Design and analysis of autonomous mobile robot charging system for electric vehicles

Abstract

There has been a major uptake in the numbers of electric vehicles on the road nowadays. This upsurge has impacted charging points available for such cars and the stress on the relatively few charging points on ground is bound to increase. Since European Union has planned to phase out new IC engine cars by 2035 and replace them with electric vehicles, a significant increase in the charging facilities is badly needed. This thesis aims to explore this problem and propose a novel solution in the form of an autonomous mobile charging robot (MCR) for electric vehicles.

This document encompasses different sections with each detailing step-wise approach to problem identification, analysis and solution presented. A detailed and comprehensive problem identification of the charging issue of electric vehicles is presented. This is further analysed by an extensive literature review of existing authentic scientific resources. Furthermore, Creo software package has been used for the CAD design and development of the charging robot. The proposed design is later tested and validated via structural simulation testing using SolidWorks software package. Finalized CAD model and various assemblies of the robot is presented and discussed in detail. Simulation testing results are deliberated that shows the model is capable of handling desired payloads as per user requirements.