Integration of Onboard Batteries and Supercapacitors Based on the Multi-Source Inverter for Light Rail Vehicles

Abstract

Light rail vehicles with onboard energy storage systems have gained increasing interest due to higher efficiency and lower or null local emissions in catenary-less operation. Their traction circuit conventionally employs inverters to drive the traction motors and DC/DC converters to manage the onboard sources. Recently, the concept of multi-source inverter (MSI) was introduced for single-stage integration of AC loads and multiple DC sources without. This paper evaluates the feasibility and attractiveness of the MSI for single-stage integration of batteries and supercapacitors to the traction motors in a catenary-less tramway vehicle. The configuration of the MSI-based hybrid energy storage system is detailed. Numerical simulations are carried out to assess its performance over a typical driving cycle. Furthermore, the proposed architecture is compared to a standard configuration employing a DC/DC converter to control the supercapacitors, with focus on power losses and volumes of the converters and DC sources.