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Design and simulation of a fast charging station for PHEV/EV batteries

Conference Paper · September 2010

DOI: 10.1109/EPEC.2010.5697250 · Source: IEEE Xplore

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 Design and Simulation of a Fast Charging Station
for PHEV/EV Batteries
G. Joos and M. de Freige, Jr. M. Dubois
Department of Electrical Engineering Department of Electrical Engineering
McGill University Laval University
Montreal, Quebec H3A 1A5, Canada Sainte-Foy, Quebec G1V 0A9, Canada
[email protected] & [email protected] [email protected]

Abstract - The importance given to the market integration of a) Supply Device: Principle component of the charging
PHEV (Plug-in-Hybrid Electric Vehicle) and EV resulted in an station, it draws power and provides shock protection.
increase in the interest for the fast charging technology of such b) Power Cord: It is a cable that contains electrical
car batteries. The paper reviews work recently conducted in this current and communication signals from the charging
area and proposes a fast charging station using a flywheel energy device to the connector.
storage and a supercapacitor as energy storage devices. Design c) Connector: It is simply a plug on the power cord that
issues and simulation results for a typical Level III charger are links the supply equipment to the PHEV/EV charging
presented.
socket.
3) Charging Station Classification: For many years the
Index Terms – Road vehicle electric propulsion; Flywheel;
Power capacitor Society of Automotive Engineering (SAE) has been working
on standard J1772, which classifies charging stations into 3
I. INTRODUCTION categories [2]:
a) Level I: charger is on‐board and provides AC voltage
A PHEV is a hybrid automobile with a higher-capacity 120V or 240 V with maximum current of 15 A
battery that can be recharged by connecting vehicle to the (standard home outlet), maximum power of 3.3 kW.
electrical network [1]. Because of their short-term economic b) Level II: charger is on‐board and provides AC
and environmental advantages, nearly all major carmakers voltage 240 V with maximum current of 60 A, maximum
have invested significantly in PHEV development. The power of 14.4 kW.
charging of such vehicle batteries requires the design and c) Level III: charger is off‐board. The charging station
implementation of charging stations. The current paper provides DC voltage directly to the battery via a DC
reviews proposed standards and implementation requirements connector, with a maximum power of 240 kW. Level III
that have been conducted in the PHEV/EV charging chargers are fast chargers. The maximum power supplied
technology, and then proposes a fast charging station design for Level III charging equipment should be capable to
using a flywheel (FES) and a supercapacitor (SC) as energy replenish more than half of the capacity of an EV battery
storage devices. The simulation and results for the charging in less than half an hour.
process of a vehicle battery are given.
B. History of Fast Charging
II. BACKGROUND The importance of a network of charging stations is
A. PHEV Charging Equipment already established as a critical part of the PHEV and EV
1) Equipment Role: A very important impacts concerns technologies. In the future, charging stations may play the
the development of the charging equipment for the market same role as gas stations today. In Israel (2011), Denmark
integration and daily use of PHEVs. It is essential that this (2011), Australia (2012) and Portugal, governments have
equipment has the ability to: already set targets in place for a large penetration of charging
a) Quickly charge the vehicle battery stations in the urban environment [3], [4]. US Company Better
b) Modulate the electricity prices with the time of day Place is a leader in this field and plans to install hundreds of
c) Detect the state of charge (SOC) of the vehicle battery thousands of Level I and Level II AC charging stations in
d) Automatically bill for the electricity delivered these countries.
e) Adapt to various battery types and car models General Motors plans to release the Chevy Volt EV in
2) Equipment Parts: The most critical problem in 2011, with a battery capacity of 16 kWh and a level I, on-
charging PHEV/EV batteries is the car owner and public board charger of power 3.3 kW [5].
safety. Indeed the cords connecting house plugs or road A lack of fast charging units exists. As an alternative,
stations to vehicle could cause electrical hazards. For this urban facilities have been proposed where the discharged car
reason vehicle supply equipments have been conceived in batteries would be swapped with charged battery packs.
order to avoid such problem, and they consist of the three However, at the recently held Alternative Fuels and Vehicles
following devices [2]: conference, a panel of representatives from some American
electric car makers suggested that they would prefer fast

2010 IEEE Electrical Power & Energy Conference

978-1-4244-8188-0/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE
charging stations to the battery swapping scenario. The impact combination of high continuous constant charging current and
on battery degradation is a critical parameter that needs to be some charging pulse current. Such technique considers the
taken into account [6]. actual charge state of the battery and the battery previous
charges and discharges [15]. However the method that has
III. FAST CHARGING CONSIDERATIONS
revealed as being the most practical one and as having the best
A. The Level III Charger efficiency and the shortest charging time is the pulse-charged
Among the three classes of charging stations, the level III method. It basically consists of creating a large-time charging
is the most interesting and practical one for installations in pulse that is immediately followed by a very short-time
public places like commercial areas since it enables an easier discharging pulse, followed by a “waiting period” [14].
integration of PHEVs and EVs into the market. In the future
such stations may play the same role as gas stations today. For IV. STORAGE DEVICES
this reason, many developed countries are actually planning on
Level I and II chargers are known to be slow because they
using Level III, off‐board, quick chargers, especially in draw their power from only a single AC source: the electrical
Western Europe [7]. In Japan, the Tokyo Electrical Power grid [16]. A way to make a charger faster as will be the case in
Company has announced the installation of 200 10‐minutes the Level III category is to let the charger draw power from
high power chargers for 2010, which will coincide with the multiple AC and/or DC sources. These last sources are
introduction of the Mitsubishi i‐Miev EV, which is already referred to as energy storage devices due to their capability to
advertized with a quick‐charge DC plug [8]. This is the result accumulate some energy for a finite duration before restoring
of a structural characteristic of Tokyo, where drivers do not it to the circuit.
have access to a plug at their homes to charge their cars.
A. Stationary Storage Devices
B. Existing Prototypes The typical devices used as energy storage are displayed
Some American companies have already built prototypes in Table I below [17].
of such fast charging stations: a prototype that boasts 10 min
charge time is expected to be launched during the third quarter TABLE I
of 2010 [9], and the LSV-100 Zip prototype that can charge in COMPARISON OF SOME ENERGY STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES
less than 30 min [10]. In Europe in January 2010 Renault-
Life time
Nissan announced its success in the development of a fast Storage Technology
(Cycles)
Efficiency (%)
charging station that is capable to replenish 80% of an EV car
battery in less than 30 min [11]. Lead-Acid batteries 200-300 75

Sodium-Sulfur (NaS)
C. Advantages and Drawbacks batteries
2000-3000 89
1) Benefits: Besides charging a battery car to 80% of its
SOC in typically 15 minutes [12], fast charging also decreases Metal-Air batteries 100-200 50
operating costs and increases productivity in two ways [13]: Li-Ion batteries 300-500 95
a) Fast chargers are known to be more efficient than
conventional chargers, and charging with less Flow battery 1500-2500 75-85
overcharging increases the battery efficiency.
Supercapacitors 104 – 105 93-98
b) With fast charging, the average battery SOC (State of
Charge) is kept higher, which increases the vehicle speed. FES 5
10 - 10 7
90
2) Issues: The main issues in fast charging reside in the
four main failure mechanisms of industrial lead acid batteries B. Pros and Cons
[13]: Such devices do not share the same pros and cons. Table
a) Positive Active Material (PAM) Shedding II below displays the advantages and drawbacks of the energy
b) Corrosion of the positive plate grid storage devices of Table I [18]:
c) Imbalance among battery cells
d) Suffocation of negative plate V. DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
The choice among all the previous storage technologies is
D. Conventional Charging Schemes
based on the following energy and performance requirements.
In a bidirectional battery charger, charging can be
accomplished in several ways [14].
A. Energy Requirements
1) Constant Current/Constant Voltage Mode: It is done in
The fast charging station to be designed can supply a
two phases. The battery is first charged at constant current
maximum power of 240 kW.
mode to typically 70% SOC then it is charged in constant TABLE II
voltage mode where the current is less than the set current.
FEATURES OF ENERGY STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES
2) Fast Charging Mode: Several algorithms and methods
have been found in order to implement fast charging, and Storage Advantages Disadvantages
among them is a fully digitized smart method involving a
 Technology According to the previous comparison of energy storage
Lead-Acid High capacity, low volume Low efficiency,
devices, a possible option is to combine the supercapacitors
batteries energy density, low capital potential adverse and FES as the fast charging station energy storage devices.
cost, long life time environmental impacts These lasts must be rated considering the energy requirement
imposed above.
Sodium-Sulfur Very high energy and power Production cost, safety
NaS batteries capacity, high energy concerns
The formula that relates the supercapacitor voltage U (in
density, long life time V) and capacitance C (in F) to the energy E (in J) that can be
stored in the supercapacitor is:
Metal-Air Very high energy density Few rechargeable
batteries batteries available
E = 0.5 CV2 [1]
Li-Ion batteries Very high efficiency and Low number of life
energy density cycles Hence the device must have a sufficiently high
capacitance to discharge and charge in the time of the station
Flow battery Very high energy and power Low energy density, low
capacity, long life time efficiency operation (15-20 min), and it should be rated at high voltage.
The formula that relates the flywheel angular speed ω (in
Supercapacitors High efficiency Low energy density, few rad/s) and moment of inertia J (in Kg.m2) to the energy E (in
power systems
J) that can be stored in the flywheel is:
applications

Flywheel High power capacity, short Low energy density E = 0.5 Jω2 [2]
energy storage access time, long lifetime,
(FES) low maintenance effort, high Hence the device must have a sufficiently high moment of
efficiency, small
environmental impacts inertia, and thus a big radius and it must rotate at high angular
speed.

Assuming that the grid has a voltage of Vrms,ll = 208 V and D. Operating Characteristics
current of Irms = 15 A, and considering a unity power factor The charging station is designed with the following
pf, then its maximum output power will be: parameters:

P = √3.Vrms,ll.Irms.pf Ù PGrid = 5.4 kW Charging power = 240 kW

DC bus voltage = 320 V
Hence the storage devices are required to provide a DC charging current = 800 A
maximum output power of 234.5 kW. The fast charging
station is designed to charge batteries of PHEV/EVs in a VI. PROPOSED DESIGN
maximum duration of Δt = 20 min. So the maximum quantity A. Complete Design
of energy to be supplied by the local storage is: The proposed charging station uses the grid current and
two additional energy storage devices: a FES and a
E = P.Δt Ù E = 78.17 kWh supercapacitor. The concept of a level III charging station with
flywheel was proposed in [21]. The design is shown in figure
B. Performance Requirements 1 below:
The energy storage devices must also satisfy the following
performance criteria in order to maximize the fast charging B. Main Components and their Individual Control
station efficiency: 1) Grid: Unlike Level I and II chargers, the Level III
1) Dynamic Device: Since the charging station operates provides DC voltage and current [2]. For this reason the grid is
for only 20 minutes (short duration), the storage devices must interfaced with the charger bus via a rectifier that outputs a
be able to charge and discharge in that period. maximum current of 10A and maintains the DC bus voltage
2) High Power Density: As a consequence of the previous constant via a voltage regulator.
requirement, the devices must also have a high power density 2) FES: Since a FES belongs to the rotating machines
in order to deliver a large amount of power for a short period category, it can be modeled by any other rotating generator.
of time. The amplified speed error constitutes the reference current to
3) High Efficiency: The charging station must meet its be output by the FES. The interface with the dc bus is done via
maximum possible efficiency. This last criterion depends on an AC/DC converter.
the main station parts: converters, storage devices. Therefore it
is a must to consider high efficiency energy storage and
conversion.
4) Environmentally Friendly: The device must have no or
negligible bad impacts on the environment.

C. Chosen Devices
 A. Battery Characteristics
Fig. 2 below displays the evolution of the battery SOC (in
%), the battery current (in A), and the battery voltage (in V),
during the charging process.

Battery State of Charge (SOC in %)

100

50

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Battery Current (in A)

400

300

200

100
Fig. 1 Complete Charging Station 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Battery Voltage (in V)

3) Supercapacitor: It is modeled as a capacitor with a 295

resistor in parallel. The amplified voltage error constitutes the 290

reference current to be output by the supercapacitor. The 285
interface with the DC bus is done via a DC/DC converter.
4) Charger Output: The interface of the dc bus with the 280

car battery is done via an output DC/DC converter. Indeed the 275
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
converter input; or charger dc bus; is always kept constant time in min
whereas the output varies depending on the car battery
maximum charge voltage. So the charger must adapt to the Fig. 2 Battery Characteristics Evolution
battery to be charged.
The control is done as follow: the amplified voltage error It can be seen that two charging phases occur: the first one
constituting the charging current must not exceed the is constant current and the second one is constant voltage
maximum battery charging current. Also the charging voltage which starts at approximately t = 5.5 min. Also the maximum
is bounded above by the largest battery charging voltage. battery charging current and voltages are not exceeded.
These last two parameters are provided by the battery
datasheet. B. Charger Characteristics
Fig. 3 below displays the evolution of: the output DC/DC
C. Charging Station Control duty cycle (in %), and the grid, FES, supercapacitor, total
The grid side converter controls the dc bus voltage, and currents (in A), and the DC bus voltage (in V) during the
the current supplied is normally set to the value that the grid charging process.
can supply. Consequently the two energy storage devices must It can be seen that the moment at which the constant
provide the difference between the battery and grid currents. voltage charging phase begins coincides with the moment the
One option for the control of Fig. 1 in steady-state is the output DC/DC duty system cycle stabilizes.
following: 90% of the energy comes from the FES and the
remaining 10% are provided by the supercapacitor. Note that VIII. CONCLUSION
such proportions can be varied.
The paper discussed works that have already been
VII. SIMULATION RESULTS conducted in the PHEV/EV fast charging process. The
simulation showed that the proposed design employing a FES
The charger has been simulated for a Li-ion battery car. and a supercapacitor falls well in the level III station category.
The simulation has been run using Matlab/Simulink, and the Indeed a typical PHEV battery has been charged from 20% to
parameters can be found in the appendix. The total time 95% SOC in 13.25 minutes while remaining within equipment
required to charge the battery from 20% to 95% SOC is 13.25 technical specifications and the output power does not exceed
minutes. 240 kW.
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