Abstract
Keywords:
light electric vehicles (LEVs), hybrid energy system (HES), proton exchanged membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), supercapacitors (SCAPs),
Abstract
A hybrid energy system (HES) that contains a stack of proton exchanged membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) and a set of supercapacitors (SCAPs) for light electric vehicles (LEVs) is investigated in this paper. The hybrid energy management strategy is developed to improve the efficiency of the HES for LEVs. The detailed dynamical system model composes of a PEMFC stack, a traction motor, wheels model, road model, transmission system, power converter/inverter, and a set of SCAPs. The system-level modeling, interactive simulations, and performance evaluation are developed in this study by using Matlab/Simulink software package. An experimental setup and field tests are carried out to validate the performance of the developed dynamical PEMFC model. The simulation and testing results of a 48V PEMFC stack for the proposed strategy of HES show that it can reduce the system power losses, and increase the overall efficiency of the LEVs. The cruise range of the LEVs can be substantially extended.