Abstract
This paper describes an electric wheelchair using a fuel cell and its speed characteristics. The wheelchair system has a PEM fuel cell stack as a power supply, an EDLC bank as an energy buffer, and a newly designed four-quadrant DC chopper which drives two DC motors. Drive performance of the wheelchair and essential characteristics of the fuel cell are investigated by experimental results. Consequently, it is shown that the wheelchair satisfies basic driving operations, and also the PEM fuel cell has sufficient capability for the wheelchair system. Therefore, the ideas and technologies which are applied to the system will be able to contribute to future electric vehicles and transportation.
