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The Electrocharger...Any Day Now?
bigmoosie asks: "It has been over a year since the Electrocharger was discussed on Slashdot. It appears to be almost ready for production, or is it still vaporware? Does the Slashdot community think an electric motor replacing the alternator on an internal combustion engine will add 5, 10, or even 15 mpg? How well do you think the super capacitor battery pack will hold up at -20 degrees Fahrenheit? Are there any other products out there that do the same thing? I know this is not as efficient as a hybrid car made at a factory, but it can reduce the fuel consumption and emissions for cars that are 5 or even 10 years old and still on the road. Does have the potential to be an environmental friend or disaster (how long does the battery pack last)?"
Heck, some of us don't even have alternators.
I guess I could replace the generator and regulator, maybe upgrade from 6v to 12v (or more?) at the same time...
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
Not really...FAS uses an electric between the engine and transmission. The Electrocharger was going to simply replace the alternator with a more sophisticated motor--much simpler and more accessible in terms of converting older vehicles.
Yes, it makes sense. With a mechanically commutated motor (i.e. a DC motor that uses physical brushes and commutators.), you can just provide a DC voltage and it will happily run the motor. However, you can also have electrically commutated motors (Brushless DC, SRM, etc.) that run off a DC voltage but use a set of switches (MOSFETs) that need a motor controller to turn on and off the voltages seen by the coils of the motor. Thus, even though the battery is providing a constant DC voltage (as opposed to the 60Hz AC voltage your electrical outlet provides), the motor is reciving varying voltages from the motor controller.
You can even do cooler stuff like using pulse-width modulation (turning on and off switches really fast) to make a DC source look like an AC source, with the benefit that you can control the frequency (which you can't do with your wall outlet). This would be useful for controlling the speed of an AC induction motor, although it can also be used (and has been used) to control brushless DC (BLDC) and switched reluctance motors (SRM).