Sealed BLDC Motor Rotor Airflow for Internal Cooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electric lawn mowers face challenges in providing a robust and efficient mechanism to control and mount motors, ensuring compactness, and maximizing runtime and cutting area, while effectively managing power distribution and regenerative energy in battery-operated systems.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a frame with a motor control panel featuring thermally-conductive mounting frames, inverter circuits, and regenerative energy control modules, along with brushless direct-current (BLDC) motors and a battery system that optimizes power distribution and regenerative energy management, ensuring efficient operation and compact design.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If a motor control panel with inverter circuits and regenerative energy control modules is integrated into the lawn apparatus, then power distribution efficiency and runtime are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates the motor control panel, inverter circuits, and regenerative energy control modules into a unified control system housed within the lawn apparatus frame. This merging of previously separate components (motor control, power inversion, and energy recovery) into a single integrated panel reduces overall system complexity while maintaining power distribution efficiency and extending runtime through coordinated operation of all control functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The motor control panel serves multiple functions simultaneously: it controls motor operation, manages power distribution from the battery, and handles regenerative energy recovery. This multi-functionality consolidates what would otherwise require separate systems, improving power utilization without proportionally increasing complexity.
2Reliability
If thermally-conductive mounting frames are used to mount control modules, then heat dissipation and reliability are improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The mounting frames are specifically designed with thermally-conductive materials and geometric features (such as fins or extended surfaces) that change the thermal parameters of the control module environment. This passive thermal management approach improves heat dissipation and reliability without requiring active cooling systems, maintaining ease of manufacture through material selection and simple structural modifications.
3Volume of moving object
If the motor control panel is positioned below the footrest platform, then compactness is improved, but accessibility for maintenance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The control system is segmented into modular control modules that can be independently accessed. The motor control panel is positioned compactly below the footrest platform to save space, but the modular design allows individual modules to be removed or serviced without disassembling the entire system, maintaining ease of repair despite the compact location.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution enhances the operational efficiency, runtime, and power output of electric lawn mowers by effectively controlling motor power, managing regenerative energy, and maintaining a compact form factor, addressing the challenges of motor control and power distribution in battery-operated systems.
Implementation Method 1
thermally-conductive mounting frames
Implementation Method 2
brushless direct-current (BLDC) motors
Implementation Method 3
regenerative energy control modules
Data Source
AI summary
An electric power apparatus includes a main planar body having a circular opening that supports a brushless direct-current (BLDC) motor. The motor includes a stator, a rotor, a motor spindle extending through the circular opening, a first end cap formed on a first side of the stator and mounted on the main planar body; and a second end cap formed on a second side of the stator and secured to the first end cap to form a substantially airtight sealed compartment around the stator and the rotor. The rotor includes a series of openings in a radial wall that generates an airflow circulating through the sealed compartment to transfer heat from the stator to the first end cap and the second end cap.