Portfolio Review

Spring-Fall 2018

Ergonomic Fast Battery Charger

Team Name: Chidori

Instructor: Dr. Herbert Hess
Team member: Chensheng Zhu, Chenghao Shi,
Meiyuan Zou
Table of Content
1. Background

2. Problem Definition

3. Project Plan

4. Concepts Considered

5. System Architecture

6. Design Evaluation

7. Future Work
Abstract
Bicycle not only provides an effective means of exercise, but also a popular
way of transportation. However, it has to be said that the mechanical energy
generated by bicycles is often wasted in the form of friction and heat
consumption. In today's world, energy has been deeply integrated into people's
daily life. How to make full use of energy is also a question that people are
discussing. In this context, our project-Ergonomic Fast Battery Charger, is also
launched, which transform the mechanical energy of bicycles to electrical energy
to achieve the ultimate goal of charging mobile phones using bicycle.

Background
Bicycles are a popular means of maintaining physical wellness and health.
They are also a useful form of transportation for commute (short trips ranging
from approximately 0-5 miles) and recreation (short and long trips ranging from
0-100 miles). Many people choose to bike as a means of reducing their ecological
footprint, which is particularly useful in large cities where emissions tend to be
concentrated. Many advancements have been made in internal combustion
engines (vehicles) to reduce emissions such as hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide,
particulates, nitrogen oxides, and carbon dioxide. In the United States, vehicles
are the second largest contributor to carbon emissions at 27%.
Bicycle-powered charger is more than a simple mechanical product. Based
on the needs of the end user, this product will address issues of physical,
economic, and environmental conditions. Physical energy to quickly charge their
electronic devices like cell phones. Our bicycle powered charger offers a
cost-effective way to provide the electricity for those devices in that it can allow
the users to decrease the amount of electricity they buy from commercial
providers. This may also directly and indirectly reduce further pollution of the
environment by removing some of the need for conventional electrical sources
including coal, petroleum, and gasoline and
by promoting the use of bicycles. Each of these issues addressed by our
bicycle-powered charger prove it to be sustainable.

Problem Definition
The main problem this project solves is using a clean way of generating
electricity to charge our cell phone. Cycling is a clean energy vehicle and a clean way
of generating electricity. Cycling can greatly reduce vehicle emissions. But today,
people often use cars to move around because it is convenient. Whenever they want to
go somewhere, the first thing that comes to mind must be drive a car. As a result, to
encourage people to choose to ride a bicycle. Our project designed a bicycle-power
charging device. This electricity will come from a person’s hard work from bicycling.
By using this device, cyclists will be motivated to use the energy that comes from
their bicycles to charge their portable electronics rather. Also, the psychology of a
person knowing that they are creating their own electricity is very rewarding to that
person. The user will feel good about knowing they created their own energy.
For the population of people who don’t normally use their bicycles, this device will
motivate them to use their bicycles. The concept of the psychological euphoria that
arises in this situation again. Even for non-cyclists, when these people realize that
they are creating their own energy, they would feel good. They are charging their
electronics with the energy they produced without going to a power outlet and
charging their electronics that way. With an incentive like this, there is no reason why
someone would not want to use this device.
Since the device can be charged while using the bicycle, a person may never have to
worry about their electronics losing charge while they are on a bicycle. On a cycling
commute to work, they can charge their phone on the device. Then they will have a
sufficiently charged phone to make phone calls without the need of charging their
phone the night before or worrying about forgetting to charge their phone. This
example is one use of this project showing an increased communication among a
community.
The inputs of the project will be the mechanical energy from pedaling the bicycle and
an electronic device to plug into the project. This project relies on the energy coming
in from a user pedaling on their bicycle. The portable electronic is also an input
because it needs to be plugged in for the device to charge something out. Otherwise,
the charge will stay in the battery.
The output of the project is the electrical output. There will be an outlet where the
electronic device plugs into. The battery releases the energy stored within to provide
electricity to the outlet, which will provide electricity for the electronic input.

Project Plan
•The role of everyone
Chensheng Zhu: He is responsible for generator, AD-DC, DC-DC converter part,
testing from generator to AC-DC converter and WiKipage.
Chenghao Shi: He is responsible for capacitor, Buck converter and budget. Also he
is responsible for testing about capacitor
Meiyuan Zou: He is mainly responsible for the preparation of all the documents
of the project like writing schedule, and assists the team members to complete
their parts and complete the final test.
Concepts Considered
The whole system can be divided to three parts, generator, energy storage,
converter.

Our whole project can be divided to 4 parts. Power supply (AC generator),
converter part(AC-DC converter and current regulator), energy storage(capcitors
combinations) and phone charger(buck converter). We add a switchable gears
combination on our generator to connecting with bicycle and increasing working
efficient. It supplies power to converter part. The converter regulates the current
and charging the capacitors. After charging over 5V, the buck converter start
working and charge our phone.
•Circuit Diagram

•Generator
The permanent magnet generator that we choose have a maximum output
power of 100w, at 600 rpm, and average can ride a bike 100-250rpm. We
generate less power that needed. So, we using switchable gears we can increase
and decrease the power generated.

𝑣𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 0~12𝑣
𝑣𝑜𝑢𝑡 12𝑣 1 1
= = 600𝑟𝑝𝑚 ×
𝑣 24𝑣 2 2
𝑟1 𝜔2 300𝑟𝑝𝑚 = 300𝑟𝑝𝑚
= = = 1.2 𝑣𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 0~12𝑣
𝑟2 𝜔1 250𝑟𝑝𝑚

•AC-DC Converter
 The AC-DC converter we chosen have a wide range of input power and
voltage ranges which is optimal so this battery charger can be used by a wide
range of people including athletes.
𝑣𝑖𝑛 = 4,2𝑣~12𝑣 𝑣𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 12𝑣
𝑃𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 17.5~50𝑊
Work region 𝜔 = 87.5~250𝑟𝑝𝑚
•Current regulator
We need constant to charge ultra-capacitors, so we choose use a buck
converter to achieve this function.

The current is not “absolutely” constant, it is “almost” constant. When the

current reaching the high limit, the switch(nmos) will open, and the current will
going down. When the current is too small the switch will close and the current
will continue to increase.
•Capacitor
We assume that the capacitor starts charging after 600s when we ride the bike.
𝐶×𝑉
T= = 600s
𝐼

Calculated that the capacitance is equal to 400F.

And the Vdc is better higher than 7v.
•Buck converter

Output Voltage: 5V(fixed)

Output Current: 3A
Power output=15w>13.5W(The minimum power that generator produce). The
rider rides fast, the capacitor is charged, the rider rides slowly, and the capacitor
discharges.

System Architecture
Generator:
Finally, we choose an AC generator as our power supply, for 2 main reasons.
Firstly, it’s a permanent magnitude generator. The ratio of power and rotating
speed is constant. Comparing with other generators. In low speed working
region, it can’t provide enough power for the whole system. Secondly, this
generator rated power is 100W at 600rpm. After we adding a switchable gear
combination, we could get 50W power supply for an adult normally riding.
AC-DC converter.
This is a stuff part, we try to find some suitable module in market. Unfortunately,
nothing is achieved. As a result, we decide to build one. We use a bridge rectifier
to converter AC circuit to DC, and we use a buck converter to step down and
regulate the DC voltage. To supply a fixed voltage(15V) to our current regulator.
This is our pcb-board designing:

Current Regulator
The module is a DC-DC converter module designed Primary to provide a regulated
current output. It is fundamentally a non-isolated current mode synchronous Buck
regulator. An independent voltage and Current limit can be established while located
operation Outside of compliance with either limit. This allows direct Connection to
nonlinear loads for which current regulation Is required. It can also provide a fixed
nominal voltage to a Load that may experience a large inrush or occasional short
Circuit without loss of control. An SPI slave port is provided to allow a host to
configure the output limits and enables.
To setup this module by SPI control, we use Arduino board to drive it. not only for
setting, the SPI port can also be used to monitor the actual Operating voltage, current,
and temperature of the module. To make sure whether each part works well.
This is our set-up coding loop.
Capacitor
The capacitance we use is equal to 1500 Farad, and the DC voltage rate
=2.7v.the current and voltage from current regulator to charge our capacitors is
3A, 7V. 7V is too high for an individual capacitor, and we series connecting 3
capacitors together to attach 7V. Working in such type, the total voltage rate is
equal to 8.1V and the total capacitance is 500F. We would like to charge and
discharge our capacitors fast, and this will make ourproject more efficiently. By
charging of 7V and 3A(the maximum energy storage is equal 4.5w*hr), in 600s
the capacitor can be charged up to 4.5V, and the whole system start working
Buck Converter
This buck converter output fixed voltage and current (5V,2A, or 5V,1A) to
charge our cell-phone, and show the output on its LED screen. When the voltage
between capacitor has been high enough this buck converter will
automatically switch to fast charging working type (5V,2A).

Design Evaluation
•Generator Testing
 For this testing we would like to check generator's output capability. This
generator don't give us expected power output in our system working region.
Fortunately, the output power is also accepted.

•Current Regulator Testing

Fig 1. Current(fixed) output from current regulator Fig 2. The capacitor charging plot
The dc-dc converter work as a current regulator to charge our capacitors. For
this current regulator, an SPI slave port is provided to allow a host to configure
its output limits and enables. So, we select using an Arduino to drive it, and we
could get any voltage and current output in its working region.

•Capacitor Testing

Fig 3. We use an unstable voltage supply to simulate Fig 4. We test the voltage in the cap combinations, and this
the bicycle generator output, and this is the plot of plot is the V-t diagram of the voltage in the caps
the input power,(W-t diagram)
Future Work
Although our project has been completed, there are still some shortcomings I
listed below. This is what we suggest to improve in the future.
•The bicycle and generator are not well fixed, resulting in a high power.
Because we found that if the bicycle and generator are fixed in a specific position.
The chain is easily stuck because the speed is too high. As a result, our power
always fails to achieve the results we want. So we need a good device for fixing
bicycles and generators.
•The current regulator part we must need arduino to control. And if you
don't supply power, this board won't work. Therefore, it is necessary to use a
battery or a power source for power supply. This is a bit out of line with our
project plan. Our plan was originally to generate electricity. But now we need to
consume electricity to make our current regulator work. In addition, this board
needs to be reset every time it starts, which makes us a little complicated. We
must first let the bicycle reach a certain speed, and then re-board the board to
charge and discharge.
•It takes 10 minutes from us to start cycling to the capacitor for charging,
which is slightly longer than we thought. So if we can increase the current of the
input capacitor or reduce the minimum supply voltage of the buck converter in
the future, our latency can be reduced.
•The whole part is not convenient to carry. For example, the generator and
the capacitor are relatively heavy, so if you want to hang on the bicycle in the
future, the bicycle will not be so light.