Paul & Sabrina's cheap DIY 144v motor controller

[MPaulHolmes]

I"m sure everyone's heard of Fran at this point. He helped with the original control board and rewrote the software into something 100x better than I could have done. Recently at the L.A. auto show they had a car for which Fran did all of the electronics (motor control, BMS, etc...):

Dok-Ing Automotiv: A Show-Stealing Croatian Upstart Makes Debut in Los Angeles - NYTimes.com

And this too:
http://www.ziegler.hr/images/stories...R/rom_2960.jpg

That 2 sided big dang car thing needs to be electric because it goes inside long tunnels that have fires, that starve out all the oxygen, which can kill regular gas powered engines.

[jyanof]

heya Paul - way back in this post you mentioned using schottky diodes to create a 700A version.

I've got a buddy who's planning a build and i thought this would be an easy way to get a little bit more power out of a proven kit configuration. I know the pin configuration doesn't match the power board, but maybe we just have bent looking legs that go to the right holes. also, I guess we'd use a lem 500 or just modify the software a bit.

Any idea how the one you built is performing?

[MPaulHolmes]

Hi Joe! There are actually 3 pin schottkys that are compatible with the board. The mosfets are rated for 130 amps, but that isolation material is a significant limit on their ratings. Ian Hooper in Australia was saying that he was getting them to blow up at above 50 amps each. But another guy that I can't remember now is running his unchanged at 600 amps, so I bet you might be able to do 700 with other diodes maybe? hehe. Ain't nothing like trying it. I found out you could run the controller at 192v nominal for several hundred miles! haha.

Digi-Key - APT60S20B2CTG-ND (Manufacturer - APT60S20B2CTG)

Digi-Key - 497-11453-5-ND (Manufacturer - STPS60SM200CW)

[jyanof]

Originally Posted by MPaulHolmes

The mosfets are rated for 130 amps, but that isolation material is a significant limit on their ratings. Ian Hooper in Australia was saying that he was getting them to blow up at above 50 amps each.

I remember reading his website and he was trying lower and lower gate resistance as well to get faster switching times. I don't know how his layout compares to ours, but I wonder if his mosfets died from over-voltage with the higher voltage spikes rather than from over-heating.

also, might depend on ambient temp - it's hot in australia, ya? i guess it's hot in AZ too.

as you say though, only one way to find out... thanks!

[MPaulHolmes]

Hey you are right. He was getting way down to like 5 Ohm or smaller gate resistors I think. And multiple gate drivers. Maybe there could have been current sharing issues?

[MPaulHolmes]

Hurray! Tomorrow is payday! I'm ordering 25 feet of 10 gauge magnet wire, and a 3" outer diameter, 2" inner diameter toroid to make my own high power inductor. If the calculations are to be believed, it will be 300uH. At 100 amps it will have 200 watts of heat loss just from the copper.

It will have to be submersed in water, just like the Myth, the Man, the Legend... Jack Bauer did it!!!

I also ordered some 10 gauge Nichrome resistance wire to add some resistance in series with the inductance. It will allow for a nice little test bench to see just what the voltage spikes are doing in the controller, and in a new prototype I'm going to try to do over christmas break.

[adamj12b]

Hello Everyone,

I have created a new thread deticated to the Uprising series of controls I am designing. You can find it here: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ard-19570.html

I will be updating that thread with the details I have mentioned in the main revolt thread when I get time.

I hope to direct traffic about the Uprising board to my thread as to not clutter Paul's already MASSIVE thread!

Thank You.

V. 2.0.0

Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

I have finished populating 90% of the prototype of version 2.0.0 . While doing this, I made a video showing the process of hand building an SMD board. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=515_1g9G7Mw

-Adam

[DJBecker]

Originally Posted by MPaulHolmes

Hi Joe! There are actually 3 pin schottkys that are compatible with the board. The mosfets are rated for 130 amps, but that isolation material is a significant limit on their ratings. Ian Hooper in Australia was saying that he was getting them to blow up at above 50 amps each.

Schottky diodes are considerably more of a challenge to fabricate than regular silicon diodes. 200V is at the upper edge of the voltage available. Which probably means that they don't have much margin on the specs.

Compare that to regular diodes where the 200V parts might come from the same wafer as 400V parts, with the best ones being sold with the higher rating. The result is that customers often get a better part than the guaranteed minimum specs.

If the Schottky diodes are breaking down from high voltage spikes, it wouldn't take much to overheat them. Before they break down, there is little heating. (The reverse leakage current is the only a minor issue with a short-duration spike.) As soon as they breakdown, most of the spike energy ends up as heat.

[jackbauer]

Hey Paul I seem to remember Jack doing something a bit more sinister with a bottle of water and a towel back in series 1

[adamj12b]

This is just a week of progress!

Tonight I got the first one of the laminated bus Uprising 1kA controller built. Its not complete, but close. I will be testing this weekend.

Some pics and a video.

-Adam


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYfRRtke-2Q