Design and Modeling of Hybrid Electric Vehicle Powered by Solar and Fuel Cell Energy with Quadratic Buck/Boost Converter

Abstract

Considering technological advancements and international standards mandating reduced greenhouse gas emissions, automobile manufacturers have shifted their focus toward innovative technologies related to fuel-cell electric vehicles. Despite having an all-electric powertrain, fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) utilize a fuel cell stack as their energy source, which runs on hydrogen and results in the emission of only water and heat. Due to the absence of tailpipe pollutants, fuel-cell electric vehicles are considered zero-emission vehicles. Among fuel cell types, low-temperature and low-pressure fuel cells, such as Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs), are well-suited for vehicular applications as they exhibit high power density, operate at lower temperatures (60-80°C), and are less prone to corrosion than other types of fuel cells. The main objective of this paper is to investigate solar-assisted electric fuel cell vehicles that efficiently integrate the fuel cell system with an electrolyzer and solar power to fulfill the fluctuating power demands of the electric motor and auxiliary systems. A novel EV configuration with a fuel cell, electrolyzer and onboard PV cell is proposed. An onboard PV cell can assist the fuel cell when the irradiation is enough to generate the power. During the idle conditions of vehicles, PV-generated power can be converted into chemical energy using an electrolyzer and generated hydrogen can be stored in a hydrogen tank. To match the voltage required by the motor and sources a quadratic bidirectional buck-boost converter is employed. The proposed configuration is examined by considering variable irradiance and variable speed values. To obtain the maximum power output from the photovoltaic (PV) panel, a Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithm is employed to regulate the PV system. To enhance the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of PV systems, an enhanced version of the incremental conductance algorithm is utilized as the MPPT control strategy. Outer voltage and inner current control are adopted to regulate the DC output voltage of the QBBC converter. An indirect vector-controlled induction motor is used as vehicle drive. Simulations are performed to investigate the proposed EV configuration in MATLAB/SIMULINK.