Professor Ali Emadi, director of Illinois Institute of Technology's (http://www.itt.edu/) Electric Power and Power Electronics Center (EPPEC) is an imaginative teacher and gifted leader/motivator. Last week at Plug-In 2008 Emadi told us that society's biggest challenges are in the areas of energy and power, with transportation at the crossroads of this challenge.
To put their collective brain power to work at those crossroads, the ITT-EPPEC team of students has even built an electric race car – more on that one later. It is also transforming some less glamorous working vehicles that are in desperate need of change – the rickshaw. Everybody is familiar with the Chinese rickshaw pulled by a person. There are also three-wheeled gas powered, auto rickshaw on the streets of Mumbai, and every other major Indian city.
ITT-EPPEC's brochure explaining their tasks says: Students in the project were introduced to the auto rickshaw and its role in the culture and economy of India. Members of this team investigated the political, economic, and technological scene in India today with respect to this vehicle. In addition, the concept of Electric Vehicles (EVs) was examined and the team determined the feasibility of different types of EV auto rickshaws. Investigation into the current petrol (gasoline), Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) stations also revealed the possibilities for building a supporting infrastructure for EV auto rickshaws. Incorporating solar technology in current and future fueling stations was reviewed.
Their market research team collected over 700 surveys from two Indian cities which answered questions about owner operators, drivers, and passengers, as well as the mechanical characteristics for present auto rickshaws. In addition, ITT's team put GPS data gathering equipment on existing auto rickshaws to develop an accurate drive cycle (a plot of speed versus time) in several large Indian cities. The results of all the data gathering was a computer modeling of the ideal vehicle and determination of the necessary parts for a prototype.
Priscilla Mulhall was the team leader for the electric auto rickshaw project. Unfortunately, she was not at Plug-In 2008 last week. We did get to talk with Srdjan Lukic who spearheaded research and design of the switched reluctance propulsion motor. Lukic is now at North Carolina State University where he is researching and teaching in their Semiconductor Power Electronics Center (SPEC) department. One of the design criteria that affected all parts of the Indian auto rickshaw configuration was the necessity of an 80 mile range on a single battery charge.
Lukic said there were more than a few hours of hair pulling as they worked on matching the electric motor with various battery configurations. Another area of research was how to retrofit electric propulsion to the existing auto rickshaws on Indian streets. The team has built a working prototype which was not shown at Plug-In 2008.
The IIT team's next project is to implement an electrical grid-connected, solar-powered battery charging station. Their design includes solar roof panels as retrofits on the existing petrol refueling locations. Additional batteries will be moved from centralized distribution warehouses to the refueling locations. The move is made on electric trucks to further reduce vehicle exhaust particulate matter and smog producing ozone.
Soon there will be the Mumbai Xpress Autorickshaw Rally 2008. The amazing race for the clinically insane, is what their website claims. But this event comes up too soon for this American journalist to get a proper visa. Maybe we can get our fellow writer, Subhankar Kundu, to take a few days off to cover this one for IT Examiner readers?
What do you think about this idea, Ms. Features Editor for Assignments? X |