IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS
Dual-Source High-Performance Active
Switched Quasi-Z-Source Inverter for Fuel Cell
Hybrid Vehicles
Thang V. Do, Student Member, IEEE, Mohsen Kandidayeni, Member, IEEE, João Pedro F. Trovão,
Senior Member, IEEE, Loïc Boulon, Senior Member, IEEE
Abstract— To lower the circuit complexity and required space,
and to prolong the lifetime of the hybrid energy storage system, a
Z-source inverter (ZSI) topology is a suitable substitute for the
traditional two-stage ones and has drawn attention in fuel cell (FC)
hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). This replacement requires a
suitable selection of passive components for Z-source network
(ZSN) and a strict control over the FC current. This paper puts
forward a novel high-performance active switched quasi-ZSI (HP-
AS-qZSI) for the application of an FC-HEV. First, a lithium-ion
capacitor (LiC) bank replaces one regular capacitor in the ZSN to
decrease the passive components size and volume. By inserting an
anti-parallel power switching device, the proposed inverter is
enabled to tackle distorted/uncontrollable dc-link voltages in a
wide range of loads compared to the original AS-qZSI. Second, an
improved differential evolution (IDE)-based Linear–quadratic
regulator (LQR) controller is also proposed to enhance the
dynamic performance of the FC current control. Finally, signal
hardware-in-the-loop tests are implemented to verify the
performance of the proposed topology and controller. The
proposed topology demonstrates an improved average efficiency
(2.71%) and a decreased size and volume of passive elements over
a traditional two-stage inverter.
Index Terms— Fuel-cell hybrid electric vehicle (FC-HEV),
High-performance active switched quasi-Z-Source inverter,
Improved differential evolution, Linear–quadratic regulator.
I. INTRODUCTION
Hybridization with an energy storage system (ESS) via
power electronic converters is critical to resolve issues in fuel
cell (FC) hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) [1]. With regard to
the ESS, batteries and supercapacitors (SCs) are widely utilized
in FC-HEV application [2]. However, the batteries suffer from
slow charging/discharging time and limited life cycles, while
the SCs are of low energy densities. Recently, lithium-ion
capacitors (LiCs) are found as the next generation of the high
specific-power (HSP) sources. They hybridize the anode from
lithium-ion batteries, including carbon material frequently pre-
doped with lithium ions, and the cathode from SCs, in which
activated carbon is commonly employed. This enables them to
maintain the batteries’ high-power density and achieve greater
energy density than SCs, which could extend the FC-HEV’s
driving autonomy [3]. In [4], it is shown that a FC/LiC passive
configuration can meet the need of a FC-HEV while it is very
light, compact, and does not need an energy management
strategy (EMS). The selection of a suitable power electronic
and the adoption of an appropriate FC current control algorithm
can add the efficiency enhancement to the mentioned merits of
1
this system. Regarding the power electronics systems, the
conventional two-stage inverter, constituted by a boost
converter (BC) and a voltage source inverter (VSI), is regularly
used [5]. Nonetheless, this inverter performs with long duty
cycles, causing high voltage/current stresses, high conduction
losses, and poor reliability [6]. This not only contributes to the
high complication of circuitry and cost but also demands wide
space and obtains low efficiency in the FC-HEVs.
To deal with the mentioned restrictions of the BC-VSIs,
utilizing single-stage converters in HESSs has come under
attention. For instance, the Z-source inverters (ZSIs) and quasi-
ZSIs (qZSIs) have newly been utilized instead of the classical
BC-VSIs in HEV systems. By coupling the batteries in parallel
with one capacitor of their Z-source network (ZSN) without
extra dc-dc converters, these topologies allow enhancing the
efficiency and significantly decreasing the system size and cost
[7], [8]. Nonetheless, discontinuous input/high inrush currents
are regarded as the primary restraints of using ZSIs in FC-
HEVs. Furthermore, the practical boost factor of the Bq-ZSIs is
regularly constrained since its shoot-through (ST) state could
solely be modified in a zero state. This may limit its usage in an
FC-HEV, where a high boost factor is necessary for the FC
broad voltage range due to the FC stack’s characteristics.
Choosing an appropriate ZSI topology for the FC-HEV is
critical to improve its performance. In this regard, different
criteria need to be satisfied as presented in [9]. However,
fabricating the prototypes of the ZSI topologies to figure out the
suitable one is very time and money-consuming. To this end, a
framework based on the multi-criteria decision-making method
is applied to rank ZSI topologies from the best one to the worst
one. Among various ZSI topologies, a revised qZSI topology,
named as active switched quasi-Z-source inverter (AS-qZSI) in
[10] has achieved a great trade-off among multiple criteria for
our 3-wheel-based FC-HEV over others. Thus, this topology is
used in the study. The AS-qZSI is proposed to enhance the
boost factor and reduce the voltage stress across the inverter,
compared to the ZSI and the qZSI. This topology is realized by
only integrating one diode and one power switching device into
the ZSN of the qZSI. Thus, the usage of this topology might
contribute to a reduction in the size and volume of the power
electronics systems in FC-HEVs. Nonetheless, at light load
operations or in its ZSN design-based small inductance values,
this topology can carry out under the discontinuous conduction
mode. This makes the dc-link voltage distorted/uncontrollable
during the non-ST states [11].
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS
To tackle the aforementioned issues, the use of new ESSs in
the AS-qZSI topology can be practiced. LiC is one of the most
potential ESSs which has recently been utilized in the
application of FC-HEVs [4], [12]. However, its application in
the ZSI topologies has escaped the attentions. It can be
integrated into the ZSN of the typical AS-qZSI topologies
instead of the normal capacitors. However, the introduction of
the LiC in this topology makes the FC current control very
sensitive. In fact, LiC integration without an extra dc-dc
converter would cause the presence of the unanticipated
oscillation and rush currents during the LiC
discharging/charging operations in a short time. This might
result in sudden FC current variations, which are beyond the FC
current controller’s bandwidth, thus negatively affecting the FC
lifetime [13]. If the controller design is poorly implemented,
controlling FC current might become unstable easily. Thus, the
accurate control of the FC current should be brought to the
forefront to prolong the FC lifetime.
Different control approaches, primarily categorized into
linear and nonlinear controllers, have lately been applied for
ZSI topologies of HESSs [14]. The linear controllers are
straightforward to design and implement, but not efficient
within the whole operating conditions. Nonlinear ones, on the
other hand, are more complicated to design but more effective
to enhance the dynamic response and gain the system’s
robustness. For instance, a sliding mode controller and a fuzzy
controller are investigated to increase the dynamic response and
robustness of the battery current control in the Bq-ZSIs of an
HESS [15], [16]. Nonetheless, these controllers may not
provide the optimal dynamic performance since their gains
require the tuning of many parameters which is a complicated
task and practically impossible to implement by trial and error.
To fill this gap, the use of an optimal control method to improve
the dynamic performance of the FC current control can be
practiced. Among the robust control methods, linear–quadratic
regulator (LQR) controller has been considered as an effective
one in power electronics applications. This is due to the fact that
it shows more resistance to sudden variations and has more
robustness and straightforwardness in the application. Although
the power converter is a nonlinear system, its small-signal
dynamic model can be considered as a linear one according to
its operating point. Moreover, the cost function of the controller
design problem is commonly in quadratic forms in terms of the
control and state variables. Thus, the LQR controller is utilized
in this study. The effectiveness of the LQR controller has been
already proven in [17], where it presents faster response and
less undershoot for dc-link control than the PI controller in an
interleaved boost converter. However, its performance is
dependent on choosing the gains of its weighting matrices. In
this respect, metaheuristics-based optimization approaches,
namely particle swarm optimization (PSO), genetic algorithm
(GA) and differential evolution (DE) are frequently used for
power electronic applications [18], [19]. The PSO might get
stuck into the local optimum when performing multimodal
optimization tasks, and GA might suffer from poor premature
convergence and loss of best choices because of the excessive
‘‘randomness’’. Concerning DE, employing solely one
2
mutation operator might bring about some restraints, such as
slow convergence and being trapped in the local optimum.
Recently, an improved differential evolution (IDE) algorithm is
proposed for an optimal design of truss structures in [20]. It
illustrates a satisfactory performance when implementing
numerous parameters to optimize. By employing multi-
mutation operators, this algorithm leads to better results by
escaping from local optimum traps. Thus, this method has a
good potential to be used for tuning the LQR controller gains.
In light of the above-mentioned matters, this paper proposes
a novel high-performance AS-qZSI (HP-AS-qZSI) topology for
an FC-HEV composed of a FC stack and a LiC bank. This
proposed topology is figured out by integrating an anti-parallel
power switching device and substituting the LiC bank for one
normal capacitor into the ZSN of the original AS-qZSI. As a
result, the proposed topology could not only deal with broad-
range loads but also notably decrease the passive components
size and volume in FC-HEVs. Furthermore, GaN power
semiconductor devices are also used in this new topology to
improve its efficiency. The employment of the LiC in the
proposed topology without an added dc-dc converter makes the
strict control of the FC current necessary to prevent the presence
of rush currents during charge/discharge cycles of LiC in the
FC system. In this regard, this work employs an IDE-based
LQR controller for the FC current control in the recreational
FC-HEV under study. Thus, beyond the theoretical study, this
work is implemented around an application case, in which a
recreational 3-wheel FC-HEV is investigated [21]. This vehicle
is equipped with a conventional two-stage inverter, suffering
from not only low performance but also the higher requirements
of the cost and space. Therefore, the usage of a novel ZSI
topology in this FC-HEV can lead to better performance and
decrease the system weight and volume. The primary
contributions of this paper are given as follows:
• It presents a novel dual-source topology to enhance the
system efficiency and reduce the system size and volume
in a FC-HEV.
• It proposes using an IDE-based LQR controller to improve
the dynamic performance of the FC current control.
To verify the performed analysis, a signal hardware-in-the-
loop (HIL) setup is employed to carry out simulations with a
microcontroller in the loop for the proposed HESS topology and
controller. The rest of the paper is structured as follows. Section
II explains the configuration of the studied three-wheel electric
vehicle along with the proposed HESS topology and provides
its operation modes. The implementation of the IDE-based
LQR is explained in Section III. Results and discussion with
HIL validations are illustrated in Section IV, followed by the
conclusion section.
II. EMBEDDED HIGH-PERFORMANCE ACTIVE SWITCHED QUASI-
Z SOURCE INVERTER
A. Configuration and Specification of the three-wheel FC-HEV
The electric vehicle (EV) under study is a three-wheel
recreational vehicle (e-TESC-3W platform) from University of
Sherbrooke, as illustrated in Fig. 1. In [22], a FC/SC
configuration using a traditional two-stage inverter is proposed
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS 3

for this vehicle. To improve the performance and decrease the circuits of the non-shoot-through (NST) state (Fig. 3a) and the
system size and volume, a FC/LiC configuration using a novel ST state (Fig. 3b). In the CCM, there only exist currents
HP-AS-qZSI is proposed in this study, as shown in Fig. 1. The draining through the freewheeling diode 𝐷8 , while the 𝑆8 will
average power is supplied by an FC stack, whereas LiCs are not be implemented in this mode. Moreover, the LiC current
utilized to provide/restore high-frequency energies can be split into two parts, namely the regular capacitor current
spontaneously in acceleration/braking operations. The essential (𝑖𝐿𝑖𝐶 ) and the HSP one (𝑖𝐿𝑖𝐶−𝐻𝑆𝑃 ).
parameters of the vehicle are given in TABLE I. -
VLIC
+ -
VLIC
+
ILiC ILiC

RLiC RLiC
Lithium-ion
IFC L1 IL2 L2 IFC L1 IL2 L2
capacitor + - + -
- +
RL RL IC1 IPN RL RL IPN
IC1

D0 L1 L2
+ VDC + + +
D1 + + VDC = 0
VFC C1 - VFC C1
VE - - -
S7 S1 S3 S5 Ftr V
- -
+ D8 Isa Te
S8
Fuel Isb
cell wr T
- S2 S4 S6
Isc (a) (b)
C1
Fig. 3. The equivalent circuits of the proposed topology in CCM, (a) NST
state, (b) ST state.
Fig. 1. The proposed configuration of the embedded HP-AS-qZSI for the dual-
source e-TESC experimental platform. This topology carries out at the NST state in Fig. 3a, in which
the power switching device 𝑆7 is turned off, while the diodes
B. Embedded High-Performance Active Switched Quasi-Z-
(𝐷1 and 𝐷8 ) are on. The inductors (𝐿1 and 𝐿2 ) provide their
source Inverter for a Dual-Source System
reserved energies to the capacitors (𝐶1 and 𝐶𝐿𝑖𝐶 ) and the load.
The proposed HP-AS-qZSI for the studied FC/LiC 3-wheel Its dynamic equations are determined by:
FC-HEV is shown in Fig. 1. This topology has been obtained 𝑑𝑖𝐹𝐶
by replacing the LiC bank with the conventional capacitor 𝐶2 , 𝐿1 = 𝑣𝐹𝐶 + 𝑣𝐿𝑖𝐶 − 𝑣𝑐1 + 𝑖𝐿2 𝑅𝐿𝑖𝐶 − 𝑖𝐹𝐶 (𝑅𝐿 + 𝑅𝐿𝑖𝐶 )
𝑑𝑡
and inserting one anti-parallel active switching device (𝑆8 ) into 𝑑𝑖𝐿2
𝐿2 = −𝑣𝐿𝑖𝐶 − (𝑖𝐿2 − 𝑖𝐹𝐶 )𝑅𝐿𝑖𝐶 − 𝑖𝐿2 𝑅𝐿
the diode 𝐷8 of the classical AS-qZSI. In this regard, the LiC is 𝑑𝑡 (1)
𝑑𝑢𝐶1
characterized by a conventional equivalent circuit model in Fig. 𝐶1 = 𝑖𝐹𝐶 − 𝑖𝑃𝑁
𝑑𝑡
2, composed of a capacitance element and an equivalent series 𝑑𝑢𝐿𝑖𝐶
resistance [4]. The LiC capacitance extremely relies on its { 𝑖𝐿𝑖𝐶 = 𝐶𝐿𝑖𝐶 = 𝑖𝐿2 − 𝑖𝐿1 − 𝑖𝐿𝑖𝐶−HSP
𝑑𝑡
voltage (𝑉𝑂𝐶𝑉 ), which can be defined based on the modified
During the ST state in Fig. 3b, the 𝑆7 is switched on, and the
Stern model [23]. In comparison, LiC has a more stable
dc-link side is shortened by the top/bottom switching devices of
operating voltage (2.2V to 3.8V) than the SC (0V to 2.7V)
the phase legs inverter. The diodes (𝐷1 and 𝐷8 ) are in blocked
thanks to small voltage variations in charging/discharging
states. The two inductors are charged, whereas the two
operations. This results in a more constant dc-link voltage in the
capacitors (𝐶1 and 𝐶𝐿𝑖𝐶 ) transfer their powers. The dynamic
ZSN and eliminates the need of a pre-charging circuit for the
equations in this state are presented as follows:
LiC due to its higher energy and power density. Therefore, in
this study, the LiC bank is employed as not only the HSP source 𝑑𝑖𝐹𝐶
𝐿1 = 𝑣𝐹𝐶 + 𝑣𝐿𝑖𝐶 − 𝑖𝐹𝐶 (𝑅𝐿 + 𝑅𝐿𝑖𝐶 )
but also the regular capacitor to stabilize the operation of the 𝑑𝑡
𝑑𝑖𝐿2
proposed topology. Different from the SC/battery HESSs with 𝐿2 = 𝑣𝑐1 − 𝑖𝐿2 𝑅𝐿
𝑑𝑡 (2)
qZSI and ZSI in [7], [8], where the ESSs are paralleled with one 𝑑𝑢𝐶1
capacitor of the ZSN, the proposed topology can lead to a 𝐶1 = −𝑖𝐿2
𝑑𝑡
remarkable decrease in the FC-HEV system size and volume. 𝑑𝑢𝐿𝑖𝐶
{ 𝑖𝐿𝑖𝐶 = 𝐶𝐿𝑖𝐶 𝑑𝑡 = −𝑖𝐿1 − 𝑖𝐿𝑖𝐶−HSP
iLiC RLiC uLiC
+ Based on the equation of the voltage/ampere-second balance
+
for the 𝐿1 and 𝐿2 (𝐶1 and 𝐶𝐿𝑖𝐶 respectively over one switching
Modified period), the boost factor (𝐵) and the FC current are simply
Stern model obtained as (3) by ignoring the parasitic components:
C(u) 1 − 𝐷𝑠𝑡
𝐵 = 𝑉𝐶1 = 2 𝑣𝐹𝐶
1/(3600Q) 1 − 3𝐷𝑠𝑡 + 𝐷𝑠𝑡
VOCV 𝐷𝑠𝑡
K p1f(u) + p2 + 𝑉𝐿𝑖𝐶 = 2 𝑣𝐹𝐶
- 1 − 3𝐷𝑠𝑡 + 𝐷𝑠𝑡 (3)
Depth of 𝐼𝐿𝑖𝐶−HSP 𝐷𝑠𝑡 + 𝐼𝑃𝑁 (1 − 𝐷𝑠𝑡 )
Discharge Vpzc 𝐼𝐹𝐶 =
1 − 2𝐷𝑠𝑡
{ 𝐼𝐿𝑖𝐶−HSP = 𝐼𝐿2 − 𝐼𝐹𝐶
Fig. 2. The LiC equivalent model.
where 𝐷𝑠𝑡 denotes the ST duty cycle.
1) Operating Principles of the Proposed HESS FC/LiC HP-
AS-qZSI in CCM and DCM
Operation in the CCM: Fig. 3 presents the equivalent
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS 4

TABLE I
FULL-SCALE SYSTEM PARAMETERS

Parameters Symbols Values

Vehicles (e-TESC-3W platform)
Vehicle mass meq 350 kg
Vehicle front area Aaero 1.25 m2
Wheel radius r 0.305 m
Belt transmission drive ratio Ggb 5.033 (30:151)
Belt transmission drive efficiency gb 95%
Maximum vehicle speed VEV,max 140 km/h
PMSM parameters
Phase inductance Ld, Lq 62 - 110 H
Rotor inertia J 0.096 kg. m2
Internal phase resistance Rs 0.0027 
Number of pole pairs  5
HESS FC/LiC HP-AS-qZSI and HESS FC/LiC BC-VSI parameters
Inductance L1-2, LBC-VSI 0.2 mH Fig. 4. DC-link voltage waveforms of the original AS-qZSI in low-load
DC inductor resistance RL, RL-BC-VSI 12.56 - 27.06 m operations.
Capacitance C1, CBC-VSI 2.2 – 4.4 mF
VLIC VLIC
Equivalent series resistance RC 21 m - + - +
ILiC ILiC
Switching frequency fs 20 kHz
RLiC RLiC
Diode resistance rF0-1 14 m
IFC L1 IL2 L2 IFC L1 IL2 L2
Diode forward voltage vF0-1 1.5 V + - + -
Driving cycle - Artemis_short.mat RL RL IC1 IPN RL RL IC1 IPN
Fuel cell parameters S8
+ D8 VDC + + +
Number of cell stacks NFC 75 VFC VDC
- VFC -
Rated power PPF 14.4 kW - C1
+ - C1
+
Lithium Ion Capacitor parameters for HIL validation - -
Operating voltage range VLiCs 2.2V-3.8V
Neutral voltage Vpzc 3V (a) (b)
Capacitance CLiC 3300 F VLIC VLIC
Equivalent series resistance RESR 1 m - + ILiC - + ILiC
Number of serial cells NS-ZSI, NS-BC-VSI 6 - 36 RLiC RLiC
Number of parallel cells NP-ZSI, NP-BC-VSI 6 -1 IFC = 0 L1 IL2 = 0 L2 IFC L1 IL2 L2
+ - + -
RL RL RL RL IPN
Operation in the DCM: With respect to the light loads or the IC1 IPN
S7
+ S8 +
ZSN-based small inductance values, the inductor current 𝑖𝐹𝐶 VFC
+
VDC VFC C1
+ VDC = 0
+
- - -
will maintain diminishing in the NST. When the load current - C1
+
-
-
(𝑖𝑃𝑁 ) is greater than the 𝑖𝐹𝐶 , the diode 𝐷8 turns off. The inductor
voltage 𝑣𝐿1 adjusts from 𝑣𝐹𝐶 + 𝑣𝐿𝑖𝐶 − 𝑣𝑐1 − 𝑣𝑅𝐿1 + 𝑣𝑅𝐿𝑖𝐶 to an (c) (d)
undetermined magnitude. Thus, the dc-link voltage is severely
Fig. 5. Operating stages of the proposed topology in DCM: (a) Stage 1, (b)
distorted and uncontrollable, as shown in Fig. 4. In order to Stage 2, (c) Stage 3, and (d) Stage 4.
tackle this issue, the output current of the ZSN should be greater
than the 𝑖𝑃𝑁 . Thus, an anti-parallel power switching device 𝑆8 FC and the 𝐶𝐿𝑖𝐶 with the voltage of 𝑣𝐹𝐶 + 𝑣𝐿𝑖𝐶 + 𝑣𝑅𝐿𝑖𝐶 − 𝑣𝑅𝐿1 .
is proposed to integrate into the diode 𝐷8 for bidirectional
power flows, in which the capacitor (𝐶1 ) can discharge its 2) Operation Modes of the Proposed HP-AS-qZSI in the FC/LiC
power in this case in Fig. 1. Therefore, the proposed HESS configuration
topology can be implemented in the DCM with stable dc-link Assuming that the losses of the inverter and ZSN parts are
voltage and in a wide range of loads imposed in the FC-HEV neglected, it is apparently noticed that the average power
applications. In the DCM, the two inductors will have zero relationships in the FC-HEV system can be given as follows:
𝑃𝐹𝐶 + 𝑃𝐿𝑖𝐶 = 𝑃𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 (4)
currents flowing through them, and different operating stages
can be noticed in each half-carrier cycle. Equation (5) is derived from (4), where 𝐼𝐹𝐶 , 𝐼𝐿𝑖𝐶 and 𝐼𝑃𝑁
In stage 1, shown in Fig. 5a, the FC/LiC HP-AS-qZSI express the average current of the FC, LiC, and load,
operates in the NST state. The two inductors deliver their stored respectively.
energies to the capacitors and the load. During this stage, its 𝐼𝐹𝐶 𝑉𝐹𝐶 + 𝐼𝐿𝑖𝐶 𝑉𝐿𝑖𝐶 = 𝑉𝐷𝐶 𝐼𝑃𝑁 (5)
operation is slightly similar to the CCM mode, in which the 𝑣𝐿1
Based on (3) and (5), it is straightforward to attain:
is 𝑣𝐹𝐶 + 𝑣𝐿𝑖𝐶 − 𝑣𝑐1 − 𝑣𝑅𝐿1 + 𝑣𝑅𝐿𝑖𝐶 .
In stage 2, as illustrated in Fig. 5b, if the 𝑖𝑃𝑁 is greater than (1 − 2𝐷𝑠𝑡 )𝐼𝐹𝐶 + 𝐷𝑠𝑡 𝐼𝐿𝑖𝐶 = 𝐼𝑃𝑁 (6)
the 𝑖𝐹𝐶 , the 𝑆8 is switched on. The load powers are provided by
As is noticed in (6), while 𝐼𝐹𝐶 is controlled by 𝐷𝑠𝑡 , the 𝐼𝑃𝑁 is
the capacitor 𝐶1 and two inductors. The 𝑣𝐿1 will still keep the
modified by the modulation index (M). Therefore, the power
same value as the stage 1, and this stage is maintained until the
flow of the proposed HESS topology can be altered by both of
𝑖𝐹𝐶 comes to zero. In stage 3, presented in Fig. 5c, both the
these indexes without the LiC control. This enables it to operate
𝑖𝐹𝐶 and 𝑣𝐿1 are equivalent to zero. The capacitor 𝐶1 discharges
in three modes, namely traction, regenerative, and LiC energy
its energy to the load, and this period continues until the end of
recovery modes. TABLE II summarizes its primary operation
the NST state. In stage 4, as shown in Fig. 5d, the proposed
modes, where “O” and “I” illustrate released and absorbed
topology performs in the ST state, in which the 𝑆7 is on,
powers, respectively.
whereas the 𝑆8 is turned off. The inductor 𝐿1 is charged by the
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS 5

Regarding the traction mode, if the power of the PMSM is
small, only the LiC discharges its power to the PMSM through
mode 1. When the FC-HEV operates in a steady state, the
PMSM power is provided by the FC in mode 2. During
accelerating operation, the LiC supports the FC to meet the
demands of the peak power and transient energy for increasing
the dynamic response of the FC-HEV in mode 3. Furthermore,
the FC provides its power to both the LiC and the PMSM via
mode 5. With respect to regenerative mode, all PMSM powers
are transferred to the LiC in mode 4 or mode 6, whereas the LiC
can get charged by the FC via mode 5, mode 6 or mode 7 during
its energy recovery mode.
TABLE II
OPERATION MODES OF THE PROPOSED TOPOLOGY
Mode FC
1 -
2 O
3 O
4 -
5 O
6 O
7 O
𝐺𝑖𝑑 , it can be noticed that there is a resonant peak in the 𝐺𝑖𝑑 ,
caused by the capacitor current. This internal resonance would
appear in the ZSN owing to the 𝐷𝑆𝑇 rapid variation, then results
in the oscillation in the FC current. This brings about limitations
in the bandwidth and dynamic response of the FC current
controller as discussed in [13]. If this controller is not well
implemented, the system might lead to instability. As a result,
the controller design of the FC current is necessary to resolve
these issues.
C. Control Algorithm
To maintain a small ripple of the FC current, the simple boost
control approach is applied since it performs a constant 𝐷𝑠𝑡 . In
this method, the PWM signal of the 𝑆8 is in supplement with
LiC PMSM
that of the 𝑆7 , in which it is turned off and switched on during
O I
the ST and NST states, respectively. Regarding the control
- I
algorithm, as long as the power flow of the FC and the PMSM
O I
is adjusted, the rest will be spontaneously supplied by the LiC.
I O
Therefore, the system control scheme of the proposed topology
I I
is presented in Fig. 6, where the LQR controller is employed to
I O
enhance the dynamic performance of the FC current control.
I - VLIC
- +

3) Small-Signal Dynamic Model for the Fuel Cell Current in D0 L1 D1 L2

the Proposed Topology S7 S1 S3 S5
VEV
Ftr
+ D8 Isa Te
With the dynamic equations in (1) and (2), a fourth-order VFC S8 Isb
wr
- Isc T
system model is built by considering the four passive elements C1
S2 S4 S6
q
in the ZSN. The state variables are chosen as 𝑋 = Id dq Isa
Isb
[𝐼𝐹𝐶 𝐼𝐿2 𝑉𝐶1 𝑉𝐿𝐼𝐶 ]𝑇 , the disturbance is 𝑊 = [𝐼𝑃𝑁 𝑉𝐹𝐶 ]𝑇 and the Load power FC FC
S7 S8
PWM Iq_ref
Iq abc Isc

input variable is 𝑈 = [𝐷𝑠𝑡 ]𝑇 . The small-signal dynamic model LiC SOC EMS
power Lookup current
table
LQR
controller abc PI
-
+
PI
-
+ wr_ref
Speed
of the proposed topology in the s-domain can be simply dq
Iq
+ Id_ref
PI
obtained in the CCM by using the state-space averaging IFC IL1 VC1 VLiC q -
Id
technique as follows:
Fig. 6. Control algorithm scheme for the proposed HESS FC/LiC HP-AS-
𝑠𝑋 = 𝐴𝑋 + 𝐵𝑈 + 𝐵1 𝑊 qZSI.
{ (7)
𝑌 = 𝐶𝑋
where III. PROPOSED IMPROVED DIFFERENTIAL EVOLUTION-BASED
−(𝑅𝐿 + 𝑅𝐿𝑖𝐶 ) 𝑅𝐿𝑖𝐶 1 − 𝐷𝑠𝑡 1 LQR CONTROLLER
(1 − 𝐷𝑠𝑡 ) −
𝐿 𝐿 𝐿 𝐿
𝑅𝐿𝑖𝐶 −(1 − 𝐷𝑠𝑡 )𝑅𝐿𝑖𝐶 − 𝑟𝐿 (1 − 2𝐷𝑠𝑡 ) 𝐷𝑠𝑡 1 − 𝐷𝑠𝑡 A. Design of the LQR controller
(1 − 𝐷𝑠𝑡 ) −
𝐿 𝐿 𝐿 𝐿 LQR controller is one of the optimal control approaches that
𝐴 = 1 − 𝐷𝑠𝑡 𝐷𝑠𝑡 ,
𝐶1
−
𝐶1 0 0
makes decision by considering the state variables of the system
1 1 − 𝐷𝑠𝑡 0 0 and the control input. It is implemented by utilizing the state-
−
[ 𝐶𝐿𝑖𝐶 𝐶𝐿𝑖𝐶 ] feedback control which optimizes a quadratic performance
𝑉𝑐1 −𝐼𝐿2 𝑅𝐿𝑖𝐶 index. Then, its control gain matrix (𝐾𝐿𝑄𝑅 ) can be figured out
𝐿 1
𝑉𝑐1 +𝑉𝐿𝑖𝐶 −𝐼𝐹𝐶 𝑅𝐿𝑖𝐶 +𝐼𝐿2 𝑅𝐿𝑖𝐶 −𝑅𝐿 ]
0 based on the solution of the Riccati equation. The procedure of
𝐿

𝐵=
𝐿
, 𝐵1 =
0 0
,
the LQR controller design is given as follows:
𝐼𝑝𝑁 −𝐼𝐹𝐶 −𝐼𝐿2 (−1+𝐷𝑠𝑡 )
𝐶1 𝐶1
0 From (7), the state space model of the studied system
−𝐼𝐿2 [ 0 0] (FC/LiC configuration equipped with an HP-AS-qZSI) can be
[ 𝐶𝐿𝑖𝐶 ]
simply rewritten in the continuous domain by (9):
𝐶 = [1 0 0 0].
𝑥̇ = 𝐴𝑥(𝑡) + 𝐵𝑢(𝑡) + 𝐵1 𝑤(𝑡)
{ (9)
Based on (7), the transfer function between the FC current 𝑦(𝑡) = 𝐶𝑥(𝑡)
and the ST duty cycle can be determined as 𝐺𝑖𝐹𝐶 : The LQR controller is constructed in (10) by minimizing the
𝑛0 + 𝑛1 𝑠 + 𝑛2 𝑠 2 + 𝑛3 𝑠 3 quadratic performance index (𝐽) indicated in (11):
𝐺𝑖𝐹𝐶 = 𝐶(𝑠𝐼 − 𝐴)−1 𝐵 = (8) 𝑢(𝑡) = −𝐾𝑥(𝑡) (10)
𝑝0 + 𝑝1 𝑠 + 𝑝2 𝑠 2 + 𝑝3 𝑠 3 + 𝑝4 𝑠 4
∞
where the symbols 𝑛0 − 𝑛3 and 𝑝0 − 𝑝4 are the factors of the 𝐽 = ∫ [𝑥 𝑇 𝑄𝑥 + 𝑢𝑇 𝑅𝑢]𝑑𝑡 (11)
𝐺𝑖𝐹𝐶 numerator and denominator, respectively. 0

From (8) and TABLE I, by constructing the Bode plot of the

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS
where 𝑄 and 𝑅 denote the matrices of the positive semi-definite
state and positive definite control, respectively.
The control gain matrix is then derived by (12):
𝐾𝐿𝑄𝑅 = 𝑅 −1 𝐵𝑇 𝑃 (12)
where 𝑃 is the unique symmetric, determined by the algebraic
Riccati equation:
𝑃𝐴 + 𝐴𝑇 𝑃 + 𝑄 − 𝑃𝐵𝑅 −1 𝐵 𝑇 𝑃 = 0 (13)
Selecting suitable elements of the weighting matrices has a
great impact on its performance [17]. Traditionally, they are
manually designed, which might not lead to optimal response.
In this study, the IDE algorithm is applied to optimally choose
the weighting matrices of the LQR controller leading to small
overshoot and fast dynamic response.
B. Improved Differential Evolution Algorithm
The standard DE algorithm is considered as a heuristic
optimization algorithm based on the differential mutation, the
principle of the greedy as well as real coded. Its superior
properties, namely fast convergence, simplicity, and
robustness, make it attractive for solving different optimization
problems [19]. Nonetheless, the standard DE suffers from slow
convergence and falling into the local optimum because of
utilizing only one mutation operator. To tackle these issues, an
IDE is investigated in [20], in which the advancement is mainly
carried out in the mutation phase by using multi-mutation
operators. This enables the IDE algorithm to obtain improved
results by efficiently maintaining a balance between the
capabilities of the global exploration and local exploitation in
the searching process. The procedure of the IDE algorithm is
summarized as follows:
Initialization: Firstly, a population with NP individuals is
randomly generated from the search space, in which each
individual is a target vector 𝑥𝑖 with D design variables (𝑖 =
1, 𝐷), determined by (14):
𝑥𝑖,𝑗 = 𝑥𝑗𝑙 + 𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑 [0,1] · (𝑥𝑗𝑢 − 𝑥𝑗𝑙 ) (14)
where 𝑥𝑗𝑙 and 𝑥𝑗𝑢 show the lower and upper limitations of 𝑥𝑗 ,
respectively. Rand [0,1] is an unspecified number uniformly
assigned from 0 to 1.
Mutation: Secondly, a mutant vector (𝑣𝑖 ) is determined by
four popular mutation operators, “rand/1”, “best/1”, “rand/2”
and “best/2”, based on each 𝑥𝑖 . These operators will be
adaptively utilized for this phase during searching progress as
follows:
if (delta > threshold)
if rand [0,1] > 0.3
Choose randomly 𝑟1 ≠ 𝑟2 ≠ 𝑟3 ≠ 𝑖, 𝑖 = 1, 𝑁𝑃
rand/1: 𝑣𝑖 = 𝑥𝑟1 + 𝐹 ·(𝑥𝑟2 − 𝑥𝑟3 );
else
Choose randomly 𝑟1 ≠ 𝑟2 ≠ 𝑟3 ≠ 𝑟4 ≠ 𝑟5 ≠ 𝑖, 𝑖 = 1, 𝑁𝑃
rand/2: 𝑣𝑖 = 𝑥𝑟1 + 𝐹 ·(𝑥𝑟2 − 𝑥𝑟3 ) + 𝐹 ·(𝑥𝑟4 − 𝑥𝑟5 );
end
else (delta <= threshold)
if rand [0,1] > 0.3;
Choose randomly 𝑟1 ≠ 𝑟2 ≠ 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 ≠ 𝑖, 𝑖 = 1, 𝑁𝑃
best/1: 𝑣𝑖 = 𝑥𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 + 𝐹 ·(𝑥𝑟1 − 𝑥𝑟2 );
else
Choose randomly 𝑟1 ≠ 𝑟2 ≠ 𝑟3 ≠ 𝑟4 ≠ 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 ≠ 𝑖, 𝑖 = 1, 𝑁𝑃
6
best/2: 𝑣𝑖 = 𝑥𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 + 𝐹 ·(𝑥𝑟1 − 𝑥𝑟2 ) + 𝐹 ·(𝑥𝑟3 − 𝑥𝑟4 );
end
end
where 𝑟1 , 𝑟2 , 𝑟3 , 𝑟4 , and 𝑟5 are aimlessly chosen from 1, 𝑁𝑃 so
that 𝑟1 ≠ 𝑟2 ≠ 𝑟3 ≠ 𝑟4 ≠ 𝑟5 ≠ 𝑖; F is the scale factor, randomly
created in [0.4, 1.0]; 𝑥𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 expresses the best individual in the
present population; and delta is derived by:
𝑓𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛 (15)
𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑡𝑎 = 𝑎𝑏𝑠 ( − 1)
𝑓𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡
where 𝑓𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 denotes value of the objective function for the best
individual and 𝑓𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛 is the value of the mean one for the entire
population.
Crossover: Then, a trial vector 𝑢𝑖 is generated by employing
a binomial crossover operation as (16):
𝑣𝑖,𝑗 𝑖𝑓 𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑 [0,1] < 𝐶𝑅 (16)
𝑢𝑖,𝑗 = {
𝑥𝑖,𝑗 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒
where CR indicates the crossover control parameter, which is
randomly selected in the interval [0.7,1].
Selection: To maintain great information for the upcoming
generation, the selection phase utilizes the elitist selection
approach. Firstly, the offspring population O, composed of all
trial vectors created from the crossover phase, is blended with
the parent population P of the target vectors to generate a
mixing population Q. Then, the new population is established
by choosing the NP best individuals in Q for the next
generation.
C. IDE-based LQR Controller Optimization
The number of the weighting matrices of the LQR controller
is frequently established based on the number of the state and
input variables, respectively. These matrices are chosen as
diagonal matrices in (17) so that the quadratic performance
index is easily considered as a weighted integral of the states
and inputs-based squares.
q11 0 0 0
0 q 22 0 0
Q=[ ] , R = [r11 ] (17)
0 0 q 33 0
0 0 0 q 44
where q11 , q22 , q33 , and q44 are elements of the Q matrix, and
r11 shows the element of the R matrix.
Besides determining the Q and R elements, choosing the
fitness function of the IDE is necessary for the optimal LQR
controller. In this respect, IAE (Integral of the Absolute Error),
ITAE (Integral of the Time-weighted Absolute Error) and ISE
(Integral Squared Error) are frequently utilized. However, they
are implemented without paying much attention to the
overshoot of the FC current which may adversely influence the
FC lifetime. Moreover, multiplying the integral of time with the
absolute error leads to better performance over others as
reported in [24]. Thus, the following fitness function based on
the ITAE is used:
(18)
𝑓 = ∫  · 𝑡|𝑒(𝑡)| 𝑑𝑡 +  · ℎ
where 𝑒 is the steady-state error,  and  present the weighting
factors, and ℎ indicates the overshoot.
In order to decrease the steady-state error of the FC current
control, an integrator with its gain K I is inserted into the LQR-
based FC current controller as an extra controlled state variable.
Therefore, the optimization problem has turned into figuring
out the gain matrix of the state feedback controller K =
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS 7

[ K LQR K I ] such that its fitness function in (18) is minimized. Once the optimal K gains are figured out, they can be
The process flowchart of the proposed IDE-based LQR discretized and employed in an online mode to adjust the ST
controller in the off-line mode is illustrated in Fig. 7. In this duty cycle of the proposed topology for the better dynamic
flowchart, the IDE algorithm is firstly executed to realize a response of the FC current as presented in Fig. 8.
different set of the K parameters. These gains are then applied
to simulate the closed-loop system of the proposed HESS IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
topology based on its state-space model. Afterwards, the A. Comparison of Efficiency and HIL results.
simulation results are used to evaluate the fitness function.
1) Comparison of passive components size, volume, and
Start End efficiency
Off-line To compare the size and volume of the passive components
Initialization Optimal gains
between the proposed HP-AS-qZSI and the conventional BC-
Yes
VSI, the overall stored energy in these topologies is used as a
Gen = 0
Gen = Gen +1 Delta > tolerance criterion, as discussed in [25]. As pointed out, the HP-AS-qZSI
No and Gen < Gen_max achieves a smaller size and volume of passive elements over the
Calculate the gains K of
LQR controller
BC-VSI due to lower stored energies. This results in the
Simulate the closed-loop Generic operator
conclusion that the proposed HESS FC/LiC topology requires
system 1. Mutation smaller passive elements than the conventional HESS one.
2. Crossover
Evaluate the fitness function
3. Selection The power losses of the proposed HP-AS-qZSI with a single-
input FC source are composed of the ZSN and inverter losses
in both the ST and NST states as given in [26]. In this paper,
Closed-loop KLQR
this analysis is also utilized to compare the losses between the
system LQR
proposed topology and the BC-VSI using the GaN and
KI MOSFET devices under the studied driving cycle. To simplify
Reference + - +
B C this analysis, the LiC just works as a normal capacitor in these
- + +
two topologies. Fig. 9 illustrates the theoretical results in terms
A
of the power losses of the two topologies under the studied
driving cycle. As is seen, the HP-AS-qZSI has obtained lower
average losses over the two-stage inverter, while using GaN
Fig. 7. Process flowchart of the IDE algorithm for optimizing the LQR.
switching devices in the HP-AS-qZSI also results in a
IFC-ref
+- KI +
significant decrease in the power losses, compared to the usage
IFC Online of the MOSFET.
K1 -
DST Total losses (W)
IL2 -
K2 - Capacitor loss (W)
VC1 +
K3 Inductor loss (W)
- 1
VLiC Diode loss (W)
K4 -
Switch loss (W)
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Fig. 8. Control block diagram of implementing the optimized LQR controller
Switch loss Diode loss Inductor loss Capacitor Total losses
for FC current control. (W) (W) (W) loss (W) (W)
HP-AS-qZSI-GaN 12.45 5.86 3.51 0.97 22.79
TABLE III HP-AS-qZSI-
33.11 5.86 3.51 0.97 43.45
MOSFET
POWER SWITCHING DEVICES PARAMETERS
BC-VSI-GaN 21.53 4.03 6.53 1.09 33.18

Items GaN MOSFET

Fig. 9. Calculated average power losses of the two topologies under the
GS66516B IXFH60N65X
Power switching device
(650V/60A) (650V/60A)
studied driving cycle single input source of 60 V.
On resistance 25.2 m 52 m The average ST current of the power switching devices in the
Internal gate resistance 0.3  0.8  single leg of the inverter part in the HESS HP-AS-qZSI is
Input capacitance 520 pF 6100 pF expressed as follows:
Output capacitance 420 pF 150 pF
2 1 (19)
𝐼𝑆𝑇_𝐴𝑉𝐺 = 𝐼𝐹𝐶 + 𝐼𝐿𝑖𝐶
Reverse transfer capacitance 6.2 pF 1.5 pF 3 3
where 𝐼𝐹𝐶 and 𝐼𝐿𝑖𝐶 illustrate the FC and LiC current,
TABLE IV respectively.
OPTIMIZATION METHOD PARAMETERS 𝐼𝑆𝑇_𝐴𝑉𝐺 can be represented by:
Items GA DE IDE 𝑉𝐹𝐶 𝑃𝑃𝑀𝑆𝑀 𝑃𝐿𝐼𝐶 2𝑃𝑃𝑀𝑆𝑀 (20)
𝐼𝑆𝑇_𝐴𝑉𝐺 = − [(2 + )· ]· +
Population size 50 50 50 𝑉𝐿𝑖𝐶 3𝑉𝐹𝐶 𝑃𝑃𝑀𝑆𝑀 3𝑉𝐹𝐶
Number of
generations
50 50 50 where 𝑃𝑃𝑀𝑆𝑀 indicates the PMSM power, 𝑃𝐿𝑖𝐶 denotes the LiC
Mutation rate or
0.5 0.5 rand [0.4, 1]
power, 𝑉𝐹𝐶 and 𝑉𝐿𝑖𝐶 show the FC voltage and the LiC voltage,
scaling factor
Crossover
respectively. By adjusting the power of the LiC from zero to the
probability
0.9 0.9 rand [0.7, 1] PMSM power, the range of the 𝐼𝑆𝑇_𝐴𝑉𝐺 can be figured out as:
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS 8

𝑉𝐹𝐶 𝑃𝑃𝑀𝑆𝑀 2𝑃𝑃𝑀𝑆𝑀 whereas the torques indicate small ripples.

− · ≤ 𝐼𝑆𝑇_𝐴𝑉𝐺 ≤ (21)
𝑉𝐿𝐼𝐶 3𝑉𝐹𝐶 3𝑉𝐹𝐶 The experimental waveforms of the FC, LiC, and the DC link
𝑉𝐹𝐶 voltage of the proposed HESS HP-AS-qZSI are shown in Fig.
If ≤ 2, it is straightforward to attain (22):
𝑉𝐿𝐼𝐶
12. Concerning operations at broad-range loads, by inserting
2𝑃𝑃𝑀𝑆𝑀 2𝑃𝑃𝑀𝑆𝑀 the 𝑆8 into the ZSN of the traditional AS-qZSI, the DC link
− ≤ 𝐼𝑆𝑇_𝐴𝑉𝐺 ≤ (22)
3𝑉𝐹𝐶 3𝑉𝐹𝐶 voltage of the proposed topology is maintained stable through
From (22), the single FC source-based HP-AS-qZSI can be the amplitude of the 𝑉𝑐1 waveform without distortion. Thus, it
regarded as the specific scenario of the HESS FC/LiC one, helps to tackle the issues of the original one.
where the LiC operates as a normal capacitor. Therefore, its Regarding the HESS operation of the proposed topology, it
𝐼𝑆𝑇_𝐴𝑉𝐺 can be derived as follows: can be determined by the FC and LiC current waveforms in Fig.
13. For instance, from time 0s to 10s, this topology operates in
2𝑃𝑃𝑀𝑆𝑀
𝐼𝑆𝑇_𝐴𝑉𝐺 = (23) mode 7, in which the PMSM power is set to zero, and the FC
3𝑉𝐹𝐶
power is utilized to charge the LiC. From 10s to 18s, only the
Based on (22) and (23), it can be found that in the ST state, LiC supports its power to the PMSM via mode 1. In this regard,
the amplitude of 𝐼𝑆𝑇_𝐴𝑉𝐺 is reduced in the HESS FC/LiC HP- the 𝐷𝑆𝑇 of the HESS HP-AS-qZSI is approximately equal to
AS-qZSI. This leads to a decrease in the switching and zero. This results in a decrease in the magnitude of the 𝑉𝑐1 as
conduction losses of the power switching devices in the inverter illustrated in Fig. 12. Both the FC and the LiC transfer the
part over those losses in the single-input FC source-based HP- power to the PMSM from 26s to 66s via mode 3. The proposed
AS-qZSI. topology works in mode 6 from 104s to 115s, where both the
2) Comparison of HIL Results FC and the PMSM deliver the power to the LiC. When the
The OP4510-based signal HIL simulation from OpalRT in PMSM torque is less than zero from 115s to 130s, all the PMSM
Fig. 10Fig. 10 is utilized to validate the real-time operation of powers are absorbed by the LiCs in mode 4. Based on these
the proposed FC/LiC HP-AS-qZSI and the semi-active FC/LiC results, it is well understood that controlling the PMSM of the
traditional BC-VSI with the given parameters in TABLE I. 3-wheel FC-HEV has been accurately implemented by the two
These two topologies are firstly deployed on the OP4510
FPGA-based Electric Hardware Solver. Then, the
TMS320F28335-based experimenter kit is employed to
perform the control algorithm in Fig. 6, in which a discrete LQR
controller is executed. To evaluate the performance of the
proposed topology, different power-switching devices, such as
MOSFET and GaN devices are used with the same switching
frequency of 20 kHz. In this regard, the power device
parameters should be variant according to their operating (a)
conditions. However, to simplify this evaluation, only the
simple models of these devices using constant parasitic
parameters extracted from their datasheets based on the
operating conditions of the proposed topology are employed for
this purpose. These models are realized by inserting the
parasitic capacitances and gate resistances into the available
model of the MOSFET in Matlab/Simulink from the RT-LAB (b)
software. Their parameters are presented in TABLE III.
Fig. 11. Experimental results for speed and torque of the PMSM motor.

Fig. 10. Experimental setup for the signal HIL simulation.

Fig. 11 illustrates the waveforms of the PMSM torque and Fig. 12. The experimental voltage waveforms of the LiC, FC, and the DC link
speed of the two topologies attained from the experimental HIL. HESS HP-AS-qZSI.
As is seen, the speeds are well controlled under the references,
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS 9

adaptive mutation approach used in the IDE algorithm.

Fig. 16 gives the experimental HIL waveforms of the FC
current related to the proposed HESS topology using these
controllers. As is observed, the FC currents show a great
agreement with their references under the studied driving cycle
by using these controllers. TABLE V evaluates the dynamic
performance by different criteria for FC current-based
(a) controllers.
Based on TABLE V, the proposed IDE-LQR enables to
decrease remarkably the value of the fitness function under the
Mode 1 Mode 4
studied driving cycle from: 2.54% to 0.87% for the ITAE,
4.66% to 0.33% for the ISE and 2.59% to 0.44% for the IAE.
Mode 3
Moreover, it also performs better than other controllers at high-
speed conditions. Using this controller leads to a decrease in the
Mode 7 Mode 5 Mode 2 Mode 6
fitness function from: 16.19% to 2.95% for the ITAE, 20.52%
to 7.53% for the ISE, and 18.56% to 1.53% for the IAE.
However, the PI controller shows superior performance at low-
(b) speed conditions and decreases the performance indexes from
Fig. 13. The experimental current of the LiC and FC using the proposed IDE- 7.77% to 1.99% for the ITAE, 15.39% to 2.86% for the ISE,
based LQR controller, (a) HESS BC-VSI and (b) HESS HP-AS-qZSI. and 10.49% to 7.09% for the IAE. The above analysis shows
that the dynamic performance of the FC current is greatly
enhanced by employing the proposed IDE-based LQR
controller.
TABLE VI provides the comparison of the IDE-base LQR

Fig. 14. Experimental results for the efficiencies.

HESS topologies using different power switching devices under

the studied driving cycle.
Fig. 15. Simulation results of the FC current step response with controllers.
With regard to the efficiency, the experimental results of the
two topologies are given in Fig. 14. The average efficiency of
the HESS HP-AS-qZSI using GaN and MOSFET is 68.53%
and 65.12% respectively, whereas that of the GaN-based HESS
traditional one is 65.82%. From Fig. 14, the system efficiency
of the GaN-based proposed inverter is notably enhanced by
3.41% and 2.71% over that of the MOSFET-based one and that
of the HESS traditional topology, respectively.
B. Comparison of Dynamic Performance of the FC current
Control. Fig. 16. Experimental results for the FC current with controllers.
In order to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed IDE- TABLE V
based LQR for the FC current control, its results are compared COMPARISON OF CONTROLLERS ACCORDING TO PERFORMANCE INDEXES
with two commonly used optimized LQR controllers (DE- IDE-based DE-based GA-based
Index Condition PI
based LQR and GA-based LQR) and the traditional PI LQR LQR LQR
controller. Fig. 15 shows the dynamic responses of controlling Driving cycle 3407 3437 3449 3496
FC current based on the off-line simulation of the closed-loop ITAE Zero speed 4.32 4.333 4.591 4.234
system. As is noticed, the PI controller provides the fastest High speed 3.913 4.231 4.032 4.669
rising time for the FC current while having the oscillation and Driving cycle 30.08 30.18 30.3 31.55
the highest overshoot. These results are driven by the effects of ISE Zero speed 0.7374 0.8046 0.8466 0.7163
the ZSN capacitors on the FC current, in which its control High speed 0.7374 0.8046 0.8466 0.7607
bandwidth and dynamic response are violated by using the
Driving cycle 49.67 49.89 50.2 50.99
conventional control method. The proposed IDE-based LQR
IAE Zero speed 1.762 1.767 1.829 1.637
performs the most rapid settling time without the overshoot and
faster rising time than the DE-based LQR and the GA-based High speed 1.544 1.568 1.716 1.896

LQR. This is mainly because of the effectiveness of the

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS
TABLE VI
COMPARISON OF THE IDE-BASE LQR PERFORMANCE UNDER VARIOUS
PARAMETERS.
Index 0.75Rs 0.5Rs 0.75Ld 0.5Ld
ITAE 3355 3319 3371 3377
ISE 27.59 25.24 27.05 26.72
IAE 48.52 47.56 48.66 48.6
performance under the PMSM parameters variation. As a result,
the PMSM parameters variation has significant influence on the
performance of the FC current control using the proposed IDE-
based LQR. However, the FC currents still show great
agreement with their references under the studied driving cycle.
Thus, the proposed controller indicates good dynamic
performance in terms of FC current control under different
PMSM parameter variations.
V. CONCLUSION
This paper proposes a novel HP-AS-qZSI for a 3-wheel FC-
HEV with a hybrid FC/LiC configuration. By using the LiC
bank as both the normal capacitor and the HSP source in its
ZSN, the proposed topology not only maintains the operation
of the vehicle but also results in lower passive component size
and volume of the FC-HEV. Moreover, an anti-parallel power-
switching device is also integrated into the original AS-qZSI-
based ZSN. Consequently, the new inverter can perform in
DCM and escape from the probability of the
distorted/uncontrollable problems of the dc-link voltage at
wide-range loads of FC-HEV application, compared to the
classical AS-qZSI. The operating modes of the proposed HP-
AS-qZSI are firstly realized in both CCM and DCM. The IDE-
based LQR is then applied to improve the dynamic performance
of the FC current control. The Opal-RT-based signal HIL
simulation is finally implemented to verify a theoretical
analysis under the investigated driving cycle.
Compared to the traditional BC-VSI, the size and volume of
the passive elements of the FC-HEV power electronics system
can be remarkably reduced by utilizing this topology due to its
lower total stored energy. The HIL experimental results of the
two HESS topologies have illustrated that the GaN-based
FC/LiC HP-AS-qZSI achieves an improved average efficiency
(2.71%) and a lower FC current ripple for the FC-HEV system
in comparison with the GaN-based conventional power
electronics. Furthermore, the proposed IDE-based LQR
demonstrates better dynamic performance indexes of the FC
current control in terms of settling time, ITAE, ISE and IAE,
compared to other controllers.
These results validate that the proposed FC/LiC HP-AS-qZSI
will be a potential candidate to replace the used two-stage
inverter. Moreover, the proposed control method can be also
extended to other power converters used in FC-HEV
applications.
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY 11

Thang Van Do (Student Member, IEEE) was born in
Hai Phong, Viet Nam, in 1994. He received his B.S.
degree from Ha Noi University of Science and
Technology, Ha Noi, Viet Nam, in 2017, in control and
automation engineering, the M.S. degree in electrical
engineering from Changwon National University,
Changwon, South Korea, in 2019. He is currently
pursuing the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering
with University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada.
His research interests include power electronics,
renewable energy, and electric vehicles.
has published more than 140 scientific papers in peer-reviewed international
journals and international conferences and given over 40 invited conferences
all over the world. In 2022, he is in the top 10 of the world most prolific authors
of the topic "Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC)" and in the top
20 of the topic "Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles", in Elsevier SciVal. In 2015, Loïc
Boulon was general chair of the IEEE-Vehicular Power and Propulsion
Conference in Montréal (QC, Canada). Prof. Loïc Boulon is now VP-Motor
Vehicles of the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society and he found the "IEEE
VTS Motor Vehicle Challenge". He has been the holder of the Canada Research
Chair in Energy Sources for the Vehicles of the future and he is now the
Director of the Réseau Québécois sur l'Energie Intelligente.

Mohsen Kandidayeni (Member, IEEE) was born in

Tehran, Iran, in 1989. He received the B.S. degree in
mechanical engineering in 2011, the master’s degree
(Hons.) in mechatronics from Arak University, Iran, in
2014, and the Ph.D. degree (Hons.) in electrical
engineering from the University of Quebec at Trois-
Rivières (UQTR), QC, Canada, in 2020. His
educational journey has spanned through different
paths. In 2016, he joined the Hydrogen Research
Institute, UQTR. He is currently a Post-Doctoral
Researcher with the electric-Transport, Energy Storage and Conversion Lab (e-
TESC), Université de Sherbrooke, and a Research Assistant Member with the
Hydrogen Research Institute, UQTR. He has been actively involved in
conducting research through authoring, coauthoring, and reviewing several
articles in different prestigious scientific journals and also participating in
various international conferences. His research interest includes energy-related
topics, such as hybrid electric vehicles, fuel cell systems, energy management,
multiphysics systems, modeling, and control. Moreover, he has been a recipient
of several awards/honors during his educational path, such as the Doctoral
Scholarship from the Fonds de recherche du Québec–Nature et technologies
(FRQNT), the Post-Doctoral Scholarship from FRQNT, the Excellence Student
Grant from UQTR, and the Third Prize in Energy Research Challenge from the
Quebec Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources.

João Pedro F. Trovão (Senior Member, IEEE)

received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical
engineering from the University of Coimbra,
Coimbra, Portugal, in 2004 and 2013, respectively.
From 2000 to 2014, he was a Teaching Assistant and
an Assistant Professor with the Polytechnic Institute
of Coimbra—Coimbra Institute of Engineering
(IPC—ISEC), Portugal. Since 2014, he has been a
Professor with the Department of Electrical
Engineering and Computer Engineering, University
of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada, where he currently holds the Canadian
research chair position in efficient electric vehicles with the Hybridized Energy
Storage Systems. He is also the Founding Member and the Director of the
electric-Transport, Energy Storage and Conversion (e-TESC) Lab, University
of Sherbrooke. He is the author/coauthor of over 180 journal articles and
conference papers. His research interests cover the areas of electric vehicles,
hybridized energy storage systems, energy management, and rotating electrical
machines. He was the General Chair of the 2018 IEEE Vehicle Power and
Propulsion Conference, Chicago, IL, USA. He was a Guest Editor for the
Special Issue of IET Electrical Systems in Transportation on energy storage and
electric power sub-systems for advanced vehicles and the Special Issue of IEEE
TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY on electric powertrains for
future vehicles and on advanced vehicle power propulsion systems. He is also
a Senior Editor of the automotive electronics topic of the IEEE Vehicular
Technology Magazine.

Loïc Boulon (Senior Member, IEEE) received the

master degree in electrical and automatic control
engineering from the University of Lille (France), in
2006. Then, he obtained a PhD in electrical
engineering from University of Franche-Comté
(France). Since 2010, he is a professor at UQTR (Full
Professor since 2016) and he works into the Hydrogen
Research Institute (Deputy director and Director since
2019). His work deals with modeling, control and
energy management of multiphysics systems. His
research interests include hybrid electric vehicles,
energy and power sources (fuel cell systems, batteries and ultracapacitors). He