. thus it is left out in the controller, thus reducing tie
number of measured signals with one. Only feed for-
ward of the capacitor voltage refemce is implemented
as may be observed from eq (5). The battery cmrent The charging current error is due to the large time con-
controller in block diagram representation, including the stant, z, of the integral part in the battery curnmt con-
Smith compensator, is given in Figure 7. troller, The ringing of the battery current directly at%
the load is applied is due to the resonance of the third
T5 I LI order filter, the amplitude can be deaeased by limiting
z-(l+R1*Ts / LI ) the slope of the step change in the battery current.
i2*
Figure 9 shclwsthe load current spectrum together with
, kil(:+~)
the resulting line current spectrum for these two modes
+ R2 of operation. In both cases the harmonic content of the
T~
]J ‘T x
line current is significantly reduced,
i2
-@4 Iqz 9
TS

160 .: ...:.~....~.- {Ioad .1.

Figure 7. The cascaded battery current controller .
T t lline~(l) ~
. ..... . ... . ... - {MS (2) .~..
.
. . .
4. SIMULATION i: . . I.

Simulations are used to verify the function and the

capabilities of the dual purpose battery charger. Figure
.
8 and 9 shows the results of a simulation, The load is ,. . ...
modelled as an ideal diode rectifier of 100 kW in parallel “
, I
1 57 11 13 17 19
with an inductive load of 37.5 kVAr, The charger is Harmonic order
operated in two different modes. Firstly, the charger is IFigure9. Phase current spectrum
set to idle in which case all the capacity of the unit is
used for grid conditioning (case 1), After 50 ms, charg- 5. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
ing of a 190 V battery with 200 A is started (case 2)
and only harmonic compensation of the grid is per- Measurementson the dual purpose battery charger have
formed as not to overload the line convener. been carried out at two different locations and dudng
diffenmt operating conditions. At the fimt location,
tests were made on a battery package used for a hybrid
vehicle systtm, were charging/discharging of the battery
package at rated power and current has verified the
charging characteristics. As expected the current har-
monics due to PWM rwe properly attenuated by the
I I passive filters, both on the line and on the battery side.
I . . . . . . . . 1 The idle production of reactive current (=4 kVAr) in the
capacitors of the passive filter is consumed by the con-
verter, i.e. no reactive current of the unit end up in the
grid.

In connection to the tests of the charging characteris-

tics, power conditioning of a six-pulse thyristor bridge
converter were performed. The results are shown in
Figures 10 and 11.

35
q) 11 . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..{......
,,
. “..,.....:...,;........;...,:,.

. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .—
. .;....;..
. .
. . ..loa~ . . . .. .

{line:. .I .4
1

... .,.. .:. . . . .. . . . . . ..: . .-. .. . . . . JCOrnP...;.

.. .
. . . . . . ... . ... . . . . . . . .. . ...
. .
. .:, . . ... . . . . .;, ,., . . . . . . . . ... .
...’.
.

o 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 W . .
Time [ins] lid K1 !4 . .
J
Figure 8. Simulated currents in the time-domain, 1 57 11 13 17 19
Hmmonic order
case 1) 0..50 ms and case 2) 50..100 ms
Figure 10. Phase current spectrum
 - . ..
. ..
. . ,, . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . ... .
325 - .. .. - Ilead
.
:
.
......... ........ .. . .- {line. . . . .. .
. . . .
. .
. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . .Icornp
- . . .. . . . :.. .
. . . .
., . .
. . . . . . ;. ...:.. ... ...: . . . ... . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. .
. . . .
r . . . ,. . . .
. . . . . . :. .,,... . . . ... . . . . . . . ... . . . . ... .
. .
. .
., .,., . . . . . . . . . .../. . . ... . . . . . . . ... . . . . ... .
. .
. .
[~~ ~--:
1 57 11 13 17 19
. . . . . HarmoNc order
I I Figure 13. Phase current spectrum
. ,. . . .

6. CONCLUSIONS

A new dual purpose battery chargerprototype has been

designd implemented and tested. Simulation results
and field measurements confirm that fast charging ad
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
grid conditioning capabilities can be successfully
Time [ins]
merged which leads to a viable and high performance
Figure 11. Phase currents in the time-domain
unit that is beneficial to power distributors and EV
users. Third. order passive fiIters are successfully im-
The second test was made at a district heating plant,
plemented to attenuate current harmonics due to the
whe~ the current harmonics from a large water pump
PWM of the converters instead of the more common
drive were filtered. The test should give a further verifi-
first order filter.
cation of the power conditioning capabilities of the dual
purpose battery charger, since the harmonics generated
7. REFERENCES
by the load w higher than the rating of the unit. Fig-
ures 12 and 13 shows the results of grid conditioning,
[1] H. Akagi, “New Trends in Active Filters for Power
when all the capacity of the dual purpose battery charger
Conditioning”, IEEE Trans. on Industry Applica-
was used for harmonic compensation.
tions, vol. 32, No 6, Dec. 1996, pp 1312-1322.
[2] 0, Simon, H. Spaeth, K.P. Juengst, P. Komarek,
“Expen.mental Setup of a Shunt Active Filter
Using a Superconducting MagneticEnergy Storage
Device”, Proceedings EPE, Trondheim 1997, vol.
1, pp 1447-1452.
[3] P. Btickstrom,“The DUAL concept. A way of
making EV fast charging more viable.”, Proceed-
ings EVS14.
[4] M. Lindgren, “Filtering and Control of a Grid-
connected Voltage Source Converted’,Technical
Repmt No. 208 L, Chahners University of Tech-
nology, Goteborg, Sweden, 1995.
[5] J.W, Lee, “An Intelligent Current Controller Using
Delay Compensation for PWM Converters”, Pro-
ceedings EPE, Trondheim 1997, vol. 1, pp 1342-
1346.

Figure 12. Phase currents in the time-domain

Appendix 5

Simulink Mc)dels
a) Three-phase case
b) Three-phase case, with battery side
c) Single-phase case, with battery side
 I I
+
Mux

u T=J--Lm
~w’kspa”
_:
Scopel

d,--,..
(.s...-. , ,,
II ,,, -.. —.
Step r .“”.. .

111-
Stepl
is_xly - controller
+

+
~

e+j 1
+ z:; ++--j/l
>:
vector E)> abc
c

Symmetrize
Cz
3 phase 2 level modulator
.
J?#i?l
c

abc 9> vector To Workspace

+“’~1. I I -----+-
r
,

“--p
MATLAB ps~
Function
e-j
MATLAB Fcn 3-phase grid

b
n

m Rs=O.I ;
> Ls=O.01 ; Clock2
)) Ts=O.0001 ;
Scope3 ~ Psim=400/1 00/pi; Scope2
 To Workspace
I Cl=kl

AI 11+1=1----l II L!?h--5- l--w To Workipace2

k-
i___
u.

li7’vsaL’l.& “1’L==r “. t L.—.—J

Modulator Invarterl

‘ h u’ 1’

n
c1
1

I
I #
I-8X”

~ l_sx
Usx”
➤ Ua, Sa - 1, F?q
p Utr sb -

+
* l-s~

I-sy
usy-
+ E UC.
F Udc
Sc
Tri - y
k :~;

;dc w 1 ; r, :1
e+j 1 I 1 Vc --l C10Ck3
is_xty - wntrder 1 I 3 phase 2 level modulator atw vector
vector D> atx 3 phase 2 level inverter
Symmetrize
To Workspace3

.s-, I
,.. T,
,.,,-. .0 c...
,L7.”,W,
1
—
--T==’= psl
s_bstai

e_alfa1
—,,
u
h 1 I

0=--E!l 43 3-phase grid

r’
Effektl
n b
o

Udc3
Udc2

c1
0
Effekt4
Effek12

P Effekt3
I
I

I
“U* I

w
Effekt5
 I

++
+11
19 a
n a
>
!-l
h
T
Y

‘0
x ●I*

T
.=

+- .-‘1

-7
?-
al

D d
3I i-

--Q
 Appendix 6

IEC 1000-3-4 standard used

for determining L~C
 -+,’
..-

. ~,+:.-...,. > ., .-

,,.

./ 7,., ,,. ,
. .

.,.
. .
,,
-.
“. . . .
, -,
*-. .
,.. ;
.
.,,,

.’ “

.
 Appendi:~7

Data sheet giving Fourier

Series
 Appendi:~8

Data from Fourier series

calculations
h U(dc) 650
alpha 0.5
f(switch) 5000

f n a(n)
o 0 #DIV/O!
500 0.1 647.3303
1000 0.2 639.3606
1500 0.3 626.2085
2000 0.4 608.068
2500 0.5 585,2056
3000 0.6 557.9559
3500 0.7 526.7158
4000 0.8 491.9374
4500 0.9 454.1203
5000 1 413.8029
5500 1.1 371.553
6000 1.2 327.9582
6500 1.3 283.6162
7000 1.4 239.124
7500 1.5 195.0685
8000 1.6 152.017
8500 1.7 110.5074
9000 1.8 71.04006
9500 1.9 34.07001
10000 2 2.53E-14
10500 2.1 -30.8253
11000 2.2 -58.1237
11500 2.3 -81.6794
12000 2.4 -101.345
!2500 2.5 -117.041
13000 2.6 -128.759
d3500 2.7 -136.556
14000 2.8 -140.554
14500 2.9 -140.934
15000 3 -137.934
15500 3.1 -131.841
16000 3.2 -122.984
16500 3.3 -111.728
17000 3.4 -98.4628
17500 3.5 -83.6008
18000 3.6 -67.5631
18500 3.7 -50.7737
19000 3.8 -33.6506
19500 3.9 -16.5982
20000 4 -2.5E-14
20500 4.1 15.78854
21000 4.2 30.44574
21500 4.3 43.68897
22000 4.4 55.27891
22500 4.5 65.02285
23000 4.6 72.77686
23500 4.7 78.44703
h U(dc) 650
alpha 0.5
f(switch) 5000
fl 50
mf 100

Ahat ExpectedAhat
(from from fractionof
f n h a(n) sqrt[a(n)A2] MatLab) initial amplitude
5000 1 100 413.802852 413.802852 413.5444
10000 2 200 2.53485E-14 2.53485E-14
15000 3 300 -137.934284 137.934284 137.7083 1/3 137.8481333
20000 4 400 -2.53485E-14 2.53485E-!4
25000 5 500 82.76057041 82.76057041 82.4647 1/5 82.70888
30000 6 600 2.53485E-14 2.53485E-14
35000 7 700 -59.11469315 59.11469315 58.7311 1/7 59.07777143
40000 8 800 -2.53485E-14 2.53485E-14
45000 9 900 45.97809467 45.97809467 45.5 1/9 45.94937778
50000 10 1000 2.53485E-14 2.53485E-14
55000 11 1100 -37.61844109 37.61844109 37.0444 1/11 37.59494545
fmnnn
..... q~ Iznn -2=53485E-14 2.53485E-14
65000 13 1300 31.83098862 31.83098862 31.16 1/13 31.81110769
70000 14 1400 2.53485E-14 2.53485E-14
75000 15 1500-27.5868568 27.5868568 26.8182 1/15 27.56962667
80000 16 1600 -2,53485E-14 2.53485E-14
85000 17 170024.34134424 24.34134424 23.475 1/17 24.32614118
90000 18 1800 2.53485E-14 2.53485E-14
95000 19 1900-21.77909748 21.77909748 20.815 1/19 21.76549474
100000 20 2000 -2.53485E-14 2.53485E-14
.,..,,