An electric micro-scooter with a super-capacitor energy buffer

This paper presents an electric micro-scooter, movement of which is assisted by the energy generated by the rider. The proposed electric micro-scooter system consists of a microprocessor based intelligent controller, a bi-directional power interface, a custom built 3-phase permanent magnet (PM) motor and an energy buffer, which is made of super-capacitors. The electric system is mounted in a compartment under the riding platform of the micro-scooter, which has two wheels. The PM motor, embedded into the back wheel, drives the micro-scooter during motoring to assist the movement of the rider, and operates in the generating or regenerative mode to harness energy when either braking or kicking takes place, respectively. The controller monitors the movements of the rider in real time and executes appropriate commands to facilitate the correct mode of operation. To ensure the comfort of the rider, an in-built sensor circuitry, comprising a communication interface, is used to regulate the amount and direction of power flow to the PM motor. The validity of the proposed system is verified through experimental results of prototype micro-scooter that has a 100 Watt PM motor.