Solar powered electric car with battery cooling system

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  Making of Car

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  Final Prototype

Inspiration

Environmental Problems: One of the largest problems in the current century is the overuse of fossil fuels to meet the demands of people. Fossil fuels are said to be the only powerful source of energy irrespective of the alternative sources available on earth. If we use fossil energy in large quantities, a large amount of pollution will be produced and it will lead to unhealthy conditions that could lead to global awareness. Automobile industry is one such industry which is a major consumer of Fossil fuels and the pollution caused by it should not be ignored as a threat to human civilization. Economic Problems: Although a prior solution of electric cars is proposed in India they are not economically viable for a country like us with different economical barriers. If a foreign firm proposes an electric car manufacturing unit in India they won’t mind the economic variations nor the requirements of the people because the ultimatum differs in profit of the company and its growth in that particular region. This problem is so serious that, if an electric car is introduced in a country like India, the electric car comes under the luxury category and the taxes involved in it would dramatically affect the customer affording it. Implementation Problems: Today there are many startups who also bring electric vehicles to India, but one of the major problems of electric vehicles in India is that, the extremes of climate. The electric vehicle battery that we use is extremely flammable and dangerous under any situation whether it is Cold or Hot. The optimal temperature of the Li-ion batteries are 20 - 50 ◦C. This may slow down the rate of use of Electric Vehicles in India.

What it does

The solution I would like to offer is making a durable and super low-cost electric vehicle that can travel long distances with a nominal speed. It is able to carry a weight of 4 persons (present) with an additional load of 100 kgs. Also, it has a solar panel and a dynamo, which helps in passive charge of the battery and other appliances to reduce the drain time of the battery. It is also equipped with a low power consuming battery coolant system that maintains the optimal temperature of the battery constantly even when the vehicle is halted or parked. The Prototype of the Electric vehicle gave an approximate runtime of 8.5 hrs, had a maximum speed of 30 kmph and took a maximum load of 500 kg. Also it was able to carry approximately 5 people in it. link

How we built it

Today we are having many Environmental Problems and also the use of Electric Vehicles brings a solution, but the economical factors and the implementing problems are also to be noted. The methodology that I propose to overcome the situation is to redesign the model of the electric car. Solving the Environmental Issues: By using an electric car we are actually able to reduce 50% of the environmental problems, but the rest 50% is where the electricity is generated from the fossil fuels that electricity is used to charge the vehicles. Also implementing a huge solar farm especially for the Electric vehicle seems impossible with the growing market of Electric vehicles and Increasing Pollution. The only way this can be solved is by directly placing a solar charging unit and dynamo in the body of the Electric Car itself. I’ve also designed an efficient battery charging system that maintains the battery level without dropping and supplies good voltage to the BLDC motor. By this method we are able to bring a methodology to completely rely on renewable resources without affecting the environment. Solving the Economical Issues: Although an Electric car can be designed in ease, its manufacturing cost also matters as, at the end of the day someone is going to buy the car and use it. To make the car low cost without affecting the safety of the passenger, we need to reduce the cost of the Actuators, control system and the battery system. In the prototype I designed the entire voltage of the actuator is 24v and it is able to give good power, speed and torque. Also it is able to take upto 500KG of additional load excluding the body weight. To a maximum that car can be given 36 V BLDC Motor, instead of using induction motors. In the 36V system itself we are able to give the speed that the user expects and also good payload capacity upto 500-800kg with a good speed. Solving the Post-Implementation Problems: When an electric car or electric vehicle is sent outside for usual running the biggest problem that was noted is the heavy temperature of the battery that has also exploded in many places all around India. Many innocent lives were lost due to these explosions. Also the explosions are more dangerous than an exploding petrol/diesel vehicle. The best method to prevent such accidents is by implementation of my unique battery cooling system. This battery cooling system that I designed will provide 24/7 protection to the battery. It keeps maintaining an optimal temperature around 20-30 C. The system only uses low electricity periodically and does not affect the battery in any case. The battery cooling system works under the principle of peltier effect. The cold junction is placed on the cover of the battery while the hot junction is left out in free air, and the hot junction never interferes in the cold junction. Also the cold junction uses water, a coolant that will be circulating around the battery cover.

Challenges we ran into

This project was built solo by me so that was really tough

What's next for Solar powered electric car with battery cooling system

The further research of this Electric vehicle is to bring more safety features and bring more efficiency in the Battery Management System. Also current research is going on to bring an Auto driving system when the entire control of the car is given to the AI and it is able to automatically drive to a location without the guidance of a Human, without causing any accidents. Also I will be researching on making the battery management system completely powerless or not using any electricity from the main source. To bring efficiency in the motor control system and dashboard control system will also be a useful part of the further research.

Built With

• ai
• car
• gan
• solar