Umudike Journal of Engineering and Technology

A battery-aided fuel-less AC generator in which the alternator was driven by a dc motor connected to a rechargeable battery, using the principle of electromagnetic induction has been presented in this paper. The criteria for material selection were presented, and simple mathematical models developed to analyze its performance, before the actual unit was constructed. With a 12V/100Ah battery, a 1kW dc motor and an 800VA alternator, it was observed that the generator had an efficiency of 28.7%. This only supported quite a small load current. As the dc motor consumes energy from the battery during operation, a diode (rectifier) was incorporated in the design to recharge the battery, while a suitable controller installed helped to regulate the voltage due to consumer load variations. However, with an increase in the number of battery units connected in parallel or a very high deep-cycle capacity battery installed, the load it can support would significantly increase.