[GRLUG] OFF TOPIC Electric Car

[Collin Kidder]

Casey DuBois wrote:
>> You can of course go cheaper by buying used. Right now presses are being
>> scrapped for their dead weight price. You could buy a press for maybe
>> $400  - $1000, take the motor, and scrap the rest to make most of your
>> money back.
>>     
>
> Now THIS is the kind of thinking I was hoping to provoke.
> I NEVER thought of used motors but that makes the most sense.
> Would there be any chance of reusing controllers from one of these presses?
>
>
>   
Presses do not use controllers. Their design tends to be that the motor 
turns on full blast all of the time and spins a giant flywheel. When you 
actuate the press a clutch engages and the flywheel spins huge cogs 
which make the press cycle. The motor basically is just hooked up to a 
three phase starter (essentially a three phase switch).

But, it is true that a lot of industrial machinery is currently being 
sold off. It's unfortunate for the businesses which closed but good for 
salvagers and businesses that want cheap equipment. However, most all 
industrial equipment is 440v three phase. To use that in a car you'd 
need to build an inverter. Solid state inverters can achieve very good 
efficiency. However, at the least a three phase inverter would need 6 
high voltage high amperage MOSFETs. A bonus is that the inverter can 
double as the motor controller. It's still going to be very expensive to 
buy 6 mega MOSFETs.