International Journal of Engineering and Technology

This paper proposes a Solar Electric Powered Hybrid Vehicle (SEPHV) system which solves the major problems of fuel and pollution. An electric vehicle usually uses a battery which has been charged by external electrical power supply. All recent electric vehicles present a drive on AC power supplied motor. An inverter set is required to be connected with the battery through which AC power is converted to DC power. During this conversion many losses take place and also the maintenance cost of the AC System is very high. The proposed topology has the most feasible solar/electric power generation system mounted on the vehicle to charge the battery during all durations. With a view of providing ignited us to develop this “Solar/Electric Powered Hybrid Vehicle” [SEPHV].This multi charging vehicle can charge itself from both solar and electric power. The vehicle is altered out of a Maruti Omni vehicle by replacing its engine with a 1.2HP, 24V Permanent Magnet DC [PMDC] Motor. The Supply to the motor is obtained from a battery set of 12V, 150AH. The household electric supply of 230V is reduced with a step-down transformer to 48V and then it is converted to the DC with a rectifying unit to charge the battery. Two solar panels each with a rating of 230watts are attached to the top of the Vehicle to grab the solar energy and is controlled with a help of charge controller. The SEPHV can be driven by 1.2 HP PMDC motor consisting of two 230 watts PV panel in the voltage rating of 24 V. The power which is absorbed by the PV panel is stored into the four 150 AH 12 V batteries. When there is no presence of sun, electric power supply act as an auxiliary energy source. For controlling speed of the motor, a switch is designed with four tapping, provided with different values of resistance at each tapping. It acts as a speed control switch for Solar/Electric Powered Hybrid Vehicle. This type of technique is to reduce the running cost and increasing the running efficiency of the vehicle. The performance of the SEPHV was found to be satisfactory for the load of four people with the average speed of 45km/hr. The integrated system consisting of Solar module, Charge Controller, Batteries, Boost Converter, Step-down Transformer, Diode Rectifier and PMDC motor which are required for the vehicle. Experimental results are presented to confirm the theoretical analysis.