Open Competition 2 - Electronics and Photonics

A Novel High-Efficiency "Digital" Electric Motor for Electric Vehicles and Industry

Sponsor: XiDEM, Inc. (formerly 1-0-X Corporation)

• Project Performance Period: 10/1/2001 - 9/30/2003
• Total project (est.): $2,643,260.00
• Requested ATP funds: $1,999,447.00

Although electric motors and generators are considered to be a mature technology, these devices operate with 90-99 percent peak efficiency only near their rated speed and load. As the speed and load change, motor efficiency becomes much lower. In an electric vehicle in stop-and-go city traffic, for example, the electric motor is mostly operating outside its window of peak efficiency. To improve the efficiency and acceleration of a motor that could be used in electric vehicles and for other purposes, 1-O-X Corporation plans to develop and demonstrate a 150kW Advanced Prototype Digital Electric Motor. This prototype will use a rotor with high-strength neodymium nickel boron magnets and a stator with rows of electromagnets. A computerized controller, using data from a photoelectric position tracker, reconfigures the coil firing sequence dynamically as the speed or load changes. This also will give the motor high starting torque and allow normal operation even if one or more coils fail. Successful development of such a motor would increase market demand for fuel-efficient electric and hybrid vehicles, and enable adaptable high-efficiency industrial motors, and adaptable electric generators. The use of digital electric motors would lead to increases in fuel economy in vehicles and reductions in energy use by industry, as well as reduction in pollutants and greenhouse gas emission. Funding by the ATP will allow 1-O-X to halve the time needed to complete the project, allowing digital electric motors to appear in electric vehicles as early as 2005, as opposed to late 2008 at the earliest without support.

For project information:

Marc Didier, (801) 619-1706
digitalsolution2@aol.com

ATP Project Manager

Richard Bartholomew, (301) 975-4786
richard.bartholomew@nist.gov