Power Electronics Converters for Electric Vehicle Auxiliaries: State of the Art and Future Trends

Abstract

Electric vehicles (EVs) are expected to take over the transportation and mobility market over traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles soon. The internal power demands of EVs are expected to increase. The reason for this is to achieve a longer driving range for the EV and to provide the required power for the low-voltage (LV) network auxiliary loads. To illustrate, there are extra added sensors, cameras, and small actuating motors, especially for future autonomous vehicles. Therefore, a new electrical/electronic (E/E) architecture is required to convert the high-voltage (HV) traction battery voltage (e.g., 320–800 V DC) to the standard LV levels with high current ratings of 5 kW and more. This HV-LV DC-DC converter is known in the literature as an auxiliary power module (APM). The standard LV rails in an EV are the 12 V/24 V rail to supply for an instant the EV’s lighting and electronic control units (ECUs), while the 48 V rail is required for propulsive loads, such as air compressors and electric power steering systems. Furthermore, in a few applications, this converter is responsible for voltage upwards to support the start of a hybrid vehicle or emergency backup power handling, which requires bidirectional capability. Therefore, in this paper, possible APM topologies for EV applications are presented. In line with this, the main standards and safety requirements of the APMs are presented. Detailed quantitative and qualitative comparisons between topologies and their associated control schemes are discussed. In addition, the placement of the APM in the EV cooling cycle has been investigated and demonstrated. Finally, the industrial trends and future research targets for the APM in automotive applications are outlined.