Ultracapacitor Based Voltage Sag Compensation in Armored Vehicles

Abstract

The article describes the voltage sag compensation of a DC bus and improved regulation of battery voltage while starting a diesel engine starter motor using continuously acting ultracapacitor modules with an equivalent series resistance energy sharing principle in an armored fighting vehicle. in general, the starter motor draws large power during starting, thereby demanding a large inrush current that is fed by the battery power system. This causes a large fall in the terminal voltage of the battery. This paper proposes a 24 V, 800 Ah Li-Acid Storage Device Bank with a 300 F, 30 Volt Ultracapacitor Module that energizes an 11-Kilowatt starter motor, which initiates the rotation of a diesel engine shaft. The time-based structures of lead-acid power sources, ultracapacitors, and starter motors will be analyzed and simulated based on the experimental results. The complete circuit was verified by MATLAB/SIMULINK Software, where voltage sag is reduced while starting a starter motor from 19.1 V to 22.3 V and 75.11% of energy is shared by the ultracapacitor. The same configuration with a reduced ultracapacitor rating of 63 F and 30 V has been implemented in hardware, and the voltage sag is limited from 18.9 V to 21.1 V with 27% of the energy shared by the ultracapacitor. Both simulation and hardware results are implemented and verified.

Keywords:

• lead-acid battery
• ultracapacitor
• HEV
• AFV
• energy storage
• energy management

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work presented in this paper is a funded project sponsored by Combat Vehicles Research & Development Establishment -CVRDE, Chennai.

Notes on contributors

N. Saravanan

N. Saravanan completed her B.E. degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Anna University (2005), M.E. degree in Power Electronics and Drives from Anna University (2008). He has 11 years of teaching experience and 6 years of research experience. He is presently working as Assistant professor at Sree Sastha institute of Engineering and Technology. He obtained the fellowship from DST 2015 to do her Ph.D work through the Purse program scheme from Indian government. His research interests include Converters, Electrical Machines, Drives and alternate energy sources.

S. Hosimin Thilagar

S. Hosimin Thilagar was born in India. He received his Masters from Madurai Kamraj University in 1994 and Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) in 2004. He is presently working at Anna University as Professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. His research interests include Electrical Machines, Drives and MEMS Technology.

Raveendra Nath Pinapati

Raveendra Nath Pinapati obtained his B.Tech. from Acharya Nagarjuna University and M.Tech. from National Institute of Technology Warangal (NITW) in 2009 and 2015 respectively. He is working as a scientist in Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) since 2010. He worked for the development of the test bed instrumentation of engines. Currently, his research is mainly focused on development electrical systems such as advanced power generating systems, power management systems and other special systems for defence applications. He is also working for the development AI technologies for the condition monitoring of electrical machines.

C. Jaishankar

C. Jaishankar received the B.E. degree in electrical and electronics engineering from the PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, in 1994, and the master’s degree in power system engineering from the Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, in 1996. He has more than 20 years of experience in designing BLDC motors for defense and aerospace applications. He is currently working as the Scientist in the field of design and development of the electrical system for armored fighting vehicles. In the current study, he conceived the idea and carried out the simulation. His current areas of interest include the design of nonconventional electrical machines, machine health monitoring, and wireless battery charging and ultracapacitor.