Saturday, May 2. 2009
Napier
At easter I visited Robert Turner & his MR2 project. He's using a Semikron SKIM module and a DSP board from his employer to drive a permanent magnet servo motor. When he's done making suitable software for a car he'll start putting it all into the MR2. At easter he had the software to the point where he could control motor speed with only a few keystrokes on his pc.
I also got to ride his colleague Graham's electric bike. He bought a Chinese hubmotor & made his own controller. Rumor has it all the software is written in assembly. With 6 tired batteries thrown out of a UPS he can travel 12km. After 4 months of riding to work, he has just had to replace 3 of the batteries (with more from the UPS). He's currently building a full size electric motorbike.
