An Efficient Regenerative Braking System Based on Battery/Supercapacitor for Electric, Hybrid and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles with BLDC Motor

TLDR

Batteries and supercapacitors together in a hybrid energy storage system enable efficient regenerative braking, enhance battery safety, and improve vehicle acceleration. The paper proposes a regenerative braking system for electric vehicles that uses a hybrid energy storage system and a brushless DC motor. During braking the BLDC motor generates electricity, a switching algorithm boosts the dc‑link voltage and transfers the energy to the supercapacitor or battery through an inverter, while an artificial neural network distributes braking force and a PI controller maintains constant torque; the system’s performance is evaluated by simulations and experiments. Experiments and simulations demonstrate that the proposed regenerative braking system has high capability.

Abstract

Complementary features of batteries and supercapacitors can be effectively used in a hybrid energy storage system (HESS). The utilization of the HESS in electric vehicles (EVs) offers many advantages, such as efficient regenerative braking, battery safety, and improved vehicle acceleration. In this paper, a new regenerative braking system (RBS) is proposed for EVs with HESS and driven by brushless DC (BLDC) motor. During regenerative braking, the BLDC acts as a generator. Hence, by using an appropriate switching algorithm, the dc-link voltage is boosted and the energy is transferred to the supercapacitor or the battery through the inverter. The harvested energy can be utilized to improve the vehicle acceleration and/or keep the battery pack from deep discharging while driving uphill. To provide a reliable and smooth brake, braking force distribution is realized through an artificial neural network. Simultaneously, the braking current is adjusted by a PI controller for constant torque braking. To evaluate the performance of the proposed RBS, different simulations and experiments are carried out. The results confirm high capability of the proposed RBS.