Control Scheme and Power Electronics Architecture for a Wirelessly Distributed and Enabled Battery Energy Storage System

Jaber Abu Qahouq,Yuan Cao

doi:10.3390/en11071887

Abstract

This paper presents and evaluates a control scheme and a power electronics architecture for a Wirelessly Enabled and Distributed Battery Energy Storage (WEDES) system. It includes several independent battery modules (WEDES-MX modules) that transfer both power and information wirelessly to an On-Board Unit (OBU). Using wirelessly communicated State-Of-Charge (SOC) information from the WEDES-MX modules, the OBU part of the WEDES controller generates control commands and send them back to the WEDES-MX modules in order to control the amount of power/energy drawn from each WEDES-MX module and achieve SOC balancing. The presented controller also allows the WEDES system to maintain operation with a regulated bus voltage even if one or more WEDES-MX modules are removed or fail and under both balanced and unbalanced SOC conditions. The WEDES system with the presented WEDES controller when utilized in Electric Vehicle (EV) application, can allow for fast and safe exchange/swapping of WEDES-MX modules at an exchange station, home, or work and therefore potentially eliminating the range (mileage) anxiety issue that is associated with EVs’ range and the needed recharging time. The main objective of this paper is to present and evaluate the WEDES discharging controller for the WEDES system and present preliminary proof-of-concept scaled-down experimental prototype results.

Highlights

The limited driving range and the needed recharging time of the lithium-ion (Li-Ion) battery pack is one of the major/top reasons/barriers slowing down the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8].This is as a result of what is referred to by “Range Anxiety” [1,3,4,5]
The presented concept (POC) consists of three Wirelessly Enabled and Distributed Battery Energy Storage (WEDES)-MX modules and its implementation follows the description given throughout this paper especially in Section 3, Figures 5 and 6
The POC prototype design example of the WEDES system presented in this paper has three The POC prototype design example of the WEDES system presented in this paper has three

Summary

Introduction

The limited driving range and the needed recharging time of the lithium-ion (Li-Ion) battery pack is one of the major/top reasons/barriers slowing down the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8].This is as a result of what is referred to by “Range Anxiety” [1,3,4,5]. The uncertainty and worry about if the battery of an EV has sufficient energy to reach a destination (especially for long range drives), thinking about when there is a need to recharge the battery, and/or how long is the time needed to recharge an EV battery cause anxiety. This limits the potential for EV to mostly or completely replace the need to have another gasoline or fossil fuel based vehicles in households and limits the adoption increase of EVs in commercial applications.

Objectives

Results

Conclusion