Low Cost Analog Controller for Electricity Powered Vehicles

A purely analog controller has been developed for the speed control of a solar powered electric vehicle. An IGBT based cascaded boost converter is used as an interface between the PV array and the DC shunt motor. The designed controller automatically varies the duty cycle of the boost converter depending upon the desired speed of the motor. Speed control is achieved with proportional integral control and the tuning parameters of the controller have been obtained for the best system response. A difference amplifier has been introduced in the conventional analog controller design to ensure that the motor does not go out of control. Simulation studies and experimental investigations have been carried out on a laboratory size prototype of an electric vehicle - a DC shunt motor fed from a PV array and the results are presented.