Power electronics intensive solutions for advanced electric, hybrid electric, and fuel cell vehicular power systems

TLDR

The automotive industry is increasingly adopting electrical systems to meet growing vehicle load demands, necessitating a major overhaul of power systems over the next decade. This paper reviews current and future research on integrating power‑electronics‑intensive solutions into advanced electric, hybrid, and fuel‑cell vehicle power systems. It outlines proposed HEV and FCV power‑system architectures and details the use of dc/dc and dc/ac converters in these advanced automotive systems. Current trends show that higher fuel economy and electric power needs are raising system voltages, with projected total power demand expected to triple and reach about 10 kW in advanced vehicles.

Abstract

There is a clear trend in the automotive industry to use more electrical systems in order to satisfy the ever-growing vehicular load demands. Thus, it is imperative that automotive electrical power systems will obviously undergo a drastic change in the next 10-20 years. Currently, the situation in the automotive industry is such that the demands for higher fuel economy and more electric power are driving advanced vehicular power system voltages to higher levels. For example, the projected increase in total power demand is estimated to be about three to four times that of the current value. This means that the total future power demand of a typical advanced vehicle could roughly reach a value as high as 10 kW. In order to satisfy this huge vehicular load, the approach is to integrate power electronics intensive solutions within advanced vehicular power systems. In view of this fact, this paper aims at reviewing the present situation as well as projected future research and development work of advanced vehicular electrical power systems including those of electric, hybrid electric, and fuel cell vehicles (EVs, HEVs, and FCVs). The paper will first introduce the proposed power system architectures for HEVs and FCVs and will then go on to exhaustively discuss the specific applications of dc/dc and dc/ac power electronic converters in advanced automotive power systems