| Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) will play a vital role in future's sustainable transportation systems since this technology is promising for environment, energy security, and improved fuel economy. Therefore, the automotive industry is going through a major restructuring, and automakers are looking for new generations of hybrid vehicles, PHEVs. This research work primarily focuses on two major thrust areas of PHEVs; (a) introducing a novel bi-directional AC/DC rectifier/inverter for facilitating Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) integration of PHEVs; (b) presenting a hybrid coupled battery/ultra-capacitor energy storage system for PHEVs.;Certain issues will need to be addressed in the event that the number of PHEVs on the road increases. One vital issue is the method by which these vehicles will be charged and if today's grid can sustain the increased demand due to more PHEVs. Although these vehicles appear to pose a large liability to the grid, if executed properly, they can actually become an asset to the grid. The grid can benefit greatly from having reserves that can store or release energy at the appropriate times. Enabling PHEVs to fulfill this niche will require a bi-directional interface between the grid and each vehicle. This bi-directional charger must have the capability to charge PHEV's batteries while producing a minimum of current harmonics and also have the ability to return the energy back to the grid in accordance with regulations. In this thesis, a unique bi-directional AC/DC charger/rectifier, which fulfills these requirements and introduces the best choice for V2G integration, has been presented.;One of the important challenges in PHEVs is to introduce advanced energy storage systems (ESS) capable of achieving higher instantaneous charge and discharge rates, while reducing the size of the battery packs. Recent advancements in ultra-capacitor technologies have made them attractive in meeting high power, high energy requirements of PHEVs by offering hybrid energy storage systems (HESS). Therefore, as another major contribution, in this dissertation, a new bi-directional dc/dc converter with integrated magnetic structure for combined hybrid battery and ultra-capacitor energy storage systems for PHEVs is proposed. Although various HESS are offered for electric vehicles, there are only a few studies combining these two for a PHEV. The proposed combination technique introduces a smaller converter size and improved all electric range Moreover, the effects of ultra-capacitor addition are discussed in terms of tradeoffs between cost, fuel economy, green house gas emission reduction, and energy utilization improvements as well as the prolonged battery life-time. |
