Tri-Volt™ energy management
Tri-Volt™ is a suite of products which combine to revolutionise the fuel-cell powertrain.
Energy Management
Our unique design creates a dynamic energy system in which the fuel cell and the battery pack can be run individually or in combination. Tri-Volt™ can continually vary both the energy split between the fuel cell and the battery, and the total amount of power deployed. While any combination is possible, three examples demonstrate how Tri-Volt™ typically handles common driving modes:
When cruising on a motorway, all power comes directly from the fuel-cell.
When pulling away from rest, all power comes from the battery.
When overtaking or hill-climbing, both energy sources combine to provide maximum power.
The secret of Tri-Volt™ is its ability to both switch between energy sources, and vary the total amount of energy, in milliseconds.
DC-DC Converter
The unique Tri-Volt™ architecture uses a single DC-DC Converter with an HV bus connecting the fuel cell, battery pack and traction motor.
This integrates the components into a single system, and removes the need to have separate DC-DC Converters for the fuel cell and for the battery pack. Our DC-DC Converter is a state-of-the art Silicon Carbide design with an exceptionally powerful CPU capable of managing the constantly varying voltage and power demands of a dynamic system.
It is a modular design, and is available in a wide variety of power ratings:
The modular nature of the design means that it can adapted to the specific requirements of the customer – for example a bespoke power rating.
OUTPUT
Up to 1000V
LOW SIDE VOLTAGE
100V – 400V
HIGH SIDE VOLTAGE
200V – 1000V (Low Side + 100V)
WEIGHT
10KG
Lightweight High C-rate battery packs
The concept of Tri-Volt™ is to replace conventional battery packs with lightweight packs that can discharge and recharge extremely quickly – more than once a minute. This means that they can produce large amounts of energy for short periods – a 6KWH battery pack can produce 600KW. It also means they can accept huge amounts of kinetic energy – enough to absorb most of the braking energy from a 44-tonne truck. That is far beyond the capability of conventional battery packs, leading to a significant increase in overall efficiency.
Battery Management Systems
Clearly, batteries that can cycle many times faster than conventional alternatives require a completely different BMS. Viritech has developed its own BMS to take advantage of the unique architecture of its battery packs. The Viritech BMS also keeps the fast-cycle battery close to its optimum State-of-Charge (SOC), removing the damaging swings between 10% and 80% SOC that reduce the life of conventional batteries. Hence, the Viritech battery packs can provide many more charging cycles before starting to degrade.
Fuel Cell
Management and Controls
Graph-Pro™
Structural Hydrogen Pressure Vessels
