Interleaved bidirectional DC-DC converter for electric vehicle applications based on multiple energy storage devices

Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and pure electric vehicles (EVs) rely on energy storage devices (ESDs) and power electronic converters, where efficient energy management is essential. In this context, this work addresses a possible EV configuration based on supercapacitors (SCs) and batteries to provide reliable and fast energy transfer. Power flow among the aforementioned energy sources and the EV occurs through a dc link associated with an interleaved bidirectional dc-dc converter. This topology presents low component count and high efficiency over a wide load range, consisting of an adequate choice for high-power, high-current levels. A detailed design methodology is presented, which comprises the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the converter and the control system implementation using a simple strategy, i.e., average current mode control. A 2 kW laboratory prototype of the converter using microcontroller dsPIC30f4011 by Microchip is implemented and the system performance is evaluated in terms of some key waveforms. High power density, low component count and increased robustness can be stated as the main advantages of the proposed approach, which can be considered as a viable alternative for practical EV applications.