I picked up an ebikes.ca field oriented controller (
FOC) a few days ago. These are highly specialized, programmable controllers that offer complete control of motors both sensored or sensorless. The first and maybe only batch of these have sold out, unfortunately. These are no longer available from the OEM as an easily customized part. They are now encased in a resin case.
http://www.ebikes.ca/shop/ebike-parts/controllers/c-bac500.html
I hope to be able to put this to good use with the E+ motors that I have. The E+ motors are 3 phase motors that have integrated custom/proprietary controllers that require proprietary batteries. However, they should be able to be used as generic 3 phase ebike motors if the integrated controllers can be bypassed. This controller may even be used with the 7 phase Tidalforce motors but I'm not going to touch a beautiful motor/controller combination that is the Tidalforce system!
The ebikes.ca BAC500 is a field-oriented controller that uses sine-waves to feed power to the motor and so is much quieter than typical square-wave controllers. The buzz that you hear from your typical eBikes is usually the square-wave noise and the resultant noise generated by the motor windings. A FOC by definition automates the phase advance process so that the motor is driven at optimal timing even at very high RPMs.
The Tidalforce and E+ systems utilize sine-wave controllers so are extraordinarily quiet. In use, they are essentially completely silent.
The ebikes.ca BAC500 is a tiny package with a custom CNC torpedo shaped case. It's slightly thicker than a Cycle Analyst.
