# Renault ZE (Zero Emission) drivetrain



## Tomdb (Jan 28, 2013)

you got the controller right, so taking a look at the electronics inside should give you an idea of how simple the excitation of the rotor is. Possibly very simple to replicate.


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## boekel (Nov 10, 2010)

Tomdb said:


> you got the controller right, so taking a look at the electronics inside should give you an idea of how simple the excitation of the rotor is. Possibly very simple to replicate.


I only have the motor / gearbox units


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## Tomdb (Jan 28, 2013)

Then you got two different motor connectors?
One 3 pole and one 4 pole? Very strange, did a mermaid seduce you and sneak off with the "strange" other motor?

You should be able to drive the motor without excitation, but to get into synchronous speed you need the excitation.

Mind measuring the smaller orange connector the the brushes to see its connection. I would suspect one pin one brush and one brush the other pin.


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## boekel (Nov 10, 2010)

Haha they weren't tied to the deck of my boat well enough when we were hit by the wake of a fast ferry...just leaving a drying out spot so someone will have a strange beach-find there...(@Terschelling, Netherlands)









(this project is now diesel-electric, to be serial-hybrid after steelwork is finished)

Yes the 2pole orange connector is connected to the brushes.

Also notice how all the hatches have connectors, they're bridges connected in series so the ECU know's if the motor is open, nice safety feature!


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## Tomdb (Jan 28, 2013)

http://www.esc.ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/special-interest/mavt/energy-science-center-dam/esc_frontiers_presentations/140218_FiER_Illiano.pdf

very interesting brusa sales presentation.


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## boekel (Nov 10, 2010)

Tomdb said:


> http://www.esc.ethz.ch/content/dam/...ontiers_presentations/140218_FiER_Illiano.pdf
> 
> very interesting brusa sales presentation.


Nice find!


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## eldis (Sep 3, 2013)

Wow, I'm quite surprised to see a separately excited motors in a "modern" electric car! I wonder what lead them to this decision. 

The first generation of French electric cars (Peugeot 106 and similar) had all a separately excited DC motors - rather low power, brush maintenance, NiCd cells that needs water refill etc.. Didn't expect that they will hold on these motors in their newer models.


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## Tesseract (Sep 27, 2008)

eldis said:


> Wow, I'm quite surprised to see a separately excited motors in a "modern" electric car! I wonder what lead them to this decision.


The OP means that this is a wound field synchronous motor, not a SepEx DC motor.


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## major (Apr 4, 2008)

Tesseract said:


> The OP means that this is a wound field synchronous motor, not a SepEx DC motor.


I suppose to avoid the use of rare earths. I'd just use an induction motor. I wonder if they get any advantage with the wound field rotor.


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## eldis (Sep 3, 2013)

Tesseract said:


> The OP means that this is a wound field synchronous motor, not a SepEx DC motor.


Ah, sorry then. I didn't read the OP properly.


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## Tesseract (Sep 27, 2008)

major said:


> I suppose to avoid the use of rare earths. I'd just use an induction motor. I wonder if they get any advantage with the wound field rotor.


The main advantage I see is a higher tolerance of abuse from excessive speed, temperature and current (no way to catastrophically demagnetize a wound-field rotor, after all).

Main disadvantage is that these are much harder to control, just like SepEx DC vs. PM or series or shunt DC.

EDIT - missed where you wondered what the advantage would be over an _induction_ motor... In that case, the only theoretical advantage I can see is that you have direct control over Id and can achieve a wider constant power speed range. I suspect it would also be possible to modulate Id to reduce switching losses in the main inverter (much like you can use a wound field synchronous motor to correct power factor).


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## peskanov (Dec 13, 2011)

This kind of motor can be driver with a very high power factor, right?
That should be an advantage, as the inverter current capacity is better used.

Another possible advantage (just guessing here) could be more efficient rotor field excitation. Squirrel cages rely in very low voltage and very large currents in huge conductors. 
Using a wound rotor current should be much lower, and maybe I^2*R losses are inferior for equivalent motors.


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## boekel (Nov 10, 2010)

They also use the stator for high power onboard charging..


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