Development of Regenerative Energy Storage System for Elevator

This project demonstrates the feasibility of recovering energy that is otherwise wasted during elevator braking, by using a DC motor–generator arrangement coupled through a rack-and-pinion mechanism, and storing the recovered energy in a battery through a charge controller. For a generator output of 19 V and 2 A (38 W), the power delivered to the 12 V, 8 Ah battery is 30.4 W, so the efficiency of storing the generated energy is estimated at about 80%. The prototype developed so far validates the mechanical design and the energy-generation concept; the remaining work involves quantitative testing of the voltage, current and energy recovered, followed by final result analysis. As future scope, the system can be extended by: (i) integrating the regenerative unit with a smart-grid interface to feed surplus energy back to the building supply; (ii) exploring higher-density battery chemistries or hybrid battery–supercapacitor storage to improve charge–discharge efficiency; and (iii) scaling the prototype design to a real elevator installation to quantify actual building-level energy savings.

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