A novel self-charging technique in electric bicycle for sustainable transportation

Electric bicycle play a vital role in public transportation. It provides sustainable transportation with zero COx emissions. Further, pedaling allows the user to do physical exercise while travelling to the destinations. Electric bicycle allows the user to ride in different modes one is the complete manual physical mode and second one is the complete throttle mode without any physical effort and third one is the pedal assist mode. Pedal assist mode of riding allows the user to ride the bicycle in a comfortable manner as it senses the pedaling effort and gives the required motor speed in a proportional manner. Pedal assist mode may not suitable for many riders due to the reduced comfort. The major drawback in electrical bicycle is limited mileage sine it uses low capacity battery due to bicycle weight and regulations. Improving the mileage in an electric bicycle is a challenging task. There are many methods to improve the mileage such as regenerative braking, a dynamo attached to the cycle tube, hub dynamo etc. All these methods will give low output and will not be sufficient to charge the battery while the bicycle is in motion. Further, because of these methods, the friction will further increase on bicycle and finally there will be more losses as compared to without any of these methods. To address this, a novel friction less low rpm permanent magnet generator has been developed indigenously which will eventually provide improved bicycle mileage, more battery life, less friction and suitable for long rides. The novelty of this proposed method is that the rider can do the pedaling even in throttle mode to save the battery energy. The generator can charge the battery while the bicycle is in throttle mode and also in manual mode with a very low friction. Compared to the energy loss due to the friction, the energy recovery will be more with the proposed methodology. The hardware results also demonstrate that, the proposed methodology is a feasible solution to self-charge the battery while minimum friction on wheel.