Abstract In the Laboratory of Kathmandu University first time

in Nepal research on Battery Powered three wheeler was conducted

to encourage the use of clean and green energy. The performance of
the vehicle is also studied. The fabricated vehicle uses a 750W/ 48V
BLDC Hub motor that is powered by four 12 Volt, 40 AH batteries.
A six-step motor controller controls the operation of the motor,
braking and acceleration system are also associated with the motor
controller which aids in the operation of the motor. The performance
of the vehicle was found to be satisfactory for the load of two people
in 10 degree gradient surfaces with the average speed of 20 km/h.
However, it still needs modifications and improvements.

Keywords EV , Inverter & BLDC.

I. INTRODUCTION
HE fossil fuel such as petrol and diesel have been
extracted and used in an erratic and expensive way. The
use of fossil fuel based vehicles is one of the major ways that
has accelerated the extraction of these non-renewable
resources in an unsustainable way. Further, transportation of
these fuel to rural communities itself has become a major
problem. Therefore, it is high time for researching and
engineering new technology for replacing the current practice
with the alternative energy such as solar power. Therefore, the
students of Kathmandu University (KU) have developed a
research project to build a Solar- Powered Vehicle (SPV)
which is expected to be economical than to the petrol running
vehicles but here it will be emulated by 48Volt battery. Solar-
powered vehicle will be a power generating and storing
vehicle. It will use solar panels to extract the solar energy
through photo voltaic cells. The generated energy will be
stored in Lead-acid batteries and these batteries will bepaired
up in series to increase the capacity and thus the mileage of
the Vehicle. These Vehicles are expected to ensure a mileage
of 50 km with 48 Volts of battery with full capacity.
The solar-powered Vehicle will include a solar panel, a
hub motor, battery storage, charge controller, motor speed
controller circuit and a power electronic circuit allowing
different switching as well as an access to external AC power
which would help the vehicle to charge during the night. The
wise side of this project will be the inclusion of pre-existing
1
Aasish Pradhan, M.Sc. Student University of New South Wales, Kensington
NSW 2052 Australia. Email aashishkpradhan@gmail.com
1
Bibek Man Shrestha, M.Tech. Student J .N.T.U ,Kakinad, Andra Pradesh,
India, Email bibekmanshrestha@gmail.com
2
Lalit BickramRana Phd Student in Lappeenranta University of Technology,
Lappeenranta, Finland Email. rana.lalit@gmail.com
pedal (considering a tricycle or rickshaw) which will allow
the rider to use the Vehicle the old-school way. In order to
make it a commercial product it can also include a headlight, a
mobile charging circuit, and other luxuries if possible.

II. SYSTEM OVERVIEW
The Fig.1 represents an overall view of the electrical system
of SPV. The DC power supply of this system consists of two
different supplies. Amongst these, one is the DC power
derived from solar panel and another is the rectified AC
supply. The power supply is connected to the battery bank
through the charge controller.












Fig. 1 Overall View of the System

The charge controller is also connected to the motor
controller which is connected to the motor. The charge
controller controls the Depth of Discharge (DOD) of the
battery in order to maintain the life of the battery. The motor
controller can be used to control both the speed and its
electrical braking. These functions could be achieved with
electrical throttle and electric braking switch.

III. MOTOR DRIVE FOR THE VEHICLE
Selection of electric motor drives for EVs is a very
important step that requires special attention. The basic
requirements are summarized as follows:
high instant power and a high power density
high torque at low speed for starting and climbing, as well
high power at high speed for cruising
very wide speed range with constant-power region
fast torque response
high efficiency over the wide speed range with constant
torque and constant power regions
high efficiency for regenerative braking
downsizing, weight reduction, and lower moment of inertia
Development of Small Battery Powered Three
Wheeler Using PM Hub Motor Prototype I
A.Pradhan
1
, B. M. Shrestha,
1
, L.B.Rana
2

T

Battery
Bank
Charge
Controller

Motor
Controller

PMBLDC
DC Power
Supply
Accelerator
Electrical
Braking

International Conference on Electrical, Electronics and Civil Engineering (ICEECE'2011) Pattaya Dec. 2011
152
high reliability and robustness for various vehicle operation
conditions
reasonable cost and a fault tolerance
The major EV developed so far based on DC machine,
induction machine or permanent magnet machine. The DC
machine based EV are becoming less popular due to
maintenance and commutation problem .This leads the
popularity of the AC drives mainly induction motor however
the higher speed of the induction machine is only possible
with in penalty of the size [1].
After advent of the permanent magnet material such as
neodymium-iron-boron, which has higher energy product
among all commercial available materials, the development of
the permanent magnet machine accelerated and becomes
popular for the electrical vehicle. The permanent magnet
machine has high power density, efficiency, starting torque
and cruising speed and that are the basic load characteristics
of the EV. The permanent magnet DC Machine are less
attractive for the electrical drive due to the commutation and
brushes makes them less reliable and unsuitable for the
electrical propulsion though it has been adopted for the low
power drive like electrical bikes and tricycles .But the NdFeB
magnet are very much temperature sensitive compared to
other available PM so special care must be given when the
temperature exceed 100
0
C
[2]
. Another Advantage of the
brushless PM motor with respect to conventional induction
motor drive is for the same frame size PM motor drive has
better power factor and efficiency i.e. PM machine will
produce more output [2] .
PM motors are classified on the basics magnetic flux
distribution in the air gap and the shape of the excitation
current. PMSM has sinusoidal back EMF due to sinusoidal
distribution of the magnetic flux in the air gap, sinusoidal
current and sinusoidal distribution of the stator windings
where as PMBLDC has trapezoid shaped back EMF due to
the rectangular distribution of the magnetic flux in the air gap,
rectangular current waveform from the VSI and
concentrated stator windings .
PM motor magnet can either mounted on the rotor surface
or buried inside the rotor circuit, the surface mounted machine
construction is simpler and use for the low speed. These
motors are considered small saliency thus having practically
equal inductances in both axes .This is because the
permeability of the magnet is almost equal of air thus
magnetic material become extension of the air gap ie L
d
=L
q
.
But interior PM motors having magnet inside the rotor have
saliency in q-axe so L
q
>L
d
.But for same size and magnet of
same strength surface mounted type PM will produce less air
gap flux that is due to the relative permeability of the magnet
is almost equal to unity [5].

IV. COMPARISONS
From the above summarized features of four types of motor
drives for EVs, Table I indicates the variation of Power
Density, Efficiency, Weight, Cost and others for four types of
motor drives.
The Table I show that DC motor drives will continue to be
used in EVs because DC motor drives are available at the
lowest cost and ease to control. From the point of view of
efficiency, PMSM motor drives are the best choice. SRM
drives have the lowest weight among four types of motor
drives for EVs.
TABLE I
(EVALUATION OF ELECTRICAL MACHINE [10])
DC IM PMSM SRM
Power Density
Efficiency
Costs
Reliability
Technical
Maturity

Controllability
costs

very Good good neutral very bad bad

But here author used special kind of brushless DC motor,
Hub motor was used in the system. It is radial-flux Brushless
DC machines shown in Fig.2 that have an array of permanent
magnets on the inside surface of the hub. The stator windings
are attached to the axle, and the hub is made to rotate by
alternating currents through these windings. In a DC hub
motor, the magnets are on the axle, and the windings are
actually spinning on the inside of the hub. A controller must
present with BLDC motor and it is rather complex to drive
BLDC motor compared to the conventional one.
In a BLDC motor, the permanent magnets (rotor) rotate and
the armature remains static. Transfer of the current in stator
electromagnets are achieved by electronic controller. The
controller performs the same power distribution found in a
brushed DC motor, but using a solid-state circuit rather than a
commutator /brush system.



Fig. 2 Brushless DC Motor

V. CHARGE CONTROLLER
Charge controller consists of a circuitry that controls the
DOD of the battery shown in Fig.3. The DOD and the battery
life have inverse relationship. The battery that is discharged
more has lesser life than that which is discharged less. Trade
off is done in between the hours of operation and battery life
cycles. Taking into consideration all the related factors, 85%
of DOD was chosen for this system. The charge controller
prevents the battery to be over charged or over discharged. If
International Conference on Electrical, Electronics and Civil Engineering (ICEECE'2011) Pattaya Dec. 2011
153
the battery voltage reaches at 54 V while charging, the
charging circuit is cut off. While supplying power to the
motor when the voltage reaches 44 V, the supply to the motor
is cut off and the charging circuit is connected again.


Fig..3 Charge Controller

VI. MOTOR CONTROLLER
The simple motor-drive model of a BLDC motor-header
consists of a three-phase power stage plus a brushless DC
motor as shown in Fig.4. The power for the system is
provided by a voltage source (U
d
). Six semiconductor
switches (SA/B/C t/b) allow the rectangular voltage
waveforms to be applied. The semiconductor switches and
diodes are simulated as ideal devices. The trapezoidal control
of the BLDC motor is based on energizing only two phases at
a time.
This means that one top and one bottom semiconductor
switch are turned on, each in a different phase. Thus the last
phase has both top and bottom switches switched off and is
disconnected from the voltage source. Considering all
possibilities, it will provide six possible combinations to
energize two phases in the three-phase system. Therefore this
technique is also called a six-step control. The most common
way to control a BLDC motor is to use hall sensors to
determine the rotor position.
The control system senses the rotor position and the proper
voltage pattern are applied to the motor. The motor and
controller used in EV is a three phase BLDC Hub motor
produced by Electro herm Limited of India.

VII. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
The chassis in Fig. 5 has been designed to support the
weights given in Table II. The chassis designed is an inverted
T-shaped structure with one front tire and two rear tires. The
steel that has been used is a 4 cm square hollow steel. These
kinds of steels have been extensively used in heavy duty metal
works. These steels also have the advantage of less weight due
to the hollow space inside the main frame. The chassis has a
length of 150 cm and a breadth of 80 cm. The peak output
power of the motor is 750 Watts and runs at a voltage of 48
Volts shown in Fig.6. The motor has a diameter of 23cm and
a thickness of 50 mm.

Fig. 4 VSC Fed PMBLDC

Fig. 5 Chassis of Three Wheeler
Differential action in a vehicular system allows a vehicle to
turn both at rest and during motion. These actions are
performed by a differential system present in the vehicle.
TABLE II
(WEIGHT OF DIFFERENT PARTS)
Rider 140 Kg (2 persons)
Battery 20 Kg
Other Parts 2 Kg
Weight margin 15 Kg
Total weight 177 kg
The differential system used in this vehicle consists of the
two bearing placed at the two rear tires of the system. These
bearing help to obtain the necessary differential action. When
the vehicle is turned in left direction, the bearing at the left tire
comes to rest and the bearing at the right becomes free to
rotate with the inertia and vice-versa. And hence, differential
is obtained. The prototype is shown in Fig.7









Fig. 6 Wheel of Three Wheeler



International Conference on Electrical, Electronics and Civil Engineering (ICEECE'2011) Pattaya Dec. 2011
154












Fig. 7 Prototype Developed in Laboratory

The battery charger consists of a transformer of 220/18V
and four batteries each of 12 V. The charging current for each
of the battery lies between 2-3 Amps. Hence for the Power
drawn by during charging =144 Watts. Charging duration =8
hrs, Watt-hour rating =1152 watt-hour =1.152 KWH
According to Nepal Electricity Authority the tariff for
energy use per KWH is Nrs 7.4. Hence the price to fully
charged vehicle is NRs 8.5248
Here the distance covered by the vehicle in a single day is
40 km when the battery is fully charged. Then cost per km
travelled in a single day for 40 Km will be NRs 0.213 or 20
paisa per km.
If the price is compared to petrol driven two wheeler
vehicles, the cost per km travelled will be Nrs 2.1 (considering
price of one liter of petrol to be NRs 84, Nepal Oil
Corporation)
VIII. CONCLUSION
The project on EV has been satisfactorily completed the
prototype vehicle can run in normal dry surface with a
maximum speed of 30 km/h with a total weight of 177 kg. The
vehicle can show satisfactory results on slope less than 15.
When the battery of the vehicle is fully charged it can run
continuously at an average speed of 20 km/h for two hours
with an average running cost of 20 paisa per km. Further,
vehicles such as EV could be made genuinely sustainable by
generating your own electricity with mounted solar panel
array resulting into zero fossil fuel consumption.


IX. APPENDIX
ANALYTICAL COMPUTED VALUES
Total weight 430 kg Radius of wheel 0.33 m
Maximum
force
1247.525 N Shaft speed 160 rpm
Force in Plane 386.854 N Max. Power 1.2KW
Max.Torque 62.37 Nm Min. Power 0.43KW
Min. Torque 21.37Nm Over all Loss 20%
Velocity 5.555 m/s Peddling Power 0.212KW
System Volt 48V Motor Power 1KW




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Paper ID 988

A. Pradhan has received B.E. Electrical and Electronics fromKathmandu
University Nepal in 2010. Currently he is M.Sc. Student in School of
Electrical Engineering and Telecom. University of New South Wales
Kensington NSW 2052 Australia
B.M. Shrestha has received B.E. Electrical and Electronics fromKathmandu
University Nepal in 2010. Currently he is pursuing M.Tech. in High Voltage
Engineering, J awaharlal Nehru Technological University Kakinada Andra
Pradesh India
L.B.Rana has completed his B.Sc. Engineering Electrical and Electronics
from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Dhaka
Bangladesh and M.E with Specialization in Power Electronics and Drives
fromAnna University Chennai India. His interest is Motor Drive. Currently he
is working as Assistant Professor in the EEE Department of Kathmandu
University Nepal and Phd Student in Lappeenranta University of Technology
Lappeenranta Finland


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