RE: (ET) AC motor theory, dynamic braking, and regeneration

[Larry Elie <lelie ford com>]

Steven Naugler replied to Dan in accurate detail about using AC with an 
inverter for a battery vehicle.  Yes, it 
can be done, but I suspect there is one more thing to worry about; 
power-factor.  An AC motor is not a 
pure resistive load.  It costs you extra power because of a phase angle.  
There are 3 ways to deal with the 
problem:  1.) Ignore it, and have 5 to 15% of your batteries energy go out 
without doing any work (actually, 
with most inverters, you already loose that much so you might not care).  
2.)  Add a capacitor to delay 
things so the power factor is right under SOME load.  The down side is 
that you will be varying the load 
and the power factor some.  This difference may be small.  3.)  Active 
power factor (Nola or equiv.) correction.  
These are all doable.  BTW, for CONTROL reasons, the Ranger EV uses a AC 
traction motor/generator, and 
yes, you can do regenerative breaking.  The circuit is complex and 
patented.  The GE is fun, but you can do 
things a lot better today than when it was designed.

Larry Elie