Ultracapacitors Equipped Hybrid Electric Microcar

The main purpose of the study is to describe a small size hybrid vehicle having ultracapacitors (UCs) as on-board storage unit. The vehicle on-board main power supply is achieved by a genset being formed of a 250 cc internal combustion engine and a permanent magnet (PM) synchronous electric generator, whereas four 16 V 500 F UCs modules are connected in series in order to supply as well to store the power peaks during, respectively, acceleration and braking vehicle modes of operation. The traction power is provided by a PM synchronous electric motor, whereas a distributed power electronic interface is in charge of all the required electronic conversions as well of controlling the operating conditions for each power unit. The study discusses the implemented control strategy and shows experimental results on the modes of operation of both generation unit and storage unit.