SECTION TITLE
MOTORS & DRIVES & CONTROLS
TESTING TIMES Te bus is now undergoing real-world testing. Stevens notes, “We had a trial day in London prior to the unveiling at Euro Bus 2022 and it is now back in London for a 6-month trial. We have the ability to receive all vehicle, battery and drivetrain parameters over a third party telemetry system. Clearly our main focus is on miles/ kWh, but we can also read faults and remotely diagnose any issues we may have during the trial.” It’s not the only prototype bus the company has. Stevens continues, “We are also trialing a retrofit Optare Versa in York, and we have another bus on trail in Buenos Aries on a new-build Agrale chassis. Tis trail is going well and the long term plan with overseas customers is to ship batteries and drivetrains for local assembly. We have a number of other buses currently undergoing the design process detailed above. Retrofit in the UK has become extremely popular as operators realise the cost and supply lead time issues with replacing their fleets with new models. Tis is also a benefit to the country as a whole as it should accelerate the phasing out of the diesel fleet. “An interesting observation for the
retrofit market is how attractive lower duty cycle routes are. Tese could include school run coaches or city tour operators. Tese vehicles tend to do lower daily mileages and therefore have smaller battery
The Routemaster’s zero emission drivetrain
requirements – the key cost driver for a conversion. Te option not to buy new electric makes this an attractive proposition for older vehicles.”
SPACE RACE Equipmake also supplies aerospace parts and is currently involved in an interesting collaboration with Gilmour Space, an Aus- tralian manufacturer. Launch is scheduled for later this year. Stevens explains, “We have designed a motor to pump fuel in a hybrid rocket engine and an inverter to drive it. Te brief was for a 350kW mo- tor at 15,000RPM. We responded with
a variation on Equipmake’s spoke motor technology, this gives good performance for mass of magnet. We mated this to an unconventionally laid out Silicone Car- bide inverter.”
When considering the challenge,
compared to supplying parts for terrestrial vehicles, he points out, “Te main differences to our other systems is that for the motor we have to keep rocket fuel out of the electrical motor space, this means it has to resist internal pressure from inert gasses supplied from the rocket. Tese vent slowly in to the fuel through a labyrinth seal. Te bigger challenge was
The Routemaster is now undergoing real-world testing
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