Zytek selects Baker AWA 4 tester from Whitelegg Machines

Zytek saw the need for electric vehicles in 1994 when Co-founder Bill Gibson, a long-time exponent of lightweight, high-performance electric vehicles, began the development of what was to become the highest power/density ratio, electric vehicle drivetrain to date. Gibson had realised that two of the major challenges in this field, precision engineering and control systems, were areas where Zytek had exceptional expertise, gained from work with Chrysler on hybrid street vehicles and from Zytek's own F1 racing engine management experience.

Initial development and test work centred on a Lotus Elise followed by the ultra-compact smart car chassis, the EV10-15. The successful completion of this project led to Mercedes-Benz, the brand owner, commissioning Zytek to covert 100 smart fortwo cars to electric propulsion at its production facilities in Fradley, Staffordshire. The vehicles are being delivered in a market trial to selected British customers as lease vehicles.

The drivetrain installed in the smart electric vehicle utilises state-of-the art brushless DC motor technology, designed and manufactured by Zytek. This innovative drivetrain integrates the electric motor, power and control electronics into one compact assembly with only three connections: water, high voltage (300V) and low voltage (12V).

With each motor being assembled by Zytek prior to fitting, there was a requirement for a test instrument to run a number of tests on the wound stator, prior to shrinking it into its aluminium case and fitting a brushless rotor, and then again after the motor was potted and assembled prior to fitting into the vehicle. A subsequent hi-volt test on the whole electronics loom completed the sequence.

Using the accumulated data from the tests, feedback was initiated between Zytek and the UK motor windings' manufacturer, resulting in a virtually nil rejection rate as the build continued.

The use of Whitelegg Machines' Baker AWA 4 tester for this purpose came about through a visit by Zytek engineering staff to the Berlin Coil Winding Show. The AWA was chosen as it had the versatility to test short production runs, was easily portable and had the flexibility and capacity to run resistance, Hi Pot, Meg Ohm, peak-to-peak tests and more. The software was seen as straightforward, with reports written in MS Access and easily downloadable on a Windows platform.

Commenting on the utility of the AWA, Neil Heslington, the Managing Director, was keen to point out how versatile it was: "Other testers were designed for long production runs. The AWA is a flexible instrument equally at home in the factory's various test situations as well as on our much shorter batch runs. The software is particularly straightforward and good for PC interpretation."