Gary Neal via EV wrote:
I'm advising a group competing in the Shell Ecomarathon competition (http://www.shell.com/energy-and-innovation/shell-ecomarathon/americas.html) We previously powered our vehicle with a 36V, brushless DC hub motor designed for bicycles. The problem is Shell requires a motor controller custom designed and built by the students (even though you can buy these controller off the shelf for like $20). Because we're mainly a bunch of mechanical engineers, our attempts at designing and building that brushless controller have been less than successful.
First thought... are you sure the rules literally require you to build your own controller? That's a peculiar rule. No other similar race I'm aware of has made such a requirement (Tour de Sol, Electrathon, Solar Raycers, etc.)
Second thought... Buy a commercial controller, take it apart, and put it back together. Voila; the students "built" their own controller.
For this year, we want to use a 36V "brushed" dc motor to make this custom controller much easier. Ideally, a 36V brushed hub motor in the 500W-1,000W power range would be best as it would be nearly a drop in mechanical replacement. Problem is, we can't find such a motor.
Look for one of Cedric Lynch's motors (Lynch, Lemco, Etek, Agni, etc.) These are brushed PM DC motors, but with efficiencies well into the 90% range.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynch_motor -- Knowledge is better than belief. Belief is when someone else does your thinking. -- anonymous -- Lee Hart, 814 8th Ave N, Sartell MN 56377, www.sunrise-ev.com _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
