TheWheel™ - Product introduction
TheWheel™ is a revolutionary direct drive traction system - a single TheWheel™ consists of an electric motor and a motor controller including cooling for both, in just one wheel itself.
Only one moving part!
The genius of TheWheel™ lies in the complete absence of power transfer through gearing of any kind and the use of an electromotor opposite to how it is used conventionally. Usually the centre of an electromotor spins around while the housing remains stationary. Within TheWheel™ this process is reversed. The exterior of the motor, the rotor with permanent magnets on the inside, spins around while the stator which contains the electromagnets remains stationary. The tyre is mounted directly to the exterior of the direct drive motor. The greater the diameter of the motor within the wheel, the greater the torque.
For smaller applications an external direct drive engine has been developed virtually having all the same benefits.
Power management
The management of power required for each movement happens internally in TheWheel™ unlike traditional electric motors. The energy supply is constant while the modulation is regulated internally in TheWheel™ based on the data input from the operator. For high voltage/amperage requirements operators can opt to connect the standard embedded cooling system.
Working of the differential
When mounting more than one propulsion wheel on a traditionally powered vehicle a mechanical differential is needed to adjust the force needed to equalize the radius differential for each wheel at each rotation. However, when using more than one TheWheel™, the combined use of the integrated external hardware and software resolve this problem electronically without the need for complicated and heavy mechanical solutions. By simply reducing the energy usage of TheWheel™ on the inside of the rotation and/or adding energy to TheWheel™ on the outside of the rotation the wheels obtain optimal traction at all times. A further benefit is that this same electronic management system also includes both traction control and anti-lock braking.
Braking
Braking is done electrically or more precisely magnetically by simply powering the engine(s) in the opposite direction. The energy of the forward motion captured from the braking action is converted back into electrical power. This process is called regenerative braking. When going downhill the engines also function as generators. The regeneration of power adds substantially to the endurance of the batteries which lessens the need for auxiliary power supplementation.
Power supply
Batteries are used as the main source of electric energy supply for vehicles equipped with TheWheel™. On average TheWheel™ uses only half the electric energy as that of a typical geared traction motor (see: Mechanical Efficiency and/or Friction Reduction). This means that only half the amount of battery capacity and generative power is required. Obviously, the needed battery capacity varies for each application. For optimal energy efficiency the weight of a vehicle is kept to a minimum. High capacity batteries can weigh a considerable amount therefore a balance needs to be achieved between the typical usage cycle of the vehicle, the combined endurance of the batteries, the availability of scheduled external battery charging using external power and the capacity of an onboard generator. The onboard generator including a fuel cell could use a wide variety of fuels. The key to energy efficiency is primarily on how it is used instead of how it is generated. When environmentally friendly generated power, for instance with a fuel cell, is wasted on inefficient applications such as geared electric motors, the financial and environmental benefits have not been used to the full.
Maintenance
The maintenance of TheWheel™ is only a fraction of that of conventional fossil fuel engines. In the unlikely event that this should ever be needed, engine change only requires removal of twelve bolts and a plug consisting of just three wires, a positive & negative power supply and a data cable. The simplicity of application and functionality gives unlimited variation on the use of TheWheel™.
An important feature of TheWheel™ and also its smaller derivative the e-Traction® SM350 not only provides an extremely efficient means of traction, it also can be just as easily used as an efficient generator.
TheWheel™ has been patented internationally (Patent Nr. WO 01/54939).
Performance Comparison of the Product Range
The dual electric direct drive e-Traction® System is available in both a wheel hub as well as a non-wheel hub stand-alone format. Although the product range has been developed to cater for a wide variety of applications, each system makes use of the same electronic management design and cooling principles.
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| Hub version | non-hub version |
In progress
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| NEMS e-Busz | 50% |
Retrofit of a city bus with The Wheel technology for NEMS. Continue...
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| HyMove city bus | 60% |
Construction of a fuel-cell powered city bus. Continue...
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| 5 Whisper buses: | 65% |
5 Hybrid citybuses for Apeldoorn community. Continue...
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| Hybrid Mercedes G | 70% |
Conversion of a passenger car into an electrically powered vehicle. Continue...
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| Leightweight bus | 10% |
Conversion of a leightweight bus based on X97 into new e-Traction bus. Continue...
Contact information
e-Traction Europe BVVissenstraat 36
7324AL Apeldoorn
T: +31 55 521 1111
F: +31 55 522 2366
@: info@e-Traction.eu