HAL9000v2.0 said:
This is what I have in mind...
Nice pix, HAL9K.
I gotta be the first to say it - let's rename this thread "
RE-INVENTING THE WHEEL" :wink:
Seriously, the approach shown by HAL9K is not unlike the approach taken in the late 1990's by CSIRO (although the stator and the rotor are inverted) and the basic design is an
axial field, air core stator, dual Halbach magnet array brushless machine. They used it in an electric sunracer and showed 98.5% efficiency, pretty darned impressive. Similar motors are currently being built in the US and elsewhere.
It was even integrated into the wheel (just not a bike wheel).
Let's be practical. If you really want to solve the e-bike problem here, build a more-or-less conventional hub motor but use an axial field, air core stator, dual Halbach magnet array brushless motor and make it appropriately sized (i.e. narrow enough to put a freehub and a disc on, for the rear). Because it does not have an iron core, it will be
VERY light. Because it is appropriately sized (both in diameter and width) it will be easy to retrofit and it will be high torque / high power.
It all looks great, right? Where is the Achilles heel?
Cost is the answer, unfortunately. The magnets (especially in a Halbach array) are expensive. For a fixed power output, the cost of the magnets is inversely proportional to the RPM of the motor, and all direct drive hub motors are low RPM.
Food for thought,
Willie