The main objective of this work was the optimization of the process of charging electric rickshaw batteries using on-board photovoltaic energy, so that an extra additional energy can be generated while the vehicle is driven or even when the vehicle is parked . Its main interest was to quantify whether the proposed system could actually yields real improvements in the vehicle’s performance.
To that end, the solar rickshaw was constructed first. That involved the construction of support equipment to accommodate the solar photovoltaic panels onto the vehicle’s roof. To do that, two iron round tubes were used and then holes were drilled in order to be able to screw the tubes to the solar photovoltaic panels to the metal support (isophonic claim) on top of the rickshaw.
Then, a data acquisition system was developed in order to collect and acquire important variables from the set of different sensors located in the rickshaw. The data concerning the solar power output was collected from the Energy Meter (PZEM). The information regarding the battery pack was collected from the Battery Management System (BMS). And, last, the information concerning the vehicle position was collected from a GPS receiver. In order to acquire all this information and save it in a file, a Raspberry Pi was used through serial communication using Python 3.