The document summarizes research conducted in Nepal on developing a battery-powered three-wheeler vehicle to encourage clean energy use. A prototype was built using a 750W hub motor powered by four 12V batteries. The motor was controlled by a six-step controller. Testing found the vehicle could carry two people at 20km/h on a 10 degree gradient. The document further discusses the motor selection for electric vehicles and compares different motor types. It focuses on the use of a brushless DC hub motor for the prototype.
The document summarizes research conducted in Nepal on developing a battery-powered three-wheeler vehicle to encourage clean energy use. A prototype was built using a 750W hub motor powered by four 12V batteries. The motor was controlled by a six-step controller. Testing found the vehicle could carry two people at 20km/h on a 10 degree gradient. The document further discusses the motor selection for electric vehicles and compares different motor types. It focuses on the use of a brushless DC hub motor for the prototype.
The document summarizes research conducted in Nepal on developing a battery-powered three-wheeler vehicle to encourage clean energy use. A prototype was built using a 750W hub motor powered by four 12V batteries. The motor was controlled by a six-step controller. Testing found the vehicle could carry two people at 20km/h on a 10 degree gradient. The document further discusses the motor selection for electric vehicles and compares different motor types. It focuses on the use of a brushless DC hub motor for the prototype.
Abstract In the Laboratory of Kathmandu University first time
in Nepal research on Battery Powered three wheeler was conducted
to encourage the use of clean and green energy. The performance of the vehicle is also studied. The fabricated vehicle uses a 750W/ 48V BLDC Hub motor that is powered by four 12 Volt, 40 AH batteries. A six-step motor controller controls the operation of the motor, braking and acceleration system are also associated with the motor controller which aids in the operation of the motor. The performance of the vehicle was found to be satisfactory for the load of two people in 10 degree gradient surfaces with the average speed of 20 km/h. However, it still needs modifications and improvements.
Keywords EV , Inverter & BLDC.
I. INTRODUCTION HE fossil fuel such as petrol and diesel have been extracted and used in an erratic and expensive way. The use of fossil fuel based vehicles is one of the major ways that has accelerated the extraction of these non-renewable resources in an unsustainable way. Further, transportation of these fuel to rural communities itself has become a major problem. Therefore, it is high time for researching and engineering new technology for replacing the current practice with the alternative energy such as solar power. Therefore, the students of Kathmandu University (KU) have developed a research project to build a Solar- Powered Vehicle (SPV) which is expected to be economical than to the petrol running vehicles but here it will be emulated by 48Volt battery. Solar- powered vehicle will be a power generating and storing vehicle. It will use solar panels to extract the solar energy through photo voltaic cells. The generated energy will be stored in Lead-acid batteries and these batteries will bepaired up in series to increase the capacity and thus the mileage of the Vehicle. These Vehicles are expected to ensure a mileage of 50 km with 48 Volts of battery with full capacity. The solar-powered Vehicle will include a solar panel, a hub motor, battery storage, charge controller, motor speed controller circuit and a power electronic circuit allowing different switching as well as an access to external AC power which would help the vehicle to charge during the night. The wise side of this project will be the inclusion of pre-existing 1 Aasish Pradhan, M.Sc. Student University of New South Wales, Kensington NSW 2052 Australia. Email aashishkpradhan@gmail.com 1 Bibek Man Shrestha, M.Tech. Student J .N.T.U ,Kakinad, Andra Pradesh, India, Email bibekmanshrestha@gmail.com 2 Lalit BickramRana Phd Student in Lappeenranta University of Technology, Lappeenranta, Finland Email. rana.lalit@gmail.com pedal (considering a tricycle or rickshaw) which will allow the rider to use the Vehicle the old-school way. In order to make it a commercial product it can also include a headlight, a mobile charging circuit, and other luxuries if possible.
II. SYSTEM OVERVIEW The Fig.1 represents an overall view of the electrical system of SPV. The DC power supply of this system consists of two different supplies. Amongst these, one is the DC power derived from solar panel and another is the rectified AC supply. The power supply is connected to the battery bank through the charge controller.
Fig. 1 Overall View of the System
The charge controller is also connected to the motor controller which is connected to the motor. The charge controller controls the Depth of Discharge (DOD) of the battery in order to maintain the life of the battery. The motor controller can be used to control both the speed and its electrical braking. These functions could be achieved with electrical throttle and electric braking switch.
III. MOTOR DRIVE FOR THE VEHICLE Selection of electric motor drives for EVs is a very important step that requires special attention. The basic requirements are summarized as follows: high instant power and a high power density high torque at low speed for starting and climbing, as well high power at high speed for cruising very wide speed range with constant-power region fast torque response high efficiency over the wide speed range with constant torque and constant power regions high efficiency for regenerative braking downsizing, weight reduction, and lower moment of inertia Development of Small Battery Powered Three Wheeler Using PM Hub Motor Prototype I A.Pradhan 1 , B. M. Shrestha, 1 , L.B.Rana 2
T
Battery Bank Charge Controller
Motor Controller
PMBLDC DC Power Supply Accelerator Electrical Braking
International Conference on Electrical, Electronics and Civil Engineering (ICEECE'2011) Pattaya Dec. 2011 152 high reliability and robustness for various vehicle operation conditions reasonable cost and a fault tolerance The major EV developed so far based on DC machine, induction machine or permanent magnet machine. The DC machine based EV are becoming less popular due to maintenance and commutation problem .This leads the popularity of the AC drives mainly induction motor however the higher speed of the induction machine is only possible with in penalty of the size [1]. After advent of the permanent magnet material such as neodymium-iron-boron, which has higher energy product among all commercial available materials, the development of the permanent magnet machine accelerated and becomes popular for the electrical vehicle. The permanent magnet machine has high power density, efficiency, starting torque and cruising speed and that are the basic load characteristics of the EV. The permanent magnet DC Machine are less attractive for the electrical drive due to the commutation and brushes makes them less reliable and unsuitable for the electrical propulsion though it has been adopted for the low power drive like electrical bikes and tricycles .But the NdFeB magnet are very much temperature sensitive compared to other available PM so special care must be given when the temperature exceed 100 0 C [2] . Another Advantage of the brushless PM motor with respect to conventional induction motor drive is for the same frame size PM motor drive has better power factor and efficiency i.e. PM machine will produce more output [2] . PM motors are classified on the basics magnetic flux distribution in the air gap and the shape of the excitation current. PMSM has sinusoidal back EMF due to sinusoidal distribution of the magnetic flux in the air gap, sinusoidal current and sinusoidal distribution of the stator windings where as PMBLDC has trapezoid shaped back EMF due to the rectangular distribution of the magnetic flux in the air gap, rectangular current waveform from the VSI and concentrated stator windings . PM motor magnet can either mounted on the rotor surface or buried inside the rotor circuit, the surface mounted machine construction is simpler and use for the low speed. These motors are considered small saliency thus having practically equal inductances in both axes .This is because the permeability of the magnet is almost equal of air thus magnetic material become extension of the air gap ie L d =L q . But interior PM motors having magnet inside the rotor have saliency in q-axe so L q >L d .But for same size and magnet of same strength surface mounted type PM will produce less air gap flux that is due to the relative permeability of the magnet is almost equal to unity [5].
IV. COMPARISONS From the above summarized features of four types of motor drives for EVs, Table I indicates the variation of Power Density, Efficiency, Weight, Cost and others for four types of motor drives. The Table I show that DC motor drives will continue to be used in EVs because DC motor drives are available at the lowest cost and ease to control. From the point of view of efficiency, PMSM motor drives are the best choice. SRM drives have the lowest weight among four types of motor drives for EVs. TABLE I (EVALUATION OF ELECTRICAL MACHINE [10]) DC IM PMSM SRM Power Density Efficiency Costs Reliability Technical Maturity
Controllability costs
very Good good neutral very bad bad
But here author used special kind of brushless DC motor, Hub motor was used in the system. It is radial-flux Brushless DC machines shown in Fig.2 that have an array of permanent magnets on the inside surface of the hub. The stator windings are attached to the axle, and the hub is made to rotate by alternating currents through these windings. In a DC hub motor, the magnets are on the axle, and the windings are actually spinning on the inside of the hub. A controller must present with BLDC motor and it is rather complex to drive BLDC motor compared to the conventional one. In a BLDC motor, the permanent magnets (rotor) rotate and the armature remains static. Transfer of the current in stator electromagnets are achieved by electronic controller. The controller performs the same power distribution found in a brushed DC motor, but using a solid-state circuit rather than a commutator /brush system.
Fig. 2 Brushless DC Motor
V. CHARGE CONTROLLER Charge controller consists of a circuitry that controls the DOD of the battery shown in Fig.3. The DOD and the battery life have inverse relationship. The battery that is discharged more has lesser life than that which is discharged less. Trade off is done in between the hours of operation and battery life cycles. Taking into consideration all the related factors, 85% of DOD was chosen for this system. The charge controller prevents the battery to be over charged or over discharged. If International Conference on Electrical, Electronics and Civil Engineering (ICEECE'2011) Pattaya Dec. 2011 153 the battery voltage reaches at 54 V while charging, the charging circuit is cut off. While supplying power to the motor when the voltage reaches 44 V, the supply to the motor is cut off and the charging circuit is connected again.
Fig..3 Charge Controller
VI. MOTOR CONTROLLER The simple motor-drive model of a BLDC motor-header consists of a three-phase power stage plus a brushless DC motor as shown in Fig.4. The power for the system is provided by a voltage source (U d ). Six semiconductor switches (SA/B/C t/b) allow the rectangular voltage waveforms to be applied. The semiconductor switches and diodes are simulated as ideal devices. The trapezoidal control of the BLDC motor is based on energizing only two phases at a time. This means that one top and one bottom semiconductor switch are turned on, each in a different phase. Thus the last phase has both top and bottom switches switched off and is disconnected from the voltage source. Considering all possibilities, it will provide six possible combinations to energize two phases in the three-phase system. Therefore this technique is also called a six-step control. The most common way to control a BLDC motor is to use hall sensors to determine the rotor position. The control system senses the rotor position and the proper voltage pattern are applied to the motor. The motor and controller used in EV is a three phase BLDC Hub motor produced by Electro herm Limited of India.
VII. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION The chassis in Fig. 5 has been designed to support the weights given in Table II. The chassis designed is an inverted T-shaped structure with one front tire and two rear tires. The steel that has been used is a 4 cm square hollow steel. These kinds of steels have been extensively used in heavy duty metal works. These steels also have the advantage of less weight due to the hollow space inside the main frame. The chassis has a length of 150 cm and a breadth of 80 cm. The peak output power of the motor is 750 Watts and runs at a voltage of 48 Volts shown in Fig.6. The motor has a diameter of 23cm and a thickness of 50 mm.
Fig. 4 VSC Fed PMBLDC
Fig. 5 Chassis of Three Wheeler Differential action in a vehicular system allows a vehicle to turn both at rest and during motion. These actions are performed by a differential system present in the vehicle. TABLE II (WEIGHT OF DIFFERENT PARTS) Rider 140 Kg (2 persons) Battery 20 Kg Other Parts 2 Kg Weight margin 15 Kg Total weight 177 kg The differential system used in this vehicle consists of the two bearing placed at the two rear tires of the system. These bearing help to obtain the necessary differential action. When the vehicle is turned in left direction, the bearing at the left tire comes to rest and the bearing at the right becomes free to rotate with the inertia and vice-versa. And hence, differential is obtained. The prototype is shown in Fig.7
Fig. 6 Wheel of Three Wheeler
International Conference on Electrical, Electronics and Civil Engineering (ICEECE'2011) Pattaya Dec. 2011 154
Fig. 7 Prototype Developed in Laboratory
The battery charger consists of a transformer of 220/18V and four batteries each of 12 V. The charging current for each of the battery lies between 2-3 Amps. Hence for the Power drawn by during charging =144 Watts. Charging duration =8 hrs, Watt-hour rating =1152 watt-hour =1.152 KWH According to Nepal Electricity Authority the tariff for energy use per KWH is Nrs 7.4. Hence the price to fully charged vehicle is NRs 8.5248 Here the distance covered by the vehicle in a single day is 40 km when the battery is fully charged. Then cost per km travelled in a single day for 40 Km will be NRs 0.213 or 20 paisa per km. If the price is compared to petrol driven two wheeler vehicles, the cost per km travelled will be Nrs 2.1 (considering price of one liter of petrol to be NRs 84, Nepal Oil Corporation) VIII. CONCLUSION The project on EV has been satisfactorily completed the prototype vehicle can run in normal dry surface with a maximum speed of 30 km/h with a total weight of 177 kg. The vehicle can show satisfactory results on slope less than 15. When the battery of the vehicle is fully charged it can run continuously at an average speed of 20 km/h for two hours with an average running cost of 20 paisa per km. Further, vehicles such as EV could be made genuinely sustainable by generating your own electricity with mounted solar panel array resulting into zero fossil fuel consumption.
IX. APPENDIX ANALYTICAL COMPUTED VALUES Total weight 430 kg Radius of wheel 0.33 m Maximum force 1247.525 N Shaft speed 160 rpm Force in Plane 386.854 N Max. Power 1.2KW Max.Torque 62.37 Nm Min. Power 0.43KW Min. Torque 21.37Nm Over all Loss 20% Velocity 5.555 m/s Peddling Power 0.212KW System Volt 48V Motor Power 1KW
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A. Pradhan has received B.E. Electrical and Electronics fromKathmandu University Nepal in 2010. Currently he is M.Sc. Student in School of Electrical Engineering and Telecom. University of New South Wales Kensington NSW 2052 Australia B.M. Shrestha has received B.E. Electrical and Electronics fromKathmandu University Nepal in 2010. Currently he is pursuing M.Tech. in High Voltage Engineering, J awaharlal Nehru Technological University Kakinada Andra Pradesh India L.B.Rana has completed his B.Sc. Engineering Electrical and Electronics from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Dhaka Bangladesh and M.E with Specialization in Power Electronics and Drives fromAnna University Chennai India. His interest is Motor Drive. Currently he is working as Assistant Professor in the EEE Department of Kathmandu University Nepal and Phd Student in Lappeenranta University of Technology Lappeenranta Finland
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