Design and Implementation of a Solar Integration in Electric Wheelchair

• Published in: 2018 4th International Conference for Convergence in Technology (I2CT) pp. 1 - 6
• Main Authors: Aromal, V., Gokulnath, G.L., Amrithesh, M.S., Arun, B., P.K., Adithya Varma, Pandi, V. Ravikumar
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.10.2018
• Subjects: Batteries; DC motors; Maximum Power Point Tracker (MPPT); Maximum power point trackers; Permanent Magnet Direct Current (PMDC); Permanent magnet motors; Perturb and Observe (P&O); Solar Electric Wheelchair (SEW); Solar panels; Wheelchairs; Wheels
• DOI: 10.1109/I2CT42659.2018.9058203

The maximum power point tracker for a solar assisted electric wheelchair is proposed in this paper. Normally P&O algorithm is the most economical and easy to use algorithm that monitors the voltage of the PV module and also the current and power, then perturbs the voltage to encounter a change in direction. As the atmospheric condition changes, the perturbation fails to track the maximum power point due to heavy power loss. The wheelchair is driven by two motors which is a permanent magnet direct current type (PMDC) motor. It is coupled with worm gear hence it cannot be moved manually. The battery used for this project is lead acid battery of 12 V with 26 Ah. The wheelchair uses solar panels to charge the battery. This paper explains the working of an P&O algorithm for an solar assisted electric wheelchair which improves according to the instantaneously changing climatic conditions with the help of an improved MPPT performance of PV system and DC/DC converter.