New High Performance Electric Motors

Electrification company Equipmake has introduced a range of high performance advanced electric motors for off-highway vehicles which, it said, bring major benefits to multiple types of machinery in terms of power, low running costs and reduced emissions.

Based in Norfolk, UK, Equipmake primarily provides technology to automotive OEMs and specialist supercar manufacturers from electric motors to power electronic systems through to electric vehicle drivetrains, while also operating across agriculture, marine, mining and aerospace.

Equipmake said its “advanced and adaptable” electric motors can be applied to a wide range of off-highway vehicles, as well as construction equipment, and play a role in the development of future autonomous off-highway vehicles.

Equipmake said its APM electric motor is believed to be the most power dense in global series production, using technology born out of Equipmake Managing Director Ian Foley’s career in top-level motorsport, according to the company.

Foley is a former Lotus and Benetton Formula 1 engineer. His research into electric motors and flywheels in the mid-2000s led to him play a role in the development of Williams F1’s hybrid system, used in the 2009 F1 season. The resulting hybrid flywheel arrangement went on to further success in endurance racing with Porsche and Audi.

The high-speed flywheel developed for the Williams programme was effectively a composite electric motor, Foley applying the expertise gained to a new design: Equipmake’s APM range of ‘spoke’ electric motors, the company said.

These are permanent magnet motors that use a spoke architecture (so-called because the magnets are arranged like the spokes of a wheel) to bring a major cooling advantage. Because the motor can be kept cool, it can produce lots of power and torque, use less expensive magnet materials and conventional manufacturing methods, so can be made smaller, lighter and more cost-effective, Equipmake added.

Foley said:“From electric buses to supercars, the APM range of motors has made a step change to the efficiency and performance of our automotive clients’ products. Those same benefits – high power density and light weight, combined with an extremely compact package that includes integrated components such as the inverter and gearbox – are just as relevant to the world of off-highway.”

Equipmake offers two compact, power dense motors for off-highway applications, which both use the company’s spoke architecture to maximise cooling capability.

The APM120 peak power of 125kW at 12,000rpm, continuous power of 75kW and peak torque of 130Nm. Weighing just 14kg, it has a power density of just under 9kW per kg. With an integrated gearbox, it measures just 200mm in length and 170mm in diameter.

The APM200 has peak power of 220 kW at 10,000 rpm, continuous power of 110kW and peak torque of 450Nm. Weighing just 40kg, it has a power density of over 5kW per kg. With an integrated gearbox, it measures just 247mm in length and 318mm in diameter.

Both motors can be specified with or without an integrated gearbox and can be mounted horizontally or vertically. Equipmake also makes all supporting power control electronics – including its own high-performance inverter which incorporates the latest silicon carbide diode technology to improve power capability and enable the inverter to run at high switching frequencies.