Design and Analysis of a Buck-Boost Converter for a Photovoltaic Electric Vehicle System

Abstract

The Electric Vehicle (EV) sector uses rechargeable batteries to power up their vehicles. However, these batteries are made from resources that are quickly depleting. To solve this issue the use of renewable energy sources is crucial. Along with that, systems that boost the existing voltage are necessary to save space and energy resources. This study proposes systems that will help power up the EV using Photo Voltaic (PV) solutions. Firstly, buck, boost and buck-boost converters are designed to fulfil the industry requirements of EV applications. The varying voltage (8V-18V) from the solar panel is converted to a steady voltage source (12V) using a buck-boost converter. This is used to charge the 12V LiFePo4 battery. Using a buck converter, the 12V source is converted to 5V to power the car’s dashboard. The boost converter is used to convert 120V to 420V which powers the car. The buck-boost converter uses a closed loop PI control system. This increases its efficiency significantly. The buck and boost converters are simulated and analyzed in LT Spice while the buck-boost converter is simulated using MATLAB/SIMULINK. The power efficiencies of the buck, boost and buck-boost converters are over 96%.