Investigation of integrated converter circuit and enriched error tolerant fuzzy logic controller based control approach for solar powered EV system

Purpose This study aims to extend the driving range by on-board charging with use of photovoltaic (PV) source, avoiding the dependency on the grid supply and energy storage system in addition to that reduce the conversion complexity influenced on converter section of electric vehicle (EV) system. Design/methodology/approach This paper proposed a PV fed integrated converter topology called integrated single-input multi-output (I-SIMO) converter with enriched error tolerant fuzzy logic controller (EET-FLC) based control technique to regulate the speed of brushless direct current motor drive. I-SIMO converter provides both direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) outputs from a single DC input source depending on the operation mode. It comprises two modes of operation, act as DC–DC converter in vehicle standby mode and DC–AC converter in vehicles driving mode. Findings The use of PV panels in the vehicle helps to reduce dependence of grid supply as well as vehicle’s batteries. The proposed topology has to remove the multiple power conversion stages in EV system, reduce components count and provide dual outputs for enhancement of performance of EV system. Originality/value The proposed topology leads to reduction of switching losses and stresses across the components of the converter and provides reduction in system complexity and overall expenditure. So, it enhances the converter reliability and also improves the efficiency. The converter provides ripple-free output voltage under dynamic load condition. The performance of EET-FLC is studied by taking various performance measures such as rise time, peak time, settling time and peak overshoot and compared with conventional control designs.