Electric supercharger promises instant power boost

Importantly, its switched reluctance motor provides the power density to re-start an engine within 400 milliseconds, the start time necessary for a driver to perceive a dependable ‘instant’ re-start. It also provides very efficient power generation, achieving up to 3kW with up to 80 per cent efficiency.

“There is also a tremendous incentive to minimise or recover the energy rejected by the engine as heat,” says Pascoe. “One of the main sources of waste heat is exhaust gas with approximately 30 per cent of the hydro-carbon fuel energy used by a vehicle lost down the exhaust pipe. Although some of the exhaust can be used to power a turbocharger at certain points in the operating cycle, and heat is required to operate a catalyst, there is still plenty of energy worth recovering.

“Our TIGERS product is again based on a very efficient switched reluctance motor operating as a generator and sized to produce up to 6kW of power. This level of power generation can be used either to meet the growing power requirement of future cars or to boost the crankshaft power available.”

The innovative and highly efficient application of ‘switched reluctance’ machines in all three CPT micro-hybrid technologies has, until now, represented an untapped opportunity for the automotive sector. OEMs stand to benefit greatly from the inherent robustness and reliability of such machines, already demonstrated in other industries.

“Switched reluctance motors are well suited to the requirements of the automotive industry,” says Pascoe. “They can be produced for high volume series production at low cost; they are manufactured mostly from easy-to-recycle steel, copper and aluminium and avoid the use of exotic, expensive and heat sensitive materials. These compact motors are easy to package and offer excellent energy efficiency and controllability.”

Controlled Power Technologies has secured an exclusive license from Switched Reluctance Drives Limited to develop its unique electric motor technology for the automotive sector. SR Drives is a UK company based in Harrogate and wholly owned subsidiary of Emerson Electric Company. A major multinational corporation headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, Emerson is a Fortune 500 company providing engineering services and innovative solutions for customers in a wide range of industrial, commercial and consumer markets and is one of the largest engineering and conglomerate companies in the world.

Controlled Power Technologies itself was created a year ago as a management buy-in funded by venture capital and recently completed the acquisition of its portfolio of near term product solutions to the problem of automotive CO2 reduction. The company comes with the backing of a highly experienced team of automotive engineers and is funded by a number of prominent investors specialising in the energy and environmental sectors.