Simulation of an Ultrafast Charging Station Operating in Steady State

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Author did nice work here. They included clear aims and objectives with nice figures. 

However further improvement can be made by using statements about how this work will be useful at the industry level and globally. Who will be the end users of this work?

 

 

Author Response

For the reviewer, please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear colleagues,I have some doubts with your paper. You ofer article focused on simulation of ultrafast charging station.

You describe the chosen scenario and include some form of network problems, which is commendable. On the other hand, there are parts in the article (well, report) that are no longer so interesting, although I understand their inclusion.

I take into account that 100 km between the proposed cities is not exactly an ideal place to simulate such a task, however, the availability of high voltage outside the main routes is low. The proposed topological scheme is fine, the actual solution will probably be more complicated, but for the simulation it is enough.

In some countries, large consumers of electricity have to cope with periodic intervals (e.g. 15 minutes) when they must not exceed the agreed amount of electric power, do you expect this scenario?

Fast charging works well for depleted batteries, if someone arrives at the station almost full, the charging time is very long (let's not discuss battery degradation). What will be the scenario in this case?

I don't understand picture 3. If someone leaves, shouldn't someone from the queue replace him?

How long are you considering the (parallel stands) operation of this charging station? Because you also travel at night, working hours, including travel, can start around 4 am and end around 7 pm.

Is it possible to connect another power supply concept, e.g. a hydrogen fuel cell? Have you even considered a solar farm in the simulation as an energy source that will at least partially replace the electrical network in off-grid mode?

I do not find the chapter on the SCADA system useful, including mentions of the CAN bus, which is not relevant here (but as an automotive and very good CAN solution, of course it is).

I suggest shortening the article and focusing mainly on appropriately chosen schemes, if you can also comment on other sources of electrical energy, it would be beneficial. The control system itself could thus become very sophisticated.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

I understand English.

Author Response

For reviewer, please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper you provided describes an analysis and simulation of an ultrafast charging station (UFCS) designed for electric vehicles (EVs) in a steady state condition. The charging station utilizes a complex electrical architecture, consisting of an AC bus and two DC buses, supported by a storage system that incorporates both batteries and supercapacitors. The research aims to determine the power demand of EVs by considering their battery characteristics and the availability of charging points at the station.

One significant aspect of the analysis is the introduction of a supervisory control system based on a state machine description. This control system facilitates the management of different operating modes within the UFCS and enables fault detection within the electrical architecture.

Furthermore, the study proposes various methods to manage the required energy for the charging demand, and it outlines a procedure for appropriately sizing both the energy storage system and the input transformer.

In a laboratory setting, the research includes experiments on a reduced-scale storage system. These experiments incorporate a SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system with CAN (Controller Area Network) communication, which has been successfully employed to collect data related to the charging and discharging modes of batteries and supercapacitors. The collected data is subsequently displayed on a computer screen.

Overall, the paper offers a detailed investigation into the design, control, and performance evaluation of an ultrafast charging station for electric vehicles, providing insights into the electrical architecture, supervisory control, and experimental validation through laboratory tests.

The introduction provides a reasonable level of background information for the paper and introduces the topic of ultrafast charging stations for electric vehicles (EVs). It mentions the need for fast charging solutions to address range anxiety in long-distance journeys and highlights the time difference between conventional gasoline refueling and fast charging for EVs. The introduction references prior research and the need for ultrafast charging (350 kW or higher) with multiple charging points, which necessitates a substantial amount of electric energy and the use of an energy storage system (ESS) for reliability. However, the introduction could benefit from the inclusion of specific references to prior research or papers cited in the text, especially when mentioning previous work in [6], [10], and other sources, to provide the reader with a more precise understanding of the background and related studies. Additionally, including a clear problem statement or research objectives would make the introduction more focused and provide a smoother transition into the subsequent sections of the paper.

The cited references seem to be relevant and provide a comprehensive background for the research conducted in the paper, encompassing both academic and practical aspects of ultra-fast charging stations for electric vehicles.

Overall, the research design seems to be appropriate for the study's objectives, which involve managing the power flow, ensuring reliability in the presence of faults, and efficiently distributing power to EVs. However, the actual effectiveness of this design would depend on the accuracy of the models, the quality of the simulations, and the practical implementation of the system. Additionally, real-world validation would be essential to confirm the system's performance and reliability in a practical UFCS environment.

The text appears to be logically structured and describes the results and simulations related to energy management procedures and the sizing of the energy storage system (ESS) for the ultrafast charging station (UFCS). The figures and tables are appropriately referenced and complement the textual descriptions.

The conclusions drawn in the paper align with the content and results presented, indicating that the research has successfully addressed the simulation and operation of an ultrafast charging station with a hybrid microgrid and centralized control.  Some expansion of the conclusions is advised to better summarize the significance and future directions of research.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Quality of English is fine.

Author Response

For the reviewer, please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

accept

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I have still some philosophical issues with this article especially how control application was coded and tested, in which software or simulation application but I udnerstood there is some basic control mechanism, centralized a basic for powering super charging station.

Wish you luck to moving ferom simulation to the real application :)