Leveraging renewable energy sources for sustainable traction vehicles

Abstract

In pursuit of sustainable transportation, green energy sources (GES) are taking center stage, propelling traction vehicles like tramways and trolleybuses towards a zero-emission future. Solar is the most prominent source among the available renewable sources and also for the transport system applications. To utilize photovoltaic (PV) source effectively, model predictive controller-based PV maximum power tracking algorithm is used to identify the PV parameters. Equipped with the smart energy storage system (SESS), light traction vehicles rely on the efficiency and reliability of brushless DC (BLDC) motors for smooth operation. However, BLDC motors operate at high voltages, which requires them to be connected to high voltage microgrids. Bridging the gap between ESS/SESS and the high-voltage microgrid with traditional DC-DC boost converters incurs efficiency losses and component stress. This paper tackles high-voltage needs in microgrids through innovative, efficient DC-DC boost converter designs. An innovative finite-control-set based model-predictive control (FCS MPC) controller tackles clean energy harnessing from PV and grid stability in traction applications, enabling optimized power sharing within microgrid constraints.