IET Electrical Systems in Transportation

Research Article

Off-board electric vehicle battery charger ISSN 2042-9738

Received on 31st January 2019
Revised 8th February 2020
using PV array Accepted on 27th March 2020
E-First on 30th April 2020
doi: 10.1049/iet-est.2019.0035
[Link]

Sujitha Nachinarkiniyan1, Krithiga Subramanian1

1School of Electrical Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai 600 127, Tamil Nadu, India
E-mail: s_krithiga@[Link]

Abstract: During the recent decade, the automobile industry is booming with the evolution of electric vehicle (EV). Battery
charging system plays a major role in the development of EVs. Charging of EV battery from the grid increases its load demand.
This leads to propose a photovoltaic (PV) array-based off-board EV battery charging system in this study. Irrespective of solar
irradiations, the EV battery is to be charged constantly which is achieved by employing a backup battery bank in addition to the
PV array. Using the sepic converter and three-phase bidirectional DC–DC converter, the proposed system is capable of
charging the EV battery during both sunshine hours and non-sunshine hours. During peak sunshine hours, the backup battery
gets charged along with the EV battery and during non-sunshine hours, the backup battery supports the charging of EV battery.
The proposed charging system is simulated using Simulink in the MATLAB software and an experimental prototype is fabricated
and tested in the laboratory and the results are furnished in this study.

1 Introduction modes. It also has the advantage of the same input and output
voltage polarity, low input current ripple and low EMI [17, 18].
Ever increasing effects of green house gases from the conventional However, during low solar irradiation and non-sunshine hours,
IC engines lead to environmental concerns. This paved to the there is a need for an additional storage battery bank to charge the
booming of pollution free electric vehicles (EVs) in the automobile EV battery. This backup battery bank has to be charged in the
industry [1–3]. However, EV battery charging from the utility grid forward direction and discharged in a reverse direction depending
increases the load demand on the grid and eventually increases the on the solar irradiation. Hence, a bidirectional converter with
electricity bills to the EV owners which necessitate the use of power flow in either direction is required [19].
alternate energy sources [4, 5]. Due to inexhaustible and pollution The bidirectional converters are classified into non-isolated and
free nature of renewable energy sources (RESs), it can be used to isolated converters. Transformer in the isolated converters provides
charge the EV battery. Thus, RES driven EV can be termed as isolation which increases the price, weight and size of the
‘green transportation’ [6]. Solar is one of the promising RESs converter. The main concerns of EV are weight and size and hence,
which can be easily tapped to utilise its energy to charge EV non-isolated bidirectional converters are best suited for this
battery [7, 8]. Hence, PV array power is used to charge the EV application [20–22].
battery in the proposed system with the help of power converter Among various non-isolated bidirectional converter topologies,
topologies. bidirectional interleaved DC–DC converter (BIDC) is preferred
Lithium ion batteries are widely used in the EV due to its high due to its advantages like improved efficiency in discontinuous
power density, high efficiency, light weight and compact size [9, conduction mode and minimal inductance value, reduced ripple
10]. Also, these batteries have the capacity of fast charging and current due to multiphase interleaving technique. Snubber
long lifecycle with low self-discharge rate. They also have low risk capacitor across the switches reduces the turnoff losses and the
of explosion if it is over charged or short circuited. During inductor current parasitic ringing effect is also reduced by
charging, these batteries require precise voltage control. Hence, employing zero voltage resonant soft switching technique. These
various power electronic converters with voltage controller are are the added advantages of this bidirectional converter [23–25].
used for charging EV battery. The system in [25] is an off-board EV battery charging system
Due to the intermittent nature of the PV array, there is a need which charges the EV battery from PV array power through
for power converters to charge the EV battery. Among different bidirectional DC–DC converter in stand-still condition and EV
converters, multiport converters (MPCs) are preferred in the on- battery gets discharged to drive the dc load in the EV during the
board chargers of hybrid EVs due to its capability of interfacing running condition. It has the drawback of charging EV battery only
power sources and energy storage elements like PV array, during sunshine hours. To overcome this disadvantage and to
ultracapacitors, super capacitors, fuel cells and batteries with the charge the EV battery without any interruption, the proposed
loads in EV like motor, lights, power windows and doors, radios, charger is developed using PV array integrated with sepic
amplifiers and mobile phone charger. The MPCs have the converter, bidirectional DC–DC converter and backup battery bank
drawback of increase in weight, cost and maintenance of the EV as for charging the battery of an EV.
all the sources are placed in the EV itself. Also, the complexity of
controller implementation increases in these converter-based EV
battery charging system [11–13]. Hence, an off-board charger is 2 Operation of the proposed system
proposed in this paper in which the EV battery is located inside the The proposed PV-EV battery charger consists of a PV array, a sepic
vehicle unit and PV array and backup battery bank are located in converter, a half-bridge BIDC, an EV battery, a backup battery
the charging station or parking station. Various converter bank and a controller as shown in Fig. 1. The controller is used to
topologies for off-board charging system are presented in the generate the gate pulses to the sepic converter for obtaining the
literature [14–16]. constant output voltage at the dc link. The gate pulses to the
Among different converter topology, the sepic converter is switches of BIDC are also generated to operate BIDC in boost
preferred due to its capability of working in both boost and buck mode to charge the backup battery from PV array and in buck

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mode to charge EV battery from the backup battery. Also, the
controller generates the gate pulses to the auxiliary switches Sa, Sb
and Sc. During high solar irradiation, all the auxiliary switches are
ON to interface dc link with PV array through the sepic converter,
dc link with the backup battery through BIDC and dc link with EV
battery. When solar irradiation is low, switch Sa is turned OFF
isolating the PV array and sepic converter from the dc link.
Whereas the switch Sc is turned OFF to disconnect BIDC and
backup battery from the dc link, when the solar power is
insufficient to charge backup battery. The proposed system
operates in three modes viz., mode 1, mode 2 and mode 3 as
explained in this section.

2.1 Mode 1
During peak sunshine hours, when the generated PV array power is
higher, all the auxiliary switches are ON to charge both EV battery
and backup battery simultaneously from PV array through sepic Fig. 1 Block diagram of the EV battery charger
converter and BIDC, respectively. In this mode, BIDC operates in
forward direction boosting the dc link voltage to charge backup
battery.

2.2 Mode 2
During low solar irradiation conditions and non-sunshine hours,
PV array power is insufficient to charge EV battery. Hence, the PV
array is disconnected from the dc link by turning OFF the switch Sa
and switches Sb & Sc are ON connecting EV battery to the backup
battery through BIDC. In this mode, BIDC operates in reverse
direction stepping down the backup battery voltage to charge EV Fig. 2 Schematic diagram of sepic converter
battery.
current, ΔVC1 is the capacitor, C1 voltage ripple, ΔVdc is the output
2.3 Mode 3 voltage ripple, and Dmax is the maximum duty ratio calculated as
When PV array power generated is sufficient to charge only EV follows:
battery, switches Sa and Sb are ON and switch Sc is OFF to
disconnect the BIDC and backup battery bank from the dc link. V dc + V D
Dmax = (5)
V PVmin + V dc + V D
3 Design of the converters used in the proposed
where VD is the diode voltage drop.
charger
3.1 Sepic converter 3.2 Bidirectional interleaved DC–DC converter
In the proposed charging system, the sepic converter provides the Fig. 3 shows the schematic diagram of the BIDC employed in the
constant output voltage irrespective of the PV array voltage by proposed charging system. Backup battery bank is located on the
adjusting its duty ratio using the PI controller. The sepic converter high voltage side while the dc link is on the low voltage side of the
consists of one IGBT switch, one diode, two inductors and two converter. This converter operates in boost mode in forward
capacitors as shown in Fig. 2. The major advantages of the sepic direction and in buck mode in reverse direction. In boost mode,
converter are: (i) it can operate in both boost and buck modes switches SL1, SL2 and SL3 are the active switches whereas, in buck
depending on the duty ratio; (ii) it provides the output voltage with
mode, the active switches are SU1, SU2 and SU3. There is an anti-
the same polarity as input voltage unlike buck–boost and cuk
converters [16]. The voltage gain of the sepic converter is provided parallel diode and parallel snubber capacitor to all the switches
by the following equation: employed in this converter. In boost mode, the inductors L1, L2 and
L3 act as boost inductors whereas they act as a low-pass filter in
V dc D buck mode. The capacitors, CL and CH are the smoothing energy
= (1)
V PV 1 − D buffer elements of this converter. Interleaved inductor currents
minimise the ripples in the current. The modes of operation of the
where Vdc is the dc link voltage, VPV is the PV array voltage and D converter are analysed by considering the operation of a single leg
is the duty ratio of the sepic converter. The values of inductors and converter in [20]. The voltage conversion ratio of BIDC in boost
capacitors of the sepic converter are chosen as per (2)–(4) [17]: and buck modes are given by (6) and (7), respectively

V PVminDmax V BackupBatt 1
La = Lb = (2) = (6)
2ΔiPV f sw V dc 1 − DBoost

IdcDmax V dc
C1 = (3) = DBuck (7)
ΔV C1 f sw V BackupBatt

IdcDmax where VBackupBatt is the backup battery voltage and DBoost is the
C2 = (4) duty ratio of BIDC in boost mode and DBuck is the buck mode duty
ΔV dc f sw
ratio. The values of inductors are considered less than the critical
where VPVmin is the minimum PV array voltage, ΔiPV is the input inductance values in both boost and buck modes to operate the
converter in discontinuous conduction mode to improve efficiency
current ripple, fsw is the switching frequency, Idc is the dc link

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Fig. 3 Schematic diagram of half-bridge BIDC

[20]. The critical inductance value is calculated in boost and buck

modes using (8) and (9), respectively
2 2
3V BackupBatt DBoost 1 − DBoost
Lcric = (8)
2P f s

2
3V dc 1 − DBuck
Lcric = (9)
2P f s

where P is the Backup battery power. The values of the capacitors

on the low and high voltage side of BIDC are considered based on
the following equations:

DBoostP
CH = 2 (10)
2 f sV BackupBatt

V BackupBattDBuck 1 − DBuck
CL = (11)
8 f s2LΔV dc

4 Design of controllers
Controller of the proposed charger generates gate pulses to the
switches present in the sepic converter, BIDC and also to the three
auxiliary switches. The algorithm to turn ON and turn OFF the
auxiliary switches is shown in Fig. 4. Controller senses the PV
array voltage and current, and computes the PV array power. If the
PV array power is greater than EV battery rated power, PR, then
the controller generates the gate pulses to turn ON all the auxiliary
switches to charge both EV battery and backup battery bank
simultaneously from the PV array. If the PV array power is lesser
than EV battery rated power but higher than the minimum required
power, PM, the switch, Sc is turned OFF disconnecting the backup
battery from the charging system and switches, Sa and Sb are turned
ON to charge the EV battery alone from the PV array. If the PV
array power is lesser than the minimum required power, PM, then
the switch, Sa is turned OFF to isolate the PV array and sepic
converter from the charging system. The switches, Sb and Sc are
turned ON enabling the backup battery to charge EV battery. The
PI voltage controller is used in the proposed charging system to
generate gate pulses to the MOSFET in the sepic converter to
maintain a constant voltage at the dc link irrespective of variations
in the PV array voltage.
BIDC comprises of three legs with two switches in each leg.
Gate pulses have to be provided to the two switches in the same leg
with the phase shift of 180° from each other. The controller in the
proposed system generates six gate pulses to the BIDC depending
on the PV array power. If PV array power exceeds PR, gate pulses
are generated to the switches of BIDC to operate it in boost mode, Fig. 4 Flowchart of gate pulses generation for the auxiliary switches
stepping up the dc link voltage to charge the backup battery bank.
In this mode, the gate pulses are generated to the switches of leg 1 buck mode, producing a step down voltage at the dc link sufficient
with 0° phase and to the leg 2 switches with 120° phase shift from to charge the EV battery by the backup battery. In this mode, the
that of leg 1 switches and to the leg 3 switches with 240° phase gate pulses are fed to the leg 3 switches with 0° phase and gate
shift from that of leg 1 switches. If the PV array power is less than pulses to the leg 2 and leg 1 switches are 120° and 240° phase
PM, the gate pulses are generated accordingly to operate BIDC in shifted with respect to that of leg 3 switches, respectively.

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Fig. 5 Simulation model of the proposed charger

5 Mathematical modelling of proposed system − Rlp + Rdson − 1 − DBIDC

0
Mathematical model of the proposed system is obtained by L L
combining the state-space average model of Sepic converter and −1 + 2DBIDC
A1 = 0 0 (16)
Bidirectional DC–DC converter. It is derived by considering the CL
ON and OFF switching period of the converters [26, 27]. The state- 1 − DBIDC −1
space matrices of the sepic converter, state matrix ‘A’, input matrix 0
‘B’, output matrix ‘C’, feed forward matrix ‘D’ are found to be CH CH Req1

− 1 − Ds − 1 − Ds 1
0 0 L
La La B1 = (17)
0
Ds − 1 − Ds
0 0 0
Lb Lb
A= (12)
1 − Ds −Ds C1 = 0 0 1 (18)
0 0
C1 C1
1 − Ds 1 − Ds −1 D1 = 0 (19)
0
C2 C2 C2Req
where L = (L1 /3), Rlp = (RL1 /3), Req1 is equivalent impedance
1 across capacitor CH, Rdson the MOSFET turn on resistance, RL1 is
La the parasitic resistance of inductor, L1 and DBIDC is the duty ratio
B= 0 (13) of BIDC.
Transfer functions of the converters are obtained from the
0 above state-space models and they are combined to produce the
0 overall transfer function of the proposed system. Frequency
response of the proposed system exhibits the positive gain margin
C= 0 0 0 1 (14) and phase margin which in turn indicates that the proposed system
is stable.
D= 0 (15) Simulation studies of the proposed charger are carried out and
the results are furnished in the following section.
where Req is equivalent impedance at the dc link and Ds is the duty
ratio of Sepic converter. 6 Simulation studies and results
Similarly, the state-space matrices of the BIDC, state matrix
‘A1’, input matrix ‘B1’, output matrix ‘C1’, feed forward matrix Simulink in the MATLAB software is used for the simulation
‘D1’ are found to be studies of the proposed system. PV array is modelled using its
classical equation [28, 29]. The Sepic and BIDC converter is
modelled using power MOSFETs, inductors and capacitors
available in SimPowerSystems Blockset in simulink library.
Controller is developed using PWM generator, pulse generator,
logic gates, comparator, multiplier and PI controller available in
the Simulink library. PV array model is integrated with the

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Fig. 7 Waveforms of PV array irradiation and gate pulses to the auxiliary
switches

charging system by turning OFF Switch, Sb to avoid trickle

charging of EV battery.
Fig. 8 depicts the simulated dynamic waveforms of PV array, dc
link, EV battery and backup battery for the corresponding
irradiation values. In mode 1, the PV array voltage, VPV of 33.3 V
is stepped down to the dc link voltage, Vdc of 28 V by sepic
converter as shown in Figs. 8a and b. Increase in state of charge
(SOC) of EV battery and its negative current shown in Fig. 8c
Fig. 6 Simulation model of indicates that the EV battery is charging in this mode. BIDC
(a) Sepic converter, (b) BIDC operates as boost converter in forward direction in this mode,
boosting the dc link voltage, Vdc of 28 to 60.6 V to charge the
developed sepic converter and BIDC along with the battery models backup battery with the increase in SOC as presented in Fig. 8d.
available in Simulink library for developing the proposed charging In mode 2 (during non-sunshine hours and low irradiation
system as shown in Fig. 5. conditions), PV array is isolated resulting in PV array voltage, VPV
The developed simulation model of sepic converter and BIDC raising to its open circuit voltage of 37.25 V and PV array current,
shown as subsystems in Fig. 5 are depicted in Figs. 6a and b, IPV of 0 A, which is represented by the PV array voltage and
respectively. current waveforms shown in Fig. 8a. During this period, BIDC
The dynamic response of the system was investigated using the operates in buck mode in reverse direction, stepping down the
developed simulation model for PV array irradiation of 850, 100 backup battery voltage to 27.32 V to charge the EV battery as
and 500 W/m2 in mode 1, mode 2 and mode 3, respectively. The shown in Fig. 8c. The positive current and decrease in SOC of
simulation results showing PV array voltage and current backup battery shown in Fig. 8d indicates that the backup battery is
waveforms along with the gate pulses to the auxiliary switches are discharged in this mode. At the end of this mode the backup battery
depicted in Fig. 7. Irradiation waveforms are shown in the scale of voltage is reduced to 55.2 V from 60.6 V as depicted in Fig. 8d.
1 for 1000 W/m2 in Fig. 7. Thus, both EV battery and backup Whereas in mode 3, PV array voltage, VPV of 31.81 V is step
battery gets charged simultaneously in this mode. Whereas at low down to a dc link voltage, Vdc of 27.6 V to charge the EV battery
irradiation of 100 W/m2, the gate pulses of auxiliary switches, Vgsb as shown in Figs. 8a and b. In this mode also, SOC of EV battery is
and Vgsc are high and gate pulse, Vgsa is low as PV array power is increasing and current is negative, indicating the charging of EV
insufficient for charging EV battery. Thus, the backup battery bank battery. In mode 3, as the backup battery is isolated from the
discharges through BIDC to charge EV battery in this mode. charging system, backup battery voltage is maintained at its
During irradiation of 500 W/m2, the auxiliary switches Sa and previous value of 55.2 V and current is reduced to zero as shown in
Sb are ON and switch Sc is OFF disconnecting backup battery from Fig. 8d. Fig. 8c shows that the SOC of EV battery is increasing and
its current is negative in all the three modes depicting that EV
the system. Since PV array power is sufficient only for charging
battery gets charged continuously either from PV array or from
EV battery, backup battery is isolated and not charged in this mode.
backup battery.
Fig. 7 shows that the gate pulses to the switch Sb is always high as
The interleaved inductor current waveforms of BIDC in all the
the EV battery is constantly charged in all the three modes. If the modes of operation are shown in Fig. 9. The reversal of inductor
EV battery is fully charged, EV battery is isolated from the current flow in mode 2 clearly indicates that the backup battery
gets discharged in this mode and zero inductor current in the mode

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Fig. 8 Waveforms of
(a) PV array voltage, VPV & PV array current, IPV, (b) DC link voltage, Vdc, & current, Idc, (c) EV battery SOC, EV battery current, IBatt & EV battery voltage, VBatt, (d) Backup
battery SOC, backup battery current, IBackup Batt & backup battery voltage, VBackup Batt

3 indicates that the BIDC is disconnected from the charger. To V and 100 µF/160 V. The gate pulses of 25 kHz switching
validate the simulation studies, hardware prototype is developed frequency are fed to the MOSFET switches of sepic converter and
and tested and their results are furnished in the following section. BIDC using PIC16F876A microcontroller and IR2130 driver
circuit. Lead acid batteries (2 batteries each of 12 V, 35 Ah are
7 Experimental setup and results connected in series) are used as EV battery and 5 batteries each of
12 V, 100 Ah are connected in series for backup battery bank. The
The hardware prototype of the proposed EV battery charger was components specification of the proposed system is furnished in
fabricated and tested in the laboratory. The experimental setup was Table 1.
tested with Magna programmable dc supply as the input power Also, the experimental investigation is carried out in rapid
source being used as PV array (two panels with open circuit control prototyping (RCP) methodology in OPAL-RT Real time
voltage, Voc of 37.25 V and short circuit current, Isc of 8.75 A are simulator OP4500. Controller is designed in the MATLAB/
connected in parallel). Simulink software in the RT Lab environment. The input signals,
MOSFET IRF540 (100 V, 28 A), Diode RHRP30120 (1200 V, Vin and Iin are sensed using sensing instrument available in the
30 A), inductors of 1 mH/20 A and capacitors of 1000 µF/250 V laboratory and provided as analogue input to the controller through
and 600 µF/150 V are used to fabricate sepic converter. BIDC is analogue input ports of OP4500 using DB37 connector. The gate
fabricated using the similar rated MOSFET, snubber capacitors of pulses are generated from OPAL-RT and fed to the MOSFET
0.1 µF/63 V, Inductors of 85 µH/15 A and capacitors of 1 µF/450 switches using IR2130 driver circuit through analogue output ports

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of OP4500. The photograph of the experimental setup is shown in The experimental results of the proposed charging system in
Fig. 10. different modes are shown in Figs. 11–13. Figs. 11a and b show

Fig. 9 Inductor current waveforms of BIDC

Table 1 Hardware specifications

Components Specifications No. of components
MOSFET, IRF540 100 V, 28 A 7
diode, RHRP30120 1200 V, 30 A 1
inductors, La & Lb 1 mH, 20 A 2
capacitor, Ca 1000 µF, 250 V 1
capacitor, Cb 600 µF, 150 V 1
microcontroller Atmega 32 2
gate Driver IR2110 6
DIODE RHRP8120 500 V, 10 A 6
inductors, L1, L2 & L3 85 μH/15 A 3
capacitor, CL 1 μF/ 450 V 1
capacitor, CH 100 μF/160 V 1

Fig. 10 Photograph of the experimental setup

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Fig. 11 Mode 1 experimentation waveforms of
(a) Sepic input, (b) Sepic output, (c) EV battery, (d) Backup battery

Fig. 12 Inductor current waveforms of BIDC in mode 1

that the input voltage, Vin of 33.6 V was bucked to a dc link In mode 2, input dc supply along with sepic converter is
voltage, Vdc of 27.4 V by the sepic converter to charge both EV isolated from the charging system and the backup battery
battery and backup battery. Fig. 11c shows the waveforms of EV discharges through BIDC to charge EV battery. In this mode, BIDC
battery voltage, VBatt of 27.2 V and current, IBatt of 8.76 A. In this operates in buck mode in the reverse direction with the duty ratio
mode, BIDC operates in boost mode with the duty ratio of 0.53 of 0.41 for stepping down the backup battery voltage, VBackupBatt of
boosting the dc link voltage, Vdc of 27.4 V to charge the backup 60.7 V and the EV battery voltage, VBatt of 25 V is obtained as
battery. shown in Figs. 13a and b, respectively and Fig. 13c shows the
The backup battery voltage, VBackupBatt of 58.8 V is obtained as waveforms of inductor currents of BIDC. In this mode, out of 228
shown in Fig. 11d and the waveforms of inductor currents of the W of backup battery power, 222 W is supplied to the EV battery
BIDC in this mode is shown in Fig. 12. In mode 1, out of 467 W contributing to the charging system efficiency of 97%.
input power, 238 W power is supplied to the EV battery and 215 W In mode 3, backup battery is disconnected along with the BIDC
is supplied to the backup battery. from the charging system and the EV battery alone gets charged
from the input source. The input voltage, Vin of 28.6 V is stepped

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Fig. 14 Experimentation waveforms of
(a) Sepic input, (b) EV battery in Mode 3

Figs. 15a–c, it is clear that in mode 1, input power is used to charge

both EV battery and backup battery. In mode 2, as the input power
is insufficient to charge EV battery, input source is isolated from
the system which is indicated by zero input current in Fig. 15a and
backup battery is discharged to supply power to the EV battery
which is indicated by the negative backup battery current in
Fig. 15c. In mode 3, input power is sufficient enough to charge EV
battery only and hence the backup battery is isolated from the
system which is indicated by zero backup battery current in
Fig. 15c. Fig. 15b clearly depicts that the EV battery is charged
with constant voltage of 27 V approximately in all the 3 modes.

8 Conclusion
In this paper, an off-board EV battery charging system fed from PV
array is proposed. This paper discusses the flexibility of the system
to charge the EV battery constantly irrespective of the irradiation
Fig. 13 Mode 2 Experimentation waveforms of conditions. The system is designed and simulated in Simulink
(a) Backup battery, (b) EV battery, (c) BIDC Inductor currents environment of the MATLAB software. The hardware prototype is
fabricated and tested in laboratory for the three modes of operation
down and EV battery voltage, VBatt of 27.2 V is obtained as shown of the proposed charging system separately and the results are
in Fig. 14. In both simulation and experimentation, the average furnished. In OPAL-RT Real time simulator OP4500, experimental
efficiency of the charging system in all the three modes was found investigation is carried out in RCP methodology and the dynamic
to be ∼96%. From the waveforms shown in Section 5 and Section response of the system is furnished both in simulation and
6, it is evident that the experimentation results are in tune with the experimental investigation. Correlation between the simulation and
simulation results proving the effectuality of the charging system. experimental results emphasise the effectiveness of the proposed
The dynamic response of the system was depicted in Fig. 15. charger.
The input voltage and current waveforms are shown in Fig. 15a
with the mode transition and the corresponding EV battery voltage
and current waveforms and backup battery voltage and current
waveforms are shown in Figs. 15b and c, respectively. From

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