Utilization of a DC brushless hub motor as an alternator in drive train of fuel efficient series hybrid urban class vehicle

Abstract

While designing the drive train of a Series Hybrid Vehicle fuel efficient vehicle for Shell Eco Marathon Asia 2010, The most important issue was the coupling of Engine and Alternator. The major problem faced while doing so is the compatibility check of alternator with the engine as most locally available alternators were not capable enough to provide 48V at rated power of the engine required for operation of hub motors used in the drive train. In order to overcome this problem, it was decided that Magic Pie DC Brushless Hub motors may be used as improvised alternators, as the regenerative abilities of these motors provide an excellent platform to use it as an alternator and are fairly efficient as well. Many small mechanical modifications and mathematical calculations were done in order to achieve this goal.