DCDC Converter for Hybrid Vehicle Applications

Wolfgang Schmidt, Continental - Business Unit Hybrid Electric Vehicle, Germany

Abstract
Wide applications of hybrid vehicles (vehicles with a combustion engine and an electrical engine) are the next step in the automotive industry to reduce the CO2 emissions. The technology is ready for series production as models of various OEMs are demonstrating. For a hybrid vehicle an electric motor, an inverter and a battery is needed. But another key component is the DCDC converter, the link between the high voltage Battery and the standard 14V electrical system. This DCDC converter replaces on the one hand the standard alternator a component as old as the automobile itself and with a history of about 100 years development, production and reliability know how. In fact all electrical components in nowadays cars are designed to operate with the benefits of the alternator and to withstand its disadvantages. According to the actual power demands today the DCDC converter power is rated between 1kW and 3kW.

1
1.1

Overview and Demands

Overview of the hybrid vehicle electrical system

For Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV) a large variety of topologies exists. Each of those has advantages and disadvantages and has to be carefully chosen to get the best performance to the vehicle and its typical operating conditions. Figure 1 shows one possibility for a hybrid powertrain consisting of a combustion engine, an electrical motor (EM), clutch, gearbox, motor inverter (INV), DCDC converter from the hybrid battery to the 14V electrical system and the High Voltage Battery (HV Battery). The benefit of this topology is the standard component approach (combustion engine, clutch, gearbox) only have to be slightly modified to build up a hybrid car; this allows easier adaption of hybrids within existing series. Furthermore it is a benefit, that the rated power of the electrical components need not be proportional to the rated power of the combustion engine with the effect, that the same electrical components can be combined with different combustion engines.
EM

INV

One disadvantage of this concept is, that electrical driving is not possible because the electrical motor (EM) and the combustion are directly attached. Hybrid electric vehicles do not have a starter and an alternator. The cranking of the gasoline or diesel engine is done by the electrical motor, the 14V power is provided by the DCDC converter. This means that for cranking the combustion engine both batteries are needed: the standard 14V battery to supply all the standard devices (central locking, immobilizer system, motor management units) and the hybrid battery to supply the electric motor with the cranking power. The rated voltage of hybrid batteries is between 100V to 400V DC which means a completely new situation in automobiles. Hybrid vehicles operate with hazardous voltage and the hybrid system components have to ensure the protection against electric shock. Existing hybrid vehicles on the market use Nickel Metal Hydrid batteries (NiMH); for future applications Lithium Ionen batteries (LiIon) will come up well known from todays mobile phone applications. Both battery types are equipped with a complex battery management system to keep the battery in the correct state of charge and health. Nevertheless with a discharged HV battery there is no way to crank the motor and here an important demand for the DCDC comes up: It has to work in both directions: From the HV Battery to the 14V Battery (alternator or buck mode) and it has to offer the possibility to charge up the HV Battery from the 14V (boost mode).

DC/DC

Fig. 1 Example of a Hybrid Powertrain and its key components

1.2

Environmental demands from the vehicle application

The electrical functionality of the DCDC converter in the different HEVs are quite similar, the environmental specifications are quite different. Due to the fact that hybrid systems should be offered as an option most of the vehicle standard components are already defined. It is the exception that slight package modifications can be done so the hybrid components have to fit into existing gaps in nowadays vehicles nearly not existing. Some examples of the demands are: Combustion engine mounted with high vibrations Trunk located Chassis mounted Liquid cooled Air cooled Engine compartment location DCDC in a separate housing with its own control DCDC within a common housing with the Electric Motor Inverter And in addition caused by a lot of different vehicle series and different automotive manufacturers different design space, different position of electrical, cooling and mounting interfaces. No doubt, these demands have to be fulfilled. The key issue is to find a way between building up highly costumer specific components and to minimize the development and validation time and cost. Continentals solution for this challenging task was the development of a family concept consisting of key components (e.g. transformers, chokes, power stages) that remain unchanged. This is possible by using the same electrical topology for all DCDC converters and adaption of these to various costumer requirements by different internal arrangements, different housings, different fixation and different interfaces. However, keeping the same mode of operation and the same key components the development efforts to realize a new costumer specific design can be kept in a economically justifiable range.

trolled by a microcontroller, equipped with self diagnostic and an output voltage regulation within some milliseconds respond time. On the one hand this will help to build up a very stable 14V supply and to avoid the voltage dropping down if high power loads e.g. hydraulic pumps are activated. On the other hand the voltage drop of the alternator during the run up of the hydraulic pump reduces the pumps maximum inrush current. Connected to the stable output voltage of the DCDC the inrush current reaches very high values even in the range of the short circuit trip level of the DCDC. Especially for these load characteristics a fast and precise control loop has to be implemented to fulfil these three contradictory requirements: To keep the voltage as stable as possible, to limit the inrush current of loads by reducing the output voltage and to distinguish securely between a high inrush current and a short circuit. The output voltage of the HV Battery can be described as a function of the State of Charge (SOC) and the actual operating conditions, e.g. temperature, internal resistance and current direction. Considering all these conditions in worst case lead to a minimum and maximum battery output voltage. For NiMh and LiIon batteries the factor between the minimal voltage and the maximal voltage is roundabout two. E.g. a HEV Battery with a nominal voltage of 120V has an operating voltage from 80V to 160V. The DCDC converter has to provide full output power over the complete range. Every bar in Figure 2 represents one DCDC converter. For example the lower left bar represents a converter with an input voltage range from 80 to 160V and a rated output power of about 110A @ 14V. All these different converters are build with components out of Continentals family concept, work with the same mode of operation and contain the same key components - where ever this is the best approach for cost and performance.

HV battery voltage
400V

1.3

Demands from the standard 14V and the HV battery system

The main function of the DCDC converter is of course to substitute the alternator. This seems easy to fulfil, but in fact there are some obstacles. All electrical components of a vehicle are designed to work within the standard 14V system whose characteristics are mainly defined by the advantages and disadvantages of the alternator nothing else than a separately excited DC machine with a long term step response, a high internal resistance and a poor voltage controller. The alternator as a low end electrical power generator is now replaced by a high end component con-

250V

100V

Current @ 14V
100A 150A 200A 250A

Fig. 2 Some examples of HV Input Voltages and 14V output currents of DCDC converters.

Furthermore the battery voltage can change rapidly because the electric motor and inverter are high dynamic systems. Within some milliseconds the electric motor can change from acceleration to retardation and in consequence the batteries current direction and the voltage drop on the internal resistance change. For sure these fast input voltage changes shall not influence the output voltage stability. This is ensured by a disturbance variable compensation within the control of the DCDC.

2.2

Integrated DCDC Converter

Realisations of DCDC Converters

Considering the above mentioned boundary conditions a really large variety of different electrical and mechanical DCDC are possible. However in the automotive business high volumes and standardization is a must on both sides: For the supplier as well as for the car manufacturer, because both have to keep their costs under control.

2.1

Stand Alone DCDC Converter

A stand alone DCDC converter with liquid cooling is shown in Figure 3. The challenge is to fit mechanically into a given available space and to withstand the high environmental demands like vibration and submerge. Furthermore the 14V cables are not shielded and special small, but highly efficient EMC output filter is necessary to fulfil the costumers demands.

An integrated DCDC Converter is shown in Figure 4. It just replaces the normal inverter cover and after connecting all internal interfaces the two components are one solid and leak proof box. The integration offers a lot of benefits: Only one EMC Filter on the HV Input is necessary. Every component (the DCDC and the Inverter) saves the housing cover because this function is given from the other component. It is possible to use the same microcontroller to control both the Inverter and the DCDC. The DC link capacitor of the inverter can be used and the DC link capacitor of the DCDC converter can be scaled down. But there are also some issues to consider: Using one microprocessor needs a lot of effort in signal conditioning and signal transmission over long distances in a highly EMC critical environment. It offers more freedom to integrate two small components in a vehicle than one big component.

Fig. 4

Integrated DCDC Converter.

3 Conclusion
The DCDC converter in Hybrid Electric Vehicles is one of the key components that normally doesnt attract attention. Nevertheless the details of the component and its mode of operation are very interesting. For the next generation of HEV the DCDC converters will face a lot of different requirements and this will lead to a lot of different costumer specific units. Future vehicle generations hybrid components will become common parts with less design variety like ABS & ESP components are today.

Fig. 3

Stand Alone DCDC Converter.