VEC600 48V Controller and 5kW motor with PI-800 Software

[Tas]

Hi,

I recently purchased some equipment to begin experimenting with EV drive systems.

I bought a Vector 600 48V controller, HPM5kW 48V Liquid cooled motor, FSC-010 Foot Throttle, and Cycle Analyst V3.0 with 0.25 mOhm (50mV @ 200A) shunt.

I have connected it all together using two marine 50Ah 12V batteries in series for power.  There is no load on the motor shaft at all.

I found a good manual on line for the Cycle Analyst unit so I think I have set that up properly.  Although my motor is spinning when the throttle is pressed I am less than certain I have programmed the Vector controller properly.  It seems the maximum rpm I can achieve is about 2000 instead of the expected no load 6000 rpm.  Also, the foot throttle appears to be working like an on/off switch rather than a speed controller.  This is likely just caused by me setting the controller parameters incorrectly.

I believe the Vector 600 came with factory defaults for a 10kW motor and a 48V Lithium battery pack.  I have modified these as best I can for the 5kW motor and 24V Lead Acid batteries.  I would appreciate it if someone who actually knows what they are doing could look them over.

Here are my Vector 600 settings for 5kW motor and 24V Lead acid batteries:
Motor Parameters
Hall Electrical Angle 120
Phase Angle Offset -120
Number of Pole Pairs 4
Rated Motor Speed (rpm) 3500

Voltage Parameters
Nominal Battery Voltage (V) 24
High Voltage Protection Value (V) 35
High Voltage Protection Exit Value (V) 30
Minimum Work Voltage (V) 18

Low Voltage Protection Value (V) 21
Low Voltage Protection Exit Value (V) 22

Low Voltage Protection Enable  1:Enable
Low Voltage Triggering Current Reducing (V) 22

Clear Undervoltage State while throttle off 0: Disable

Current Parameters
Starting phase current (A) 25
Maximum phase current (A) 300
Maximum phase current duration (s) 10

Rated Phase Current (A) 100

Battery drawn current limit (A) 250

Temperature Settings
Motor overtemperature protection enable 1: Enable
Motor Current limit temperature (Level 1) (Degrees Celsius) 120
Motor Current limit temperature (Level 2) (Degrees Celsius) 130
Maximum Motor protection temperature (Degrees Celsius) 150
Motor protection temperature Exit Value (Degrees Celsius) 20

Motor blockage settings
Motor blockage protection enable  1: Enable
Stall Protection Time (s) 2.0

Throttle Parameter Settings
Throttle voltage range protection enable 1:Enable
Throttle mode selection 0:Hyperbola
Throttle maximum allowed voltage (V) 4.2
Throttle upper voltage fault exit value (V) 3.5
Throttle lowest allowed voltage (V) 0.8
Throttle lower voltage fault exit value (V) 0.9
Throttle maximum valid voltage (V) 4.2
Throttle maximum valid voltage (V) 0.8

Acceleration and Deceleration parameters:
Acceleration (rpm/s) 200
Deceleration (rpm/s) 600

Warranty Date
Warranty Date (year of manufacture) 2016
Software Version 201

CONTROLLER FUNCTION SETTINGS
Regenerative Braking
DISABLED (not using this for now).

Cruise Control Settings
DISABLED (not using this for now).

Fwd-Speed-Loop setting
Forward Speed ratio (%) 85
Bwd-Speed-Loop setting
Backward Speed ratio (%) 100
Reverse torque ratio (%) 100

3-Gears Func setting
DISABLED (not using this for now).

Boost Func setting
DISABLED (not using this for now).

Speed Throttle Type 0: Hall Effect



I am lacking information on the 5kW motor as well so I would love to have more specs.  Here is what I know of the motor so far through on line searches:

Motor Type: Brushless DC
Voltage:48V
Rated Power:3KW-7.5KW
Speed: 2000-6000rpm (customizable)
Efficiency: 91% @ 3500 rpm
Number of poles:4?
Phase Resistance (Milliohm): 6.2/48V; 12.0/72V; 36.0/120V
Phase Induction(100KHZ): 68uH/48V; 154uH/72V; 504uH/120v
Maximum current: 100A?
Maximum Phase current: 300A for 30 seconds?
Maximum safe operating temperature: ?
Weight:11Kg(air),11.35kg(water)
Casing: Aluminium
Length (height): 126mm
Diameter: 206mm
Shaft Diameter: 22.3mm
Keyway size: 5mm(W) x 43mm(L) x 2.5mm(D)

I would greatly appreciate any advice/corrections.

Many thanks,

Tony.

[Bikemad]

Hi Tony andto the forum.

It seems the maximum rpm I can achieve is about 2000 instead of the expected no load 6000 rpm.  Also, the foot throttle appears to be working like an on/off switch rather than a speed controller.  This is likely just caused by me setting the controller parameters incorrectly.

The stated motor speed (2000-6000rpm) is ultimately governed by the battery voltage, and (according to the product description) that motor appears to accept any of the following voltages: 24V, 36V, 48V or 72V. Therefore is would be reasonable to assume that the maximum available speeds would be ~2000rpm @ 24V, ~3000rpm @ 36V, ~4000rpm @ 48V and ~6000rpm @ 72V.

This would explain why you can only achieve about 2000rpm.

The VEC600 controller uses "Direct torque control" to vary the power, rather than the traditional speed control, therefore the controller is unable to vary the load on the motor when there is "no load on the shaft at all".

When a drivetrain is connected, torque will be placed upon the motor shaft, and the controller should then be able to vary the power in relation to the throttle. 

The Performance curve and Performance Data only show the results for the HPM5000B motor being tested on a dynomometer @ 48V.

A typical 48V battery pack would have a slightly higher voltage and should produce an unload speed of at least 4000rpm instead of the ~3750rpm indicated on the performance curve, which was probably obtained by using a fixed ~48V power supply instead of a battery.

Regarding your settings, I would reduce the High Voltage Protection Value (V) to 30V (and the High Voltage Protection Exit Value (V) to 29V) in case you decide to enable regenerative braking, as this should hopefully ensure that the lead acid batteries would not be overcharged.

I would also increase the Rated Phase Current (A) to at least 150A and reduce the Battery drawn current limit (A) to 200A. You can then enable the Boost Setting for additional current/power if necessary.

Alan
 

[Tas]

Hi Alan,

Thanks for your excellent response.

I have changed the currents as you suggested.

I tried to change the voltage protection and exit values but the program does not like those values.

When I attempt to send this to the motor I get an error message stating:
Input data is not legitimate
Reverse charging voltage (V): 28.0 ?? x ?? 28.0
High voltage protection value (V): 31.0 ?? x ?? 35.0

(Note the question marks replace weird characters which are likely due to a unicode character issue in the PI-800 program.)

It seems the lowest I can go for High voltage protection value is 32.  Using that value the High voltage protection exit value is accepted at 29.  This is not a problem for now as I will not be using regen until much later.  Having said that this could be something I would easily forget to change in the future.

32 V is higher than I would like for my lead acid batteries.  For now I will avoid regen altogether.

Eventually I will change to the Golden Motor 48V 30Ah battery packs.  I am just using these lead acid batteries to get a feel for things.

Many thanks,

Tony.