Mechanical · Automotive (Powertrain)
Regenerative Braking Demonstrator
Build a rig where a motor acts as a generator during braking to recover energy into a battery. Measure energy recovered vs speed. Directly relevant to EV/hybrid powertrain engineering jobs.
Major
Mechanical
Focus area
Automotive (Powertrain)
Total hours
35-55 hours
What you'll need
- DC gear motor 12V for Arduino
- INA219 DC current voltage power monitor sensor module
- 18650 lithium rechargeable battery pack
- L298N dual H-bridge motor driver module
- Arduino Uno R3 ATmega328P microcontroller board
- high power resistor assortment kit
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Steps
- Set up the motor so it can drive a load and also spin freely as a generator.
- Wire the motor driver, current sensor, and battery pack to the Arduino.
- Program a braking mode that routes generated current back into the battery.
- Measure energy recovered at several starting speeds.
- Compare regenerative braking to braking into a resistor.
- Chart energy recovered vs. speed and document the rig for your portfolio.
What to photograph for your portfolio
- Regen braking rig
- energy recovery curves
- efficiency vs speed
- battery charge data
- system diagram
Resume bullet starters
Copy one, then swap in your own numbers.
Designed and built a regenerative braking demonstrator using Regenerative braking, motor-generator theory, energy recovery
Applied power measurement and EV systems to implement, test, and validate the system end-to-end
Quantified performance with [insert your result, such as accuracy, error reduction, response time, or load capacity] after iterative tuning