Power Electronics, Electric Drives & Control for Automotive Electric Systems

Drives & Control Systems Technology Group, CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute,
Durgapur

Preamble
Renewed apprehensions about increasing energy cost, energy dependence and environmental damage
is expected to dramatically shift the future mode of transportation in favor of electric vehicles.
Emerging global concerns about reducing vehicle emission and more stringent air pollution
regulations are further expected to tilt the balance in favor of electric vehicles, and the future market
size of electric vehicles worldwide would be enormous. In this regard, Govt. of Indias premier think
tank Niti Aayog is drawing up details of the plan to promote usage and convert most vehicles to
electric by 2030. In this context CSIR, Indias premier public sector R&D body can work in
collaboration with Industry for development of reliable, affordable and efficient EVs (Electric
Vehicles) that meet consumer performance and price expectations thereby helping India to emerge as
a leader in the EV(Electric Vehicle) in the world.

Success of Electric vehicle depends upon development of many technologies ranging from vehicle
body design, ergonomics, chassis design, energy storage systems, electric propulsion, battery charging
etc. The CSIR-Central Mechancial Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-CMERI) team of researchers
have capability in the design and development of appropriate power electronics & Electric Drive
technologies related to vehicle propulsion & battery charging. Drives & Control Systems Technology
Group(DCSTG) at CSIR-CMERI has expertise in the following R&D verticals :
1. Power components for Electric Drive trains.
2. EV Battery Charging.

1. Power Components for Electric Drive trains

1.1. Technical Background

Figure 1: Power Components of drive train with conventional mechanical differential

Different power components of drive train with conventional mechanical differential are shown in
Figure.1. Drive cycle analysis is an important step to fix up the power/energy ratings of these
components like battery, power converter, electric motor. It also helps in fixing up the gear ratio
depending upon vehicle acceleration requirements. Driving cycle is a sequence of vehicle operating
conditions (idle, acceleration, steady state and deceleration) developed to represent typical pattern in
an urban area. In India, driving cycle was developed by Gandhi et al in early 80s to quantify fuel
consumption based on a field study in Delhi (Gandhi, Zvonow et al. 1983). Later in 1985 ARAI
(Automotive Research Association of India) collected extensive data in other cities (Mumbai, Chennai,
Bangalore and Pune) to develop standardized/legislative IDC. It is for about 108 seconds with average
speed of 21.9 km/hr and the maximum acceleration and decelerations are 0.65 m/s2 and 0.63 m/s2
respectively. From the year 2000, India has adopted modified Indian Driving Cycle for cars. These
driving cycles were developed to test the compliance of Indian vehicles. Therefore for analysis of
current profile, selection of battery packs selection of motor power study of IDC is very crucial.

One of the main reasons for limited penetration of EVs in automotive market is their limited driving
range. Improve the driving range of EVs with in the existing technological constraints has been one of
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 Power Electronics, Electric Drives & Control for Automotive Electric Systems
Drives & Control Systems Technology Group, CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute,
Durgapur

the pursuits of researchers. Driving range of EVs can be increased by ensuring proper selection of
ratings for propulsion motors (with out over and under ratings), design of proper gear ratios for
achieving desired acceleration performance and increasing the efficiency of motor and controller.

Propulsion motors should always be evaluated in function of the needs of the application. For
example, each of the different motors can be less efficient than the others in some regions of
operation, and it can be more efficient than the others is some other regions. To make a good
comparison, one must not compare maximum efficiencies, but relate the efficiency map to a certain
part of drive cycle. The comparative investigation in the efficiency, weight, cost, cooling, maximum
speed, and fault-tolerance, safety, and reliability has been accomplished for IM (Induction Motor), DC
motor, SRM (Switched Reluctance Motor), and permanent magnet (PM) motors.

From the point of view of electric propulsion systems evaluation, different classes of motors stand as
follows in a scale of 5:

Propulsion Systems DC Permanent Switched Induction

Motor Magnet Motor Reluctance Motor
Motor
Power Density 2.5 5.0 3.5 3.5
Chacteristics

Efficiency 2.5 5.0 3.5 3.5

Controllability 5.0 4.0 3.0 5.0
Reliability 3.0 4.0 5.0 5.0
Technology Maturity 5.0 4.0 4.0 5.0
Cost 4.0 3.0 4.0 5.0
Total 22.0 25.0 23.0 27.0

Initially, DC variable speed drives were used in EVs due to the good speed-torque characteristics. The
brushed permanent magnet DC motor can be very easily controlled and any torque and speed
can be achieved below the maximum values. The supply voltage can be controlled simply and
efficiently, thereby affording a satisfactory means of controlling this type of motor. However, reducing
the supply voltage is not the only way of control. In some cases control can be achieved by changing
the magnetic flux. This is possible if coils rather than permanent magnets provide the magnetic field
and this introduces separately excited dc motor. The separately excited dc motor allows
independent control of both the magnetic flux (by controlling the voltage on the field winding) and
also the supply voltage. This allows the required torque at any required angular speed to be set with
great flexibility. The main disadvantage is that the field windings consume electric current, and
generate heat; thus it seems that the motor is almost bound to be less efficient. But in practice the
extra control of magnetic field can often result in more efficient operation of the motor, as the iron
losses to be can be reduced. For these reasons the separately excited brushed dc motor is a good
competitor as traction motor in electric vehicles. However, DC motors suffered from the inherent
disadvantage of carbon brush replacement as also with the problems encountered in the
commutators.

The rapid growth of power electronics over the last two decades in terms of advanced devices and
converters, powerful micro electronic products, new materials, novel motor topologies and modem
control algorithms, AC drives gradually took the centre stage due to a number of several decided
advantages over their DC counterparts. AC motors offered higher efficiency, higher power densities,
effective and efficient regenerative braking, robustness, reliablility, cost and maintenance.

Permanent magnet (PM) motor drives came into circulation to respond to the special
requirements for electric vehicles in terms of high power density, high efficiency, high starting torque
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Power Electronics, Electric Drives & Control for Automotive Electric Systems
Drives & Control Systems Technology Group, CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute,
Durgapur

and high cruising speed. The permanent magnet motors further dispensed with the necessity of
brushes. The motors typically came in various configurations such as rectangular-fed, sinusoidal-fed,
surface-magnet, buried-magnet, and hybrid. Novel motor configurations with unique electromagnetic
topologies were developed. Multipole magnetic circuit and full slot-pitch coil span arrangements were
experimented with, which led to substantial reduction in both magnetic yoke and copper, phase flux
path decoupling, resulting in the considerable increase in both power density and efficiency. Use of
fractional number of slots per pole per phase resulted in elimination of the cogging torque.
Deployment of claw-type rotor structure and integration of an additional field winding as the inner
stator endowed the PM hybrid motors with excellent controllability and improved efficiency map. In
the PM motors, by purposely making use of the transformer EMF to prevent the current regulator
from saturation, a novel control approach is developed to allow for attaining high-speed constant-
power operation which is particularly essential for electric vehicles during cruising.

The Switched Reluctance motor (SRM) is simple in construction involving no brushes,

commutators or permanent magnets and no copper or aluminum in the rotor, and these offer higher
efficiency, higher starting torque and enhanced reliability compared to conventional AC or DC
motors.Operation of SRM is dependent upon the aligned and the unaligned positions, though these
two important characteristics are of little significance without an optimized controller. An optimized
controller synchronizes the firing angles with their respective positions. From this it is seen that the
role of the optimized controller is to regulate the angles at which excitation of phases is achieved,
thereby allowing the rotor to continuously rotate and produce torque in accordance with the load
being applied. The torque transitions from one phase to the other are also dependant upon the
controller. By using the correct firing angles, these torque transitions are implemented smoothly,
resulting in a smooth operation of the motor. If produced in high volumes, SRMs prove to be more
cost effective than BLDCs. The controller development, for SRMs, however, has to take into account
the current versus torque nonlinearity and phase switching must be precise to minimize ripple torque.
Also fabrication of SRM is a challenge because of precision of manufacturing technology involved for
ensuring proper alignments.

On the level of performance the permanent magnet motors may have a lot of interesting features; but
considering the production cost, one must take into account the high price of the magnets and the
more complex construction of the motor. As long as this price is too high, the global result will
probably be in the advantage of the asynchronous Induction motors. Cage IMs are widely accepted
as the most potential candidate for the electric propulsion of HEVs, owing to their reliability,
ruggedness, low maintenance, low cost, and ability to operate in hostile environments. They are
particularly well suited for the rigors of traction drive environments. Today, an IM drive is the most
mature technology among various commutator-less motor drives. Induction motor characterizes high
efficiency in wide operation range close to 90% in case of rotor aluminum cage or higher for motors
with rotor copper cage. The higher efficiency of the motors with copper cage comes from decreasing of
rotor mechanical and stray losses. Additionally the operation temperature for copper cage motor is
lower in comparison to motors with aluminum cage providing the reduction of the motors dimensions
and the weight.

Induction motor control is sophisticated. At present, the control methods of high performance
induction motor are conventional field-oriented vector control and direct torque control. Vector
control methods have been proposed by researchers to simplify the speed control of induction motors
so they can be controlled like a separately excited dc machine. Indirect vector control methods
decouple the motor current components by estimating the slip speed, which requires a proper
knowledge of the rotor time constant. Vector control of IMs can decouple its torque control from field
control. Extended speed range operation with a constant power beyond the base speed is

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Power Electronics, Electric Drives & Control for Automotive Electric Systems
Drives & Control Systems Technology Group, CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute,
Durgapur

accomplished by flux weakening. However, the presence of a breakdown torque limits its extended
constant-power operation. At the critical speed, the breakdown torque is reached.

For the development of efficient controller or Low-loss motor controller driving on high speed, the
pulse width modulation (PWM) control system should be fixed to a high switching frequency to
ensure controllability in response to the increase in the sinusoidal frequency of the motor current. The
resulting switching loss reduces the efficiency significantly. For Reliability of the product, each part
and component of the major constituent parts (power modules) of the inverter should be tested in
terms of performance, temperature, and vibration to ensure that the vehicle-mount criteria are
satisfied.

An indicative projection of the different makes of electric vehicles and the propulsion motors of their
choice can be seen here:

Model Propulsion Motor

PSA Peugeot-Citroen / Berlingo DC Motor
Holden/ECOmmodore Switched Reluctance Motor
Nissan/Tino Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor
Honda/Insight Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor
Toyota/Prius Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor
Renault/Kangoo Induction Motor
Chevrolet/Silverado Induction Motor
Daimler City/Durango Induction Motor
BMW/X5 Induction Motor

There thus remains ample space to review the design philosophy, control strategy, theoretical analysis,
computer simulation and extended experimentation for further developing a class of motors to electric
vehicles suited to EV applications. Design and development of efficient motors and controller drives
for EVs with novel topologies would form a component of R&D under the proposed project.

1.2. Research Experience

At CSIR-CMERI, Drives & Control System Technology Group undertook one project on the Study
leading to selection of appropriate propulsion motor and development of dedicated controller for
soleckshaw lite as a part of the CSIR-NMITLI scheme. As a part of the project following were the
tasks undertaken:

1.2.1. Selection of motor type and rating based on the operational requirements
of the three-wheeler Electric Auto rickshaw, through simulation studies on
Indian Drive Cycle
Induction motor was selected because of its advantages like low cost, ease of availability, easy
manufacturability etc. keeping in view overall requirements of e-autorickshaw. Based on the inputs
provided by industry partner regarding the maximum speed, acceleration, vehicle kerb weight etc. and
based on the studies conducted on Indian drive cycle we have selected: (a) Motor power rating, (b)
Optimal Gear ratio, (c) Motor speed, torque, voltage and current ratings. The Results appear in
1. Prasun Mishra, Design and Implementation of Speed Controller with Anti-Windup Scheme
for Three Phase Induction Motor Used in Electric Vehicle, International Journal of Computer
Applications (IJCA), Volume89, Issue-09, March, 2014, pp 19-25, ISSN: 09758887.
2. P. Mishra, S.Saha, Design Modeling and Simulation of Low Voltage Squirrel Cage Induction
Motor for Medium Weight Electric Vehicle, IEEE International Conference on Advances in

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Power Electronics, Electric Drives & Control for Automotive Electric Systems
Drives & Control Systems Technology Group, CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute,
Durgapur

Computing, Communications and Informatics (ICACCI-2013), August 22-25, 2013 pp 1697-

1704, ISBN: 978-1-4799-2432-5.
3. P. Mishra, S.Saha, H.P.Ikkurti, Selection of Propulsion Motor and Suitable Gear Ratio for
Driving Electric Vehicle on Indian City Roads, IEEE International Conference on Energy
Efficient Technologies for Sustainability (ICEETS13),10th-12th April,2013 pp 692-698, ISBN:
978-1-4673-6149-1.
4. P. Mishra, S. Saha, H. P. Ikkurti, A Methodology for Selection of Optimum Power Rating of
Propulsion Motor of Three Wheeled Electric Vehicle on Indian Drive Cycle (IDC),
International Journal on Theoretical and Applied Research in Mechanical Engineering,
Volume2, Issue-1,2013, pp 95-100, ISSN: 2319-3182.
5. P. Mishra, S. Saha, H.P. Ikkurti, Design and Development of Drive Train for Electric
Vehicle, LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing, 2014-02-18, ISBN 978-3-659-12180-7

1.2.2. Development of Lab level test platform of three wheeler auto rickshaw for
experimentation, through modification of existing ICE vehicle

Old IC Engine based autorickshaw was taken and modified suitably to convert it to Electric vehicle for
serving as a test bench, to the developed converters (photograph shown in figure 2). IC engine is
replaced with 48V three phase Kirloskar make Induction motor with chain gear.

Figure 2: Photograph of the developed three wheeler auto rickshaw platform

1.2.3. Development of 5kW Lab level Speed Controller (V/F Controller) for
Induction Motor drive of three wheeler Auto rickshaw
Lab level prototype of three phase inverter of 5kW rating has been developed. As a part of the
development we have developed schematics, PCB layouts of power circuit & control circuit. V/F based
speed control scheme for Induction motor is implemented by coding in a digital signal controller.
Photograph of the developed controller is shown in Figure 3. However full speed implementation
couldnt be achieved due to problems arising out of parallel operation of MoSFETs.

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Power Electronics, Electric Drives & Control for Automotive Electric Systems
Drives & Control Systems Technology Group, CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute,
Durgapur

Figure 3: Photograph of the developed Lab level speed controller for Induction motor drive

2. EV Battery Charging
2.1. Technical Background
Gen-next electric vehicles should be amenable to convenient and easy battery charging schemes. EV
Battery Charger systems can be off-board/on-board with unidirectional or bidirectional power flow.
Further they can be conductive or inductive (wireless) and can run from AC/DC. A whole class of
methods have been studied and proposed in the literature for improving the convenience and
increasing the charging efficiency, notable among which are schemes for home charging, regenerative
charging, solar charging, parking and charging, moving and charging, wireless charging, etc.
Based upon the power levels and energy outlets chargers are divided into three types:
1. Level -1 (On board Home charging: 1-phase 230V input, power level ~ 3kW, Charging time ~
10 hrs)
2. Level -2 ( On board charging at public/private outlets: single/three phase 400V input, power
input ~4-20kW, Charging time ~ 2-6 hours)
3. Level-3 (Fast DC Off board charging at commercial outlets: three phase, ~600Vdc/ac/Solar,
power level ~ 50-100kW, charging time ~ 0.5-1 hours)

Inexpensive, lightweight, compact and reliable onboard battery chargers, predominantely under
home charging scheme are the major technological challenge that is expected to have a decided impact
on the popularity of electric vehicles as acceptable substitutes to internal combustion vehicles. On-
board chargers can support Level 1 and/or Level 2 charging and vehicle can be charged at any outlet
that is available at home garages or work places with ground protection. Main challenge in the design
of onboard chargers is to achieve high power density and high energy efficiency. Advantage of onboard
battery charger is the flexibility it provides for charging from any outlet (home or work place).

An off board charger comes with external dedicated infrastructure and charging stations. It can
support Level 3 type of fast charging. In fact the ambitious plan of Govt. of Indias think tank NITI
AAYOG to replace most of the on road vehicles by electric vehicles is driven by battery leasing
strategy, where in different class of xEVs are sold with out batteries (thereby slashing prices by as
much as 70%), and the batteries will be leased at a specified cost and can be swapped with recharged
ones at stations. This public charging infrastructure can also help in reducing range anxiety of drivers.
It can also help in fast charging of the batteries. Solar charging is also an attractive feature where in
the power converter takes input from PV panels mounted in rooftop/solar tree configurations and
charge the batteries at required levels of voltage and current.
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Power Electronics, Electric Drives & Control for Automotive Electric Systems
Drives & Control Systems Technology Group, CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute,
Durgapur

A battery charger must be efficient,reliable, with high power density, low cost, and low volume and
weight. Modern day EV chargers have power factor correction circuits (PFC), to reduce the distortion
in utility currents, and maintain unity power factor with respect to utility voltage. This requirement
stimulates the development of regulated acdc converters (controlled rectifiers) with high power
density and high efficiency. Conventionally, ac-dc converters, generally referred to as rectifiers, are
developed by using diodes and/or thyristors. These provide controlled and uncontrolled dc power
with either unidirectional and bidirectional power flow. They have the demerits of poor power quality
in terms of current harmonics, voltage distortion and poor power factor at input ac mains and slow
varying rippled dc output at load end, low efficiency and large size of filter elements. These
deficiencies can however be now addressed by using improved power converters with topologies like
Interleaved boost converters, full bridge bidirectional converters, multilevel converters (especially for
fast charging). DC-DC conversion can be achieved through topologies like Half-bridge/ full bridge
converters, push-pull converters, forward converters, flyback converters. The last decade has seen a
tremendous growth in power converter technology wherein the devices have grown significantly in
individual power ratings and performance. GTOs, BJTs, power MOSFETs, and IGBTs now form an
array of power converter that not only widens the application horizon, but also contributes
significantly to the efficiency, cost and reliability at a system level and vigorous R&D is being directed
for the development of power converter having even higher performance levels. Power converters for
EV are generally developed on the basis of requirements of the voltage rating, current rating,
switching frequency, power loss, regulations, THD, dynamic characteristic and standard electrical
compliances. The voltage rating depends on the battery nominal voltage, maximum voltage during
charging, whereas the current rating is determined by the number of parallel interconnected devices.
The switching frequency is maintained at a high level so as to reduce the acoustic noise and size of
filters which reduce the overall volume of power converter. Additionally converters can be operated at
high frequency with soft switching schemes to reduce the losses, thus improve the efficiency and
makes possible reliable run with inexpensive forced-air cooling.

2.2. Research Experience

At CSIR-CMERI, Drives & Control System Technology Group undertook one project on the Study
on and Development of Advanced Converters for Next Generation Electric Cars as a
part of the CSIR-NMITLI scheme. As a part of the project following were the tasks undertaken:

2.2.1. Development of 3.5kW Lab level Battery charger prototype with inbuilt
1kW dc-dc converter for powering up car accessories
Developed prototype has three stages: (1) Power factor correction stage, (2) Battery charger stage, (3)
dc-dc power supply converter. Three revisions of prototypes of the designed system were fabricated
and subjected to testing; however we were not able to completely solve all the technical issues
associated with integrated functioning of the system. Individual subsystem/modules of the prototype
are working but their integration with each other and complete functionality as an integrated unit has
not been established. The major reason for the failure of the system to work as an integrated unit in
spite of the modules functioning to our satisfaction individually stems from the complexity associated
with the development of the multilayer PCB layout.

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Power Electronics, Electric Drives & Control for Automotive Electric Systems
Drives & Control Systems Technology Group, CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute,
Durgapur

Figure 4: Photograph of the developed Lab level prototype of On board Li-ion Battery Charger

At CSIR-CMERI, Drives & Control System Technology Group undertook one project on the Smart
Power Electronics for Solar Photovoltaics as a part of the CSIR-TAPSUN scheme. As a part of
the project following were the tasks undertaken:
2.2.2. Development of 20kW Lab level Solar inverter prototype with inbuilt
Battery charging facility
Developed prototype at CSIR-CMERI has ability to work in six different modes, out of which battery
charging can be done either from Solar Photovoltaics or three phase utility grid or both depending
upon their availability. Following tasks are undertaken for the development of above prototype:
1. Design of Power converter circuits and its Bill of Materials (BOM)
2. Development of signal processing circuit schematics, PCB layouts along with its BOM.
3. Design and development of filter magnetics.
4. Design and development of Mechanical support structures using Solid works software for
optimal placement of different components like IGBTs, signal processing circuits, gate
drivers, sensors, heat sinks, Blowers, etc.
5. Development of Control firmware in the digital signal controller.
Photograph of the developed lab level prototype is shown in figure 5.

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Power Electronics, Electric Drives & Control for Automotive Electric Systems
Drives & Control Systems Technology Group, CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute,
Durgapur

Figure 5 Photograph of the 20kW Solar Inverter (Hybrid) prototype

2.2.3. Smart E-Rickshaw charging:
E-Rickshaw is majorly limited by their charge stored in lead-acid battery. Typical driving distance for
E-Rickshaw after a 8-10 hours of charge is about 500 Km if carrying no passenger (i.e. only driver)
and this distance covered by vehicle is approximately governed by equation Distance= [500/(No. of
passenger + Driver)k] Km where k is a constant. Value of k depends on age and type of battery, for
lead acid battery this value ranges from 1.1 to 1.6, for all calculation of approximate value we have
considered k=1.3. So an hour of charge during day time when E-Rickshaw is not operational either
due to lunch break for or non-availability of passenger will give an extra distance coverage of
[(500/8)/(No. of passenger + Driver)k] Km. The electricity consumed for this charging of E-
Rickshaw battery during day time is (48Vx15A)/1000=0.72 kWH. Cost for this electricity, as an
example, consider rate of electricity as Rs10/kWH will be 7 rupee 20 paisa only. With this motivation
we had developed an E-Rickshaw charger using which the E-Rickshaw driver can charge the battery of
E-Rickshaw. Figure 6 and 7 shows the hardware for smart E-Rickshaw charger and screenshot for
android application respectively.

Figure 6: Smart E-Rickshaw Charger Figure 7: Screenshot of Android Application

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Power Electronics, Electric Drives & Control for Automotive Electric Systems
Drives & Control Systems Technology Group, CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute,
Durgapur

3. Futuristic R&D domains

3.1. Implementation of V2G capabilities
In near future, both power and transportation sectors will undergo a paradigm shift driven by smart
grid technologies, non-conventional sources of energy and electric vehicles. Exploiting the
complementary characteristics of the two sectors is the key for their rapid development. Electric
Vehicle fleet instead of just behaving as a passive load, can rather act as a smart entity in new power
grid system by utilizing its on-board battery & power converters to provide ancillary services to the
grid. This will provide economic leverage to both the sectors and will result in better
commercialization of electric vehicles as well as improve the quality and reliabiltiy of the power grid.
According to a study large scale uncontrolled (dumb) charging of Electric Vehicle batteries might
result in local distribution network congestions and a higher share of EV might require premature grid
investments. The potential impact of large scale uncontrolled EV charging on system operation is
given below.

Power System Segments Potential Impact of Uncontrolled EV Charging

Increase of committed capacity and use of peaking plants
Generation and Markets Increase reserve requirements
Higher electricity prices at peak
Increase output of high CO2 emissions plant
Transmission Congestions in transmission
Need for operating networks closer to their limits
Distribution Network reinforcement costs
Problems with harmonics
Need for increasing the contracted power
Consumer Possible need for reinforcement of the connection to the network
Possible increase of electricity prices

Smart charging avoids high peak loads by allocating the EV demand during off-peak hours. In this
charging scheme EV demand is managed in a way that reduces the system load variation between off-
peak hours and high load hours. Smart chraging is the most effective charging strategy; however its
implementation is not staright forward and for a large number of vehicles, it requires advanced
control and management techniques.

With its storage battery and on-board power electronic converters, EV can act both as responsive
loads (G2V, Grid to Vehicle) as well as distributed energy sources (V2G, Vehicle to Grid). Responsive
load means that the charging rate and time of EV will be variable and dependent upon grid load
conditions, real time electricity prices, driving profile etc. In V2G services, the battery and power
converters of parked EV can provide a range of ancillary services to power grid like voltage &
frequency regulation, spinning reserves, peak power shaving, reactive power compensation, active
harmonic filtering etc. Figure 8 gives an illustration of such a scheme.

Figure 8. Illustrative schematic of proposed power line and wireless control connections between vehicles and the electric
power grid.
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Power Electronics, Electric Drives & Control for Automotive Electric Systems
Drives & Control Systems Technology Group, CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute,
Durgapur

V2G services most strongly competes for electricity market when there is a capacity payment to be on-
line and available, with an added payment when power/service is actually dispatched. A commercial
V2G power system includes mainly three components mentioned below:

1. Compatable on-board vehicle power electronic system with V2G power infrastructure.
2. Communications and control links between the vehicle and the power operator.
3. Electronic commerce systems for handling micro transcations between each vehicle and
ultimate power user.

This vertical aims at experimental investigation of the first component i.e. on board battery charger
with V2G capability. EVs on-board charger architecture and control scheme need to be suitably
modified to incorporate provisions for the V2G services. In a conventional charger the power flow is
unidirectional i.e. from grid to vehicle and thus the charger topology is also simpler. A typical circuit is
realized using a diode bridge in conjunction with filtering and dc-dc converter. Today, these
converters are implemented in a single stage to limit cost, weight, volume, and losses. High-frequency
isolation transformers can be employed when isolation is desired. Control complexities outlined in
grid interface standards such as IEEE-1547 are avoided for unidirectional chargers, since utility
backfeed is not possible. Properly designed unidirectional chargers can supply or absorb reactive
power by means of current phase-angle control, thus they are capable to provide services based on
reactive power and dynamic adjustment of charge rates. Research on unidirectional charging has
developed optimal charging strategies that maximize benefits to the vehicle owner, aggregator, and
utility, and explores the impact on distribution networks. For other V2G services, the power flow
need to be bidirectional thus the circuit topology and control scheme are more complex as compared
to the conventional charger.
3.2. Vehicle Traction Control Systems in Drive Trains with Active Electric
Differentials

The usual configuration of EV presents only one traction-motor driving multiple wheels, using a
differential gear. Due to the improvement of both motor design and control technology, modern
configurations can be motorized wheels, which means individual motors are fitted into the individual
wheels of EV as shown in figure 9. The propulsion system can be on the front wheels, the rear wheels
or on all wheels.

Figure 9: Two motor active differential propulsion systems

With this approach, not only the overall mass is reduced, but also the performance of the EV improves
significantly due to the fast response time of the electric motors. An electronic differential can control
each of the wheel speeds to satisfy the motion requirements when the EV encounters different
conditions, such as curvilinear trajectory or a lane change. Propulsion system with active electric
differential is conceptually represented in the Figure 10.

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Power Electronics, Electric Drives & Control for Automotive Electric Systems
Drives & Control Systems Technology Group, CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute,
Durgapur

Figure 10.Conceptual representation of active electric differential

However, the algorithm of the electronic differential is complicated because of the non-linearity of the
vehicle dynamics. On the one hand, the ED system must guarantee that the four wheels roll at exactly
the same speed when the EV drives along a straight line. On the other hand, it must adjust the torque
generated from the motors to prevent the wheels from slipping when the steering angle does not equal
to zero or the adhesion coefficients are different. Therefore, the complicated control system has
become one of the primary obstacles for the development of direct-wheel-driven EV.

Vehicle traction control system for such drives is generally hierarchal in nature with the following
components:
1. Individual motor drive control is of a lower level and mainly deals with speed/torque control of
individual motors. Major challenges of the drive train motor control are robustness against
motor/vehicle parametric uncertainties, effective load disturbance rejection capability and fast
response in comparison to mechanical differential systems.
2. Vehicle stability control functions are higher level functions incorporated to improve stability and
manoeuvrability of the vehicle under unavoidable external conditions like snowy/icy roads,
aggressive driving patterns, etc. These functions include Anti Slip Regulation(ASR)/traction
control system (TCS) to avoid slipping of wheels during acceleration and Electronic stability
program (ESP) to maintain the requisite Yaw rate and avoid side slipping. These controllers also
require information of many states like vehicle yaw rate, vehicle longitudinal velocity, etc.
Information of these states may also be obtained by design of proper observers to eliminate costly
sensors and the errors associated with them.

Information of the acceleration and steering angle are obtained from the accelerator pedal and vehicle
steering respectively. The control platform accepts these inputs along with the actual speeds from the
encoders at the shaft of wheel motors. Currents of the motors are also sensed for torque control. In
addition to these, inputs from different sensors to determine yaw rate, vehicle velocity, etc. are used
for implementing several high-end control algorithms. All these inputs are processed in the controller
with predefined control algorithms to generate pulse width modulated signals for the power electronic
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Power Electronics, Electric Drives & Control for Automotive Electric Systems
Drives & Control Systems Technology Group, CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute,
Durgapur

converter of the motor drive. The control platform should be fast enough to perform the required real
time control functions of an active differential. Generally high speed digital signal processor (DSP) or
FPGA is used to realize the control algorithms.

Figure 11.Variation of Tractive effort coefficient with longitudinal slip

Traction control system (TCS) or Anti slip regulation (ASR) deals with the control of torque
applied on electric wheels to operate within the stable region (i.e. before the point B) as shown in
Figure 9 of tractive effort coefficient versus slip curve, so as to enable maximum tractive force at the
wheel. This mainly deals with the individual control of wheels with respective motors.

Electronic stability program (ESP) reduces the deviation of the vehicle behavior from its
normal behavior on dry roads and prevents the vehicle slip angle from becoming large as shown in
figure 12.

Figure 12. Functioning of Electronic stability control system for yaw control

The motivation for the development of yaw control systems comes from the fact that the behavior
of the vehicle at the limits of adhesion is quite different from its nominal behavior as the slip
angle is high and the sensitivity of yaw moment to changes in steering angle becomes highly
reduced. Due to the above change of vehicle behavior, drivers find it difficult to drive at the limits
of physical adhesion between the tires and the road. Active Torque Distribution systems which
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Power Electronics, Electric Drives & Control for Automotive Electric Systems
Drives & Control Systems Technology Group, CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute,
Durgapur

utilize active differentials to independently control the drive torque distributed to each wheel and
thus provide active control of both traction and yaw moment.

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