CENTRE FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLE AND ENERGY

About Centre

The Centre for Electric Vehicles and Energy started in the year of 2018. It provides an ecosystem for research, innovation, and skill development for green mobility and green energy. Through this centre, we create a strong association of expertise with a variety of experiences to exchange knowledge and ideas.

Objectives of the Centre

● To give students hands-on learning experience in the field of green mobility and energy.
● To create interest among engineering students and professionals towards renewable energy.
● To conduct technical programmes such as training, workshops, internships, and expert talks in relevant areas.

The salient activities of the Center

● The Centre for Electric Vehicles and Energy signed an MoU with RCPL, Chennai and ALWEL, Chennai for knowledge sharing and to equip our students in the domain.
● The centre successfully developed 15 E-Bicycles.
● Faculty and students from our centre are working collaboratively with TAFE, Chennai on two consultancy projects.
● Students developed an E-Bike using a BLDC motor for the SAE India ETWDC Competition.

Details of Completed/Ongoing Projects

1. Design and Fabrication-Bicycle (Completed) We designed and fabricated a bicycle last year which can give a range of 40 km at 45 km/hr. This bicycle is powered by a 350 W, 36 V, 12.5 Ah BLDC hub motor. We used a lithium iron phosphate battery to power this vehicle. We did a detailed powertrain calculation and battery requirement calculations, and also other vital mechanical calculations for the selection of motor and battery. This bicycle can climb 5o gradients easily.

2. Performance Analysis of Regenerative Braking in Electric Bike Regenerative braking is a type of braking used to convert kinetic energy into electrical energy. It helps to save energy and provides higher efficiency for an e-bike. In regenerative mode, the motor acts as a generator; it converts the kinetic energy to electrical energy to restore the battery. The large momentum is converted into electricity and fed back into the batteries during regenerative mode, which charges the batteries. The merit of regenerative braking over traditional braking is energy conservation is studied.

3. DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF SOLAR POWERED E-VEHICLE WITH AUTO INTELLIGENT ROTATING PANEL This project aims to find a better way of using solar panels in an electric vehicle. The weight reduction was achieved by selecting appropriate materials for fabrication and effective design. The concept of solar tracking systems, which has been proven to improve the energy output of a solar panel on a rooftop, improves the power output of a solar panel even when the vehicle is moving. To obtain good performance, the BLDC motor and lead acid battery combination are used in this. The electric rickshaw provides transportation with zero emissions and will become an alternative to highly polluting traditional IC-engine vehicles. It also provides noiseless operation.

4. THE DEVELOPMENT OF UNMANNED E-POWERED PESTICIDE SPRAYER AS SUSTAINABLE FARM EQUIPMENT We are doing this project as consultancy work along with TAFE, Chennai. The objective of the work is to design and develop an e-powered unmanned fertilizer/pesticide sprayer that can move at a speed of 5 km/hr with a range of 3 hours for a variety of crops, which minimises the work load of farmers and quantifies their exposure to chemicals that lead to various chronic diseases. Sprayers today are mostly powered by the principle of power take-off from tractors. In our approach, we are planning to use BLDC hub motors powered by LiB batteries. This farm equipment can be operated by RC. Thus, we can reduce the exposure of humans and fatigue on a large scale.

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