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01/11/2007
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A consortium led by motorsport specialist Prodrive is developing a DC-DC converter for hybrid and electric vehicles. It is being designed to be more efficient, smaller and lower cost than those currently available.
Other project members included HILTech Developments, International Transformers, LDV, Sloan Electronics and the universities of Manchester and Newcastle. Part funding is being provided by the UK’s Technology Strategy Board.
Hybrid vehicles without DC-DC converters compromise the energy storage device (usually ultracapacitors or batteries) and the electric motor. For example, when storing energy under braking, as the vehicle slows the voltage generated by the motor falls while the energy in the storage device increases. There is a point when the motor can no longer supply enough voltage for the storage device and energy recovery after this point is no longer possible. The situation is the same when using the stored energy to power the motor.
A DC-DC converter balances the voltage between the motor and the energy storage device. This reclaims more of the energy under braking and provides more under acceleration, making the vehicle more efficient.
“Our converter will be designed for use with 50kW systems,” says Pete James, electronics specialist at Prodrive. “This means it can provide an additional power boost of up to 67bhp which allows a hybrid car to use a much smaller petrol engine without loss in performance.”
One important feature of the system will be the prognostics and health monitoring, providing the converter with the ability to predict failure and shut down, or run in a ‘limp home’ mode.
The targets for the project are to produce a unit having an efficiency of 96%, power/ volume ratio of 6kW/litre and power/weight ratio of 4kW/kg.
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Author
Roger Bishop
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