Optimal integration of a hybrid solar-battery power source into smart home nanogrid with plug-in electric vehicle

Hybrid solar-battery power source is essential in the nexus of plug-in electric vehicle (PEV), renewables, and smart building. This paper devises an optimization framework for efficient energy management and components sizing of a single smart home with home battery, PEV, and potovoltatic (PV) arrays. We seek to maximize the home economy, while satisfying home power demand and PEV driving. Based on the structure and system models of the smart home nanogrid, a convex programming (CP) problem is formulated to rapidly and efficiently optimize both the control decision and parameters of the home battery energy storage system (BESS). Considering different time horizons of optimization, home BESS prices, types and control modes of PEVs, the parameters of home BESS and electric cost are systematically investigated. Based on the developed CP control law in home to vehicle (H2V) mode and vehicle to home (V2H) mode, the home with BESS does not buy electric energy from the grid during the electric price's peak periods

Operation modes for the electric vehicle in smart grids and smart homes: present and proposed modes

This paper presents the main operation modes for an electric vehicle (EV) battery charger framed in smart grids and smart homes, i.e., are discussed the present-day and are proposed new operation modes that can represent an asset towards EV adoption. Besides the well-known grid to vehicle (G2V) and vehicle to grid (V2G), this paper proposes two new operation modes: Home-to-vehicle (H2V), where the EV battery charger current is controlled according to the current consumption of the electrical appliances of the home (this operation mode is combined with the G2V and V2G); Vehicle-for-grid (V4G), where the EV battery charger is used for compensating current harmonics or reactive power, simultaneously with the G2V and V2G operation modes. The vehicle-to-home (V2H) operation mode, where the EV can operate as a power source in isolated systems or as an off-line uninterruptible power supply to feed priority appliances of the home during power outages of the electrical grid is presented in this paper framed with the other operation modes. These five operation modes were validated through experimental results using a developed 3.6 kW bidirectional EV battery charger prototype, which was specially designed for these operation modes. The paper describes the developed EV battery charger prototype, detailing the power theory and the voltage and current control strategies used in the control system. The paper presents experimental results for the various operation modes, both in steady-state and during transients

A flexible infrastructure for dynamic power control of electric vehicle battery chargers

This paper proposes a Flexible Infrastructure for Dynamic Power Control (FIDPC) of Electric Vehicle (EV) Battery Chargers. This infrastructure dynamically adjusts the EV battery charger current, according to the power demand of the home wherein the vehicle is plugged. An infrastructure was implemented to validate this proposal. Such infrastructure is composed by an EV battery charger and a communication system based on a Radio Frequency interface. The battery charger has nominal power of 3.6 kVA and operates with sinusoidal current and unitary total power factor, while the RF interface provides continuous data flow to the battery charger with information about the home total current consumption (rms value). Experimental tests were performed under realistic conditions to validate the concept behind the proposed FIDPC. These tests served to assess the behavior of the EV battery charger with dynamic power control on a single-phase, 230 V, 16 A, 50 Hz residential electrical installation. The experimental results confirm the quick time response of the FIDPC even when working under heavy home load variations.This work was supported by the Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) through Project PEst-UID/CEC/00319/2013. The work of V. Monteiro was supported by the FCT agency through a doctoral scholarship under Grant SFRH/BD/80155/2011. The review of this paper was coordinated by Dr. D. Cao

Integrated Energy Management of a Plug-in Electric Vehicle in Residential Distribution Systems with Renewables

International audienceAccording to innovation in grid connected transportation industry and with ever increasing concerns on environmental issues and clean energy, electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) with low noise, zero emission, and high efficiency have attracted more and more attention of researchers, governments and industries, they are becoming the most likely fleets to replace gasoline vehicles in future power systems. In addition to the approved advantages for transportation, EVs have the potential to provide other benefits within the connected residential distribution to micro-grids and smart grids as part of a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) system, knowing that in future systems residential distribution can be seen as an energy resource with decentralized and autonomous decisions in the energy management called smart house or prosumer. They can participate effectively in helping to balance supply and demand by valley filling and peak shaving. The EV battery can be charged during low demand and the stored power can be fed power back into the micro-grid during high-demand periods, providing a spinning reserve to dump short power demand changes. V2G may also be used to buffer renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaic generators, by storing excess energy produced during illumination periods, and feeding it back into the grid during high-load periods, thus effectively stabilizing the intermittency of solar power. In this context, this paper describes an energy management system for a smart house based on hybrid PV-battery and V2G. Keywords—Vehicle-to-grid (V2G), vehicle-to-home (V2H), residential distribution, smart house, balance supply and demand

IoT system for anytime/anywhere monitoring and control of vehicles’ parameters

This paper presents an IoT (Internet of Things) system designed to allow the monitoring and control of parameters of the users’ vehicles, anytime and anywhere in the world, through the Internet. The system prototype was developed and tested using an electric vehicle (EV) and the respective sensor systems. The main components of the proposed IoT system are: a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) intra-vehicular wireless sensor network (IVWSN); a mobile device that acts both as the vehicle’s gateway, connecting the IVWSN to the Internet, and as the vehicle’s human machine interface (HMI); an online server/database, based on Firebase; a client, which can be either a mobile device or a personal computer; and a residential wireless sensor network (WSN). The use of a wireless network to collect sensor data inside of the vehicle introduces some advantages when compared with conventional wired networks, whereas the inclusion of a residential WSNs in the proposed IoT architecture allows the provision of additional features, such as automatic control of the EV battery charging process. Experimental results are provided to assess the performance of the developed IVWSN and HMI.This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145- FEDER-007043 and FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Vehicle-to-anything: a power transfer perspective for vehicle electrification

The concept of vehicle-to-anything (V2X) is mainly focused on the bidirectional communication between any technology of vehicle and any external system that can contribute for its operation. However, prospecting the vehicle electrification, this concept can also be associated with the power transfer between an electric vehicle (EV) and any external system, where bidirectional communication is absolutely fundamental. Within the power transfer, the possibility of exchanging active power between an EV and the power grid is considered as a promising operation mode, especially considering the possibility of selling demand response services for the electrical power grid. Contemplating the vehicle electrification context, in addition to the latent possibility of interaction between EVs and the power grid for active power exchange, other possibilities of interaction can also be considered, providing advantageous services for the power grid. Thus, this article approaches the V2X concept for off-board systems in the power transfer perspective for vehicle electrification, aggregating new contributions related with the interaction between an EV and any external electrical system (operating as source or load), and both from on-grid or off-grid point of view. Contributions are meticulously presented, recognizing their advantages and disadvantages in a real-scenario of operation. A comparison in terms of cost of implementation and in terms of efficiency is presented considering the various solutions of the vehicle electrification in a smart grid perspective.This work has been supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2019. This work is financed by the ERDF – European Regional Development Fund through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation ‐ COMPETE 2020 Programme, and by National Funds through the Portuguese funding agency, FCT‐Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, within project SAICTPAC/0004/2015‐ POCI‐01‐0145‐FEDER‐016434. Mr. Tiago Sousa is supported by the doctoral scholarship SFRH/BD/134353/2017 granted by the Portuguese FCT agency. This work is part of the FCT project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030283

Integrated system for traction and battery charging of electric vehicles with universal interface to the power grid

This paper proposes an integrated system for traction and battery charging of electric vehicles (EVs) with universal interface to the power grid. In the proposed system, the power electronics converters comprising the traction drive system are also used for the battery charging system, reducing the required hardware, meaning the integrated characteristic of the system. Besides, this interface is universal, since it can be performed with the three main types of power grids, namely: (1) Single-phase AC power grids; (2) Three-phase AC power grids; (3) DC power grids. In these three types of interfaces with the power grid, as well as in the traction drive operation mode, bidirectional operation is possible, framing the integration of this system into an EV in the context of smart grids. Moreover, the proposed system endows an EV with an on-board fast battery charger, whose operation allows either fast or slow battery charging. The main contributes of the proposed system are detailed in the paper, and simulation results are presented in order to attain the feasibility of the proposed system.This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT -Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013. This work has been supported by FCT within the Project Scope DAIPESEV - Development of Advanced Integrated Power Electronic Systems for Electric Vehicles: PTDC/EEI-EEE/30382/2017. Mr. Tiago Sousa is supported by the doctoral scholarship SFRH/BD/134353/2017 granted by the Portuguese FCT agency. This work is part of the FCT project 0302836 NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-030283

Interfacing power electronics systems for smart grids: innovative perspectives of unified systems and operation modes

The power distribution grid is centrally managed concerning the requirements of the end-users, however, with the appearance of smart grids, new technologies arc arising. Therefore, distributed energy resources, mainly, renewables, energy storage systems, electric mobility, and power quality are viewed as encouraging contributions for improving power management. In these circumstances, this paper presents a power electronics perspective for the power distribution grid, considering innovative features, and including a power quality perception. Throughout the paper are presented relevant concepts for a concrete realization of a smart grid, supported by the integration of power electronics devices as the interface of the mentioned technologies. Aiming to support the innovative power electronics systems for interfacing the mentioned technologies in smart grids, a set of developed power electronics equipment was developed and, along with the paper, are shown and described, supporting the most important contributions of this paper.This work has been supported by FCT -Fundação para a Ciencia e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020. This work has been supported by the FCT Project newERA4GRIDs PTDC/EEI-EEE/30283/2017

An analytical framework to assess the contribution of new technologies to societal challenges

This paper addresses the topic of impact assessment of a research project (encompassed on a Joint Activities Program) considering the major priorities established under the societal challenges defined under the Horizon 2020 programme. A methodology is proposed and demonstrated for the particular case of a project aiming the development of an electric vehicle battery charging system with novel operating modes, which was tested at a laboratory scale. Firstly, the methodology is based on literature review in order to gather meaningful information about societal challenges addressed to this technology and, secondly, questionnaires and interviews directed to the research team of this project were conducted. A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis was derived from the data collected in the questionnaires and interviews to identify and assess the interest of the new technology and its barriers. The results show that, especially, the different operation modes for bidirectional energy transfer are a great advance comparing to other competing technologies. Moreover, the technology can contribute significantly to mitigate climate change by reducing the release of carbon dioxide emissions from the transport sector. However, since the project under analysis was tested only at laboratory, some aspects related to the software and hardware still need to be improved and the effective market uptake is still uncertain, as it is also dependent on the car manufacturers' interest.- This work is financed by the ERDF -European Regional Development Fund through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation -COMPETE 2020 Programme, and by National Funds through the Portuguese funding agency, FCT -Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, within project SAICTPAC/0004/2015-POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016434 and project UID/CEC/00319/2019

The electric vehicle in smart homes: a review and future perspectives

The electric mobility dissemination is forcing the adoption of new technologies and operation paradigms, not only focusing on smart grids, but also on smart homes. In fact, the emerging technologies for smart homes are also altering the conventional grids toward smart grids. By combining the key pillars of electric mobility and smart homes, this paper characterizes the paradigms of the electric vehicle (EV) in smart homes, presenting a review about the state of the art and establishing a relation with future perspectives. Since the smart home must be prepared to deal with the necessities of the EV, the analysis of both on board and off board battery charging systems are considered in the paper. Moreover, the in-clusion of renewable energy sources, energy storage systems, and dc electrical appliances in smart homes towards sustainability is also considered in this paper, but framed in the perspective of an EV off board battery charging system. As a pertinent contribution, this paper offers future perspectives for the EV in smart homes, including the possibility of ac, dc, and hybrid smart homes. Covering all of these aspects, exemplificative and key results are presented based on numerical simulations and experimental results obtained with a proof of concept prototype.FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2019. This work has been supported by the FCT Project newERA4GRIDs PTDC/EEI-EEE/30283/2017, and by the FCT Project DAIPESEV PTDC/EEI-EEE/30382/2017. Tiago Sousa is supported by the doctoral scholarship SFRH/BD/134353/2017 granted by FC