Modular Self-Balancing Battery Charger Concept for Cost-Effective Power-Assist Wheelchairs

Ilya Galkin, Andrei Blinov, Ievgen Verbytskyi and Denys Zinchenko
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Ilya Galkin: Faculty of Power and Electrical Engineering, Riga Technical University, LV1048 Riga, Latvia
Andrei Blinov: Department of Electrical Power Engineering and Mechatronics, Tallinn University of Technology, 19086 Tallinn, Estonia
Ievgen Verbytskyi: Department of Industrial Electronics, National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”, 03056 Kyiv, Ukraine
Denys Zinchenko: Department of Electrical Power Engineering and Mechatronics, Tallinn University of Technology, 19086 Tallinn, Estonia

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 8, 1-21

Abstract: The paper deals with a power charger capable of quick simultaneous charging of several unevenly discharged batteries. The charger is designed for use in conjunction with a recently developed power-assist wheelchair composed of two armrest modules associated with wheels—each with its own motor, driver and battery. Uneven discharge of the batteries is very possible in this application. Taking into account the charging power and energy comparable with the most powerful household electrical devices, the refreshing of these batteries and integration of the entire power supply chain into the household grid become a topical and challenging task. Solving of this task requires a special charger that has several channels and can unevenly apply charging power to these channels. At the same time, the charger must not generate current harmonics or reactive power, must operate with good efficiency and satisfy size constraints. In the given research, a configuration of several interleaved isolated single-ended primary-inductor converters is studied. The synthesized mathematical model of the proposed charger provides data about its static and dynamic characteristics while its experimental investigation focuses on operation details (power losses, control features etc.). The obtained results prove that the proposed concept complies with the above-mentioned requirements and can be applied in the discussed application.

Keywords: battery chargers; balanced charging of batteries; power factor; single-ended primary-inductor converter (SEPIC); power factor correction; interleaved control (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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