Extreme efficiency?

[BiGH]

I know many solar cars use the CSIRO wheel motor, a 1.8kW 98% efficient brushless design. Costs $13k and you still have to design the wheel to put it in. All you get is two rotor rings and a laminated stator! See here: http://www.csiro.au/resources/pf11g.html

Must have been a few people order it - its now $12k AUD....

 

[John in CR]

97% efficient motor (according to CSIRO spec sheet), 960wh for 58 mile in an hour including initial acceleration...these are indeed extreme efficiency. The real question is how do we apply what is learned from these extreme machines. Obviously aerodynamics is huge, but what about that motor? Heat is the enemy that limits virtually every motor readily available to us, yet this CSIRO motor at full 1.8kw output has only 47W of heat to dissipate, virtually nothing. Considering this is a design approximately 10yrs old, why don't we already have motors available with mid 90's efficiency????????

John

 

[swbluto]

Somewhere, it probably has to do with "cost effectiveness" and market demands. If people are willing to buy a crystalyte for nearly $11,000 less, that might tell you something...

What type of magnets do the crystalyte motors use? I bet they're not the more expensive extremely-high-grade rare-earth magnets...

 

[John in CR]

Somewhere, it probably has to do with "cost effectiveness" and market demands. If people are willing to buy a crystalyte for nearly $11,000 less, that might tell you something...

What type of magnets do the crystalyte motors use? I bet they're not the more expensive extremely-high-grade rare-earth magnets...

I'm sorry but I must protest. This was developed outside of the the aerospace/military complex, but after a decade and it's still not licensed to a company that knows how to get it into a readily available product tells me there's a glitch along the way. Maybe it's a greedy human in the way with an absurd price type of glitch, or maybe something else, I don't know. Look for example at A123, which came into existence in 2001 with licensing of MIT based research. After a few years it has mainstream product readily available. This CSIRO thing had a head start, but is still stuck in the same rut it was a decade ago. I'm not disputing that it's probably a better motor, but come one it's time to do something with it besides charging an unrealistic price. It's time for some Chinese intellectual property thievery to step in and be a benefit to all.

BTW, with a 2mm gap I doubt the magic is in the magnets, so it must be something about the general design that makes it better.

John

 

[skydog]

I contacted Michael Lewis regarding the motor in his vehicle that set the hour record, its a 12 HP Lemco:

"Rob:

We use the LEM-200...way too much for a bike, but the smaller LEM-130 might
be applicable, (like $1000.!!!) http://www.lemcoltd.com/.

I've always thought wheelmotors were cool..cost, availability unknown
http://www.heinzmann.com/index.php?lang=en

This is a great place to look for stuff, though; http://www.kta-ev.com/, or
here: http://www.ev-america.com/

CML"