The Electromechanical Automaton Division of Parker Hannifin, the global leader in motion control technologies, has announced that its high performance MPP series traction motor is powering an all electric motorcycle built by Brammo Inc, a 100% clean-technology company. Designed and built for ultimate speed, the revolutionary bike was recently unveiled at the Red Bull US Grand Prix at the Mazda Raceway in Laguna Seca, California, where a major race took place as part of the FIM e-power race series.
Brammo is one of the world's leading electric vehicle technology companies, responsible for the design and development of the first production electric motorcycle – the award winning Enertia. Headquartered in North America, the company has a significant global presence in the environmentally friendly vehicle sector and is an OEM supplier of its innovative Brammo Digital Drivetrain systems, including the Brammo Power battery pack and Brammo PowerTM vehicle management system.
"The Brammo engineering team has been an exceptional group to work with," says Jay Schultz, Parker product manager. "They exemplify what high performance engineering is all about, which parallels Parker's commitment to engineering our customers' success. It really shows in this bike."
Designed to provide optimum reliability for the demanding applications found in today's high performance electric and hybrid vehicles, Parker's MPP traction motors offer low weight and higher power, from a considerably smaller unit by comparison with other traction motors. The cutting edge motors include an innovative winding design and Parker's exclusive dual cooling implementation, which features patent pending internal cooling technology. In particular, this design yields up to 40% higher torque per unit size than conventionally constructed permanent magnet motors and delivers 20 – 350kW of power with 97% efficiency.
The bike is set to become a serious new contender for the winning trophy on the racing circuit when its makes it debut in September. Brammo plans to market a street version of the race bike for the commercial market next year, while Brammo and Parker are working on an even smaller MPP motor for the production version of the motorcycle.
"Working with Parker has been an outstanding and positive experience," says Roger Gerson, Brammo's electrical engineering manager. Gerson and his team designed the gear reduction enclosure that houses the MPP motor, working closely with Parker in a very compressed timeframe. "We've leveraged Parker's leading edge R&D work and stretched it to the max."
Parker Hannifin
Tel: 00800 27 27 5374