The impact of GaN mosfet and the performance of three-phase traction inverter for electric vehicles are closely investigated in this paper. Two versions of inverter have been illustrated: first one with Si-IGBTs, whereas the second one is built with GaN-mosfets with similar rating of voltage and current. The loss model is expounded for both the inverters; thereafter total losses are calculated considering New European Driving Cycle profile along the speed and torque of the permanent magnet synchronous motors. Further, for close-loop operation of propulsion drive, predictive current controller is proposed and compared with conventional PI controller while to control the speed, only PI controller is used. Moreover, the losses of both types of inverters are compared and the compared result confirmed that the inverter built up with GaN-mosfets with proposed current controller increases the efficiency of the propulsion drive leads to enhancement in driving range of the vehicles.

This paper shows the effectiveness of adaptive terminal sliding mode control in grid connected hybrid solar PV and wind system for improvement in error tracking performance under different disturbances. Lead acid battery arrangement is made to support hybrid system. To analyze hybrid system, d-q axis circuit models are independently derived for both PMAC (Permanent Magnet AC) generator and inverter. An adaptive lyapunov based rapid terminal sliding mode control is superior over the traditional PI control because of its faster error tracking capability and robustness. Q-V based inverter control is employed to interface single phase grid and the hybrid system. To substantiate the proposed theory a number of case studies have been conducted like parametric changes of converters, inverter and the changes occurring in the hybrid system. Experimental results of proposed control are obtained from a laboratory prototype of 250 W PMAC and 500W PV hybrid module with 100 ampere-hour battery system. Small-signal stability at different disturbance points are analyzed using dynamic simulations on MATLAB/Simulink.2014R(b). Real time controller is implemented through programming in Lab-VIEW on NI c-RIO 9082.

The advent of power devices based on Wide Band Gap (WBG) semiconductor materials, like the Silicon Carbide (SiC) MOSFETs, can improve the overall performance of the power converter systems, by reducing the conversion losses and enabling operation at higher switching frequency. This paper analyzes the range extension of electric vehicles (EVs) ensuing from the adoption of SiC devices for the traction inverter. As a case study, a compact-class electric car equipped with a Silicon (Si) IGBT traction inverter is considered. After introducing the driving cycle used to evaluate the range, the time graphs of currents and voltages applied by the inverter to the traction motor along the driving cycle are calculated. A loss model for Si and SiC devices is then formulated, and the losses of the Si IGBT inverter over the driving cycle are found and compared to the losses obtainable with a SiC MOSFET inverter. For the case study, the analysis shows that a SiC MOSFET inverter can extend the electric car range up to 5%.

Capacitor is connected primarily between photovoltaic (PV) panel and power electronics converter (PEC) to suppress input voltage ripple and filter ripple current. However, this capacitor creates an error in maximum power point tracking (MPPT) for a fixed step algorithm under rapidly changing environmental condition if not selected properly. Therefore, the capacitor value selection along with maximum sampling rate determination is crucial for achieving error-free MPPT. A comprehensive analysis is carried out to prove the dependency of capacitor value on MPPT performance under irradiation and temperature variation. The analysis also includes the effect of ripple power on capacitor value selection when PV interfaced converter is connected to the grid. Finally, the capacitor value and the sampling rate of PV interfaced power electronics converter is determined. Simulation and experimental results confirm the theoretical findings.

The paper is concerned with the soft-switching capabilities of the Single Active Bridge (SAB) converter. At first, soft-switching of the double active bridge converter is reviewed. Then, operation of the SAB converter is investigated with the end of assessing its soft-switching capabilities in both the discontinuous and continuous conduction mode. It is found that the SAB converter experiences either full or incomplete soft-switching depending on the working conditions. Afterwards, the procedure to size the capacitors for implementing soft-switching is illustrated. At last, an under-development power supply equipment exploiting the theoretical findings of the paper is presented together with a preliminary design of its components.