Smart charging system of the electric vehicle CEPIUM

In this paper is presented the development of a smart batteries charging system for the Electric Vehicle (EV) CEPIUM, aiming the integration of EVs in the future Smart Grids. The main features of the developed charging system are the mitigation of the power quality degradation and the bidirectional operation, as Grid-to-Vehicle (G2V) and as Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G). The batteries charging process is controlled by an appropriate control algorithm, aiming to preserve the batteries lifespan. During the charging process (G2V), the consumed current is sinusoidal and the power factor is unitary. Along the discharging process (V2G), when the equipment allows delivering back to the electrical power grid part of the energy stored in the batteries, the current is also sinusoidal.FEDER Funds - Operational Programme for Competitiveness Factors (COMPETE)Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - PTDC/EEA-EEL/104569/2008, MITPT/ EDAM-SMS/0030/2008

Modelling of Distributed Energy Components and Optimization of Energy Vector Dispatch within Smart Energy Systems

The smart energy system concept provides an integrated framework for the adoption of renewable energy resources and novel energy technologies, such as distributed battery energy storage systems and electric vehicles. In this effort, large-scale transition towards smart energy systems can significantly reduce the environmental emissions of energy production, while leveraging the compatible operation of numerous distributed grid components to improve upon the energy utility, reliability, and flexibility of existing power grids. Most importantly, transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy resources provides environmental benefits within both the building and transportation sectors, which must adapt to address both increasing pressure from international climate change-related policy-making, as well as to meet the increasing power demands of future generations. In the case of building operation, the transition towards future energy systems consequently result in the adoption of decentralized energy networks as well as various distributed energy generation, conversion, and storage technologies. As such, there is significant potential for existing systems to adopt more economic and efficient operating strategies, which may manifest in novel operational modes such as demand-response programs, islanded operation, and optimized energy vector dispatch within local systems. Furthermore, new planning and design considerations can provide economic, environmental, and energy efficiency benefits. While these potential benefits have been justified in existing literature, there is still a strong research need to quantify the impacts of optimal building operation within these criteria, under a smart energy system context. Meanwhile, the transportation sector may benefit from the smart energy network concept by leveraging electric mobility technologies and by transitioning vehicle charging demand onto the grid’s electricity network. In this transition, the emissions associated with fossil fuel consumption are displaced by grid-generated electricity, much of which may be derived from zero-emission resources in systems containing high renewable generation capacities. While small electric vehicle fleets have currently been successfully integrated into the grid, higher market penetration rates of electric vehicles demand significantly more charging infrastructure. In consideration of the consequences of various electric vehicle charging modes resulting from large-scale mobility electrification, there is a gap in the literature for the planning and design of charging infrastructure for facilitating interactions between electric vehicle fleets and future smart energy network systems. Within the work presented in this thesis, quantitative analysis has been presented for the potential for optimal building operation between complementary commercial and residential building types. From this, the economic and environmental benefits of applying the principles of smart energy systems within mixed residential and commercial hubs have been evaluated at reductions of 61.2% and 1.29%, respectively, under the context of an Ontario, Canada case study. Furthermore, reduced installation of local energy storage systems and consumption of grid-derived electricity were reduced by 6.7% and 13.8%, respectively, in comparison against base case scenarios in which buildings were operated independent of the proposed microgrid configuration. Meanwhile, the investigative work for the role of charging infrastructure in electric vehicle integration within smart energy systems provided insight into the power flow characteristics required to facilitate advanced electric vehicle charging modes. Most importantly, the work demonstrated limitations to the controlled/smart charging and the vehicle-to-grid charging modes imposed by charging port availability, electric vehicle plug-in durations, and maximum power flow characteristics. These results have highlighted the need for charging infrastructure to emulate the availability and fast response characteristics of stationary energy storage systems for successful vehicle-to-grid implementation, as well as the need for maximum power flow limitations for charging infrastructure to be well above the current level 2 standard for home- and workplace-charging

Vehicle electrification: technologies, challenges and a global perspective for smart grids

Nowadays, due to economic and climate concerns, the private transportation sector is shifting for the vehicle electrification, mainly supported by electric and hybrid plug-in vehicles. For this new reality, new challenges about operation modes are emerging, demanding a cooperative and dynamic operation with the electrical power grid, guaranteeing a stable integration without omitting the power quality for the grid-side and for the vehicle-side. Besides the operation modes, new attractive and complementary technologies are offered by the vehicle electrification in the context of smart grids, which are valid for both on-board and off-board systems. In this perspective, this book chapter presents a global perspective and deals with challenges for the vehicle electrification, covering the key technologies toward a sustainable future. Among others, the flowing topics are covered: (1) Overview of power electronics structures for battery charging systems, including on-board and off-board systems; (2) State-of-the-art of communication technologies for application in the context of vehicular electrification, smart grids and smart homes; (3) Challenges and opportunities concerning wireless power transfer with bidirectional interface to the electrical grid; (4) Future perspectives about bidirectional power transfer between electric vehicles (vehicle-to-vehicle operation mode); (5) Unified technologies, allowing to combine functionalities of a bidirectional interface with the electrical grid and motor driver based on a single system; and (6) Smart grids and smart homes scenarios and accessible opportunities about operation modes.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT

Smart battery charger for electric mobility in smart grids

In this paper is presented the development of a smart batteries charger for Electric Vehicles (EVs) and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs), aiming their integration in Smart Grids. The batteries charging process is controlled by an appropriate control algorithm, aiming to preserve the batteries lifespan. The main features of the equipment are the mitigation of the power quality degradation and the bidirectional operation, as Grid-to-Vehicle (G2V) and as Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G). During the charging process (G2V), the consumed current is sinusoidal and the power factor is unitary. Along the discharging process (V2G), when the equipment allows delivering back to the electrical power grid a small amount of the energy stored in the batteries, the current is also sinusoidal. The V2G mode of operation will be one of the main features of the Smart Grids, both to collaborate with the electrical power grid to increase stability, and to function as a distributed Energy Storage System (ESS). The functioning of the smart batteries charger is shown through simulation and experimental results, both during the charging (G2V) and the discharging (V2G) modes of operation. Also in this paper are shown and briefly described the roles of the key concepts related with the Smart Grids in terms of Systems and Functional Areas, Power Electronics Systems, and Electric Mobility.This work is financed by FEDER Funds, through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness Factors – COMPETE, and by National Funds through FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology of Portugal, under the project PTDC/EEA-EEL/104569/2008 and the project MIT-PT/EDAM-SMS/0030/2008

Communication between PHEV’s and Smart Grid using Zigbee Protocol

Plug-in-hybrid electric vehicles commonly known as PHEV’s are hybrid electric vehicles that use rechargeable batteries for operation. Since PHEV’s run on electric batteries, they require charging after the charge reaches a certain minimum level. The batteries can be charged using external sources usually a smart grid. This requires a wireless technology that can be used to send the information of the battery charge to the smart grid so that it can be charged. This paper is a detailed description of how this communication can be achieved using the ZigBee wireless technology. The battery level information can be sent to the smart grid using this technology and the smart grid operator can then decide whether the PHEV needs charging or not. If not, the battery can be used to provide Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) services i.e. the charge from the vehicle can be sent back to the grid depending on the will of the vehicle owner. Thus, in this way a system can be developed where in both the PHEV driver and the grid operator can benefit

Batteries charging systems for electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles

Many countries have a large dependence on imported fossil fuels whose prices increase almost every day. Knowing that much of this consumption is for transportation systems, it becomes essential to seek for alternatives. The natural bet is the electric mobility, namely through Electric Vehicles (EVs) and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs). However, the wide spread utilization of these vehicles has consequences on the electrical power grid, mainly in terms of load management and electric power quality, which are associated to the batteries charging systems. In this scenario, this chapter assesses the electric mobility integration in Smart Grid context, focusing different approaches to the operation of EVs and PHEVs charging processes and the specifications of the chargers, as well as different topologies of charging systems and their features, modes of operation, typical waveforms, and impact in the electrical power grid in terms of power quality. It is also presented a laboratory prototype of a bidirectional EV charger and shown some experimental results. This prototype was developed to charge the batteries aiming to preserve their lifespan, and to contribute to mitigate the degradation of the power quality. The experimental results show the operation of this prototype during the batteries charging process (G2V – Grid-to-Vehicle operation), and during the delivering of stored energy back to the electrical power grid (V2G – Vehicle-to-Grid operation).FEDER Funds - Operational Program for Competitiveness Factors – COMPETEFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-022674, MITPT/ EDAM-SMS/0030/200

The Strategies of EV Charge/Discharge Management in Smart Grid Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) Communication Networks

Electric vehicles (EVs) are at the forefront of the revolutionized eco-friendly invention in the transportation industry. With automated metering infrastructure (AMI) communications in houses, smart EV charging stations, and smart building management systems in smart grid-oriented power system, EVs are expected to contribute substantially in overall energy planning and management both in the grid and the customer premises. This chapter investigates and provides an in-depth analysis on the charge/discharge management of EV in vehicle to home (V2H), vehicle to drive (V2D), vehicle to vehicle (V2V), vehicle to grid (V2G), vehicle-to-building (V2B), and grid to vehicle (G2V). The planning and control of energy exchange of EV is the main focus considering EV availability in multiple places during the daytime and in the evening. Indisputably, EV participating in V2G or V2H affects the state of charge (SOC) of EV battery, and therefore proper scheduled charge/discharge plan needs to be embraced. The structures of EV in various operation modes and approaches are presented for implementing the energy planning and charge/discharge management of EV in different operation modes. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed charge/discharge management strategy and regulation of EV SOC in accordance with the energy management plan of EV owner

5G‐enhanced smart grid services

This chapter focuses on the 5G key concepts and how they can be extremely beneficial in supporting the advanced smart grid services. It introduces the smart grid environment and discusses some of the future services that will be supported in the future smart grids. These services are broadly classified into two categories, namely data collection and management services that target enhanced grid monitoring capabilities, and control and operation services that deal with demand side management and electric vehicle charging and discharging coordination. The chapter illustrates how the 5G novel concepts such as software‐defined networking, network virtualization, and cloud computing offer enhanced services for grid monitoring, data processing, demand‐side management, and electric vehicle charging and discharging coordination. It also illustrates a summary of the application of these concepts in supporting the smart grid services. Future research directions are discussed to deal with the open challenging issues

Data mining techniques contributions to support electrical vehicle demand response

The introduction of Electric Vehicles (EVs) together with the implementation of smart grids will raise new challenges to power system operators. This paper proposes a demand response program for electric vehicle users which provides the network operator with another useful resource that consists in reducing vehicles charging necessities. This demand response program enables vehicle users to get some profit by agreeing to reduce their travel necessities and minimum battery level requirements on a given period. To support network operator actions, the amount of demand response usage can be estimated using data mining techniques applied to a database containing a large set of operation scenarios. The paper includes a case study based on simulated operation scenarios that consider different operation conditions, e.g. available renewable generation, and considering a diversity of distributed resources and electric vehicles with vehicle-to-grid capacity and demand response capacity in a 33 bus distribution network

Performance Evaluation of Communication Technologies and Network Structure for Smart Grid Applications

The design of an effective and reliable communication network supporting smart grid applications requires the selection of appropriate communication technologies and protocols. The objective of this study is to study and quantify the capabilities of an advanced metring infrastructure (AMI) to support the simultaneous operation of major smart grid functions. These include smart metring, price-induced controls, distribution automation, demand response, and electric vehicle charging/discharging applications in terms of throughput and latency. OPNET is used to simulate the performance of selected communication technologies and protocols. Research findings indicate that smart grid applications can operate simultaneously by piggybacking on an existing AMI infrastructure and still achieve their latency requirements