Regenerative braking control for light electric vehicles

In this paper, a cost effective single stage bidirectional DC/AC converter is designed and implemented using a general full-bridge inverter without any additional power switches or bulky passive components. According to different driving conditions, three switching strategies are developed and analyzed. These switching strategies, which are named after the operating number of the power switches, are called the single-switch, two-switches and three-switches control strategies. Different performance indexes such as boost ratio, maximum voltage conversion ratio, braking torque, etc., are proposed and compared among different switching strategies. Theoretical analysis and experimental results have revealed that the cruising distance, braking torque, and reliability can be improved effectively using a variable braking control strategy according to the driving conditions. Since the additional power switches, passive components and costly position sensors are not required, the proposed method is particularly suitable for various light electric vehicles.