Alex Karahalios wrote: > One thing I was thinking of was that you could leave the entire > transaxle assembly alone (MG1, MG2 & differential) and attached an > electric motor in place of the ICE engine. This would not obviously be > the most optimum setup, but would get the job done. The electric motor > could just be a DC motor rather than AC. You would then treat the motor > like the ICE engine. Regen would be accomplished by MG2 as usual.
That is an interesting idea. It is very much like the Ward-Leonard system, which used 3 motors to provide precise speed and torque control in the days before electronics. The DC motor could be a simple permanent magnet DC brushed motor, simply connected directly across the battery. No controller would be needed for this motor; all speed and direction control, and motor vs. regen operation entirely controlled by the AC controllers for MG1 and MG2. > One interesting thing with this setup is that you could recharge the > battery pack by powering the new electric motor which drives MG1 to > recharge the battery. This would require that the motor replacing the ICE was an AC motor, or had a big rectifier and filter. The cleanest approach might be to have MG1 powered directly from the AC line (it is already an AC motor), which spins the new DC motor to work as a generator to recharge the batteries. > Again the biggest problem would be to find a place for the Li-Ion > battery pack. I have a Prius, as well as a spare Prius drivetrain sitting in my garage. I think the *biggest* challenge would be to modify the black-box controllers that presently run everything. > weigh only about 230kg (500lb). Based on the dimensions, a pack could > be constructed that is about twice as tall as the current NimH pack and > fit in roughly the same space (42"Lx18"Wx14"H). The present nimh pack is about 36" x 12" x 6" (and only about 3/4 of that volume is actually the batteries). -- Lee A. Hart Ring the bells that still can ring 814 8th Ave. N. Forget your perfect offering Sartell, MN 56377 USA There is a crack in everything leeahart_at_earthlink.net That's how the light gets in - Leonard Cohen
