Research on clean energy and green vehicular systems

大气中前所未有的高水平温室气体，在很大程度上归因于运输和发电过度使用化石燃料，被认为是气候变化的原因，特别是全球变暖。其后果是毁灭性的，包括干旱、洪水、高于平常的气温，威胁粮食作物和物种，破坏栖息地，增加疾病发病率。对化石燃料的严重依赖、日益减少的化石燃料储量以及对能源安全的担忧对环境造成了沉重的惩罚，这些都是寻求替代方法为汽车系统提供动力和发电的动机。为了在与自然和谐相处的情况下确保能源以促进经济增长和繁荣，申请人提出了一项研究计划，同时解决交通和发电问题。拟议的研究计划的目标是追求新的和改进的系统配置，转换器拓扑结构，能量存储系统，控制技术和电源管理策略：(i)基于风能和太阳能的分布式发电，以及微型涡轮机和燃料电池，以及（ii）车辆系统（包括电池电动，混合动力和混合燃料电池汽车）。目标是提高转换和存储的效率，以及整体效率，以增加功率传输能力，降低初始成本，优化性能，并提高这些系统的可靠性。

Unprecedented high levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which have been attributed, to a great extent, to excessive use of fossil fuels for transportation and electricity generation, are believed to be the cause of climate change, in general, and global warming, in specific. The consequences are devastating and include droughts, floods, higher than usual temperatures, which threaten food crops and species, destroy habitats, and increase the incidence of diseases. The heavy environmental penalty of strong dependence on fossil fuels for energy, dwindling fossil fuel reserves and energy security concerns are the motivation behind seeking alternative approaches for powering vehicular systems and generating electricity. In an attempt to secure energy to fuel growth and prosperity in harmony with nature, the applicant proposes a research program which addresses both issues of transportation and electricity generation. The objectives of the proposed research program are to pursue new and improved system configurations, converter topologies, energy storage systems, control techniques and power management strategies for: (i) distributed electricity generation based on wind and solar energy, as well as microturbines and fuel cells, and (ii) vehicular systems (including battery-electric, hybrid electric and hybrid fuel cell vehicles). The goal is to improve efficiency of conversion and storage, as well as overall efficiency, to increase power transfer capability, reduce the initial cost, optimize performance, and boost reliability of these systems.