Teaser Speed Controller

[gwhy!1]

This is just a little teaser of something I have been working .
This project is to try and make a truly up-scaleable controller just by stacking the power boards.

I have made a much smaller version of this and it works a treat so now it was time to go big and share .

 

[John in CR]

Looks very interesting. When do we get more than a tease? How high will we be able to stack those 6-packs?

 

[liveforphysics]

4 of that TO-247 package FET would all ready be bigger than a 24fet made from TO220 fets. Very very much better when the voltage goes over 100v, because you can use something like the IXFK360N15T.

 

[gwhy!1]

Looks very interesting. When do we get more than a tease? How high will we be able to stack those 6-packs?

the drive circuit should allow upto around 5 additional 6 fet power boards ( this is just on paper and not tested! yet)

The way I have designed the layout is when the boards are stacked as a 24fet the whole controller will be around the size of a standard 12fet. Once I have this layer up and running I will buy some more fets and start expanding it to see how far it can be pushed, and as a bonus It will be very easy to add active water cooling to the heat sink that I have in mind :wink:

as a 6 fet controller it will be just a tad larger than a standard 6 fet but should be good for around 120A

 

[vanilla ice]

I'll take two.

 

[gwhy!1]

I'll take two.

All in good time.... Let me get a proto up and running first

 

[John in CR]

Looks very interesting. When do we get more than a tease? How high will we be able to stack those 6-packs?

the drive circuit should allow upto around 5 additional 6 fet power boards ( this is just on paper and not tested! yet)

The way I have designed the layout is when the boards are stacked as a 24fet the whole controller will be around the size of a standard 12fet. Once I have this layer up and running I will buy some more fets and start expanding it to see how far it can be pushed, and as a bonus It will be very easy to add active water cooling to the heat sink that I have in mind :wink:

as a 6 fet controller it will be just a tad larger than a standard 6 fet but should be good for around 120A

Hand raised as beta test volunteer who has motors to test the limits.

 

[sn0wchyld]

does this mean you could also get a 12fet in a smaller package/18fet in a 12fet package?
subbed, this looks good.

 

[gwhy!1]

does this mean you could also get a 12fet in a smaller package/18fet in a 12fet package?
subbed, this looks good.

Yes, The controller will stay the same length and width i.e a little longer (1-2cm) and wider (1-2cm) than a standard 6fet and every additional board will add about 1.5-2cm in height But this will depend on what size of phase and battery cables you use. I am going to fit 8swg cables to this one. I have also made a small error on the pictured power board with spacing that will only allow an addition 2 power boards to to stacked, never mind it is good enough to test with

 

[AussieJester]

Good stuff GWhy.... send one my way when you got them ready, i got a ThudSTeR wound internal
halled MOFO Turnigy sitting here just waiting for the right controller
to "handle it" haha... Best of luck buddy

KiM

p.s if you need any pc watercooling gear lemme know i have a box of old gear that
would be perfect for this, pay the shipping its yours :wink: pump rad tubing whatever you need

 

[gwhy!1]

Good stuff GWhy.... send one my way when you got them ready, i got a ThudSTeR wound internal
halled MOFO Turnigy sitting here just waiting for the right controller
to "handle it" haha... Best of luck buddy

KiM

p.s if you need any pc watercooling gear lemme know i have a box of old gear that
would be perfect for this, pay the shipping its yours :wink: pump rad tubing whatever you need

Thanks for the offer KiM, I will keep it in mind if and when I need to water cool to be honest I'm hopeing I can get away without as this will make the whole controller a bit bigger. If this layout is ok and reliable at 200A+ then I will be making them to sell as a product, the motor controller (brain) is nothing special and uses the same controller as JH but the brain will evolve as there are a couple of functions that I need to have for my bikes. I will also post up the art work should anyone wish to make there own when I'm happy with the layout

 

[John in CR]

Please think big and go for volume right off the bat. We'll do everything we can to help you grow quickly. An alternative is to take on a Chinese foreign exchange worker to stay in the extra bedroom. IOW no full boat UK pricing, something closer Chinese. I'll even be a paid beta tester if that helps.

John

 

[gwhy!1]

Some more! ,
(Waiting for some bits to finished this board )

 

[dbaker]

Looks great, Kevin A controller we have all been waiting for

 

[gwhy!1]

Looks great, Kevin A controller we have all been waiting for

Thanks,
The controller board is now finished... I just goto put the 3 boards together and test..
I have sourced a box that this will fit in and its 145x95x45 ( which is a tad smaller than a standard 12fet ) , this will allow upto 3 power boards without water cooling(just) or 2 boards with, I wish I could find a box that was 20mm taller . 3 power boards should be good for around 280A if it all works out ok..

 

[sn0wchyld]

Looks great, Kevin A controller we have all been waiting for

Thanks,
The controller board is now finished... I just goto put the 3 boards together and test..
I have sourced a box that this will fit in and its 145x95x45 ( which is a tad smaller than a standard 12fet ) , this will allow upto 3 power boards without water cooling(just) or 2 boards with, I wish I could find a box that was 20mm taller . 3 power boards should be good for around 280A if it all works out ok..

WTF!?!?! a '12 fet' that puts out 280A! Thats going to be a little beast! Sign me up!

 

[gwhy!1]

Thanks,
The controller board is now finished... I just goto put the 3 boards together and test..
I have sourced a box that this will fit in and its 145x95x45 ( which is a tad smaller than a standard 12fet ) , this will allow upto 3 power boards without water cooling(just) or 2 boards with, I wish I could find a box that was 20mm taller . 3 power boards should be good for around 280A if it all works out ok..

WTF!?!?! a '12 fet' that puts out 280A! Thats going to be a little beast! Sign me up!

The size of the controller will be the same as a standard 12 fet controller but it will have 18 monster fets inside. On paper it should be able to put out 360A cont but I'm being cautious and saying 280A cont. With 2 power boards ( 12fets ) it should be good for around 180A cont.

 

[Spacey]

I take it this won't work with normal Hall Sensor motors?

Edit: That sounded a bit off, what I meant was...I hope this will work with normal hub motors but I get the feeling that it will be for RC motors

 

[gwhy!1]

I take it this won't work with normal Hall Sensor motors?

No reason why it should'nt, thats what I'm gonna be using it with

 

[whereswally606]

Im excited about this too. Recently i purchased a large Emax scooter hub motor 4Kw at 48v and I could order the controller off Alibaba from proud eagle but i figure that somebody on here has to be making a better controller with more power soon. Im UK based too and have two ebikes, this scooter hubby i think im going to make into a petrol hybrid 50cc.

Good work Gwhy Ive thought for a while modular power boards would be a smart idea but never seen them happen.

 

[gwhy!1]

Update.
The controller works well , I need to sortout a heatsink for testing and connect better cabling ( instead of crock clips) then I will start testing it and make sure nothing funky is going on with the drive signals then ramp up the current. There are also few changes I need to make to the layout ( so it fits together better ) but all in all it looks good so far.

 

[FastDemise]

Pics or it didn't happen. Looking forward to see how this progresses.

 

[Spacey]

Wow! You mean it could work with my HS3540 hub?

 

[gwhy!1]

Wow! You mean it could work with my HS3540 hub?

if that hub has hall sensors then I don't see any reason why not.

 

[gwhy!1]

I have done some test and it all looks good so far, I have re-organised /re-made the pcbs to make it a bit easier to up grade the controller side of things. The next step is to fit into a box,fit heatsink,run some high load static tests then put it on a bike and see how it performs in the real world. The box that I have will only accomidate 2 powerboads until I have finalised the controller configuration ( add the functions that I want on the controller ) or I need to source a deeper box.
Here is a couple of pics of the size compared along side a standard 6fet controller.