Solar Fed Cuk Converter Based SRM Drive Control of E-Rikshaw

In this paper simple design and performance of PV array and battery fed Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM) drive are carried out for e-rickshaw. Light Electric vehicle (EV) provides a decent solution to the negative impact of the conventional internal combustion engine based vehicles. The renewable energy source integration to the EV makes the system reliable and ecofriendly. The regenerative braking capability makes the energy management efficient. The SRM has simple rugged structure and with the development of technology, it suits very well for the EV application. In this paper, an 8/6 four phase SRM is controlled for motoring as well as regenerative braking mode. A DC-DC Cuk converter is used as the intermediate converter between the solar panel and the DC-link, which facilitates smooth input and output currents and provides the boundless region for Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT). A Li-ion battery is directly connected to the DC-link for maintaining the power balance in the system and also eliminates the cost of converter for the battery. Moreover, the system performance is analyzed for different levels of solar insolation on Matlab/Similink.