Electric-vehicle batteries

Electric vehicles that can't reach trolley wires need batteries. In the early 1900's electric cars disappeared when owners found that replacing the car's worn-out lead-acid battery costs more than a new gasoline-powered car. Most of today's electric cars are still propelled by lead-acid batteries. General Motors in their prototype Impact, for example, used starting-lighting-ignition batteries, which deliver lots of power for demonstrations, but have a life of less than 100 deep discharges. Now promising alternative technology has challenged the world-wide lead miners, refiners, and battery makers into forming a consortium that sponsors research into making better lead-acid batteries. Horizon's new bipolar battery delivered 50 watt-hours per kg (Wh/kg), compared with 20 for ordinary transport-vehicle batteries. The alternatives are delivering from 80 Wh/kg (nickel-metal hydride) up to 200 Wh/kg (zinc-bromine). A Fiat Panda traveled 260 km on a single charge of its zinc-bromine battery. A German 3.5-ton postal truck traveled 300 km with a single charge in its 650-kg (146 Wh/kg) zinc-air battery. Its top speed was 110 km per hour     

Hybrid power source for manportable applications

In this paper, we present the results of work with a hybrid power system made of a fuel cell and rechargeable battery with pulse power capability. This hybrid power source successfully ran pulse power load based on the power profile of the present and future manportable military electronics and communications equipment. The hybrid consisted of a 35 W proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stack in parallel with a Li-ion battery. In this work, two cyclic load scenarios were utilized. Each consisted of a baseline load for 9 minutes followed by a higher pulse load for 1 minute. One test profile consisted of 20 W (baseline)/40 W (pulse) load, whereas, the second was 25 W/50 W. Under both scenarios, the hybrid provided significant enhancements in performance over the individual components tested separately. These results are discussed and analyzed. Also discussed are possible future implications of such technology and approach.     

Tests of a full-sized mechanically rechargeable zinc-air battery inan electric vehicle

A mechanically rechargeable zinc-air battery that has high power density and fast refueling capability is described. The battery is built from modules of 32 or 44 cells connected in series, and the modules can be arranged in any combination of series and parallel connections, and in practical quantity, according to the requirements of the vehicle, motor, and controller. The results of laboratory and in-vehicle tests of a zinc-air battery consisting of two 32-cell modules connected in series, with nominal voltage of 75 V and nominal capacity of 216 Ah, are presented     

燃料电池无人机动力系统方案设计与试验

针对燃料电池为主能源的无人机（UAV）动力系统,设计了纯燃料电池动力系统、燃料电池/蓄电池（简称燃蓄）被/主动混合动力系统3种拓扑结构方案。以空冷质子交换膜燃料电池为例,搭建了燃料电池动力系统方案一体化试验平台。考虑阶梯型和阶跃型2种加载形式,试验研究了燃料电池自身的动态特性和启动特性。以阶梯型功率剖面的加载形式,试验研究了纯燃料电池动力系统放电特性;以无人机典型任务剖面作为加载形式,开展燃蓄被/主动混合动力系统对比试验研究。试验结果表明：纯燃料电池动力方案适用于低机动小型无人机,燃蓄被动混合方案可满足小型无人机大机动飞行,燃蓄主动混合方案系统可适应中大型无人机更长航时飞行。     

Evaluation of active hybrid fuel cell/battery power sources

Hybrid fuel cell/battery power sources have potentially widespread uses in applications wherein the power demand is impulsive rather than constant. Interposing a dc/dc converter between a fuel cell and a battery can create two configurations of actively controlled hybrid fuel cell/battery power sources. Those two configurations are compared using both theory and experiment with special attention to the peak power enhancement, and power losses in the converter. Both of the defined configurations were built, using a 35 W polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell, an 8-cell lithium-ion battery pack, and a high-efficiency power converter. Both two configurations yielded a peak power output of 135 W, about 4 times as high as the fuel cell alone could supply, with only a slight (13%) increase of weight. The converter losses were quantitatively analyzed. Which of the two configurations yields a smaller loss depends on the load power demand characteristics including peak power and load duty ratio. The study results provide guidance for the design of hybrid sources according to the particular load power requirements.     

Battery configurations for multi-megawatt pulse power

The capability of lead-acid batteries for supplying very high power for a short time is explored. The application of such a battery for accelerating a hypersonic plane is used to illustrate the requirements. A technique for analyzing batteries and controlling voltage for pulse loads is described. Evaluation of lead-acid batteries in production and voltage regulation by switching batteries in and out are covered. Alternatives to batteries, including superconducting magnetic energy storage, are discussed     

Heating and cooling battery electric vehicles-the final barrier

Battery electric vehicles (EVs) present a particular challenge to the development of more efficient and effective heating and cooling systems for automotive applications. Because heating-ventilating-air-conditioning (HVAC) systems are electrically powered, vehicle range is reduced when the HVAC system is operating. The alternative solutions to HVAC battery electric vehicles are identified and evaluated. These include a basis for determining HVAC boundary design assumptions and showing mathematical methods for estimating the HVAC load and energy requirements, and evaluation of the new European and Japanese approaches to wintertime heating, such as NaS battery, motor and component waste heat recovery, electric seat warmer, radiant foot warmer, electric windshield and backlight defrost, molten salt latent heat storage, metal hydride hydrogen storage and catalytic heater, and liquid fueled heater     

Fuel cells for “personal electricity”

Cars powered by fuel cells have been built and tested; however, the aerospace fuel cells could not deliver high power quickly when the driver wanted to accelerate his car. Today's hybrid electric cars carry a battery that supplies the acceleration power, and the prime power source, whether an engine or fuel cell, is not stressed with sudden load peaks. Zero air pollution becomes attainable when fuel-cells supply the prime power on a hybrid vehicle     

基于自适应神经模糊推理算法的无人机电推进燃料电池供气系统性能优化

本文针对某无人机基于聚合物交换膜燃料电池和锂离子电池的混合动力电推进系统的应用,研究开发了一种基于自适应神经模糊推理系统的电源管理系统控制技术,以控制混合动力电力推进系统,同时优化燃料电池供气系统的性能。本文以所建立的某无人机混合电推进系统数学模型为研究对象,研究了燃料电池电流与燃料电池供气系统压缩机功率之间的关系,建立了燃料电池电流与最佳压缩机功率关系的参考模型。在参考模型的基础上,引入自适应控制器来优化燃料电池供气系统的性能。基于自适应神经模糊推理系统的控制器将压缩机的实际运行功率动态调整到参考模型中定义的最佳值。自适应控制器的在线学习和训练能力用来辨识燃料电池电流的非线性变化,并产生压缩机电机电压的控制信号,以优化燃料电池供气系统的性能。在Matlab 仿真环境中开发了质子交换膜燃料电池和锂离子混合动力电推进系统模型并对所设计的控制器进行了仿真分析,结果表明基于自适应神经模糊推理系统的控制器为燃料电池供气系统压缩机性能优化提供了一种新颖而全面的途径,使燃料电池供气系统获得最大净功率输出。将燃料电池系统的净功率输出与最佳压缩机功率和恒定压缩机功率进行了比较,结果表明优化的压缩机功率配置比恒定的压缩机功率配置节能2.62%。同时,燃料电池自适应神经模糊推理系统控制器优化了燃料电池供气系统的能量利用。     

基于直流微电网的混合储能协调控制策略仿真研究

针对直流微电网中光伏发电单元出力的波动性和间歇性造成系统内部功率不平衡的问题,混合储能系统可以同时发挥蓄电池高能量密度和超级电容高功率密度的优势,根据直流母线电压进行混合储能单元间的协调控制策略。该策略将直流母线电压进行分层控制,采用四个电压阈值共分成五个控制区域,以直流母线电压为信息载体,决定储能系统的运行状态,实现对混合储能单元的充电、放电模式间自主切换。电压分层控制有效地避免了蓄电池由于电压波动而频繁进行充放电切换,从而延长了电池的使用寿命。最后,MATLAB/Simulink的仿真结果验证了所提控制策略的可行性。     

Market mature 1998 hybrid electric vehicles

Beginning in 1990, the major automotive passenger vehicle manufacturers once again re-evaluated the potential of the battery powered electric vehicle (EV). This intensive effort to reduce the battery EV to commercial practice focused attention on the key issue of limited vehicle range, resulting from the low energy density and high mass characteristics of batteries, in comparison to the high energy density of liquid hydrocarbon (HC) fuels. Consequently, by 1995, vehicle manufacturers turned their attention to hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). This redirection of EV effort was highlighted finally in 1997, at the 57th Frankfurt Motor Show, the Audi Duo parallel type hybrid was released for the domestic market as a 1998 model vehicle. Also at the 1997 32nd Tokyo Motor Show, Toyota Hybrid System (THS) Prius was released for the domestic market as a production 1998 model vehicle. This paper presents a comparative analysis of the key features of these two 1998 model year production hybrid systems. Among the conclusions, two issues are evident: one, the major manufacturers have turned to the hybrid concept in their search for solutions to the key EV issues of limited range; and, heating/air conditioning; and two, the focus is now on introducing hybrid EV for test marketing domestically     

Development of a long cycle life sealed nickel-zinc battery forhigh energy-density applications

Nickel-zinc battery technology is being developed for commercial applications requiring high energy density and high power capability. Development cells have demonstrated the ability to deliver over 60 Watt-hours per kilogram at the one hour rate. Cycle life has been improved to more than 600 cycles at 80% depth of discharge by using a patented, reduced solubility zinc electrode and an improved sealed cell design. More than 8000 charge/discharge cycles at 10% depth-of-discharge have been completed. Large quantities of sealed prismatic cells have been manufactured, including a 140 cell, 220 V battery for a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV)     

Hybrid high frequency AC power distribution architecture fortelecommunication systems

A novel high frequency hybrid power distribution system for telecommunication applications is presented. The proposed hybrid system combines the advantages of both the sinusoidal voltage and current types of high frequency distribution systems and it has advantages such as connectorless power transfer, fuseless protection, sinusoidal voltage and current distribution and, high overall system efficiency. The different operating modes of the proposed power distribution system are described in detail and performance characteristics are presented. Finally experimental results are given to validate the concepts developed and to demonstrate the system performance     

Bipolar nickel-metal hydride battery for hybrid vehicles

Hybrid electric vehicles are receiving increased interest as an approach to decrease vehicle pollution, dependence, and consumption of liquid petroleum and meet forthcoming Government vehicle emission standards. A number of schemes are under consideration (heat engine battery, fuel cell battery, peaking battery, inner-city battery, etc.). The success of any of the approaches will be dependent on battery capabilities, i.e., power, density, life, and cost. The nickel-metal hydride system appears to be the most promising of the candidate battery chemistries. Preliminary designs and analysis have been prepared and are presented for various configurations. Initial performance characterization tests are presented. It is concluded that a bipolar package arrangement for the Ni-MH chemistry appears most suited for the hybrid vehicle application considered     

Multiphysics simulation method of Lamb wavepropagation with piezoelectric transducers under load condition

Lamb Wave(LW) simulation under time-varying conditions is an effective and low cost way to study the problem of the low reliability of the structural health monitoring methods based on the LW and Piezoelectric Transducer(PT). In this paper, a multiphysics simulation method of the LW propagation with the PTs under load condition is proposed. With this method, two key mechanisms of the load influence on the LW propagation are considered and coupled with each other. The first mechanism is the acoustoelastic effect which is the main reason of the LW velocity change. The second key mechanism is the load influence on piezoelectric materials, which results in a change of the amplitude. Based on the computational platform of the COMSOL Multiphysics, a multiphysics simulation model of the LW propagation with the PTs under load condition is established. The simulation model includes two physical phenomena. The first one is called solid mechanics, which is used to simulate the acoustoelastic effect being combined with the hyperelastic material properties of the structure in which the LW propagates. The second one is called electromechanical coupling, which considers the simulation of the piezoelectric effect of the PTs for the LW excitation and sensing. To simulate the load influence on piezoelectric materials, a non-linear numerical model of the relationship between the load and the piezoelectric coefficient d31 is established based on an experiment of the load influence on the LW. The simulation results under uniaxial tensile load condition are obtained and are compared with the data obtained from the experiment. It shows that the variations of the phase velocity and amplitude of the LW obtained from the simulation model match the experimental results well.     

燃料电池无人机能源管理与飞行状态耦合

开展了燃料电池/锂电池（简称燃锂）混合动力无人机的能源管理与飞行状态耦合研究。综合顶层飞行任务规划与底层能源系统管理,以动力系统模型为耦合点联立能源系统与无人机运动方程,建立能源状态与运动状态耦合模型。针对燃锂混合最紧密的爬升过程,以迎角、转速和燃料电池的放电功率作为控制变量,建立了燃料消耗最小的能源管理与航迹规划耦合最优控制问题,研究不同爬升高度对最优控制过程的影响,并与模糊控制能源管理策略进行对比分析。针对大功率短时爬升和小功率长时巡航的典型任务特点,建立了燃锂最优混合问题。研究了最优的锂电池容量和燃料电池功率水平的混合量,以及爬升和巡航两阶段最优功率分配和飞行状态,分析了不同巡航目标高度对最优混合量和飞行状态的影响。结果表明：采用能源与航迹耦合的最优控制策略在给出最优功率流分配的同时,能够很好地兼顾飞行状态控制;对燃锂混合和飞行状态的综合优化可以有效地处理爬升和巡航阶段的能源需求矛盾,在给出最优燃锂混合量和飞行状态的同时,降低整个任务过程的燃料消耗。     

Charging the new batteries-IC controllers track new technologies

Demands for portability have fueled significant developments in new battery technology. These developments have resulted in many more options in selecting the battery type for use in a particular project, but since most applications today are opting for rechargeable battery systems, the availability of battery charging solutions can become an equally important criteria in the selection process. Complicating this process are the demands for fast-but safe-charging with charge algorithms easily implemented with low-cost hardware. With the higher levels of complexity attendant with these more demanding algorithms, solutions have come primarily from the integrated circuit industry and the purpose of this paper is to provide a few examples of the latest efforts in this arena, specifically as addressed to lead-acid, nickel metal-hydride, and lithium-ion technologies     

Microprocessor-Controlled Digital Shunt Regulator

A new approach to the design of power systems is presented in which a microprocessor is used as a controller for a digital shunt regulator (DSR). This approach meets the demands of future space and ground missions, i. e., high efficiency, high reliability, low weight, low volume, increased flexibility, and less development time. This approach responds to future demands by permitting realtime modification of system parameters for system optimization. This feature is especially important in the event of an anomaly. As the microprocessor need not be dedicated to the DSR, it can simultaneously be used for battery management and for charge regulator/discharge regulator control. This approach also reduces the component count, simplifies assembly and testing of the unit, results in significant time saving, and increases the reliability.