Design and Simulation of a Hybrid DC Microgrid for EV Charging Applications

Abstract

A 48 V hybrid DC microgrid is modelled and simulated in this work for the purpose of charging electric cars (EVs). All three components of this system—a 500 W solar panel, a fuel cell module, and a battery—are linked to a common DC bus. A 20 kHz boost converter with maximum power point tracking connects the PV array, and a buck converter interfaces the fuel cell. A bidirectional DC-DC converter, controlled by model predictive control, couples the battery and ensures that the DC bus voltage remains stable. An EV charging unit with active power factor correction receives AC power from a single-phase inverter that is regulated by a PI regulator. Simulink is used to implement the entire system, and a fixed-step sample time of 1×10⁻⁵ s is used. When run under rated conditions, the simulation shows a sinusoidal inverter output, a nearly unity power factor, and reliable DC bus performance.