Electric Go-Kart Drive System (Semester 2)

Summary

The Electric Go-Kart Drive System is a significant group project within ENEL471 – Power Electronics 2, to be undertaken in Semester 2 2026. The project involves designing and building a high-power electric drive control system for a go-kart platform, covering the full process from converter topology selection through to control implementation. Work draws directly on core ENEL471 topics: DC/DC converter design, three-phase motor control, state-space modelling, and feedback compensation. Thermal management, snubber design, and EMI/EMC compliance are addressed as part of the hardware design. The group project requires formal documentation alongside practical implementation.

More Information About the Project

The design process will start with converter topology selection — drawing on buck, boost, and three-phase inverter configurations covered in the course — matched to the motor and voltage requirements of the go-kart drive system. State-space modelling of the selected converter will be used to characterise system dynamics and inform the design of the feedback compensation network, including current-mode control where appropriate.

Motor control will be implemented using Space Vector PWM (SVPWM) for three-phase inverter operation, applying induction machine theory covered in ENEL471. Thermal management will be addressed through loss estimation and heatsink sizing. Snubber design and EMI/EMC considerations will be incorporated into the hardware design to meet practical implementation requirements. The project concludes with testing against defined design specifications and formal documentation of the design process and results.

Key Skills & Tools