Performance enhancement of Solar Vehicle by integration of supercapacitors in the energy storage system

To improve the performance of Solar Vehicle (SV), supercapacitor has been used as an auxiliary energy storage system. Indeed, SCs are used as an energy storage device during fast power changes and recovers the braking energy to enhance the SV autonomy. In other hand, the batteries are used to meet the energy requirements for a relatively long duration and to store the excess of energy. This work addresses the modeling, control and power management of the electric traction system of a solar vehicle which uses photovoltaic as an energy source. The storage system is insured by a combination of supercapacitors and batteries. The hybrid storage system improves the efficiency of the overall system. The simulation result has been conducted to verify the effectiveness of the integration of the supercapacitor in the photovoltaic energy storage of solar vehicle in terms of reducing the peak currents in the battery pack and increasing the battery life. The obtained results prove that the electrical stresses on the battery are reduced by introducing supercapacitor.