An Energy Management Strategy for a Concept Battery/Ultracapacitor Electric Vehicle With Improved Battery Life

Abstract

Using multi-input converters (MICs) in hybrid energy storage systems (HESSs) presents several advantages, such as low component count, control simplicity, and fully control of source energies. The power levels of sources in these systems need to be determined wisely by an energy management strategy (EMS). This paper presents an EMS for a battery/ultracapacitor (UC) HESS including a bidirectional MIC for electric vehicles (EVs). Thanks to the fact that energy flow between battery and UC is free in this MIC, the proposed EMS not only regulates the state-of-charge of UC but also smooths the battery power profile by using a fuzzy logic controller and a rate limiter. Therefore, it results in a sustainable HESS with longer battery life. Through a simulation study and an experimental setup including a real EV, the performance of the proposed system is evaluated comprehensively. Then, based on experimental results, battery cycle-life improvement due to the battery/UC hybridization is explored.