The focus of this thesis was to design an energy management system for Marsokhod, a six-wheeled Martian rover. The rover is designed with a distributed energy system, each wheel contains a battery, motor controller and H-bridge, while each battery provides power to any other wheel. A background study is performed, highlighting the challenges for producing and storing power on Mars, forming the motivation for the energy management system. The design manages the distribution of the battery power and coordinates the recharging needs of each battery. The status of the whole system, power available and power needed, is monitored so that the role of each individual battery can be adapted to suit. The behavior of each battery is controlled by microcontroller, allowing for modification by software. To ensure realistic testing conditions, a motor controller clone was implemented which sent measurements to a desktop computer for data logging. The system implemented a MAX712 chip that used the delta-V recharging method. The current measurement was realized by the MAX4071 chip and the battery voltage measurement was realized by a simple voltage divider. The system operated as designed, however some key modi cations to facilitate more versatility and reliability are outlined.
Author: Allan, Jason
Source: Luleå University of Technology
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