Nominal voltage of the traction motors being used in
electric vehicles is typically higher than the voltage generated by
the onboard DC sources. Thus, motors of AC type require boost
as well as inversion of available DC voltage. This can be done
either by a DC-DC boosted inverter (DBI) or by the recently
introduced Z-source inverter (ZSI). Since drives with PM
brushless DC (BLDC) motor are largely utilized in the traction of
light electric vehicles, it is of interest to carry out a comparative
analysis of the two supplies when feeding such kind of motor. In
this paper, DBI and ZSI supplies are designed for the study case
of an electric city scooter propelled by a PM BLDC motor and
powered by a fuel cell with the assistance of a battery. Ratings of
the transistors and sizes of the passive components for the two
supplies are determined as a function of the fraction of the fuel
cell power to the nominal power of the traction motor. The design
results are discussed.
