Novel Propulsion & Energy Recharge Architecture for Urban Vehicles

[ Information ]

Proceedings of EVS, vol. 28, 2015, pp. 3-6.

[ Authors ]

Madhusudan Raghavan, Raviteja Chanumolu, and Frank C. Park

[ Abstract ]

Electrified propulsion architectures are suitable for urban areas due to their low emissions. Trips in such areas are characterized by short driving distances, low continuous power requirements, long idling times and significant opportunities for regenerative braking due to stop and go traffic. We present results on a novel propulsion architecture and a novel charging system for such urban vehicles. Simulation and experimental results from a novel parallel hybrid configuration consisting of a DC hub motor coupled to an IC engine are described. This configuration adds speed to the wheel output unlike typical configurations which add torque at the wheel output. The addition of speed does not require a complex transmission and may be achieved by simply connecting the output of the IC engine to the stator of an electric hub motor. We extended the study of this “city car” concept beyond the propulsion system, and addressed the problem of convenient recharging of the onboard battery. To this end we created a prototype “hands free” robotic conductive charging device for ease of use. Such a system allows battery recharge without the driver having to manually insert the charging plug. The key research results presented in this context, include a localization algorithm for determining the location of the plug-in receptacle, using low-cost RFID technology. Results are presented from experiments undertaken with a hardware prototype system.