Regenerative braking

From Combat Robot

A regenerative brake is a mechanism that reduces vehicle speed by converting some of its kinetic energy into electrical energy. In battery powered electric vehicles the energy is stored in the battery for later use.

Regenerative braking has specific limitaitons:

• The regenerative braking effect rapidly reduces at lower speeds.
• The amount of electrical energy capable of dissipation is limited by the state of charge of the battery. No regenerative braking effect can occur if the battery is already charged.

Dynamic brakes, unlike Regenerative Brakes, dissipate the electric energy as heat by passing the current through large banks of variable resistors.