Browsing by Author "Silva, Marco"
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- Comparison of Electric Vehicle Charging Efficiency with IEVCC and a typical EVSEPublication . Cardoso, Filipe; Rosado, José; Silva, MarcoMore than a fashion trend, EVs (Electric Vehicles) are here to stay and present themselves as a solution for combating climate change. In addition to the TCO (Total Cost Ownership) reductions, these vehicles are much more efficient than their equivalent ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) counter parts. Even if all the energy used to charge an EV comes from renewable sources, one of the points in the energy transfer chain, where efficiency can be optimized is in the charging process, whose efficiency depends on the charging power. This results from the fact that the EV internal charger has a fixed minimum power consumption to operate. Charging with a higher power results in less time charging, so less time is spent wasting energy on the EV internal charger. EVs come equipped with an internal charger whose charging power can be controlled by an external charge controller, commonly known as an EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment). Manufacturers typically supply EVSEs with a fixed charging power setting, so they can be used on a household plug without any safety issues concerns. Usually, this power is set to around 2.3 kW for 230 V, but it is not uncommon to find values around 1.84 kW and very rarely 2.76 kW (which cor- responds to currents of 8∼12A). Often these EVSEs, due to the low charging power, do not always allow the users to restore the total charge used on a common day. In addition, the use of energy in a house is conditioned by the contracted power, which, if exceeded, triggers the main switchboard of the house. This requires some scheduling to manage an EV chargng session in conjunction with other house appliances usage. The use of an EVSE that considers the instantaneous house consumption and adjusts the EV charging to the maximum available power, allows to maximize the charging efficiency. A new EVSE that implements these functionalities has been developed and is addressed in this work. This EVSE, which is called IEVCC (Intelligent Electric Vehicle Charger Controller) is compared with a fixed EVSE, and the results show greater efficiency in the charging process.
- IEVCC - A Mesh Managed Network for Electric Vehicle ChargingPublication . Baptista, Pedro; Rosado, J.; Silva, Marco; Caldeira, Filipe; Cardoso, FilipeThe implementation and management of Electric Vehicle (EV) charging points in parking spaces (whether in multifamily condominiums or in private company parking lots) presents a challenge, since the available contracted power may be insufficient for the building devices needs and for EV chargers to work simultaneously. The available power is limited to a fixed value generally determined by the expected peak power consumption of the building. An increase in the contracted power leads to unwanted costs and, sometimes, this is not possible without a complete rework of the electrical installation at even higher costs. The available power is not fully used all the time, since not all the buildings devices are always working simultaneously. These spare power can be monopolized by a mesh network of chargers, taking advantage of the full contracted power without increasing costs. In this work we present a manager of a mesh network of chargers that can distribute the available power to an array of chargers based on several conditions, e.g. load balancing, priority of chargers or charging.
- Intelligent Electric Vehicle Charging ControllerPublication . Cardoso, Filipe; Rosado, J.; Silva, Marco; Teixeira, C. J. Coelho; Agreira, C. I. Faustino; Caldeira, Filipe; Baptista, Pedro; Barreto, Francisco; Pereirinha, Paulo G.For domestic consumers, electricity tariffs usually have two components: one is related to the maximum available current/total power (billed in C/day) and the other concerns to the energy consumption (C/kWh). The main switchboard current is usually limited, according to the contracted power level, by way of automatic switches. To avoid main switchboard tripping by current limit violation, Electric Vehicle (EV) owners may decide to increase their contracted power (and the energy bill) or to adopt charging strategies that limit the global consumption (EV plus house needs) to the contracted current/power. In this paper, an Intelligent Electric Vehicle Charging Controller (IEVCC), allowing to use the contracted power to the maximum extent, is presented. A set of user configurable parameters can be used to define the controller behavior, in order to prevent a full switch-off. Two versions are described: a single user version that can be used at private houses and a mesh version that can be used in multi apartment buildings, providing information about consumed energy, time of use, costs and past bills.
- A Low Cost and Highly Parameterizable Energy MeterPublication . Rosado, J.; Cardoso, Filipe; Silva, MarcoThe popularity of the Internet of Things (IoT) and demand for smart devices, particularly in the smart home industry, has increased in recent years. As a result, there is a growing need for affordable and functional energy meters to measure electric energy consumption, mainly due to the rise of electric vehicle (EV) sales and energy prices in Europe. In this paper, we present the development of an energy meter that accurately measures voltage, current, active power, frequency, and power factor. The energy meter is designed to provide information to an intelligent EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment), allowing users to "plug and forget." We describe the hardware and software of the latest energy monitor version, including an ESP8266 microcontroller, a PZEM-004TV3 energy meter, an OLED display, and a power supply circuit board. We also present some results of the energy meter’s use, highlighting its functionalities and benefits. The paper concludes with insights into a new version planned for the energy monitor. This paper will be of interest to researchers and industry professionals working in the IoT and smart device fields, as well as those interested in energy efficiency and EV charging infrastructure.