An Experimental Verification of Regenerative Braking Characteristics of Dc Motor

Abstract

Nowadays, electric vehicles are becoming very popular due to easy operation, no fuel usage and smoother function. However, it requires enormous electric power to recharge the battery, which is the primary source of energy for the vehicle. In addition, the existing braking system of conventional transport, mainly the lightweight electric vehicles (EVs), wastes some of the energy in the form of heat during the braking periods. Hence, energy-saving and prolonging mileage are significant for battery-operated electric vehicles (BEV). For saving energy in BEV’s the key parts are regenerative braking performances. In this research, a novel regenerative braking mechanism is proposed and developed for lightweight electric vehicles having DC motors. The proposed method is effective for Permanent magnet DC (PMDC) and Brushless DC (BLDC) motors. Based on the proposed method braking can be achieved by applying different armature voltage(For PMDC motor) or applying different Stator voltage (for BLDC motor) from a multi-cell battery system without using an additional DC-DC boost converter with a complex switching technique or ultracapacitor. Two separate experimental setups(prototype model of BEV) for PMDC and BLDC motors have been used to evaluate the performance of the proposed braking system. Multiple flywheel attachment mechanisms with the motor shaft are also used to simulate the braking performance at different loading conditions. Furthermore, different characteristics such as braking current, time and back emf performances by varying terminal voltage and load are noted. Based on the gathered data, energy regeneration is calculated. Simulated results prove that the proposed regenerative braking process is feasible and efficient. Also, this research provides the most straightforward approach for regenerative braking for PMDC and BLDC motors to improve the mileage of lightweight electric vehicles (EVs).