Alternating current heating techniques for lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles:Recent advances and perspectives

The significant decrease in battery performance at low temperatures is one of the critical challenges that electric vehicles(EVs)face,thereby affecting the penetration rate in cold regions.Alternating current(AC)heating has attracted widespread attention due to its low energy consumption and uniform heating advantages.This paper introduces the recent advances in AC heating from the perspective of practical EV applications.First,the performance degradation of EVs in low-temperature environments is introduced briefly.The concept of AC heating and its research methods are provided.Then,the effects of various AC heating methods on battery heating performance are reviewed.Based on existing studies,the main factors that affect AC heating performance are analyzed.Moreover,various heating circuits based on EVs are categorized,and their cost,size,complexity,efficiency,reliability,and heating rate are elaborated and compared.The evolution of AC heaters is presented,and the heaters used in brand vehicles are sorted out.Finally,the perspectives and challenges of AC heating are discussed.This paper can guide the selection of heater implementation methods and the optimization of heating effects for future EV applications.

Electric field and force characteristic of dust aerosol particles on the surface of high-voltage transmission line

High-voltage transmission lines play a crucial role in facilitating the utilization of renewable energy in regions prone to desertification. The accumulation of atmospheric particles on the surface of these lines can significantly impact corona discharge and wind-induced conductor displacement. Accurately quantifying the force exerted by particles adhering to conductor surfaces is essential for evaluating fouling conditions and making informed decisions. Therefore, this study investigates the changes in electric field intensity along branched conductors caused by various fouling layers and their resulting influence on the adhesion of dust particles. The findings indicate that as individual particle size increases, the field strength at the top of the particle gradually decreases and eventually stabilizes at approximately 49.22 k V/cm, which corresponds to a field strength approximately 1.96 times higher than that of an unpolluted transmission line. Furthermore,when particle spacing exceeds 15 times the particle size, the field strength around the transmission line gradually decreases and approaches the level observed on non-adhering surface. The electric field remains relatively stable. In a triangular arrangement of three particles, the maximum field strength at the tip of the fouling layer is approximately 1.44 times higher than that of double particles and 1.5 times higher compared to single particles. These results suggest that particles adhering to the transmission line have a greater affinity for adsorbing charged particles. Additionally, relevant numerical calculations demonstrate that in dry environments, the primary adhesion forces between particles and transmission lines follow an order of electrostatic force and van der Waals force. Specifically, at the minimum field strength, these forces are approximately74.73 times and 19.43 times stronger than the gravitational force acting on the particles.

Research on uninterruptable power supply technology for auxiliary winding of electric locomotive while passing the neutral section

Purpose–Auxiliary power system is an indispensable part of the train;the auxiliary systems of both electric locomotives and EMUs mainly are powered by one of the two ways,which are either from auxiliary windings of traction transformers or from DC-link voltage of traction converters.Powered by DC-link voltage of traction converters,the auxiliary systems were maintained of uninterruptable power supply with energy from electric braking.Meanwhile,powered by traction transformers,the auxiliary systems were always out of power while passing the neutral section of power supply grid and control system is powered by battery at this time.Design/methodology/approach–Uninterrupted power supply of auxiliary power system powered by auxiliary winding of traction transformer was studied.Failure reasons why previous solutions cannot be realized are analyzed.An uninterruptable power supply scheme for the auxiliary systems powered by auxiliary windings of traction transformers is proposed in this paper.The validity of the proposed scheme is verified by simulation and experimental results and on-site operation of an upgraded HXD3C type locomotive.This scheme is attractive for upgrading practical locomotives with the auxiliary systems powered by auxiliary windings of traction transformers.Findings–This scheme regenerates braking power supplied to auxiliary windings of traction transformers while a locomotive runs in the neutral section of the power supply grid.Control objectives of uninterrupted power supply technology are proposed,which are no overvoltage,no overcurrent and uninterrupted power supply.Originality/value–The control strategies of the scheme ensure both overvoltage free and inrush current free when a locomotive enters or leaves the neutral section.Furthermore,this scheme is cost low by employing updated control strategy of software and add both the two current sensors and two connection wires of hardware.

Tribological and electric-arc behaviors of carbon/copper pair during sliding friction process with electric current applied

The tribological behaviors of carbon block sliding against copper ring with and without electric current applied were investigated by using an advanced multifunctional friction and wear tester, and the electric-arc behaviors were analyzed in detail. The results show that the normal load is one of the main controlling factors for generation of electric arc during friction process with electric current applied. The strength of electric arc is enhanced with the decrease of normal loads and the increase of electric currents. The unstable friction process and the fluctuated dynamic friction coefficients are strongly dependent upon the electric arc. The wear volumes and the wear mechanism of carbon brush were affected by the electric arc obviously. As no electric arc occurs, no clear discrepancy of the wear volumes of the carbon samples with and without electric current applied could be detected. While the wear mechanisms are mainly mechanical wear. However, under the condition of the electric arc appearance, the wear volume of carbon with electric current applied increases much more rapidly than that without electric current applied and also increases obviously with the increase of electric current strengths and the decrease of normal loads. The wear mechanisms of carbon block are mainly electric arc ablation accompanying with adhesive wear and material transferring.

Electrical and mechanical properties of Cu-Cr-Zr alloy aged under imposed direct continuous current

The Cu-Cr-Zr alloys were aged at different temperatures for different time with different current densities. The results show that both the electrical conductivity and hardness are greatly improved after being aged with current at a proper temperature. The electrical conductivity increases approximately linearly with increasing current density while the hardness remains constant. The microstructure observation reveals that a much higher density of dislocations and nanosized Cr precipitates appear after the imposition of current, which contributes to the higher electrical conductivity and hardness. The mechanism is related with three factors： 1） Joule heating due to the current, 2） migration of mass electrons, 3） solute atoms, vacancies, and dislocations promoted by electron wind force.

Effects of direct current electric field on corrosion behaviour of copper, Cl- ion migration behaviour and dendrites growth under thin electrolyte layer

Effect of direct current electric field （DCEF） on corrosion behaviour of copper printed circuit board （PCB-Cu）, Cl-ion migration behaviour, dendrites growth under thin electrolyte layer was investigated using potentiodynamic polarization and scanning electron microscopy （SEM） with energy dispersive spectrometer （EDS）. Results indicate that DCEF decreases the corrosion of PCB-Cu;Cl-ions directionally migrate from the negative pole to the positive pole, and enrich on the surface of the positive pole, which causes serious localized corrosion; dendrites grow on the surface of the negative pole, and the rate and scale of dendrite growth become faster and greater with the increase of external voltage and exposure time, respectively.

Effect of electrical current on tribological property of Cu matrix composite reinforced by carbon nanotubes

Cu matrix composite reinforced with 10%（volume fraction） carbon nanotubes（CNTs/Cu） and pure Cu bulk were prepared by powder metallurgy techniques under the same consolidation processing condition.The effect of electrical current on tribological property of the materials was investigated by using a pin-on-disk friction and wear tester.The results show that the friction coefficient and wear rate of CNTs/Cu composite as well as those of pure Cu bulk increase with increasing the electrical current without exception,and the effect of electrical current is more obvious on tribological property of pure Cu bulk than on that of CNTs/Cu composite;the dominant wear mechanisms are arc erosion wear and plastic flow deformation,respectively;CNTs can improve tribological property of Cu matrix composites with electrical current.

Effect of electrodes and thermal insulators on grain refinement by electric current pulse

The application of electric current pulse（ECP） to a solidification process refers to the immersion of electrodes into the liquid metal and the employment of thermal insulators on the upper surface of metal.In order to ascertain the effects of these two factors on the structure refinement by the ECP technique,three groups of experiments were performed with different types of electrodes or various thermal insulators.By the comparison between solidification structures under different conditions,it is followed that the electrode and the thermal insulator have an obvious influence on the grain refinement under an applied ECP,and further analysis demonstrates that the thermal conditions of the liquid surface play a vital role in the modification of solidification structure.Also,the results support the viewpoint that most of the equiaxed grains originate from the liquid surface subjected to an ECP.

Migration behavior of solidification nuclei in pure Al melt under effect of electric current pulse

A mathematical model considering free nuclei was developed to reveal the migration behavior of the free nuclei. Numerical simulation results show that most of the nuclei on the top surface of the melt move downwards and distribute randomly inside the Al melt, which induces more nucleation sites resulting in grain refinement. At the same time, the effect of nuclei size on the nuclei distribution and refinement employing electric current pulse （ECP） was also investigated. The smaller nuclei migrate a short distance with the Al melt at lower speed. But for the larger nuclei, the migration downwards with higher speed benefits the refinement of interior grains of the melt. The research results help to better understand the refinement process and provide a more reasonable explanation of the grain refinement mechanism using ECP.

Fault tolerant control of electric pitch control system based on single current detection

In view of the current sensors failure in electric pitch system,a variable universe fuzzy fault tolerant control method of electric pitch control system based on single current detection is proposed.When there is single or two-current sensor fault occurs,based on the proposed method the missing current information can be reconstructed by using direct current（DC）bus current sensor and the three-phase current can be updated in time within any two adjacent sampling periods,so as to ensure stability of the closed-loop system.And then the switchover and fault tolerant control of fault current sensor would be accomplished by fault diagnosis method based on adaptive threshold judgment.For the reconstructed signal error caused by the modulation method and the main control target of electric pitch system,a variable universe fuzzy control method is used in the speed loop,which can improve the anti-disturbance ability to load variation,and the robustness of fault tolerance system.The results show that the fault tolerant control method makes the variable pitch control system still has ideal control characteristics in case of sensor failure although part of the system performance is lost,thus the correctness of the proposed method is verified.

Analyses of Current Electricity Price and Its Changing Trend Forecast in the Coming Five Years

This paper analyzes the level, characteristics and existing problems of current electricityprice in China. Under the present circumstances the overall orientation of power price reform inthe 10th Five-year Plan period should satisfy the requirements of power industry restructuring.Therefore, it is necessary to set up an appropriate pricing mechanism and system including thelinks of sales price to network, transmission and distribution price (T&D price) and sales price.In the light of various factors influencing increase and decrease in price, a forecast of electricitytariff is given in the five years to come.[

Electrical characteristics of new three-phase traction power supply system for rail transit

A novel three-phase traction power supply system is proposed to eliminate the adverse effects caused by electric phase separation in catenary and accomplish a unifying manner of traction power supply for rail transit.With the application of two-stage three-phase continuous power supply structure,the electrical characteristics exhibit new features differing from the existing traction system.In this work,the principle for voltage levels determining two-stage network is dissected in accordance with the requirements of traction network and electric locomotive.The equivalent model of three-phase traction system is built for deducing the formula of current distribution and voltage losses.Based on the chain network model of the traction network,a simulation model is established to analyze the electrical characteristics such as traction current distribution,voltage losses,system equivalent impedance,voltage distribution,voltage unbalance and regenerative energy utilization.In a few words,quite a lot traction current of about 99%is undertaken by long-section cable network.The proportion of system voltage losses is small attributed to the two-stage three-phase power supply structure,and the voltage unbal-ance caused by impedance asymmetry of traction network is less than 1‰.In addition,the utilization rate of regenerative energy for locomotive achieves a significant promotion of over 97%.

Effect of Electrical Current on the Tribological Behavior of the Cu-WS_2-G Composites in Air and Vacuum

As the traditional graphite-based composites cannot meet the requirement of rapid developing modern industry, novel sliding electrical contact materials with high self-lubricating performance in multiple environments are eagerly required. Herein a copper-based composite with WS2 and graphite as solid lubricant are fabricated by powder metallurgy hot-pressed method. The friction and wear behaviors of the composites with and without current are investigated under the condition with sliding velocity of 10 m/s and normal load of 2.5N/cm 2 in both air and vacuum. Morphologies of the worn surfaces are observed by optical microscope and compositions of the lubricating films are analyzed by XPS. Surface profile curves and roughness of the worn surfaces are obtained by 2205 surface profiler. The results of wear tests show that the friction coefficient and wear volume loss of the composites with current are greater than that without current in both air and vacuum due to the adverse effects of electrical current which damaged the lubricating film partially and roughed the worn surfaces. XPS results demonstrate that the lubricating film formed in air is composed of oxides of Cu, WS2 , elemental S and graphite, while the lubricating film formed in vacuum is composed of Cu, WS2 and graphite. Because of the synergetic lubricating action of oxides of Cu, WS2 and graphite, the composites show low friction coefficient and wear volume loss in air condition. Owing to the fact that graphite loses its lubricity which makes WS2 become the only lubricant, severe adhesive and abrasive wear occur and result in a high value of wear rate in vacuum condition. The formation of the lubricating film on the contact interface between the brush and ring is one of the factors which can greatly affect the wear performance of the brushes. The low contact voltage drop of the composites in vacuum condition is attributed to the high content of Cu in the surface film. This study fabricated a kind of new sliding electrical contact self-lubricating composite with dual-lubricant which can work well in both air and vacuum environments and provides a comprehensive analysis on the lubrication mechanisms of the composite.

Tribological behavior of CNTs-Cu and graphite-Cu composites with electric current

CNTs-Cu and graphite-Cu composites were separately prepared by powder metallurgy technique under the same consolidation processing. Tribological behavior of the composites with electric current was investigated by using a pin-on-disk friction and wear tester. The results show that the friction coefficient and wear rate of the composites decrease with increasing the reinforcement content, and increase with increasing the electric current density; the effects of electric current are more obvious on tribological properties of graphite-Cu composites than on CNTs-Cu composites; for graphite-Cu composites the dominant wear mechanisms are electric arc erosion and adhesive wear, while for CNTs-Cu composites are adhesive wear.

Single Bubble Behavior in Direct Current Electric Field

The investigation on bubble behavior in electric field helps to analyze the mechanism of electric enhancement of boiling heat transfer. Experiments were performed to investigate the bubble deformation in direct current （DC） electric field with bubbles attached to the orifice. The air bubbles were slowly generated in the transformer oil pool at different orifices, so that the effect of flow on bubble shape was eliminated. The results showed that the bubbles were elongated and the departure volume decreased when the electric field was intensified. The major and minor axes, aspect ratio and departure volume increased with increasing the orifice diameter. Both the electric field and orifice size have great influence on bubble behavior. The bubble deformation was also simulated to compare with the experimental results. The numerical and experimental data qualitatively agree with each other.

Microstructure and Temperature Distribution in ZnAl_2O_4 Sintered Body by Pulse Electric Current

Microstructure of reaction sintering of ZnAl2O4 at 1500℃ by hot-pressing(HP) and pulse electric current was investigated. The results indicated that the existed cracks in sintered body were caused by structure mismatch. It is the evidence that periodical temperature field existed during pulse electric current sintering of nonconductive materials. The distance between high temperature areas was related to die diameter.

Influences of pulse electric current treatment on solidification microstructures and mechanical properties of Al-Si piston alloys

Three kinds of AI-Si piston alloys were prepared and subjected to pulse electric current treatment （PECT） at different pouring temperatures. Some aspects of the solidification microstructures were examined including the morphology and the distribution of the matrix and the secondary phases by using of optical microscopy （OM）, SEM and EDS methods. Results indicate that PECT can refine the grains of α-AI in the alloys as effectively as chemical modification by sodium salt. The processing parameters of PECT on the multi-component AI-Si alloys were then optimized through the testing of tensile strength, elongation and microhardness of the prepared alloys. A new theory was put forward to explain the mechanism of PECT.

Microstructure and properties of ultra-fine tungsten heavy alloys prepared by mechanical alloying and electric current activated sintering

The microstructure and properties of the 93W-4Ni-2Co-1Fe(mass fraction,%) tungsten heavy alloys prepared by mechanical alloying and electric current activated sintering from mixed elemental powders were investigated.After 15 h milling,the average W grain size in the powders is decreased to 120 nm.For the powders milled for 15 h,the density,hardness and transverse rupture strength of the alloys sintered only by an intensive pulse electric current are the maximum.When the total sintering time keeps constant,the properties of the sintered alloys can be obviously improved by optimizing the sintering time of pulse-and constant-currents.A bulk ultrafine alloy with an average W grain size of about 340 nm can be obtained by sintering 15 h-milled powders in a total sintering time of 6 min.The corresponding sintered density,hardness and transverse rupture strength reach 16.78 g /cm3,HRA84.3 and 968 MPa,respectively.

Numerical simulation of the initial plasma formation and current transfer in single-wire electrical explosion in vacuum

In this paper, a computational model is constructed to investigate the phenomenon of the initial plasma formation and current transfer in the single-wire electrical explosion in a vacuum. The process of the single-wire electrical explosion is divided into four stages. Stage Ⅰ： the wire is in solid state. Stage Ⅱ： the melting stage. Stage Ⅲ： the wire melts completely and the initial plasma forms. Stage IV： the core and corona expand separately. The thermodynamic calculation is applied before the wire melts completely in stages Ⅰ and Ⅱ. In stage Ⅲ, a one-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics model comes into play until the instant when the voltage collapse occurs. The temperature, density, and velocity, which are derived from the magnetohydrodynamics calculation, are averaged over the distribution area. The averaged parameters are taken as the initial conditions for stage Ⅳ in which a simplified magnetohydrodynamics model is applied. A wide-range semi-empirical equation of state, which is established based on the Thomas-Fermi-Kirzhnits model, is constructed to describe the phase transition from solid state to plasma state. The initial plasma formation and the phenomenon of current transfer in the electrical explosion of aluminum wire are investigated using the computational model. Experiments of electrical explosion of aluminum wires are carried out to verify this model. Simulation results are also compared with experimental results of the electrical explosion of copper wire.

EFFECT OF ELECTRIC CURRENT PULSE ON SUPERPLASTICITY OF ALUMINIUM ALLOY 7475

The superplastic deformation of aluminium alloy 7475 applied electric current pulse has been studied.The results presented that applying a high density current pulse raises both the elongation rate and the m value,and makes supperior superplastic properties at high strain rate of 10^(-2)s^(-1),the optimum deformation temperature could move from 530℃to 480~510℃,TEM observation showed the superplastic deformation of the alloy is the results of grain boundary slips and dislocation slips in grains under function of the electron wind;the intergranular tear is a main behavior of fracture of the alloy.