Overview
The Electric Motor Control with Regenerative Braking (EMCRB) project will develop a test system to investigate electric vehicular drive systems and regenerative braking. A three phase permanent magnet synchronous motor, flywheel, and control electronics will comprise the test system. Data collected from the test system will be used to develop a model that will establish the efficiency of regenerative braking. An ongoing Bradley University Mechanical Engineering project will utilize the efficiency data to design an ultra light electric vehicle. A future Bradley University Electrical Engineering project may expand upon the test bench system developed in the EMCRB project.
Current Status: Complete
- Regeneration was demonstrated successfully on May 16, 2007. The overall efficiency was 10.83%.
- 0.5975 of 5.518 Joules were recovered from the motors to two 12 Volt lead acid batteries.
- The braking time from 488Rpm to a full stop was less than 500 milliseconds.
- The energy loss to the Buck Boost Voltage Regulator was 0.1182 Joules. The Buck Boost Regulator was 83.49% efficient.
- The energy loss to I^2 * R losses within the motor was 0.0455 Joules.
- The losses to friction within the motor were 4.7568 Joules.
Regeneration:
Figure 1: Regeneration to batteries. Channel 1 in dark blue represents the voltage across the batteries; note that the zero point for voltage is off the page to the bottom. The apparent zero for voltage is actually at 23.8 volts relative to ground. Channel 2 in light blue is the current into the positive terminal of the batteries. The math function in red is equal to CH1*CH2 and represents the power delivered to the batteries. The area below this represents the energy delivered to the batteries.
Project History
The EMCRB project originated from a Bradley University Mechanical engineering senior project. To this end the original purpose of the EMCRB project was to develop a full-scale drive system for an ultra light electric vehicle. The original project scope and goals proved inappropriate due to weight and cost constraints. The project scope and goals progressed through several intermediary forms before settling on its current form. During this process a great deal of general research was completed.
