Chinese Journal of Electrical Engineering ›› 2021, Vol. 7 ›› Issue (3): 88-99.doi: 10.23919/CJEE.2021.000028

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Evaluation of Waste Heat Recovery of Electrical Powertrain with Electro-thermally Coupled Models for Electric Vehicle Applications*

Xiao Chen1,*, Jiabin Wang1, Antonio Griffo1, Liang Chen2   

  1. 1. Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S1 3JD, UK;
    2. Midea Global Innovation Center, Midea Group, Foshan 528311, China
  • Received:2021-03-31 Revised:2021-05-29 Accepted:2021-06-28 Online:2021-09-25 Published:2021-09-17
  • Contact: * E-mail: xiao.chen@sheffield.ac.uk
  • About author:Xiao Chen received B.Eng. and M.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology, China, in 2009 and 2011, respectively, and PhD degree in Electrical Machines from University of Sheffield, in 2015. He was a Research Associate at University of Sheffield, from Jan 2016 to May 2018, before working as an Advanced Motor Drive Engineer in Dyson, UK, from July 2018 to Sep. 2019. Since Sep. 2019, He has been a Lecturer in electrical machines and drives group, Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Sheffield. His current research interests include high frequency bearing current, manufacturing-led innovation in electrical machines, multi-phase fault tolerant electrical machines for more electric aircraft, digital twin of electrical machine and drive, high-speed electrical machines for traction, etc.
    Jiabin Wang received the B.Eng. and M.Eng. degrees from Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, China, in 1982 and 1986, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from the University of East London, London, UK, in 1996, all in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.Currently, he is a Professor in Electrical Engineering at the University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK. From 1986 to 1991, he was with the Department of Electrical Engineering at Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, where he was appointed a Lecturer in 1987 and an Associated Professor in 1990. He was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK, from 1996 to 1997, and a Senior Lecturer at the University of East London from 1998 to 2001. His research interests range from motion control and electromechanical energy conversion to electric drives for applications in automotive, renewable energy, household appliances and aerospace sectors.He is a Fellow of the IET and a senior member of IEEE.
    Antonio Griffo received the M.Sc. degree in electronic engineering and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Napoli “Federico II,” Naples, Italy, in 2003 and 2007, respectively. From 2007 to 2013, he was a Research Associate with The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK, and the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, The University of Sheffield. His research interests include modeling, control, and condition monitoring of electric power systems, power electronics converters, and electrical motor drives for renewable energy, automotive, and aerospace applications.
    Liang Chen received the B.Eng. degree from Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, China, in 2006,the M.Eng. degree from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 2010, and the Ph.D degree from the University of Sheffield. Then he worked for Control Techniques Dynamics as an Electromagnetic Engineer for about three years. He is currently working for the Corporate Research Center of the Midea Group as an Electrical Machine Engineer. His research interests include electric-vehicle traction machines and servo motors of robotics.
  • Supported by:
    * European Commission Horizon 2020—Optimised and Systematic Energy Management in Electric Vehicles, under Grant 653514

Abstract: The mile range of an electric vehicle (EV) may be reduced significantly in cold weather owing to the energy demand for meeting thermal comfort in the vehicle cabin, as waste heat from a combustion engine is not available for this purpose. Various heat pump-based heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems can be employed to absorb the heat energy from the surroundings and/or the waste heat from the electrical powertrain to facilitate cabin thermal comfort, thereby extending the EV mile range. However, there is a lack of research on the electro-thermally coupled modelling and evaluation of the thermal performance of HVAC systems. This paper proposes electro-thermally coupled models for the electrical machine and inverter by modelling the key electromagnetic quantities as functions of the torque and speed based on offline parameter extraction from two-dimensional electromagnetic finite element analysis. The proposed electro-thermally coupled models, which are computationally efficient, are integrated into HVAC thermofluid simulation. Comparative studies of three heat pump-based HVAC architectures (conventional ambient heat only, waste heat only, and dual heat source) are performed using the proposed electro-thermally coupled models. The dual heat source HVAC architecture exhibits superior thermal performance over its counterparts in cold weather conditions.

Key words: Waste heat recovery, thermal management, electrical powertrain, electric vehicle, HVAC