Practical application of power conditioning to electric propulsion for passenger vehicles

A functional model (prototype) 15 HP (continous rating), 120 volt, 4-pole, 7600 r.p.m. samarium-cobalt permanent magnet type brushless dc motor-transistorized power conditioner unit was designed, fabricated and tested for specific use in propulsion of electric passenger vehicles. (This work was funded by NASA-Lewis/DOE under phase (I) of NASA contract No. DEN3-65 as part of D0Efs program on research and development of electric vehicle technology.) This new brushless motor system including its power conditioner package has a number of important advantages over existing systems such as reduced weight and volume, higher reliability, potential for improvements in efficiencies, etc. These advantages are discussed in this paper in light of the substantial test data collected during experimentation with the newly developed conditioner motor propulsion system. Details of the power conditioner design philosophy and particulars are given in the paper. Also, described here are the low level (signal) electronic design and operation in relation to the remainder of the system.