Backyard
Member
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2009
- Messages
- 9
- Occupation
- unemployed
Not bigger, just cheaper...
The move to alternating current(AC) is typical for heavy equipment as well as cars...the AC part is already about us in Diesel-electric locomotives.
The prime mover turns an AC alternator, the current is changed to DC through a DC thryster to control amperage, then through an AC inverter, then to an AC traction motor featuring no brushes, etc. The only moving parts are the armatures.
Uphill operation is simple, mash the gas & git'er done, however there is no stall point...the machine will simply sit there under full power if it can't pull(but it will). This is where DC motors would melt...no problem with AC. That is why Caterpillar has traditionally held back from electric-drive. Especially since they have spend so much developing the worlds best mechanical drive train.
Downhill, dynamic-electric braking will be utilized & the power produced will be stored in batteries to aid the prime mover thereby reducing fuel consumption(they hope). That's provided they have enough space for storage batteries(they do). Dynamic braking in a short word uses power generated by the same motors that spin the wheels to slow down the vehicle, reducing the danger of hot hydraulic oil as seen with the current system of retarders.
All systems are monitored by operations, diagnostics & archive computers that are linked to a system that will eventually eliminate the need for human intervention, that answers the lack of "common sense."
I will take several years, maybe five at the most, to perfect this, but no more transfer-case, transmission, rear-axle differentials, just planetary final-drives past the traction motors, one per powered wheel.
The problem with the large tires you discuss is not the tread, it's in the side-wall construction & that will bring a limit to speed & capacity, just as with your favorite SUV(bet you didn't know that...).
The move to alternating current(AC) is typical for heavy equipment as well as cars...the AC part is already about us in Diesel-electric locomotives.
The prime mover turns an AC alternator, the current is changed to DC through a DC thryster to control amperage, then through an AC inverter, then to an AC traction motor featuring no brushes, etc. The only moving parts are the armatures.
Uphill operation is simple, mash the gas & git'er done, however there is no stall point...the machine will simply sit there under full power if it can't pull(but it will). This is where DC motors would melt...no problem with AC. That is why Caterpillar has traditionally held back from electric-drive. Especially since they have spend so much developing the worlds best mechanical drive train.
Downhill, dynamic-electric braking will be utilized & the power produced will be stored in batteries to aid the prime mover thereby reducing fuel consumption(they hope). That's provided they have enough space for storage batteries(they do). Dynamic braking in a short word uses power generated by the same motors that spin the wheels to slow down the vehicle, reducing the danger of hot hydraulic oil as seen with the current system of retarders.
All systems are monitored by operations, diagnostics & archive computers that are linked to a system that will eventually eliminate the need for human intervention, that answers the lack of "common sense."
I will take several years, maybe five at the most, to perfect this, but no more transfer-case, transmission, rear-axle differentials, just planetary final-drives past the traction motors, one per powered wheel.
The problem with the large tires you discuss is not the tread, it's in the side-wall construction & that will bring a limit to speed & capacity, just as with your favorite SUV(bet you didn't know that...).