Paul E. Schoen said:
I have not actually done it yet, but essentially you can have a
second full wave bridge across the motor, connected to a
wide-input switching power supply. No big contactor is needed.
It might be worth speculating whether the components
of that wide-input switching power supply are already
there, in the main bridge. There just needs to be some
way of using the bridge to turn the motor's generated
voltage into a constant current output, back into the
battery.
Battery+ ---+---+---------------------+---+
| | | |
|-+ | | +-|
---||Q1 /_\D1 D3/_\ Q3||---
|-+ | | +-|
| | L - Vb + L | |
+---+--)))--[Motor]--)))--+---+
| | | |
|-+ | | +-|
---||Q2 /_\D2 D4/_\ Q4||---
|-+ | | +-|
| | | |
Battery- ---+---+---------------------+---+
I've added an explicit external dc inductor, in
series with the motor. It may or may not be needed
but is useful for explanation.
Suppose the motor has been motoring under PWM control,
Q1/Q4 Off, Q3 On, and Q2 doing the driving PWM. The
motor has acquired a back-emf of Vb, in the polarity
shown in the sketch.
So now we need to go into regenerative braking, from
that direction of motoring.
Set Q1+Q3 to Off, and Q2 to On. Chop Q4.
Every time Q4 goes On Vb supplies current into the
inductor, storing energy. When Q4 goes Off the inductor
discharges the stored enery into the supply.
Q4, L, (and D3) are now operating as a flyback dc-dc
converter, drawing current from Vb and feeding it back
to the battery. The flyback has the advantage that it
just delivers current, developing whatever voltage is
needed to do it. Note that the current is drawn from Vb
continuously because Vb is still in circuit during the
flyback.
Lots of details to work out, such as varying Q4's On/Off
timing as Vb decreases, but it might be a goer.
Umm.. I wonder if is possible during regen to chop both
Q2 and Q4 with the same waveform, let L charge up with
whatever polarity Vb is, then let D2 and D4 sort out the
discharge. That would be braking from either direction
automatically.