Regenerative braking in an electric car
this project is very much related to the electric car REVA.
the main parts of the project are
a DC Motor
A electromagnetic clutch
a generator
battery
what we are doing is, when the foot is lifted of the accelerator pedal, the supply to motor is cut off. also the clutch is disengaged. at this time, the vehicle would be moving freely due to its momentum. we have mechanised the system in such a way that a generator comes in contact with the freely rotating member of the clutch. due to this rotation of the generator, energy is produced and at the same time, vehicle slows down.
the problem that we are facing is, we have scaled down the project to a bench model (for various constraints like time, money, complexity, rules & limitations imposed by the college) and since its a bench model, the momentum is very small. so the wheels are not rotating for a longer time than expected because of their low momentum and the absence of traction. hence the energy tapped by the generator is very low, almost negligible..!
can u guys help out in some way...