On-board charger design in Power Electronics - Mini Project: Build & Apply

On-board Charger Design

📖 Scenario: You are designing an on-board charger (OBC) for an electric vehicle (EV). The OBC converts AC power from the grid into DC power to charge the EV battery safely and efficiently.This project will guide you through the basic steps of setting up the charger specifications, selecting key parameters, applying core design logic, and finalizing the charger configuration.

🎯 Goal: Build a simple on-board charger design outline by defining the input data, setting configuration parameters, applying the main design calculations, and completing the charger setup.

📋 What You'll Learn

Define the charger input and output specifications

Set configuration parameters such as charging current limit

Calculate the required power conversion values

Complete the charger design with final configuration settings

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

On-board chargers are essential components in electric vehicles, converting grid AC power to DC power to safely charge the battery.

💼 Career

Understanding charger design basics is important for engineers working in electric vehicle development, power electronics, and energy management.

1

Define Charger Input and Output Specifications

Create a dictionary called charger_specs with these exact entries: 'input_voltage': 230, 'input_frequency': 50, 'output_voltage': 400, and 'max_current': 32.

Power Electronics

# Create the charger_specs dictionary with input and output values
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use a Python dictionary with the exact keys and values given.

2

Set Charging Current Limit Configuration

Create a variable called current_limit and set it to 30 to define the maximum charging current allowed for safety.

Power Electronics

charger_specs = {
    'input_voltage': 230,
    'input_frequency': 50,
    'output_voltage': 400,
    'max_current': 32
}
# Set the current_limit variable to 30
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Assign the number 30 to the variable named current_limit.

3

Calculate Maximum Charging Power

Create a variable called max_power and calculate it by multiplying charger_specs['output_voltage'] by current_limit.

Power Electronics

charger_specs = {
    'input_voltage': 230,
    'input_frequency': 50,
    'output_voltage': 400,
    'max_current': 32
}
current_limit = 30
# Calculate max_power as output_voltage times current_limit
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Multiply the output voltage from charger_specs by current_limit and assign to max_power.

4

Complete Charger Configuration with Safety Margin

Create a variable called safety_margin and set it to 1.1. Then create a variable called design_power and calculate it by multiplying max_power by safety_margin.

Power Electronics

charger_specs = {
    'input_voltage': 230,
    'input_frequency': 50,
    'output_voltage': 400,
    'max_current': 32
}
current_limit = 30
max_power = charger_specs['output_voltage'] * current_limit
# Set safety_margin to 1.1 and calculate design_power as max_power times safety_margin
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Multiply max_power by 1.1 to add a 10% safety margin and assign to design_power.