Using AC power with RoboteQ controllers

14 years 3 months ago #29526807 by Anonymous
Using AC power with RoboteQ controllers was created by Anonymous
I am planning to use a gas-powered 220v 7500-9600 watt onboard generator to power my project vice batteries (although I may replace the generator with LiFePO4 batteries in the future). I am going to need to power and control four electric motors, three of 2-3 hp each and one of 4-5 hp (four motors total). My question is, it looks like your controllers are set up to accept up to 60v DC power for input, how difficult/expensive will it be for me to get the AC power working with the RoboteQ controllers? Even if I use a rectifier I will still need to bring the DC volts down, I think, and we are talking about a lot of wattage. Do you have any advice for this situation? If there is going to be a big cost and I will lose efficiency, maybe I will have to find an AC input/DC output controller.

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14 years 3 months ago #29526808 by Roboteq
Replied by Roboteq on topic RE: Using AC power with RoboteQ controllers
If I understand correctly, you would be using your gasoline generator instead of batteries, so your application would not have any battery at all.
So essentially the source is 220 Volt AC.
The total DC current would be 200 to 250 Amp assuming a conservative 48 Volt DC.
There are several solutions:
1 - Use a AC/DC converter. There are solid state converters that will take the 220 Volt and convert it into a 48 Volt DC. They are very expensive.
2 - Use a 400 Hertz gas generator. They are mainly designed for the aircraft industry. The reason for 400 Hertz is that transformers at 400 Hertz are much smaller and lighter. 60 Hertz transformers are simply too big for transportation. This will give you the possibility of scaling down the AC voltage and
use a less expensive AC/DC converter. Still expensive.
3 - Use a tri-phase gas generator at 400 Hertz and a tri-phase transformer. In this case a simple six diode rectifier bridge will provide a DC voltage without the need for any filtering. Is the cheapest AC/DC converter I know. It is not efficient but it is cheap. There would be a large amount of heat generated by the diodes.
4 - Finally there is always the time honored Ward-Leonard method. The gas generator actuates a 220 Volt AC async squirrel cage motor that in turn actuates a 48 volt DC dynamo. The 48 Volt DC is regulated by slightly changing the field current of the dynamo. It is used in heavy transportation like non electrified railway locomotives. I mention it as a curiosity. Perhaps it may work for you and the cost would be minimum.

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