The DHX motors are 75% smaller than conventional motors according to the company, but still produce the same amount of power as the traditional setups. The agreement grants DeltaWing worldwide rights to make, use and sell the motors in automotive applications.
DeltaWing chairman Don Panoz said, “This is a marriage of two extremely innovative approaches one bringing to market the state-of-the-art and efficient DeltaWing vehicle architecture and other vehicle platforms; and the other an electric motor tech leader able to make amazing power and torque in a truly tiny package.
“We’re both entrepreneurial dreamers and together we’ll change cars as we know them today. That’s why we’re coining our approach disruptive cumulative technologies.”
Rather than developing a new motor and placing it in conventional vehicle platforms, DeltaWing and DHX are combining their respective technologies to further improve energy efficiency and range.
DHX has developed new cooling technology to boost performance of its motors. It says that the majority of the thermal losses in high-torque electric motors are generated in the windings, and heat typically dissipates through the stator to the frame via air or liquid cooling.
The company’s patented advanced cooling uses a direct-winding heat exchanger (DWHX) to remove the heat at the source. Each DWHX features tiny channels to dissipate heat, significantly reducing thermal resistance and increasing efficiency.
“Our DHX Falcon electric motor features standard materials, not exotic steels and magnets,” said J Rhett Mayor, president and co-founder of DHX Electric Machines.
“It achieves power densities of 25kW per liter and extraordinary torque of 70Nm per liter. In simple terms, it delivers the power and torque of a standard sedan’s powertrain in the space of a one-gallon can of paint.”
“I was amazed when Rhett first showed me this new motor,” said Panoz. “It’s simply a transportation game-changer. We’ll use it in our DeltaWing road car architecture, which, studies show, is already in the range of the 2025 CAFE requirements.”
DeltaWing says it has plans to apply the DHX motors in two-, three- and four-wheel vehicles designed for congested urban. The company already announced plans in 2015 to build a new road car.
January 27, 2016