Hybrid Energy Storage Systems For Electric Vehicles

Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACK GROUND

Electric vehicles have been around since the inception of the automobile but in the
early days for dominance the internal combustion engine quickly won out as the best power
system for cars. Although the electric vehicle was superior in many respects, a source of
energy the battery was no match for the high energy content ease of handling, and cheap and
abundant supply of motor fuel. Today nearly a century after the electric vehicle (EV) was
forced into near oblivion; it seems that EVS may actually become the ultimate winner.
As easily recoverable petroleum deposits dwindle, automobile population soar, and
cities become choked with combustion by products, the IC is increasingly becoming the
victim of its own success. Although electric vehicle have several advantages over exciting
ICE vehicle availability of electric vehicle in the market is less due to its short range and high
cost. This is mainly due to the battery based energy storage systems used in such vehicles.
The power for running the motor is supplied from such Energy Storage Systems (ESS).
The commonly used Energy Storage Systems in vehicles consists of lead acid based
batteries. However such battery based ESS have many demerits. Batteries in such ESS should
have high power densities to meet the high power demands. As power capability increases,
size and the cost of the battery also increase. Hence space management and price of the
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vehicle becomes a problem. In addition to this thermal management of batteries is also a
problem.
It is a challenge for batteries to safely work in high power load conditions not only to
cool down the batteries but also to warm up the batteries in cold conditions in order to reach
the desired power limits. Moreover applications that require instantaneous power output and
input typically fin batteries suffering from charge and discharge options, which have adverse
effects on battery life. Hence to solve these problems Hybrid Energy Storage Systems are
used.

1.2

ULTRA CAPACITOR
The basic idea of a hybrid energy storage system is to combine ultra capacitors and

batteries to achieve a better overall performance. An ultra capacitor (UC) is an

electrochemical capacitor with high energy density. In a conventional capacitor, energy is
stored by the removal of charge carriers, typically electrons, from one metal plate and
depositing them on another. This charge separation creates a potential between the two plates,
which can be harnessed in an external circuit. The total energy stored in this fashion increases
with both the amount of charge stored and the potential between the plates. The amount of
charge stored per unit voltage is essentially a function of the size, the distance, and the
material properties of the plates and the material in between the plates (the dielectric), while
the potential between the plates is limited by the breakdown field strength of the dielectric.
The dielectric controls the capacitor's voltage. Optimizing the material leads to higher energy
density for a given size of capacitor.

Fig.1.1 Comparison of construction diagrams of three capacitors.

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UCs do not have a conventional dielectric. Rather than two separate plates separated
by an intervening insulator, these capacitors use virtual plates that are in fact two layers of the
same substrate. Their electrochemical properties, the so-called "electrical double layer", result
in the effective separation of charge despite the vanishingly thin (on the order of nanometers)
physical separation of the layers. The lack of need for a bulky layer of dielectric, and the
porosity of the material used, permits the packing of plates with much larger surface area into
a given volume, resulting in high capacitances in practical-sized packages.
High energy density of the ultra capacitors combined with the speed with they can be
charged and discharged results in high power density. Batteries, which are based on the
movement of charge carriers in a liquid electrolyte, have relatively slow charge and discharge
times. The advantages of ultra capacitors are: Long life. Rechargeable batteries wear out typically over a few years, and their

highly reactive chemical electrolytes present a disposal and safety hazard.

Low cost per cycle
Good reversibility
Very high rates of charge and discharge.
Extremely low internal resistance (ESR) and consequent high cycle efficiency

(95% or more) and extremely low heating levels

High output power
Improved safety, no corrosive electrolyte and low toxicity of materials.
Simple charge methodsno full-charge detection is needed; no danger of

overcharging.
When used in conjunction with rechargeable batteries, in some applications the

UC can supply energy for a short time, reducing battery cycling duty and
extending life.
So while existing UCs have energy densities that are perhaps 1/10 that of a
conventional battery, their power density is generally 10 to 100 times as great. This makes
them most suited to an intermediary role between electrochemical batteries and electrostatic
capacitors, where neither sustained energy release nor immediate power demands dominate
one another as used in Hybrid Energy Storage Systems.

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Chapter 2
HYBRID ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM

2.1 BASIC IDEA

Hybrid Energy Storage System (HESS) is a combination of ultra capacitors and
batteries to achieve a better overall performance.. Power electronic convertors are used to
interface the battery to the DC link. In conventional HESS designs, the battery pack is
directly connected to the DC link while a half bridge dc-dc convertor is placed between the
UC and the DC link. Although this design solves the problem of peak power demand, the
battery still suffers from frequent charge and discharge options. Similar to this many designs
have been proposed for HESS each of them having their own merits and demerits.

2.2 DIFFERENT TYPES OF HESS

2.2.1 BASIC PASSIVE PARALLEL
UC and battery directly connected to the dc link in parallel without any convertors.

Fig.2.1 Basic Passive Parallel Hybrid Configuration

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In this design an UC and battery are always parallel, hence Vbatt = Vuc = Vdc. Here
Vbatt, Vuc and Vdc are the voltages across the battery, UC and dc link respectively. The UC
essentially acts as a low pass filter. Advantages of this method include ease of
implementation and no requirement for control or expensive power electronic convertors. The
major problem with such designs is that they cannot efficiently utilize the stored energy in
ultra capacitor.
2.2.2 UC-BATTERY CONFIGURATION
UC connected to the dc link through a dc-dc convertor.

Fig.2.2 UC-Battery Configuration

In this design an UC is interfaced by a dc-dc convertor to the dc link. This helps in
using the UC over a wide voltage range. Here Vuc <Vbatt = Vdc. Major problem with such
convertors is that convertors needs to be of larger size in order to handle the power of UC and
that the dc link voltage cannot be varied as battery is directly connected to it.
2.2.3 BATTERY-UC CONFIGURATION
Battery connected to convertor and UC connected directly to dc link.

Fig.2.3 Battery-UC Configuration

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This design is obtained by swapping the positions of battery and UC in the UCBattery configuration.. The voltage of the battery can be maintained higher or lower than the
UC voltage. Hence Vbatt < Vuc = Vdc. This circuit helps the dc link voltage to vary within a
range so that UC energy can be more effectively utilized.
2.2.4 MULTIPLE CONVERTOR CONFIGURATION
This configuration parallels the output of two convertors

Fig 2.4 Multiple Convertor Configuration

In this design uses two convertors which have an output same as that of the dc link
voltage. Voltages of both the UC and battery can be maintained lower than the dc link
voltage which causes less balancing problems. The voltage of the UC can vary in a wide
range so the capacitor is fully utilized. The problem with this type is that two convertors are
required.
2.2.5 MULTIPLE INPUT CONVERTOR CONFIGURATION
This configuration uses a multiple input dc-dc convertor.

Fig 2.5 Multiple Input Configuration

In this design the output of the battery and UC is given to a multiple input dc-dc
bidirectional convertor. Hence cost of the overall system decreases.

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2.3

HESS DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

2.3.1 VOLTAGE STRATEGY OF ENERGY SOURCES

In designing a battery/UC HESS, the selection of voltage characteristics is strongly
related to the characteristics of the battery and UCs used. Higher voltage capacity for energy
storage device presents a higher demand for cell balancing circuit. In order to reduce this a
better voltage tradeoff between the storage elements have to made depending on the
characteristics of the battery and UC cells. Topology of a HESS depends on the voltage
strategy selected. When Vuc <Vbatt = Vdc, it means that the UC is connected to a dc-dc
convertor. Here the power rating of the convertor needs to be matched to that of the UC to
fully utilize its power capability. When Vbatt < Vuc = Vdc, the battery instead of UC is
connected to a dc-dc convertor. In this way the voltage of the battery can be maintained at
lower magnitude so that less balancing issues needs to be addressed. Finally designs with
Vbatt = Vuc = Vdc have the battery and UC connected directly to the dc link which avoids
the use of a convertor. Here the working range of UC will be small.
2.3.2 EFFECTIVE UTILIZATION OF UC STORED ENERGY
While energy delivery in a battery is not a function of voltage, energy storage in an
UC obeys the law of storage in a standard capacitor.
E cap = (1/2) CV2 Eqn (2.1)
Voltage of the UC needs to be discharge to half of the initial voltage in order to
deliver 75% of the energy stored. The ability to use the UC stored energy effectively is a
major criterion in evaluating HESS configurations. If the UC is connected to the dc bus via
dc-dc convertor, 100% of the energy can be delivered theoretically. However, if the battery
and UC are paralleled passively, the voltage of the UC cannot change a lot. Even in an
aggressive discharge the voltage of the battery pack can drop only up to 20% of the nominal
voltage. Hence an UC should be selected such that its energy storage capacity is satisfactory
for an effective operation of HESS system.
2.3.3 PROTECTION OF BATTERY FROM OVERCURRENT
An important design concern of a battery/UC HESS is to fully utilize the significantly
higher power limits of the UC. ESSs in automotive applications undergo frequent charge and
discharge cycles due to the rapid acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle. These induce
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current surges which when directly injected into a battery without regulating; the battery
could die very quickly. This problem can be solved by providing charging and discharging
power limits to the battery controller. The discharging power limits ensure that no additional
power is drawn from the battery during acceleration while the charging power limits force the
controller to activate mechanical brakes in order to absorb the extra energy that cannot be
absorbed by the battery during deceleration or braking. Hence in a battery/UC HESS system
design, it is important to utilize much higher power limit of the UC to not only protect the
battery but also increase the overall performance of the system.
2.3.4

TOTAL COST
Compared to a conventional battery based ESS, a HESS system has two major extra

components added to it. UC technology has made many strides in increasing energy density.
However UC cost is still a major component of the overall HESS system cost. Power
handling capability of the convertor also influences the cost of the HESS. If a higher power
dc/dc convertor is needed to handle the power of UC, accordingly the cost of the HESS also
system increases.

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Chapter 3
PROPOSED HESS

3.1 AVERAGING CONCEPT

Here the operation of a battery under charging and discharging conditions is
compared with a reference driving conditions by the simulation of the entire set up. This
helps in determining the capability of the battery and the peak voltage and current surges the
battery has to face during a driving period.

Fig 3.1 UDDS Simulation Results with Battery ESS

The figure 3.1 shows the battery pack power of a mid size electric vehicle simulated
in PSAT with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Urban
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Dynamometer Driving Schedule (UDDS). The UDDS is a driving cycle standard that is
designed to simulate city driving in the U.S. The cycle simulates an urban route of 12.07 km
with frequent stops. The maximum speed is 91.2 km/h and the average speed is 31.5 km/h.
The duration of the cycle is 1369.00 seconds.
As from the figure it can be observed that the start stop nature of city driving will
result in frequent charges and discharges of the battery at high power, which ranges from 36.8 to 54.8 kW according to the simulation data. Also the average power of the battery pack
is only 5.95 kW. Hence this significant difference between the peak and average power
suggest that if an energy storage device is used as a buffer, we only need a dc-dc convertor to
feed 5.95 kW power to charge the buffer device.

3.2 CONFIGURATION
Here To overcome the difficulties in the earlier designs, a new HESS design has been
proposed which is based on the averaging concept. In this configuration, the high voltage dc
link is allowed to vary in a predefined ratio.

Fig 3.2 Proposed HESS Configuration

The above figure shows the new design configuration. Here a higher voltage UC bank
is directly connected to the dc link so as to provide peak power demands whereas a lower
voltage battery is connected to the dc link via a power diode. A reduced size bidirectional dcdc convertor is connected between the battery and UC to convey energy to charge the UC.
The dc-dc convertor is always controlled to try to maintain the voltage of the UC higher than
that of the battery. The high voltage dc link is allowed to vary in a 2:1 ratio. This results in a
50% voltage discharge ratio of the UC. This results in usage of 75% of the stored energy in
UC.

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3.3 OPERATION
The operation of the new HESS configuration can be explained by taking into
consideration an all electric vehicle. The operation of the HESS can be separated into four
modes. They are vehicle low and high constant speed operating modes, acceleration mode
and deceleration (regenerative braking) mode.
3.3.1

VEHICLE LOW CONSTANT SPEED MODE

In this mode the speed of the motor is low and constant.

Fig 3.3 Low Constant Speed Mode

Here the power of the dc-dc convertor P conv is more than the power demanded by the
motor. P dmd . Hence the voltage of the UC VUC can be maintained higher than the voltage of
the battery Vbatt . The dc link voltage Vdc can also be maintained at any value higher than the
battery voltage. The main power diode is reverse biased as VUC > Vbatt. Hence the battery
does not provide any energy directly to the motor.
3.3.2

VEHICLE HIGH CONSTANT SPEED MODE

In this mode the speed of the motor is high and constant.

Fig 3.4 High Constant Speed Mode

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Here the power of the dc-dc convertor P

conv

is less than the power demanded by the

motor. P dmd . That is P dmd > P conv . VUC can no longer be maintained higher than the Vbatt .
The main power diode is forward and the battery directly provides energy to the dc link. In
this configuration the dc-dc convertor will be turned off.
3.3.3

ACCELERATION MODE
The accelerating mode can be divided into two phases. Phase 1 and phase 2.

Fig 3.5 Acceleration Phase 1 Mode

In phase 1, that is at the beginning of acceleration VUC > VBatt . As the vehicle
accelerates, power demanded increases and V UC will keep decreasing. In this phase, energies
from the UC and the dc-dc convertor are both supporting the vehicle acceleration.

Fig 3.6 Acceleration Phase 2 Mode

As acceleration progresses, the VUC will continue to decrease and will drop to the
same level as VBatt. When VUC = VBatt , the battery and UC become directly paralleled
through the diode. This is the phase 2 of acceleration mode where the speed is high and
constant. Here if Pdmd becomes less than Pconv, the power difference between these two will e
used to charge the UC.
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3.3.4

DECELERATION MODE
The deceleration mode or regenerative braking mode of operation also has two

phases. In Phase 1, the regenerative power will be injected into the UC only. The phase
operation can be explained in two cases: In case 1, the VUC is less than the target UC voltage
VUC-tgt. As such, the regenerative power along with power from battery is used to charge the
UC as shown in figure 3.7. In case 2 however VUC will be greater than VUC-tgt, hence only
regenerative power is used to charge UC, the convertor remains in off position. Figure 3.8
shows this operation.

Fig 3.7 Deceleration Mode when VUC < VUC-tgt

Fig 3.8 Deceleration Mode when VUC > VUC-tgt

Fig 3.9 Deceleration Phase 2 Mode

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If the power from the regenerative braking is more than VUC, then to keep the UC
within safer limits, the dc-dc convertor acts as a buck convertor and feeds the power to the
battery. This is phase 2 operation as shown in figure 3.9. Hence, while designing the HESS,
the components are selected such as to minimize the phase two operation during regenerative
braking so as to extend life of the battery.

3.4

ANALYSIS OF THE DESIGN

The newly proposed design of HESS explained in the earlier sections was analyzed

using a simulation and an experimental set up and their results were observed and studied.
The goal of the design is to use the UC to cover the city driving power demands of the
vehicle with the energy feeding from the dc-dc convertor. Based on this scenario, the
electrical viability of the HESS configuration was analyzed.
3.4.1

SIMULATION
The simulation was done in PSAT (Power System Analysis Toolbox) Mat lab

software. The simulation model was set up using an all electric vehicle PSAT model based on
a 2003 Honda Accord. Based on the existing model of the vehicle in PSAT, a new power
train controller was designed in order to replace the battery only ESS with the proposed
HESS. The battery of the HESS was sized in order to deliver the same range with the existing
ESS and the UC was sized to meet the city driving power demands which is the basic goal of
this design.

Fig 3.10 Simulated Drive Train Configuration in PSAT.

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The configured set up was simulated in PSAT with the U.S. EPA UDDS. Figure 3.11
shows the vehicle speed, UC voltage, UC power, and the battery pack power. Here the dc-dc
convertor power is limited to 12 kW.

Fig 3.11 PSAT Simulation Results.

The simulation results indicate that the designed HESS is working as expected.
During the overall drive cycle, the UC bank can cover the power needs with the 12 kW dc-dc
convertor pumping energy to recover the power consumption. The peak power of the UC
bank ranges from -38 kW to 37.3 kW. Also, the peak power of the battery is limited to 12 kW
as that of the dc-dc convertor.
The impact of the dc-dc convertor power on the performance of the HESS, was
evaluated by simulating the system with convertor power limited to 9 kW. Figure 3.12 shows
the simulation results. As can be observed, with the decreased power, in the acceleration VUC
will drop to the same level as V

Batt

which results in a direct parallel of the energy storage

devices. The battery power will increase in order to cover the power demand from the
controller.
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The results of the simulation of the drive train with convertor power at 9 kW is shown below.

Fig 3.12 PSAT Simulation Results at PCONV= 9kW

3.4.2

EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION
A HESS experimental set up was constructed in order to further validate the electrical

viability of the design. The experimental set up is given in figure 3.13. The maximum voltage
of the UC bank used is 32.4 V with a surge maximum voltage of 34.2 V. The max voltage is
however limited to 30 V in order to ensure safe operation of UC. The power limit of the
convertor was selected to be of 100 W. The experiment was conducted for two cases: case 1
with 50 W load and case 2 with 300 W load.
In case 1, the dc-dc convertor is turned on once VUC drops to 25.5 V and turned off
when 28.5 V of UC voltage is reached. It can be seen that as the power demand of the load is
less than that of the dc-dc convertor, the voltage of the UC can be maintained by using the

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same convertor control. Figure 3.14 illustrates the results when 50 W constant load is applied
to the HESS. The experimental set up is given below.

Fig 3.13 Experimental set up.

Fig 3.14 Experimental results at 50 W Load

In case 2 of the experiment where 300 W load is used, the dc-dc convertor is turned
on when 25.5 V of VUC is reached. Since the 300 W power demand is higher than the limited
power of the convertor, VUC continues to decrease until the load is disconnected. After the
load is disconnected, the UC bank is charged with the 100 W power and the dc-dc convertor
is turned off when 28.5 V of VUC is reached.
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Figure 3.15 shows the results of the experiment when a 300 W constant load is used
with the HESS.It gives the variation of the dc-dc convertor current with the ultra capacitor
voltage.

Fig 3.15 Experimental results at 300 W Load

The experiment results at 50 W and 300 W loads have shown that the system is
electrically viable and that the HESS design is applicable to city drive applications.

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Chapter 4
CONCLUSION

4.1 SUMMARY
Hybrid Energy Storage Systems makes use of combinations of ultra capacitors and
batteries to work as an energy storage device for electric vehicles. The difficulties of battery
based ESS is thus removed. A number of designs have been in use for HESS each having
their own merits and demerits. A new design has been proposed for HESS overthrowing the
disadvantages of earlier designs. This new design is able to fully utilize the power capability
of the UCs without requiring a matching power dc-dc convertor. Also a smoother load profile
is created for the battery pack as a result of which power requirement of the battery pack can
be reduced. The operation of the HESS can be explained in four modes. Simulations and
experiments were carried out on the new HESS configuration. Simulation results show that
the new HESS can work in all four modes of operation and is suited for city driving
conditions by utilizing energy from the power convertor. An experimental set up was built
and the results show that the topology is electrically viable.

4.2

ADVANTAGES
Some of the advantages of the new HESS design are :
It is fully able to utilize the power capability of UC.

Smoother load profile is created for battery.

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Regenerative power is not fed directly to the battery, hence its life can be
increased.
Thermal management of batteries becomes easier.

4.3

DISADVANTAGES
Some of the disadvantages of the new HESS design are :
The cost of the UC is high, hence overall cost increases..

Energy storage capacity of UC is less compared to that of batteries.

4.4

FUTURE SCOPE
Future scope of this new HESS system should focus on the analysis of the system

efficiency in high voltage conditions. Also the sizing of the dc-dc convertor versus the
selection of UC needs to be addressed in order to minimize the cost of the overall system
while maintaining the benefits of the proposed system.

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REFERENCES

[1] Jian Cao and Ali Emadi, A New Battery/Ultra Capacitor Hybrid Energy Storage
System for Electric, Hybrid, and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles, IEEE Trans. on
Power Electronics, vol. 27,No. 1, pp. 122-132, 2012.

[2]

Kathy Kowalenko Going Electric A Roundmap of IEEEs Involvement with Electric

Vehicles, The Institute, September 2011.

[3]

T.Markel and A. Simpson, Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle Energy Storage System
Design, Presented at Advanced Automotive Battery Conference Baltimore, May 2006.

[4]

Ned Mohan ,Tore M. Undeland and William P. Robbins, Power Electronics Converters
Application and Design, Wiley and sons, 3rd Ed., 2009.

[5]

Concept of Ultra Capacitors from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Electric_ double-layer

capacitor

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