Design and Implementation of Buck Converter for Electric Vehicle’s Appliances

Abstract

Buck converter is a unidirectional DC-DC power converter that primarily steps down potential difference (PD) of the power bank of batteries or supercapacitors. Electric vehicles usually operate on higher voltage ranging from 45 to 72 volts. However, the electrical accessories of automobiles such as horns, trafficators, radio/players and brake or parking lights were designed to operate on 12 V DC voltage. This necessitates the use of buck converter for stepping down the voltage values to 12 volts. Nonetheless, replacing the converter when the need arises is indeed financially challenging, thus, in such a situation, the vehicles are mostly operated during the day time. Herein, we designed a buck converter using Proteus software and then constructed it with the aim of stepping down the voltage values to 12 volts at a reduced price. The design materials and the construction components used are readily available in most of the electronics shops. An outstanding performance was achieved and results indicated that the designed converter is suitable for use in electric vehicles.