Reconfigurable Cascaded Multilevel Converter: A New Topology For EV Powertrain

Tresca, Giulia; Leuzzi, Riccardo; Formentini, Andrea; Rovere, Luca; Anglani, Norma; Zanchetta, Pericle

Abstract

This paper presents a novel cascaded multilevel converter topology with reconfigurable battery modules able to merge the power conversion and the battery management functionalities for electric powertrain application. In the proposed topology, each battery cell can be individually connected or bypassed according to the required voltage and current levels. Both the charging and discharging processes can be controlled to avoid voltage imbalances between the cells and to enhance fault tolerance, battery life, and safety. Converter switching and conduction losses are evaluated and used as key parameters for the optimization of the proposed architecture. Furthermore, an efficiency comparison between a conventional three-phase IGBT-based inverter and the proposed topology is carried out. The two topologies are evaluated according to the WLTP Class 3 driving cycles, showing their average efficiency in each cycle. The comparison results show that the performance achieved with the proposed topology is extremely promising to combine state-of-the-art functionalities with the new paradigm of battery management.

Citation

Tresca, G., Leuzzi, R., Formentini, A., Rovere, L., Anglani, N., & Zanchetta, P. (2021). Reconfigurable Cascaded Multilevel Converter: A New Topology For EV Powertrain. In 2021 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE) (1454-1460). https://doi.org/10.1109/ECCE47101.2021.9595741

• Conference Name: 2021 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE)
• Conference Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
• Start Date: Oct 10, 2021
• End Date: Oct 14, 2021
• Acceptance Date: May 1, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Nov 16, 2021
• Publication Date: Oct 10, 2021
• Deposit Date: Feb 17, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 17, 2022
• Publisher: IEEE
• Pages: 1454-1460
• Book Title: 2021 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE)
• ISBN: 9781728161280
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ECCE47101.2021.9595741
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/7471923
• Publisher URL: https://ieeexplore-ieee-org.nottingham.idm.oclc.org/document/9595741
• Additional Information: © 2021 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.