This paper deals with designing and sizing of a multiple-input power electronic converter (MIPEC) to be used in an electric vehicle propulsion system that includes a fuel cell (FC) generator and a combined storage unit. The combined storage unit is composed by an ultracapacitors tank (UC) and a battery unit (BU). MIPEC is responsible for power-flow management on-board the vehicle for each mode of operation. Specifications for MIPEC designing come out from many considerations concerning traction drive and reference driving cycle, on-board power source and storage unit characteristics. However, to date sizing and configuration of both storage units and on-board generators are directly related to traction drive and driving profile (i.e., vehicle performances and characteristics) and no relation with power electronic interface is considered during preliminary design. Then, power electronic interface is selected in order to fit traction drive requirements with power source and storage unit characteristics; as a consequence converter mode of operation lacks of optimization, as well dynamic behavior and efficiency cannot be maximized. In this paper, MIPEC design and power source and storage unit selection are achieved at the same project stage according to traction drive requirements. Experimental results on 60-kW power electronic interface are presented.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are needed in densely populated urban areas to reduce air pollution. Battery chargers are needed to supply DC voltage to charge the high-energy battery parks used in EVs. This paper deals with an on-board battery charger arrangement that is fully based on the use of the power components of the EV motor drive. Desired features for EV battery chargers such as minimum volume, low cost, high efficiency, and high reliability are fully matched by means of the proposed solution. The proposed on-board charger arrangement has been installed on an electric scooter prototype being developed for the Far East markets. Design analysis and experimental results of the on-board charger prototype are presented.

In this paper, a back-electromotive force-based method is used in conjunction with three very low-cost integrated circuits based on the Hall-effect to estimate the rotor position of the direct-drive permanent-magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) to be used for traction purpose of an electric wheelchair. A speed estimator based on a rotor frame machine model has been implemented for the PMSM drives, and then the rotor position estimation is achieved by means of a discrete integration of the estimated speed. The three Hall effect sensors are used to detect the rotor initial position as well to reset the error on the rotor position estimation every 60 electrical degrees. In the specific application, support vector machine technique has been implemented together with the field oriented control. Simulations and experimental results are shown in the paper