Flexible Power Control for Dual-Source Inverters in Electric Vehicles

Different topologies of multi-source inverters (MSIs) have been widely studied in the literature These inverters integrate multiple DC sources to supply an AC load. In electric vehicles (EVs), batteries and ultracapacitors (UCs) are the preferred choices, with complementary characteristics, and they enable the recovery of regenerative energy from the output. Due to single-stage conversion, efficiency is significantly enhanced. For the dual-source version of MSIs, a simple SVM-based modulation technique has been proposed. This approach utilizes similar vectors but different DC-link voltages to generate the reference vector. Although straightforward, this modulation technique does not perform optimally in all real-world scenarios, leaving room for improvement. This paper introduces an extended operating modes of the conventional modulation that takes into account practical considerations. The computational burden of the extended modulation remains as low as that of the conventional approach while offering additional features, such as optional battery charging and discharging and more flexible power allocation. Both extended and conventional modulation techniques are explained in detail, and simulation and experimental results are provided to validate the effectiveness of extended modulation.