Smart Drive motor as a motor 'and' as a generator?

That contactor could be overkill depending on your regen brake load. You might be able to get away with a smaller relay or mosfet

Hi

I have drawn up the schematic as I see it at this point.  Points to note are that the motor is in a 3-phase star configuration.  I have also drawn in a relay to allow to switch between the motor and generator wiring.  The hall sensors from the motor to the motor controller will also have a switch to disconnect them so that in generator mode the controller does not receive spurious signals.

I have also attached a drawing of the wiring of the motor as it is configured at the moment in regard to the coils. 

I would like to know what controller I would need to be able to run this.  (And perhaps it is the one in the link above suggested by Don, but this does seem like it manages more power than I have), and any additional detail with how to install control the controller would also be appreciated.

Look forward to your comments.

What is the motor rated at for current, power, voltage, etc?

Hi

The info I have on the motor is as follows.

Electric Supply

Operating Voltage 220/240 V AC 50Hz

Maximum Current 2.8 amps

Motor

Electronically commutated direct drive 3 Phase brushless DC Motor.

Motor resistance

                              Per Winding                    Phase to Phase

Phase 1                    1.3 ohms @ 20degC          2.6 ohms @ 20 degC

Phases 2 to 4            6.1 ohms @ 20 degC         12.2 ohms @ 20 degC

Phases 5 and 6          16 ohms @ 20 degC          32 ohms @ 20 degC

Below is a link that has the info on the motor.  It is the manual for the washing machine it comes from.  I also have a pdf that describes the same motor in relation to its use as a generator.  It doesn't seem to be available online anymore and I can't see where I attach files within the post, only images and links.  I can email it if it would help.

Anyway, I hope the link to the motor manual helps. 

http://www.eserviceinfo.com/downloadsm/60779/Fisher%20&%20Paykel_Several%20-%20MW%20GW%20etc.html

I appreciate the help.

I haven't time to go into all the details of this motor but it is seriously weird - quite possible just perfect for a washing machine but absolutely NOT your standard BLDC. For a traction/regen application you need a motor intended for the purpose where all the phases are the same - otherwise you will need to design a controller completely on your own ( there isn't a lot of stuff on the web to help you.).  Get  a normal BLDC motor and then you can use all the kits and design stuff (loads of it) on the web.

I'm also worried by your earlier post where you refer to the wind turbine - are you hoping to keep the vehicle moving by extracting energy from it's passage through the air ?

MK

Simon

There was very good article about using one of these in a cheaper chinese windmill.

Apparently they need a bit of attention to improve their performance and reliability.

It was in the June/July2008 of The Shed magazine http://www.theshedmag.co.nz

Mark

Simon

There was very good article about using one of these in a cheaper chinese windmill.

Apparently they need a bit of attention to improve their performance and reliability.

It was in the June/July2008 of The Shed magazine http://www.theshedmag.co.nz

Mark

Thanks Mark,

It seems that edition is sold out.  Following up from my comments in the reply to Michael, do you think that the article is still relevant?

Regards

Simon

Tried twice to post  a reply but got  a new and even dafter E14 error message - about   a better 404.

I think it was the link it didn't like.

How many power wires are thre coming from the coils of the motor.

MK

Hi Michael

There are three wires into/out of the motor for power and 5 for the hall sensors.  Here is a pic of it without the hall sensors.

Cheers

It's still there as a digital edition, or contact the publisher (Jude).

From what I can tell, they aren't extremely powerful, but the fact they could easily control them, and they didn't need a gearbox, was what made them popular.

My understanding of mechanics suggest that any time you have a gearbox you lose efficiency, that why they reconfigure these for the required voltage rather than try to change the speed.

However I don't know your final design/plan so I'm sure you will have it sorted.

We use an ASCO phase detection system on our generators, that when the phases match, it switches the load.

Once they match they don't change as the smaller generator has trouble driving the much larger generation system.

Mark

This picture doesn't correspond well with your spec showing different restances for phases. It looks like a traditional 3 phase multipole winding. Do you have a controller (or better still a schmeatic of one) from a washing machine.

If it's a simple 3 phase winding it's not (that) hard to make a controller but you would do better to buy one.

MK

Hi Michael,

Due to me still being a newbie in this area, I can only offer up the info I have gleaned from the internet.  I think the reason this is not a simple stepper is because of the arrangement of magnets in the rotor.

As I still haven't figured out how to upload or attach a pdf in this forum I have converted the article I have on this motor into a series of jpgs.  So I will post them below.   To maintain image quality I have kept the file size large which means there will be only one page per post below.  Hope this helps explain why this is a more complex motor than a straight stepper.

Thanks