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Hello all and pleased to see that there are many other nut cases out there.
After seeing many references to the washing machine motor being used for interesting projects I thought it might be suitable for what I had in mind.
Because of a mechanical power transmission (gearbox, shaft & chains) arrangement for a trike I would like to build is not going to be possible I thought a generator powered by a small petrol engine connected to an electric motor to drive the wheels would solve space and arrangement difficulties.
I have seen articles about making generators and Motors using the F & P parts but have not seen anything where these are used together (generator driving motor). Can anyone point me in the right direction? I have a small knowledge of electrical operations, usually fine with mechanical concepts.
I connected 2 motors together with 3 wires for the 3 phases and just turned one by hand and the other just vibrated.
Do I need to rectify the output of the generator to DC? Hoping to not go through the whole process of making a generator and motor as shown on the internet and also hoping to just regulate speed using the petrol engine throttle.
Or am I just dreaming of a simple cheap solution.
Regards.
ryanm Senior Member Joined: 25/09/2015 Location: AustraliaPosts: 202
Posted: 03:55pm 30 Aug 2016
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Hate to rain on your parade, but brushless motors just don't work like that. You'd have to rectify to DC then run a motor controller to run the F&P as a motor. On top of that you'd probably need at least a small battery in the DC part to keep it stable. Since you're going to be running at higher voltages to get enough power that battery is now a couple in series so isn't going to be cheap.
Once you set all that up you still have to custom fabricate a mechanical linkage between the F&P and the wheels. Since you have to do that you may as well just go straight from the motor shaft to the wheels.
If you go on ebay there are a thousand and one clutches which will bolt straight onto your motor shaft and have a chain sprocket on them. You only get one gear ratio, which is determined by the size of the sprockets you use. There are thousands of go-karts around Australia using this system.
I hope I don't sound like I've been drinking the hateraide, I wish you all the best in your project. I just think you'll hit a dead end going down that road.
If it was a simple chain drive I would not even have considered the electric drive. I will need probably 3 X 90 Deg gearboxes as well as 2 chain drives and a drive shaft to cover the positioning of the motor that I had in mind.
I have 2 X 180 volt dc treadmill motors (brushed with permanent magnet stator). Would they be more suitable as the motor/s connected to the F&P generator being rectified to DC? Still need a chain or toothed belt drive to the wheel but I can live with that.
Sorry if these are silly questions and I appreciate your effort to set me straight.
The process of building the trike is more a proof of concept without spending too much. I very much doubt it will make it to the road due to the engineering hurdles with RMS.
But I would still like it to move without going up in smoke.