IFEC 2019

E-Drive Bicycle

Over the last few decades, technological development and the high demand for the reduction of pollution, especially in urban areas, have given rise to extensive research in the domain of electric vehicles. Electric bicycles play a significant role in this field. They allow city residents to opt for a fast, simple to use, eco-friendly mode of transportation which also provides an enjoyable every-day sports activity.

The main objective of IFEC 2019 was developing an efficient unidirectional motor drive for an electric bicycle. The most noteworthy characteristics of our design are its high efficiency of 96% and a low temperature rise of 32,5°C (both measured at 325W output power), along with its robustness, compactness and the power density of 1,39W/cm3. Other aspects that make our design distinctive are the optimization of the switching frequency of the boost stage. Our prototype also has a user interface – an Android application that is easy to use, configure and update. The application provides the driver with the information about current speed, remaining battery capacity, average speed, energy consumption and total distance travelled. With this project, our team won the Grand Prize, once again confirming that the Laboratory for Digital Drive Control and Electrical Vehicles is one of the most notable laboratories for power electronics research and design.