Universal utility interface for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles with vehicle-to-grid functionality.

Abstract

Utility transmission lines are under-utilized during the night. Charging Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles during the night and redistributing the power stored in the batteries utilizes the transmission lines more efficiently and is the motivation for this thesis. In an example scenario, a vehicle is fully charged at home during the night, and is driven to work in the morning. The vehicle is plugged in at work and continues to charge. Under peak power demand the grid can command some power from these vehicles, relieving stress on the utility. This thesis develops an in-vehicle interface to achieve this functionality. A novel topology is developed for an all-in-one system for electric vehicles. The system is a bi-directional battery charger when plugged into single or three-phase, and doubles as the motor inverter when the vehicle is driven. The novel topology allows to source or sink power from the grid. A control scheme was developed for single-phase and three-phase inputs and simulation results are presented. A prototype of the topology is developed. Results from the prototype are compared against the simulation results and theory. Different modulation strategies are presented and compared.