Power electronics for

electric cars
Learning module summary
Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands

This project (SustEner, 2011-1-CZ1-LEO05-07487) has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held
responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Summary
A demand for alternative mode of mobility is a result of many factors. Most important are the dwindling
reserves of fossil fuels and a heightened demand for clean and green technology which doesn’t cause
additional environment damage. Ever increasing number of the vehicles along with the growth in world
population, which is expected to hit 10 billion by 2050, adds to the list of problems. Currently many
researchers are working toward development of a commercially viable, cheap and fully-electric vehicle,
which is suitable for personal use. While some problems, especially the efficient energy storage, are not
resolved yet, some other issues have already been investigated pretty well and have resulted in concrete
and efficient solutions suitable for commercial use. Development of the drive train for electric vehicles, a
main topic of this module, belongs to the latter.
In this module, the basic operating principles of electric vehicle, along with the vehicle’s components, are
going to be described first. The stress will be put on the elements on the vehicle’s drive train, consisting
of DC-DC converter, DC-AC converter, an electric drive and Li-Ion battery as a power source, Figure 1.
The essential theoretical background for each of those components is provided in the separate chapters.
A final chapter deals with integration of the elements into the functional drive train for electric vehicle.
The discussed principles, underlying phenomena and effects are illustrated by a comprehensive
interactive virtual experiment realised as an interactive animation, Figure 2. The experiment is composed
from sub-experiments, each showing the operating principle of one component of the drive train. This
allows the learner to study of the separate components by changing its parameters. Further, all
components are integrated into overall remote experiment which illustrates power flow in the electric
vehicle, from the energy storage system, to DC–DC converter, DC-AC converter and into the electric
drive. Reverse power flow, where the energy storage system is recharged through the energy gained by
regenerative braking, is depictured as well.

Contents

1. Introduction.

2. Drive train of electric vehicle. Basic operation principle of the electric vehicle will be given. Overview
of the elements of the vehicle drive train and the general role of each element will be described.

3. Energy storage. As an energy storage Li-ion batteries will be considered. Simple model of the
batteries and basic operating principles will be given. Comparison of Li-ion batteries with other
energy storage systems will be provided.
4. Two-quadrant DC-DC converter. Two-quadrant buck-boost converter adapts the DC voltage level of
the batters to the required value. Output voltage is positive, while the current can flow in both
directions. Provided virtual experiment for the animation on two quadrant converter will depicture:
o Operating principles of the converter in two quadrants in buck and boost mode.
o The effect of duty ratio on the modes of operation.
o How the variation in duty ratio changes the voltage and two different modes of operation.

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 o That the inductor can store electrical energy in the form of magnetic field and how
important this for the boost mode.
o Necessity for a freewheeling diode in the buck mode.

5. Three phase DC-AC converter. An inverter with three phase sinusoidal AC output realised by using
Sinusoidal Pulse-Width Modulation (SWPM) will be described. It will be shown how output AC
voltage and its frequency can be controlled by using amplitude and frequency modulation ratio.
Virtual experiment will depicture:
o Operating of the converter in all four quadrants.
o The effect of amplitude modulation ratio on the output ac voltage.
o That the frequency of the ac voltage is the same as the modulating waveforms.
o The concept of SPWM by using triangular carrier waveform and the sinusoidal waveform.

6. Control of induction machine. Basic operating principles of induction machine will be presented.
Torque-speed characteristics and slip will be explained. Several schemes for the control of induction
machine will be shortly presented, while detailed explanation will be provided only for variable
voltage variable frequency control. Provided virtual experiment will depicture/explain:
o Operation of induction machine in motoring and generating mode.
o Dependency of operating point of the machine depends on the load profile.
o That induction machine always draws inductive current and therefore operates at a poor
power factor.

7. Drive train of electric vehicle. In this chapter it will be shown how in the previous chapters
described batteries, DC-DC converter, DC-AC converter and induction machine can be integrated
in the drive train of electric vehicle. Power balance of the resulting drive train will be analysed.
Provided virtual experiment will depicture:
o Overall working principle of drive train of the vehicle.
o Power flow between the elements of drive train.
o Load dependency of the power flow.

8. Conclusion.

Required preliminary knowledge and skills

• Basic knowledge in electric drives.

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Figures

Figure 1: Drive train of electric vehicle

Figure 2: Concept of virtual experiment