Intelligent Battery Control Mechanism for Electric Bicycles

Abstract

Abstract: Transportation is a basic requirement of humans. Currently, fossil fuels are the main source used in automobiles and the trend is moving towards electric vehicles which is more environmentally friendly. Battery is one of the main components in an electric vehicle. This paper aims to introduce an intelligent battery control system which integrates a dual battery mechanism and four riding modes. Two lithiumion battery packs with 48V and 16AH each are used. Full electric, pedal assist, neutral and continuous charging are the four driving modes. The pedal assist mode is implemented with new Control mechanism and continuous charging is a new concept to E-bicycles. An alternator is used as an energy harvesting mechanism. The state of charge of each battery pack are automatically detected and pack with lower state of charge is assigned to store the energy harvested from regenerative mechanism. The battery pack with higher state of charge is allotted to drive the bicycle. System will automatically interchange the role of each pack when the driving pack reaches to its acceptable minimum state of charge. Proposed system will allow both battery packs to charge or discharge within its full nominal range which is not linear. Thus, that allows an increase in per charge travelling distance. The inter connection between subpacks are controls through a relay panel based on voltage readings. Finally, the bicycle was subjected to road trials under three drivers with different weights. Proposed system helps to cover 41.6km under electric mode and covers 49.4km in pedal assist mode. Bicycle needs to cover 61km in continuous charging mode to fully charge the battery