My research remain focused on various segments of electric mobility. During my PhD, I have worked on the electric vehicle charging infrastructure and charging algorithms for fast charge with reduced battery degradation. I have also worked on power converters involved in the powertrain and the charging systems. Each one of them are briefed here:
Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure:
In this segment, I worked on vehicle to grid (V2G) systems. The power industry is undergoing significant changes with improvement in technology, change in government regulations and need of costumer. Smart grid, that aims to provide reliable, efficient, secure and quality energy is trying to incorporate advanced communication infrastructure between each entity, thus making grid more safer, greener and efficient. Kempton and Letendre revealed the possibility of EV’s to be used as a power source in 1987 and since than, V2G has gained attention. The architecture is based on the transfer of control signals as well as power signals which requires an efficient, economic and reliable communication system. Apart from communication the control system involved in V2G architecture also plays a major role as it determines the number of signals to be communicated. The work done remain focused to cater the following challenges:
Determining the type of controller applicable V2G
Optimizing charging and discharging pattern of EV's based on grid demand
Determining communication channels that are applicable based on location of entities
An architecture that has optimized channel for both communication and power flow
Fast charging algorithms with reduced battery degradation
The rate of charge/charge time and the degradation of battery are two major concerns in the wide acceptance of EVs. With increase in the rate of charge of EV batteries, the rate of degradation of the batteries also accelerates. Li-ion batteries are the most accepted battery chemistry for electric mobility. Hence, my work remain focused to reduce the battery degradation by developing smart chargers for Li-ion batteries. A few objectives are:
Analyse the impact of charging techniques on the battery degradation.
Determine the flow of events or processes that degrades by using electrochemical models of battery.
Accurately estimate parameters of the Li-ion batteries.
Propose charging algorithms to reduce battery degradation and meet the requirement of fast charge.
Design of high power compact chargers with active battery degradation control
Battery degradation is not the only issue related to the fast charge of EVs. The power oriented design and control of power converters in the electric vehicle charging is another major challenge. Hence, I work on the design of power converters for powertrain and chargers with the following objectives:
Exploring Si, SiC and GaN based devices for chargers
Impact of parasitic in the switching layout and performance of the power converters
PCB design for efficient thermal management of the power electronics switches in the converters
Modelling, simulation and hardware prototype development of power converters based on the previous three studies