Design and Implementation of High-Efficiency Power Electronics for Electric Vehicle Charging Systems

Abstract

The increasing number of electric (EVs) globally across the globe has highlighted the need toward effective, reliable and low-cost for EV charging systems to meet increasing demand. Electric vehicle charging system is directly related to the performance of power electronic converts, which help in converting this power and conditioning this power that is supplied to the vehicle. The following paper addresses the design and implementation of high efficiency power electronics that serve the purpose of improving performance of EV charging systems especially grid-connected and off-grid ones. For this study, there are several power converter topologies that are investigated with special emphasis on the bidirectional DC-DC converters and DC-AC inverters. Optimizations on these converters are designed to boost overall system efficiency, minimize distortions in harmonics, and increase power factor correction, which are crucial for adherence to grid standards and their efficient power supply to EVs. One of the main innovations addressed in this paper is the introduction of next-generation semiconductor materials, including silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), which provide superior thermal performance, quicker switching behaviour, and conduction losses minimization when compared to the traditional silicon based counterparts. The paper prints simulation results on various power converter configurations, which show vast improvements in efficiency and performance. Also, a prototype of the proposed high efficiency charging system is developed and tested, and some experimental results demonstrate significant improvement in system efficiency, decreased electromagnetic interference (EMI), and improved reliability overall. Such findings imply that the proposed power electronics design is a potential solution for enhancing the EV charging infrastructure, thereby facilitating the worldwide move towards sustainable, electric vehicles systems of transportation. The proposed work is a useful contribution to optimize power converter for EV charging applications acts as a fundament to develop future in the field.