Design and Control of a Solar Photovoltaic Powered Electric Vehicle Adapted to the Mobility of Wheelchair Users on Beaches

Abstract

In coastal cities, the most visited tourist spots are the beaches. However, this leisure place is forgotten by the public power in relation to the accessibility infrastructure for wheelchair users. Several entrances make it difficult for the wheelchair user to access the beach, among them, the ease of the traditional wheelchair to get stuck in sandy soil. Due to rains and tides, the layout of sand banks tend to constantly change. As a solution, this paper proposes an electric traction vehicle powered by photovoltaic energy, mechanically and electrically adapted to facilitate the access of the wheelchair user, aiming for accessibility and independence. In order to overcome the sand obstacles and improve the usability of the vehicle, the power sources must be correctly designed to provide enough power to the motors and autonomy for wheelchair users. The electric part of this vehicle is composed by photovoltaic modules, a power converter, a MPPT based battery charge control, a battery bank and DC motors. This paper presents the vehicle power system design, control design and analysis of operation points through simulation results. Some experimental results are also presented to validate the simulations.