Hybrid Wind/Electric Powered Vehicle

2. Vehicle Structure And Used Parts

Figure 1 shows a picture of the hybrid wind/electric powered vehicle. The vehicle which originally has gas engine was stripped and replaced with 3-phase brushless DC motor. A speed controller, wind turbine, and a bank of three commercially available batteries were added to enable the operation of the vehicle. The DC motor is procured from D&D Motor Systems Inc. which can rotate about 2900 RPM at 3 HP. The wind turbine is installed on the vehicle on a mount at 1.5 m high. The height is chosen to keep the vehicle overall height less than two meters to simplify the handling and operation. The wind turbine is procured from Wind Blue Power Company. The turbine generator is a permanent magnets alternator that has built in 3-phase external rectifier and regulator. The measured characteristics (voltage and current versus RPM) of the generator are shown in Figure 2. Voltage readings were recorded when the circuit is open (No Load) while current readings were recorded when the output is shorted (Max Load). Wind speeds around 200 RPM can produce about 15V with 0.5A which is enough to charge slowly the batteries. The wind speed that the vehicle encounters during driving is much stronger than what is assumed. This will guarantee continuous charging of the batteries during vehicle moving. 78cm (15″) diameter blades are installed on the generator shaft using a metal hub. Six light weight laser cut aluminum blades are mounted on the generator shaft. Figure 3 shows the structural design of the used blades. Three 60 A.hr Hankook batteries connected in series are used to drive the DC motor.

Figure 1.

Hybrid wind/electric vehicle picture that shows wind turbine mount