SERIES HYBRID PLUG-IN ELECTRIC VEHICLE, USING A DISK-TYPE SYNCHRONOUS MACHINE AND SPECIAL CONTROLLER

Abstract

A series plug-in hybrid electric vehicle proposal is presented. It uses a small internal combustion engine (ICE) coming from a small city-car and a very compact, 8 kW, disk type, brushless synchronous machine (BLSM). The BLSM charges the battery pack through a power inverter and a special controller, which allows using the same BLSM to put the ICE in operation. For starting the engine, the control estimates the initial BLSM rotor position through current slopes measurement, and injects full nominal current to get the maximum torque. The ICE begins working when the battery state-of charge (SOC) is less than 40% or when the car reaches 60 km/h or more. The car, working as pure EV, can cover a distance of around 40 kms. Besides, with the help of the ICE and running at speeds of 60 km/h or less, it will have an unlimited range. At 80 km/hour the car will have autonomy of around 120 kms. The control is the most important part of the system, because it takes care of the process of charging the battery using the SOC and the speed as primary information. It also monitors the battery current during charge and during discharge. The car is still under construction and this primary stage will be shown in this work.