Modelling and simulation of vehicle electric power system

In recent years, the demand for an increased number of vehicle functions by legislation and customer expectations has introduced many electronic control systems and electrical driven units in vehicles and has resulted in steadily increasing electrical loads. Moreover, due to heavy urban traffic conditions, the idling time fraction has increased and reduced the power generation of the alternator. In the vehicle design phase, in order to avoid an over- or under-design problem of the electric power system, it is necessary to understand both the characteristics of each component of the vehicle electric power system and the interactions between the components. For this purpose, model and simulation algorithms of the vehicle power system are required. In this study, the vehicle electric power system, which is mainly composed of a generator and battery, is modelled and evaluated. Among the various proposed battery models, two types are compared in terms of accuracy and ease-of-use. These two models are distinguished by the consideration of inrush current at the beginning of charging and discharging. In addition, a variable terminal voltage alternator model (VTVA model) is proposed, and is compared with a constant terminal voltage alternator model (CTVA model), Based on the major component model, a simulation algorithm is developed and used to perform a case study. Compared with real data from the vehicle, the simulation results of energy generation and consumption are comparable. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.