Electrilite

Introduction

Bernie Macdonald of Albion, California, developed the Electrilite personal transport vehicle. Here is a proposition for flexible fabrication of the critical components, the high-torque, low speed electric pancake hub motor and its respective motor controller. The natural spinoff of this enabling technology is three adaptations of the Electrilite:

1. Pedal power assist electric vehicle, as in the prototype at http://omni.mcn.org/electriliteb/
2. Waste vegetable oil powered, Babington burner, flash steam hybrid electric vehicle
   1. Open source babington burner technology available, including flash steam generation: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ugAivXAusus and another digest here
   2. Electrilite hub motor is uses as an electrical generator
   3. Wheel motors power the car, and performance specification is a street vehicle
   4. Multi fuel capacity: gasoline, diesel, elcohol, waste oils, compressed gas, or others
3. Hybrid electric tractor, with either battery or hybrid steam power
   1. 4 wheel drive

The business model focuses on developing a low-cost fabrication capacity for the above, to be deployed as decentralized enterprise options for right livelihood, according to the principles described here

Fabrication Capacity

Hub Motor

Specifications:

1. Power scaleability in units of 5 hp
2. Voltage adaptability, from 12-240 v or higher if needed
3. Complete reversibility for function as a generator
4. Power to weight ratio ~ 5 hp/10 lb

Currently, a prototype Brushless NFeB magnet motor drawing 75Amperes (max) at 48Volts is complete. Controllers provide incremental throttle with regenerative control braking.

Motor Fabrication Requirements

The main components for the electric motor are the shaft, ball bearings, armature, windings, and aluminum case. Ball bearnings, shaft, winding wire, armature sheet, and aluminum case are bought off shelf. The following fabrication capacity is to be developed in house:

1. Casting for the case
   1. Feasible technology is a simple Babington oil burner furnace
   2. Casting molds may be produced by sand casting
   3. Casting setup costs:
      1. Compressed air for furnace:
         1. $30 at Surpluscenter- .18 CFM at 20 PSI
         2. $55, 2 CFM at 15 psi; 3 hp head, $100; 1.5 hp, $90; 1 hp, $110
         3. electric motor ($50) plus air compressor head

====Material Costs:

1. 25 magnets at under $1 each
2. Shaft - $10

Testing Procedures

Dynamic balancing is required. The balancing setup for this includes a balancing jig, oscilloscope, piezoelecttric sensor, and a strobe light. Power output is measured via ?