Category Archives: Motor Controllers

Being Part of the Winning Team @Shell Eco-Marathon Asia 2015

ITE EcoTraveller @ ShellEcoRace2015

This year, iNOVA Microsystems became the technology partner and sponsor for ITE College West to provide high-efficiency electric motor driver for their EcoTraveller car.

EcoTraveller Back View

Shell EcoMarathon

EcoTraveller Side View

ITE EcoTraveller (Shell Eco-Marathon)

Team EcoTraveller from ITE College West placed third in the battery electric prototype category, clocking 324 km – almost equivalent to driving from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur along the North-South Highway – using one kilowatt of electrical energy. (Strait Times News)

The Shell Eco-Marathon is an annual competition sponsored by Shell, in which participants build special vehicles to achieve the highest possible fuel efficiency. The Eco-Marathon is held around the world with events in Europe, the Americas and Asia. Entrants come from several backgrounds including enthusiastic amateurs, university teams and staff of major motor manufacturers.

The Teams Participating Shell Eco Marathon 2015

Shell EcoMarathon 2015

The motor driver is a special derivative from our iMOTO Smart Motor Driver. The motor driver had been used in high efficient pump driving in marine industries. To meet the special efficiency requirements for Shell Eco-Marathon, we used special low resistance MOSFET and tailored the firmware with special driving scheme to achieve maximum efficiency. The driver is also built to be compatible with the Mitsuba Brushless Motor used by the EcoTaveller as the main power plant.

The motor driver has a serial interface that takes in command from the main vehicle controller to accelerate and de-accelerate the car from the driver’s throttle movement.

The Customized Motor Driver

ITE EcoTraveller Motor Driver @ Shell EcoMarathon

Testing the driver in our lab

In Vehicle Motor testing with brakes Applied

The EcoTraveller team from ITE College West

EcoTraveller Team

The crew was busy setting up the car before the race

EcoTraveller

 

EcoTraveller

EcoTraveller

EcoTraveller

The technical panel was examining the car for compliance.

EcoTraveller

 

Ecotraveller @ Shell Eco Marathon

EcoTraveller was practicing on the track

EcoTraveller @ Shell Eco Marathon

The heat is ON! (Courtesy of Shell.com)