CHAPTER 3

DESIGN OF CHARGING THEORY

3.1. Energy Flow of an Battery Electric Vehicle

The energy flow of a BEV can be divided into two processes: charging and
driving, see Figure(3.1). For the charging process, the energy is taken from the power
socket. A small part of the energy is used for the vehicle auxiliary system, while most
of the energy is stored in the vehicle high voltage battery.

Figure 3.1. Energy flow of An Battery Electric Vehicle

3.2. AC Energy Calculation

The AC energy Eac taken from the power socket can be calculated as During
charging, besides the battery internal loss, there are also losses for the charger and
vehicle auxiliary system, as shown in Figure(2). The majority of the energy is used to
charge the battery, but a small part is used.
Eac = (Echa + Pauxtcha)/ηcharge Equation(3.1)
Where;
Eac = AC energy (kW)
Echa = charging energy (kW)
Paux = auxiliary system power (kW)
tcha = charging time (s)
ηcharger = charger efficiency
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Figure 3.2. The energy flow the power socket to the battery

3.3. Conductive Charging Modes

There are four charging modes classified as mode 1, 2, 3 and 4 for PHEV
conductive charging. The PHEV charging modes are the following: Charging Mode 1:
homes and offices, Charging Mode 2: private facilities. Charging Mode 3: public
charging stations. Charging Mode 4: public charging stations. The mode4 has been
implemented for the AC/DC charging by the use of off-board chargers. Typical at the
moment the charging time of the mode 4 is from 10 to 15 minutes to reach 80% of
battery SOC with a power between 50 and 120kW.

Figure(3.3): Charging Station mode 1, 2, 3 and 4

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3.4. Charging Station Design

Two DC charging stations of 240kW might require the connection in MV with
a high investment costs Figure. The new dedicated line and the transformer have high
economic costs and space restrictions, especially if the installation takes place in the
cities.

Figure 3.4. New connection in MV for fast charging stations

3.5. Charging Station Basic Design

The FES and the super capacitors have both: low impacts on the environment,
high efficiencies, power densities, and life cycles. Additionally they can both be
charged and discharged in a duration in the order of minutes.
However, the use of only one of them is not appropriate for the following
reasons: Even being a power device, the super capacitor can provide a high amount of
power for a duration that is smaller than the PHEV battery charging time (15
minutes). Furthermore a large capacitance would be required, which increases the
super capacitor cost. The time required to charge an FES is relatively long (10
minutes), which will significantly increase the time that a PHEV user will have to
wait at the charging station before the PHEV battery is reasonably charged.
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A way to overcome the above problems is to combine a flywheel and a super

capacitor as a system representing the fast charging station energy storage device in
addition to the electrical grid, as shown in Figure 3.5.

Figure 3.5. Charging Station Basic Design

3.6. Station Energy Calculation

The designed fast charging station uses, in addition to the grid, the energy
storage technology. The law that relates the charger output energy E O (kWh) to the
grid energy EGrid (kWh) and the energy storage devices energy E Storage (kWh) is the
following:
EO = EGrid + EStorage Equation(3.2)
The grid is interfaced with the charger via an AC/DC converter. The grid energy is
calculated as follows:
EGrid = VDC· IDC· Δtgri Equation(3.3)
Where;
EGrid = grid energy
VDC = voltage on the dc side
IDC = current on the dc side
Δtgrid = maximum duration of grid
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The maximum energy output by the charger will be:

EO,max = EPHEVmax·(SOCmax – SOCmin) Equation(3.4)
Where;
EO,max = maximum energy output
EPHEVmax = PHEV battery energy
SOC = battery state of charge
The maximum energy provided by the charging station storage devices,
Estorage,max, can be found as follow:
` EStorage,max = EO,max – EGrid Equation(3.5)

3.7. Station Energy Sources

The designed fast charging station is composed of three energy sources: the
grid, an FES, and a super capacitor. The last two sources are interfaced with the
charger DC link via power electronic converters. Also, since the car battery voltage is
variable from one car battery to another, a DC/DC converter must be placed on the
charger output in order to adapt the charger output voltage to the battery voltage.

3.7.1. Design of Grid Side Converter

The grid provides single-phase AC voltage and current. In order to be
interfaced with the charger’s dc bus, a bidirectional AC/DC converter is required in
order to allow the station to operate in V2G mode as well. It’s efficiency can be
calculated by:
η = PDC / PAC Equation(3.6)
Where;
η = efficiency
PDC = DC power
PAC = AC power

The AC power of grid converter can be calculated as follow:

PAC = 3.VGrid .IGrid .pf Equation(3.7)
Where;
PAC = AC power of grid
VGrid = Grid voltage
IGrid = Grid current
pf = power factor
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3.7.2. Design of Flywheel Energy Storage

When acting as a generator, an FES converts kinetic energy into electrical
energy. This can be translated in the following way: when rotating at an angular speed
ω (rad/s), the energy is converted into AC currents that must be converted to DC
currents via an AC/DC converter. The relation relating the FES moment of inertia to
its rated speed to provide the energy EFES, in is reminded below:
E = 0.5·J·ω2 Equation(3.8)
Where;
E = energy of flywheel
J = moment of inertia
ω = angular speed
If the flywheel has a mass m (in kg) and a radius r (in m) then J is found as
follows:
J = m·r2 Equation(3.9)
After the super capacitor has provided the battery with 10% of its required
energy, the remaining 90% will be provided by the FES and the grid simultaneously.
This phase will not last more than 10 minutes of the battery charging process. Thus
the maximum output energy provided by the FES is found as follows:
EFES,max = 0.9·E0,max – ·PGrid Equation(3.10)
Where;
EFES,max = maximum output energy of flywheel
EO,max = maximum output energy of charger
PGrid = grid power

3.7.3. Design of Super Capacitor

The relation relating the super capacitor moment capacitance to its rated
voltage to provide the energy EScap,in is reminded below:
E = 0.5·C·U2 Equation(3.11)
Where;
E = energy of super capacitor
C = capacitance
U = voltage across
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The super capacitor is required to provide the battery with 10% of its required
energy during the beginning of the battery charging process. Thus, the maximum
output energy provided by the super capacitor is found as follows:
EScap,max = 0.1·E0,max Equation(3.12)
Where;
EScap,ma x = maximum output energy of super capacitor
EO,max = maximum output energy of charger