Work in progress - a solar powered battery charger for a hybrid electric vehicle

Author

Lu, Wayne ; Yamayee, Zia A. ; Melton, Andrew ; Realica, Antoinette ; Turner, John

Author_Institution

Univ. of Portland, Portland

fYear

2007

fDate

10-13 Oct. 2007

Abstract

Scarcity and cost of fossil fuels combined with their greenhouse gas emissions make the development of non-fossil fuel based methods of transportation a high- priority task. In this paper, we present the results of an innovative senior design project at the University of Portland. The project is to design an intelligent battery charger controller so that solar energy can be used as an additional energy source for hybrid automobiles using gasoline and electricity. The design idea is implemented and tested. The experimental project successfully demonstrates the feasibility of boosting a solar panel generated low voltage (24 V) energy source to a desired high voltage (150 V) for charging a battery pack. The result demonstrates that solar energy can be used as an additional clean energy source for hybrid automobiles.

Keywords

battery chargers; mechanical engineering; solar powered vehicles; Portland University; electricity; gasoline; hybrid automobiles; hybrid electric vehicle; intelligent battery charger controller; nonfossil fuel; solar powered battery charger; Automobiles; Batteries; Costs; Fossil fuels; Global warming; Hybrid electric vehicles; Intelligent vehicles; Petroleum; Solar energy; Transportation;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Frontiers In Education Conference - Global Engineering: Knowledge Without Borders, Opportunities Without Passports, 2007. FIE '07. 37th Annual

Conference_Location

Milwaukee, WI

ISSN

0190-5848

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-1083-5

Electronic_ISBN

0190-5848

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/FIE.2007.4417811

Filename

4417811