2011 IEEE International Electric Machines & Drives Conference (IEMDC)

Power & Energy Ratings Optimization in a

Fast-Charging Station for PHEV Batteries
M. de Freige, M. Ross, G. Joos, M. Dubois

energy ratings in the respective energy storage system

technologies in order to charge a PHEV battery with
Abstract—The design and simulation of a fast-charging station maximum capacity of 15 kWh from 20% to 95% of its state-
in steady-state for PHEV batteries has been proposed, which uses of-charge. An additional case scenario is also demonstrated at
the electrical grid as well as two stationary energy storage devices the end. The methodology and its application are presented in
as energy sources to recharge the PHEV battery. The two energy
the subsequent sections.
storage devices comprising the fast-charging station are a
supercapacitor and a flywheel energy storage. The current paper
justifies the selected power and energy ratings of the respective
charging station resources in order to charge the PHEV battery
with a maximum capacity of 15 kWh from 20% to 95% of its
state-of-charge in a maximum duration of 15 minutes. After the
charging stage, the storage devices are replenished in a maximum
duration of 7.5 minutes. The methodology, results and its
application are presented.

Index Terms—Energy, fast charging station, Energy Storage

Systems, PHEV

I. INTRODUCTION

With the increasing interest in green technologies in

transportation, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) have
proven to be the best short-term solution to minimize
greenhouse gases emissions [1]. Fast-charging configurations
have been proposed in order to charge PHEV batteries in
durations ranging between 10 and 30 minutes [2], and some Fig. 1. Charging station Configuration.
prototypes have already been tested [3, 4]. In particular, a
configuration that uses the electrical grid and two energy
storage devices has been proposed [5] that is composed of a
flywheel and a supercapacitor [6, 7], as shown in Figure 1. II. PROBLEM DEFINITION
The separate energy sources and battery technologies are all
connected in parallel, although they are operated by the same A. Charging Station Operation
controller. The current paper focuses on the selection of the In order to manage the charging station’s energy sources,
many topologies can be derived, but both are composed of a
The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support provided by the
PHEV battery charging period followed by a period to
National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Network of recharge the station’s Energy Storage Devices (ESD). This
Centres of Excellence (NCE) Auto 21 grant, as part of a project entitled paper considers a charging algorithm shown in Figure 2. The
Infrastructure for wide market adoption of PHEVs, lead by Maxime Dubois, blue lines for each axis show the power flow for each element
of Laval University, Canada. of the charger, the grid, and the PHEV battery. Positive power
M. de Freige is with the McGill University Department of Electrical
Engineering, Montreal, QC H3A2A7 Canada (e-mail: represents that the element is providing or discharging energy,
[email protected]). whereas negative power represents that the units are charging.
M. Ross is with the McGill University Department of Electrical
Engineering, Montreal, QC H3A2A7 Canada (e-mail:
[email protected])
G. Joos is with the McGill University Department of Electrical
Engineering, Montreal, QC H3A2A7 Canada (e-mail: [email protected]).
M. Dubois is with the Laval University Department of Electrical
Engineering, Sainte-Foy, QC G1V0A6 Canada (e-mail:
[email protected]).

978-1-4577-0061-3/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE 486

 parameters are all dependant on each other, they will be
plotted versus the amount of grid power and the percentage of
the total fast-charger that is composed of the SC. These two
variables were selected because, from these, the other
parameters can be easily identified or calculated.

The purpose of Part B is to extrapolate the point that will yield

the minimum PHEV battery charging duration plus waiting
time. From this, we can find the respective contributions of
the FES and SC in the fast-charging station in Part C. Finally,
in Parts D and E, we calculate the remaining grid and ESD
parameters, respectively.

A. Needed Characteristics
The study begins by plotting the previous parameters as a
function of the grid power PGrid, and the proportion of energy
provided by the supercapacitor, nScap. The figures of the
various parameters versus PGrid and nScap are provided in
Figures 3-6.

Fig. 2. Detailed Charging Station Operation, Divided into Three Phases.

B. Grid Power and Supercapacitor Contribution Choice
The charging station phases are explained in detail below. From the battery charging time and ESD recharging time
characteristics (shown in Figures 3 and 4, respectively) the
In Phase 1, the Flywheel Energy Storage (FES) and the PGrid, and nScap that yield the minimum battery charging
electrical grid provide energy to the PHEV battery. The duration and minimum ESD recharging duration was
supercapacitor (SC) remains dormant in this phase. determined.
Battery Charging Time (min)

In Phase 2, while the SC provides energy to the PHEV battery

until its required capacity, the electrical grid recharges the
25
FES.
20

In Phase 3, the electrical grid recharges the SC and the FES to 15 X: 10

their respective full capacities. It is also called the “waiting Y: 30
Z: 15
period” because during this time, no PHEV battery is allowed 10

to be connected to the charging station. Once this phase is 5

completed, the charging station is ready to charge another
0
PHEV battery, which will continue in Phase 1. 40
35 100
80
30 60
B. Study Objective 25
20
40
20 0
The aim of this study is to determine the following Grid Power (kW) SC prop (%)

parameters in the fast charging station (displayed in red in Fig. 3. Battery Charging Time Characteristic. A higher value indicates a
Figure 2): higher battery charging time for that level of grid power and percentage of
• Battery charging time (min) supercapacitor in the charging station.

• ESD recharging time (min)

• FES contribution in energy (kWh)
• SC contribution in energy (kWh)

III. METHODOLOGY

As each parameter affects the parameters of other elements,

the methodology of determining the appropriate ratings and
times is outlined in different procedures, labeled A-E.

In Part A, the relation of the various parameters outlined in the

“Study Objective” section must be determined. Since the

487
 Waiting Time (min) Supercapacitor Contribution (kWh)

40 12

10
30
8

20 6

4
10
X: 10
Y: 30 2
Z: 7.5 X: 10
0 Y: 30
0 Z: 1.125
40
40
35 100
80
35 100
30 60 80
30 60
25 40
20 25 40
20 0 20
Grid Power (kW) SC prop (%) 20 0
Grid Power (kW) SC prop (%)

Fig. 4. Waiting Time Characteristic. . A higher value indicates a higher Fig. 6. SC Energy Contribution Charging Characteristic. The height indicates
battery charging time for that level of grid power and percentage of the amount of energy that originates from the SC that is used to charge the
supercapacitor in the charging station. PHEV battery.

C. ESD Energy Contributions

From the FES and SC energy contribution characteristics D. Grid Parameters Calculations
(shown in Figures 5 and 6, respectively), we find the FES The charging station is designed to charge PHEV batteries
energy contribution, EFES, and the SC energy contribution, with a maximum capacity of EBat,max. The maximum duration
ESC, corresponding to PGrid and nScap found previously. of operation of the grid in Phase 1, ΔtGrid, is found as follows:

,
ΔtGrid =
FES Contribution (kWh)

The charging station also operates with a voltage VDC on the

8 DC side. The grid current, IGrid, is found as follows:
6
X: 10
Y: 30 IGrid =
4 Z: 5.125

-2
40
35 100
E. ESD Parameters Calculations
30 60
80 The ESD maximum currents (IFES, ISC) and durations of
25
20
40
operation (ΔtFES, ΔtSC) must satisfy constraints (1) to (4)
Grid Power (kW) 20 0
SC prop (%) mentioned below.
Fig. 5. FES Energy Contribution Characteristic. The height indicates the
amount of energy that originates from the FES that is used to charge the The time of operation of the ESD must be smaller than the
PHEV battery. minimum battery charging time, ΔtBat (found in Part A):

ΔtFES + ΔtScap ≤ ΔtBat (1)

The sum of the grid and ESD currents must equal the
maximum PHEV battery charging current, IBat,max (that can be
found on the battery datasheet):

IFES + IScap = IBat,max – IGrid (2)

Finally, the ESD energies must satisfy the following relations:

VDC · IFES · ΔtFES = EFES (3)

VDC · ISC · ΔtSC = ESC (4)

488
 IV. APPLICATION The described methodology revealed to be successful to
find the power and energy ratings of a fast-charging station for
A. Charging Station Sources Ratings PHEV batteries that uses, in addition to the grid, one or more
stationary energy storage devices. The power drawn from the
The described methodology is now applied to find the ESD
grid is minimized, the battery charging process does not
and grid parameters of a fast charging station that charges
exceed 15 minutes, and the replenishment of the storage
PHEV batteries with maximum capacity of 15 kWh from a
devices takes no longer than 7.5 minutes. These charging and
minimum of 20% to a maximum of 95% SOC (therefore
full-cycle times of the charging station conform to the Level
EBat,max = 11.25 kWh), maximum charging current of 125 A III fast-charger standard, as outlined in the SAE J1772
(therefore, IBat,max = 125 A), and with a DC bus voltage of 600 standard.
V (therefore VDC = 600 V) to satisfy the SAE J1772 standard An advantage of a graphical representation of how the
[8]. various parameters are affected by other parameters in the
design of the fast-charging station can help one visualize the
Using the graphs obtained in Section III, the respective values dependency of the various design parameters. From this, it is
for PGrid, and nScap that yield the minimum total time duration easy to visualize the effects of changing the grid power or
of the fast-charging cycle is determined to be: composition of the charging station. Future work will involve
changing the technologies of the charging station, and
PGrid = 30 kW changing the capacities of the PHEV batteries to closer match
battery electric vehicle (BEV) capacities.
nScap = 10 %

Using these values, the remaining parameters are determined

to be as follows:
• Battery charging duration: 15 minutes
• ESD recharging duration: 7.5 minutes REFERENCES

The results are summarized in Table I. [1] S.G. Wirasingha, A. Emadi, “Pihef: Plug-in Hybrid electric factor,” in
Proc. 2009 IEEE VPPC’09 Conf., pp. 661-668.
TABLE I
GRID AND ESD PARAMETERS [2] M. de Freige, G. Joos, M. Dubois, “Design and Simulation of a Fast
Charging Station for PHEV/EV Batteries,” in Proc. 2010 IEEE
Grid FES SC
EPEC’10 Conf., pp 1-5.
Maximum Duration of 10 10 5
Operation (min)
[3] “Electric Vehicle Fast Chargers - Level 3” BTCPower. [Online].
Maximum Power (kW) 30 30.75 13.5
Available: http://www.btcpower.com/products-and
Maximum Energy (kWh) 5 5.125 1.125 applications/electric-vehicle-chargers-level-3/

[4] “Powering Transportation with Renewable Energy Sources” Eco-Trans

B. Second Design Example Alliance. [Online]. Available: http://www.ecotransalliance.com/ev
phev-chargers.html.
With the designed charging station, a 12.5 kWh PHEV
battery charged from 27% to 92% SOC would require the [5] M. R. Dubois, M. Desjardins, L. Tremblay, ‘’ FRESS : Fast rate
sources energy management and phase durations shown in energystorage system’’, US Patent Application 61/233,664, submitted
Table II. Positive and negative quantities indicate whether the 13 August 2009.
device delivers or absorbs energy.
[6] A. Rufer, “A supercapacitor-based energy-storage system for elevators
TABLE II with soft commutated interface,” IEEE Trans. Industry Applications,
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CHARGER ENERGY MANAGEMENT FOR THE BATTERY

Complete Charging Station Cycle

[7] J. Boyes, N. Clark, “Technologies for energy storage flywheels and
superconducting magnetic energy storage,” in Proc. 2000 IEEE Power
PHEV Battery ESD Engineering Society Summer Meeting, pp. 1548-1550.
Charging Period Charging Period

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Total [8] Electric Vehicle Conductive Charge Coupler, SAE J1772.
Duration (min) 10 3.125 3.125 16.25
Recommended Practice, Draft Document in progress 2009

Grid Energy (kWh) 5 1.5625 1.5625 8.125

SC Energy (kWh) 0 0.8125 -0.8125 0

FES Energy (kWh) 2.3125 -1.5625 -0.75 0

Battery Energy (kWh) -7.3125 -0.8125 0 8.125

V. CONCLUSIONS

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