Study of inductor effects in a bidirectional DC-DC converter for electrical vehicle

The search for sustainable mobility solutions is leading to an intense effort in electric vehicles research and development. In this paper, an electric vehicle drivetrain is studied, with special focus on the inductance variation effect in the electric vehicle bidirectional DC-DC converter performance. The system behavior is studied considering an ideal constant inductor compared with different possibilities for a real inductor taking into account magnetic core saturation arising from the city driving high load variation. Conclusions on the importance of inductor sizing, modeling and choice are presented as well as the saturation influence on the converter behavior and magnetic core choice.