SWITCHED-CAPACITOR VOLTAGE BOOST CONVERTER
FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Naasif Ahmed S (211418105094)
Naveen B (211418105096)
Prajabhadhan K C (211418105106)
Saran V (211418105139)
Guided By
Batch – B9
DR. MANOJ KUMAR N
Professor, EEE,
Panimalar Engineering College
MAY 2022
ABSTRACTT
❑ The project is about a switched-capacitor (SC) voltage boost converter and its control methods for implementing dc-ac and
ac-dc power conversion. The SC converter employs a switched-capacitor circuit augmented with the main converter
circuit to the power source, thus providing unique features that cannot be attained by the traditional voltage-source
inverter (VSI) or boost VSI.
❑ The additional features include doubling the area of the linear modulation region and eliminating both the large inductor in
the boost dc-dc stage and the large filtering capacitor, which leads to a higher energy density and lower cost. At first, we
analysed the existing system and then compared the simulation results of 2-Level SVPWM inverter with 3-Level SVPWM
inverter. The hardware project is designed to control the speed of a BLDC motor using closed loop control technique.
CONTENTST
❑ Introduction
❑ Existing System
❑ Proposed System
❑ Methodology
❑ Simulation and Results
❑ Hardware Design
❑ Conclusion
❑ References
INTRODUCTION
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a white paper on energy transformation and the oil market
beyond 2040 in May 2017. The authors concluded in their paper that a rapid adaptation scenario for electric
vehicles is likely. By 2042, about 93 percent (290 million) of all automobiles in the United States will be
electric. At that point, internal combustion-powered automakers that do not migrate to electric vehicles (EVs)
will face a Kodak moment. In an ideal scenario, the rapid adoption of EVs is determined by how quickly EVs
exceed internal combustion-powered automobiles in mileage and price.
EV technology's prospective progress can be divided into three categories: battery chemistry, autonomous
driving, and power electronic units. The drive train is one of the most significant power conversion
components in the last category. The improvement of the drive train results in size reduction, fast speed/torque
dynamic, and better utilization of battery power.
Because of its dependability, most of the existing EVs use a two-level voltage source inverter (VSI) with or
without a boost stage. Exploring the limitations of VSIs can help us identify the opportunities to improve the
EV power train. VSIs are inherent buck converters. As a result, the dc-link voltage must be greater than the dc
or ac input voltage. When the available dc voltage is restricted, an additional dc-dc boost converter is required
to provide the desired ac voltage.
Two design configurations are typically used for commercial traction electric drive systems: the first one is a
battery directly powering a two-level inverter, and the second one is where a battery is connected to the
inverter via an intermediate dc-dc boost stage. An Electric Vehicle (EV) is a vehicle which does not depend
entirely on an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) for propulsion, but rather employs an electric drive system
to supplement or replace the ICE.
Distinguishing features of different vehicle technologies
EXISTING SYSTEMT
❑ The conventional boost inverter converter topology uses VSI. It
is a type of the inverter circuits that converts a dc input voltage
into its ac equivalent at the output.
❑ Voltage source inverter changes the dc form of voltage into ac
form. So, in voltage source inverters, if MOSFET is used, then
it can be turned off by controlling the base current. The DC-
link capacitor filter ripple component and balance input power.
❑ This inverter circuit converts DC to AC. It achieves this by
closing and opening the switches in the right sequence. It has
four different operating states which are based on which
switches are closed. A three-phase inverter converts a DC input
into a three-phase AC output. Its three arms are normally
Schematics of the conventional inverter-converter topology delayed by an angle of 120° so as to generate a three-phase AC
supply.
DRAWBACKS OF EXISTING SYSTEMT
➢ The conventional boost stage depicted in the previous slide is not quite perfect.
➢ The power rating of the dc-dc converter must match the battery pack power, leading to a
proportionally large inductor.
➢ The inductor is a heavy and costly component. Furthermore, the inductor copper and core losses
increase proportionally with the size of the inductor.
➢ When boosted by a high-voltage ratio, the boost converter must operate with a high duty cycle where
the efficiency is relatively low.
➢ The partial power efficiency is also reduced, because the ac losses (switching loss and ac magnetic
loss) depend on voltage but are nearly independent of current.
➢ At high duty cycles, the rms current applied to the bus capacitor is also quite high, which impacts the
size and cost of the capacitor.
PROPOSED SYSTEMT
To overcome the above limitations of the traditional drive trains, we
propose the switched-capacitor (SC) voltage boost converter and its
control methods. This figure shows one version of the proposed SC
converter. It employs a switched capacitor circuit with the inverter to
form a unified circuit. The switched capacitor circuit is used to create a
multi-levelled dc-link voltage. Therefore, the proposed switched-
capacitor circuit differs from the conventional one by not having the
reverse blocking diode at the load side or the large filtering capacitor.
The regulation of the output current and voltage is realized by unified
Schematics of the proposed switched-capacitor voltage boost converter control of both the inverter and the switched-capacitor stages.
METHODOLOGYT
Space Vector PWM (SVPWM) is the most widely used inverter switching mechanism for three-phase
inverter used for BLDC motors. It achieves the voltage vector control by adjusting the timing and duty ratio
of the eight switching states of the three-phase inverter. Assuming, that stator coils in the three phases
are identical, each switching state of the three-phase inverter corresponds to a voltage vector in the three-
phase stator coil frame.
Therefore, It corresponds to eight switching state there are eight voltage vector (v0 to v7) as shown and their
corresponding switch states are shown in the next slide. v0 and v7 are zero vectors having zero magnitude
whereas v1 to v6 are six active vectors with fixed magnitude and 60° apart from each other. For example,
for switching state (0, 0, 1) for the phase (a, b, c) of the three-phase inverter. The lower gates of phase A and
B are turn ON and upper gate of phase c is turn ON.
Eight switching vectors
For any reference voltage vector which falls in the three-phase
frame, we can resolve this vector using the combination of the
eight voltage vectors. For example, the reference vector shown
above can be resolved by using two adjacent vectors v1,v2 and
the zero vectors v0, v7 as
𝟏 𝟏
𝒗 = 𝒅 𝟏 𝒗𝟏 + 𝒅 𝟐 𝒗𝟐 + 𝒅 𝟑 𝒗𝟎 + 𝒅 𝟑 𝒗𝟕
𝟐 𝟐
where d1 and d2 is the
duration for which vector v1 and v2 is applied respectively and d3 is the
Eight active vectors according to the switching states
duration for which zero vectors (v0 and v7) are applied.
SIMULATION AND RESULTST
2-Level SVPWM Simulation Block Diagram
The simulation in the previous slide shows the
Simulink model of 2-Level SVPWM BLDC
Drive. In that figure, the switched-capacitor
circuit is connected to the inverter circuit and
then the inverter is directly connected to the
BLDC motor. The gate pulse for the 6
MOSFET’s in the inverter bridge is given by
the 2-Level SVPWM circuit. The SVPWM
Generator (2-Level) block generates pulses for
three-phase two-level DC/AC converters using
the SVPWM technique. The reference circuit
for buck and boost PWM provides gate pulses
to the three MOSFET switches in switched-
capacitor circuit.
2-Level SVPWM Inverter Output waveforms
2-Level SVPWM Inverter Current waveform
2-Level SVPWM Battery Output waveform
3-Level SVPWM Simulation Block Diagram
The Simulink model of a 3-level SVPWM BLDC Drive is
shown in the previous slide. 3-level SVPWM controller
circuit takes Ualpha and Ubeta from the SVPWM function
block as inputs and produces modulating signals to the block
“Subsystem 1”. This output is then sent to the block
"Subsystem 2“, which generates the modulating waveforms
Tcm1, Tcm2, and Tcm3 needed for pulse width generation.
This three modulation signals helps in the implementation of
space vector PWM to produce the gate pulse of the inverter
bridge. In subsystem “Produce PWM1” the gate pulse for
inverter bridge is generated by comparing the modulating
signal with high frequency carrier signal. The reference
circuit for buck and boost PWM provides gate pulses to the
three MOSFET switches in switched-capacitor circuit.
3-Level SVPWM Inverter Output waveforms
3-Level SVPWM Battery Input waveforms 3-Level SVPWM Battery Output waveform
HARDWARE DESIGNT
Block Diagram of Switched Capacitor - BLDC Motor Speed Control
The Hall Effect sensor signals are read from the BLDC motor, and it fed as inputs
to the DSPIC30F4011 device. A 3-bit code can be obtained with values ranging
from 1 to 6 by reading the Hall sensor. The duty cycle of the PWM is varied by
using a rotational increment push switch. These PWM pulses are enabled as
based on the 3-bit code getting from Hall Effect sensor signal. There are six
PWM pulses are generated to operate the three-phase inverter.
The BLDC Motor speed is adjusted by varying the PWM duty cycle. The BLDC
motor is controlled by dSPIC30F4011 DSP Processor. The 24V BLDC Motor
power is converted from 24V AC and Full wave rectifier. The 3 Phase Inverter
circuit is formed using IRFP250 MOSFET and its gate is driven by TLP250 with
separate isolator for TOP and BOTTOM MOSFET from dSPIC Processor.
Block Diagram Of BLDC Motor Speed Control
The switched capacitor circuit is formed by the three numbers of IRFP250
MOSFETs which are mounted with heat sink. A 1000μF-63V capacitor is
connected in parallel to the 2 MOSFET switches . Then, this SC circuit is then
connected to the inverter card.
A Hall-effect position sensor is used to sense the rotor position on a span of 60◦,
which is required for the electronic commutation of the BLDC motor. There are six
steps are used to cause a full revolution. For each step, positive position means high
side MOSFET on and low side off, negative position means high side MOSFET off
and low side on, and neutral position means both MOSFET’s are ON.
The BLDC Motor actual speed is measured in dsPIC30F4011 by using a feedback
signal. The feedback signal is getting from BLDC Motor by using Hall Effect sensor.
The dsPIC30F4011 controller displays the motor speed as an RPM value in LCD.
First, initialize the PWM, Capture, Ports and the Change Notification inputs. After
initializing, the capture and change notification pins are read the hall sensor signals.
It detects the input signal of hall sensor and allowed to enable the corresponding
phase of PWM pulses. At this point the motor starts spinning. The Motor speed is
SC Converter BLDC Speed Controller
varied depending on the PWM duty cycle which is adjusted by using a rotational
increment key. The duty cycle and speed measurement values are displayed in LCD.
RESULTS
Input Voltage = 13 Volts
Input Voltage (V) Output Voltage (V) Duty Cycle Speed (rpm)
12 22 12 139
14 27 30 414
16 31 40 561
18 34 60 826
20 38 80 1067
22 43 90 1180
Input-Output Voltages Tabulation Duty Cycle-Motor Speed Tabulation
CONCLUSIONT
This SC converter uses a switched-capacitor circuit in conjunction with the main converter circuit to provide unique capabilities
that regular VSI or boost VSI cannot provide. One of these distinct features is the ability to double the area of the linear modulation
region. The SC converter eliminates the need for a bulky and expensive inductor to enhance voltage. Instead, it simply uses
capacitors to generate voltage boost, resulting in higher power density. The carrier-based modulation approach for the new SC
converter is adapted from SVPWM and uses the SVPWM method's exact switching sequence with minimal computational work.
The basic function of the three-level inverter is very similar to the two-level inverter. While the two-level inverter switches the
output phases between the positive dc bus and the negative dc bus, the three-level inverter switches the output phases between the
positive dc bus, the negative dc bus, and the neutral point of the bus. This arrangement has several advantages. First, the addition of
the neutral point connection reduces the output voltage distortion and lowers the voltage rise time at the motor terminals. This
improved output voltage also reduces common mode voltage, which in turn reduces stresses on motor bearings. Finally, the
additional voltage level allows operation with a lower switching frequency
This project also discusses the theory behind three level converters, with the switched capacitor converter serving as
the basis. SVPWM technique, which was chosen for the project because it makes efficient use of the DC link
voltage, has low current ripple, and is relatively simple to implement in hardware. These characteristics allow it for
high-voltage, high-power applications such as renewable energy production. Increasing the voltage levels reduces
harmonic distortion because it more closely resembles the ideal sinusoidal output, but it also raises voltage
unbalancing issues.
Furthermore, the system gets increasingly complex, both in theory (more calculations) and in reality (more
equipment). As a result, many people choose to work directly with three-level converter itself rather than going for
multi-level inverters. The SC converter can boost or buck voltage, minimize component count, increase power
density, and reduce cost.
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REFERENCEST
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