Control of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles for mobile power generation and grid support applications

The use of an onboard electrical propulsion system in a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) to provide plug-in charging, mobile power generation, and vehicle-to-grid support capabilities is discussed. Pulse width modulation (PWM) control methods are examined for operating such a plug-in HEV in mobile power generation and vehicle-to-grid support applications to assess their impacts on the power conversion efficiency. A novel unipolar/interleaved PWM switching scheme is proposed, which can significantly reduce the switching losses and substantially increase the efficiency. A dual inverter drive prototype was assembled to test the PWM control schemes and test results are included to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.