Hybrid robotic wheelchair with photovoltanic solar cell and fuel cell

A hybrid robotic wheelchair powered by three energy sources, a battery, a photovoltanic solar cell, and a hydrogen fuel cell is proposed in this paper. The advantage of using a photovoltanic solar cell (a solar panel) is that it produces power without requiring use of fossil fuels. The advantage of using a fuel cell is that a hydrogen tank may be changed quickly and easily. We also propose an energy control system which is able to select the energy source optimally according to the operating conditions. The control system ideally gives priority to the photovoltanic solar cells before the fuel cell. When conditions allow for abundant sun light, the photovoltanic solar cell is used. When solar energy is not available, the fuel cell is used. Finally, when the hydrogen is depleted, the battery is used. This paper explains the concept of the hybrid robotic wheelchair, the mechanical design, the energy control system, and the experimental results on the energy source selection.