# Replacing Large Diesel Engine with Electric Motor



## JimTex113 (Jul 7, 2016)

Hello All,

Really enjoy this site. Many very interesting projects.

If anyone can help me with the following, I would very much appreciate it,

First let me say I am not up to the level of understanding of the people here. Many of the discussions I have read here show great understanding of the fundamentals and application of using electricity over liquid fuels. With this in mind, please pardon me if I am asking a question that may sound stupid to many here.

I have a wood chipper with an approx 600 horse diesel engine. Is it possible to replace the diesel with an electric motor? If so, please give any information you are willing to give that could help me.

THanks in advance,

Jim


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## Bayron (Jun 1, 2016)

I haven't heard anywhere about converter the whole diesel engine vehicle into electric. You can turn it to hybrid perhaps.


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## JimTex113 (Jul 7, 2016)

Any suggestions on how to do that?

I am having problems with the heat and the diesel engine and I much prefer going electric versus liquid fuels. I need this chipper to operate close to 16 hours per day. We are indoor with all the electricity I need to run a large motor.

Thanks very much for your reply,

Jim


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## major (Apr 4, 2008)

JimTex113 said:


> Any suggestions on how to do that?
> 
> I am having problems with the heat and the diesel engine and I much prefer going electric versus liquid fuels. I need this chipper to operate close to 16 hours per day. We are indoor with all the electricity I need to run a large motor.
> 
> ...


Hi Jim,

You need the services of a consulting engineer/engineering firm specializing in industrial electrical power. Here's an example motor. An induction motor running on the 3-phase mains rated 250hp continuous duty (16hr/day). Notice it weighs a ton and a half for $25k. I suspect you can do much better as the surplus market is ripe. But you need someone who knows what they're doing. AFIK, that's beyond this forum.

Good luck,

major

http://www.electricmotorwholesale.com/BALDOR-ECP44256T-4/


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## dcb (Dec 5, 2009)

JimTex113 said:


> We are indoor with all the electricity I need to run a large motor.


Agreed that you may need professional help. But I'm just curious since I don't know much about industrial power, 600hp is ~ 1000 amps @ 430 volts. You have THAT kind of electricity at your disposal (plus enough left over to run everything else?)


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## Matej (Dec 4, 2015)

Look into motors from locomotives or electric cranes.


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## itchyback (May 28, 2014)

I recently used a small electric wood chipper for chopping stuff up to 2 inches in diametre. it ran off 240v 10a power. The blade rotated very slowly, maybe 30rpm. 
I therefore assume it is certainly possible to find something bigger. 

Ps i love that youre turning your woodchipper electric viva la electric revolution!


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## Duncan (Dec 8, 2008)

You can get big electric wood chippers
I used to work at an MDF plant - our electric chipper handled 1000tonnes of wood a day
That was the biggest electric motor I have ever seen!


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## Hollie Maea (Dec 9, 2009)

major said:


> Hi Jim,
> 
> You need the services of a consulting engineer/engineering firm specializing in industrial electrical power. Here's an example motor. An induction motor running on the 3-phase mains rated 250hp continuous duty (16hr/day). Notice it weighs a ton and a half for $25k. I suspect you can do much better as the surplus market is ripe. But you need someone who knows what they're doing. AFIK, that's beyond this forum.
> 
> ...


The company I work for does such consulting work, and recently did some work for someone wanting to do industrial conversions. But it isn't cheap--we charge $6000 just to do the feasibility study required to give a believable quote. At that power level, it is hard to imagine a cost effective solution unless you have on the order of hundreds of units. Onesies are unbelievably expensive.


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## JimTex113 (Jul 7, 2016)

Bayron said:


> I haven't heard anywhere about converter the whole diesel engine vehicle into electric. You can turn it to hybrid perhaps.


THank you so much for your reply.


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## JimTex113 (Jul 7, 2016)

major said:


> Hi Jim,
> 
> You need the services of a consulting engineer/engineering firm specializing in industrial electrical power. Here's an example motor. An induction motor running on the 3-phase mains rated 250hp continuous duty (16hr/day). Notice it weighs a ton and a half for $25k. I suspect you can do much better as the surplus market is ripe. But you need someone who knows what they're doing. AFIK, that's beyond this forum.
> 
> ...


Thank you very much Major for your help. There are a lot of motors for sale just as you said.

Jim


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## JimTex113 (Jul 7, 2016)

dcb said:


> Agreed that you may need professional help. But I'm just curious since I don't know much about industrial power, 600hp is ~ 1000 amps @ 430 volts. You have THAT kind of electricity at your disposal (plus enough left over to run everything else?)


THank you very much for replying. Yes, I had to have a second line brought in a few years ago that had several big motors running from that service. Now that system is gone and have that panel sitting idol.

Thanks again,

Jim


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## madderscience (Jun 28, 2008)

Just from a DIY perspective (knowing this may well be beyond a DIY project) The 600 horse rating from the diesel engine - is that a peak or continuous rating?

A better way to approach might be look at your average fuel consumption, and work backwards from that to get to how much horsepower you are actually feeding into the chipper. You might find it is much less than 600hp. 

If you really are running the diesel flat out at full 600hp, then I would expect your fuel consumption to be something like this:

Inputs:

diesel engine conversion efficiency: 30% (sane estimate)
kwh/gal (diesel): 40.7 (internet)
746w / hp (fact)
600hp (given)

Calculation:

600hp * 746w/hp == 447kw (shaft power in kw)
447kw / 0.30 = 1.5mw (full energy released burning diesel to get that shaft power given engine efficiency)
1.5mw / 40.7kwh/gal = 36gal/hour

so if I did the math right, if you are running the engine flat out you should be using 36gal/h.

If you are using less than that, you can more or less proportionally reduce the estimate of how much hp you actually need.

Once you have a better estimate of your actual power requirement you can find a motor with a continuous rating closer to that. Hopefully, someting weighing less than a ton and a half. Large industral motors running on 60hz usually run at 1200, 1800 or 3600 rpm depending on number of poles. You would want to pick the one closes to the diesel engine operating speed. Depending on how the hookup works between the engine and the chipper you might be able to tune the gear ratio. The other option, given that the motor is running on 3 phase power (very likely at that size) is to power it via a VFD so you can tune the operating speed. Just be aware running it slower will reduce HP proportionally.

this all assumes the load on the chipper is fairly continuous. if that is not the case, then while that may not affect the overall motor sizing needed you would start needing to look at overload ratings (how much, and for how long). Motors that size all should have such a thing. Things like 150% for 10 minutes, etc.

BH


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## Sunking (Aug 10, 2009)

Jim while it is possible to do, it is not something you will likely ever accomplish unless you have a shop with existing 480/2777 volt service. 

If you are talking a mobile application like on a trailer would be almost impossible for a couple of reasons, most notable no available electrical infrastructure in place to deliver that kind of power of 600 Kw. If you are thinking battery, forget it. 

If you are talking about a stationary application like a shop, you would need a 3-phase 480/277 volt service used for commercial and industrial applications.


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