Powering Next-Generation Catenary Trucks—A Compact, Bidirectional 200 kW On-Board Charger

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Abstract
Catenary trucks are the key to accelerating the electrification of freight transport on highways and to reduce carbon emissions. This article introduces a 200 kW, highly efficient, highly compact, galvanically isolated, and bidirectional on-board charger that interfaces the dc overhead lines with the traction battery. By means of a flexible modularization and control technique, both 600 V and 1.2 kV are compatible catenary voltages. The chosen dc-dc converter topology is the three-phase dual-active bridge, which achieves a full-load efficiency of 98.5 % and a volumetric power density of 6.48 kW/dm3. Key enablers to accomplishing this volumetric power density are modern 1.2 kV silicon carbide semiconductor devices and highly compact 3D-printed fluid coolers. In addition to characterizing the steady-state efficiency, the experiments also validate the closed-loop control algorithms. This highly efficient and compact prototype is a milestone for the commercialization of catenary trucks.
Funding Information
  • research projects “ConverT” and “HiLinE”
  • German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, respectively (16EM4009-2, 16EM5010-2)

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