SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Sept 24: IIT Indian School of Mines (ISM) Dhanbad has touched another milestone in the field of research by developing a hybrid charging device for e-vehicles.
A team of researchers from the Electrical Engineering Department of IIT (ISM) under Prof Pradip Kumar Sadhu have developed a system that would ensure the charging of vehicles in static as well as dynamic conditions.
Prof Sadhu said that the unique quality of this model is that it enables the charging of vehicles through renewable energy during the daytime when the sunlight is available as well as during the night when the sunlight is not available through the electricity drawn from the power grid.
The research of IIT ISM is significant as it has come at a time when the lack of reliable, accessible and affordable commercial charging infrastructure is proving to be a hurdle in the adoption of electric vehicles as the principal mode of road transport.
The seven-member team of the Electrical Engineering Department (five faculty members and two M Tech students)has researched the model in 30 months of hard labour which kicked start on February 17, 2020. IIT ISM funded the project.
Besides Prof Sadhu, associate professors Nitai Pal, Kartick, Chandra Jana, and Arijit Baral; assistant professor Anirban Ghoshal, research scholar Anik Goswami and former M Tech student Sonal Mishra were members of the research team.
The team has already undergone trial at a laboratory scale enabling the charging of vehicles through renewable sources of energy, including solar and wind energy and simultaneously allowing the electric charging of vehicles through power Grids.
Elaborating the advantages of the wireless charging system, Professor Sadhu said, “The newly developed model of Wireless Charging System also allows transfer back of the extra stored power charged by the battery of the vehicle to the grid and helps them to earn power credits for the transferred power to grid which they can later utilize.”
Prof Sadhu further added that the transfer back of extra power by the vehicle to the power grid can take place only when the vehicle plies in the dedicated lane connected to the power grid. “Moreover, the vehicle detection system is also developed in the laboratory to restrict the wastage of power in the green-powered highway and increase the life of the component,” he said.
Prof Nitai Pal said a wireless charging system has been developed to expand the driving range for electric vehicles to avoid frequent charging at charging stations. The focus of the Government of India is also on replacing all traditional vehicles with Electrical Vehicles by 2030.
Prof Arijit Baral and Prof Ghoshal said the system allows power transfer during the static as well as the dynamic conditions of long-distance travel of the vehicles.
