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Solar Powered E-bike Charger
Solar Powered E-Bike Charger: Image
My freshman year, first semester engineering project was to build a solar powered bike charger that could be set up on my college's campus. This was accomplished using two wooden structure's in which a 100W monocrystalline silicon photovoltaic cell was mounted on it and the other contained the remaining electronic components, all of which is shown below. Shown here was the original idea for the layout of the solar charging station.
Solar Powered E-Bike Charger: Image
These are the electronic components and the box in which they are stored. The circuit involves two lead-acid batteries in parallel to one another - one 12V and one 24V. Connected to them is a charge controller and solar inverter. The solar radiation generates direct current which gets stored in the batteries. When a device is connected, the energy stored in the batteries is discharged, where the direct current is then converted to alternating current and sent out to an outlet at 110V.
Solar Powered E-Bike Charger: Image
This is me shown here drilling a hole for user access to the outlet.
Solar Powered E-Bike Charger: Image
Shown here is the outlet, which is one of two standard home receptacles that display power at 110V. It displays the power output in watts so that the user has confirmation that their device is being charged. A plastic cover was inserted and sealed using apoxy to have it be more weatherproofed.
Solar Powered E-Bike Charger: Image
The final completed product is below. Due to budget and material limitations, the structure was made of wood when ideally a rigid aluminum box would be more appropriate to keep the electrical parts fully safe from extreme weather. During full sunlight at 1:00 PM in the Durham fall, it was able to provide 5% of charge to a 3.7 volt iPhone battery in the span of 20 minutes.
Solar Powered E-Bike Charger: Image
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