The Real Reason Tesla Developed The Plaid Motor!

The Real Reason Tesla Developed The Plaid Motor!

0:00 Start
1:11 Nikola Tesla's Design
4:14 Inside the electric motor
6:44 Babel
8:06 Inside Tesla's plaid electric motor
11:32 The Munro teardown

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[kqschwarz]

When turning, the inner wheel needs to spin slower not faster. An easy slip.

[MrZauberwuerfel]

Electric motor designer here.
Great video. Even though simplified a lot at some points, I think you got your points across well.
However you got some things wrong about the carbon fiber sleeve. Carbon fiber is terrible at conducting magnetic fields. Therefore, if you have a 3mm thick sleeve, from a magnetic point of view, its like the airgap is increased by 3mm. So the effective airgap is actually much higher with a carbon fiber sleeve. What carbon fiber is good at is preventing the rotor from destroying itself due to centripetal forces, allowing higher rpm. With higher rpm a very low aigap is actually not desirable due to increased rotor losses, but this is a complex issue.
I'd love to chat about this with you, if you are interested let me know.

[soundslight]

To turn or go around a circle, the OUTER wheels have to spin faster not the inner, as stated here!

[typhoon-]

Railway engineer here... What I've learned is that other than some minor design tweaks in the rotor which are specific to their design philosophy, that the power control and design of any Tesla or any other EV powertrain is basically the same as we have been using on AC traction on the railway since the early to mid 90s.

[brunonikodemski]

Fiber-wrapped rotors were researched extensively during the 1960s & 70s, where rotary-energy-storage was being developed. Such rotors were used in urban buses & vehicles, as inertial storage. Physical design actually shows that a rectangular-shaped rotor dies not have an ideal amount of energy storage. High-energy rotors use a "semi-cycloidal" shaping, as dependent on the strength of the fibrous windings. We looked at some of this while we were developing the Lunar-Rover motors. Fiberglass & Kevlar & Aramid fibers were used before carbon-fiber was available. The fibers actually do reduce the efficiency of the motor, since it is an airgap. However when the rotor expands, due to heating, the carbon can be shredded-off, and actualy "scrubs-to-fit" the stator. As such the motor can be self-adjusting to its specific thermal regimen. This technique is now used in aircraft turbines, as in C17, where the fan actually is made to grind-to-fit the containment stator. However, if the Tesla motor "overheats" beyond its design range, and if the carbon is shredded, and IF oxygen is available, that motor will actually combust and burn internally. Some other vendors actually suck-out the air inside the motor, to a semi-vacuum level. This improves the aerodynamic efficiency of the rotor. If rotor goes near-sonic velocity, in the gap, this creates major aerodynamic losses (shock waves), which will either heat the motor, or cause high-energy vibrations, which can also destroy the bearings. We ran into this in uranium-seperation equipment, at 60-to-90-thousand rpm. None of this technology is new.

[samheasmanwhite]

The star shaped design where the inner part of the rotor comes up to the surface in addition to the poles is so that it can partially act as a reluctance motor, this is presumably what that boost in power they mention is. Also, although the carbon does stop the rotor expanding, it is a bit more than that since it's literally the only thing holding the the rotor together, adhesives would not be strong enough and metals would introduce serious losses. I think they had a previous iteration where the pole laminations were actually part of the core laminations and that just could not have been nearly as good as this, although it did reduce the gap in the magnetic paths so it might have had higher torque.

[carldietz]

The outboard wheel always turns faster, it is traveling a longer distance in the same amount of time than the inner tire.

[Timbo_tango]

15:11 It's comforting to see that the stator windings are held together with good old string

[kcr]

Induction motors don't have permanent magnets in their rotors. A magnetic field happens in the rotor due to induced (hence "induction") currents in conductors in the rotor.
Tesla uses brushless DC motors which have permanent magnets in the rotor and use electronic switching to control the polarity/strength of the fields in the wound stator.
The commutator shown at 6:13 is a mechanical switch used to alter the field direction in a wound rotor. this would typically be used in smaller motors which have a pair of permanent magnets as a stator and are often seen in toys, also car starter motors. The commutated rotor can also be used with a wound stator, in the case of the universal motor, used in AC powered tools, like drills and skill saws.
Induction motors tend to be large and heavy (there are low powered exceptions, like fans and old record players), but very quiet and very long lasting. Universal motors produce a lot of power and are comparatively small, but make a lot of noise and require maintenance when the brushes wear out.

[myxalplyx]

Wow....GREAT VIDEO! I never thought I'd understand this but the way you put it in all your simplicity, I'm a friggin' genius now. Haha!
Thank you for explaining this the way you did. This video was very well put together.

[Generic_]

from someone who works in electrical trade sales: your history/physics lesson was fantastic, you gave an Intro to electric motors class in 5:30.

[Barubindc]

This is the Tesla version of everyday astronaut

[djbis]

Thank you, this was so well explained, with just enough detail and language so that anybody can understand in a nice bite-sized portion. Love what Tesla is doing to evolve the electric vehicle and transportation as a whole.

[NCLUSA]

I worked 38 years as a construction electrician, I worked 3 years as an Electric Motor winder, (I rebuilt electric motors) but there are still a lot of things I don't know of understand about Electric motors. I believe EVs are our future, I can say this even though I think we are not ready to shut down gas engines. The electric car has a lot going for it, if we get the batteries/charging worked out. Great video.

[flashmedia]

Mechanical engineer here. The main reason for the carbon sleeve under tension on the rotor so that it prevents any further elasticity of expansion due to centrifugal force and thermal expansion which can cause the outer diameter of the rotor to rub against the stator. Very sophisticated thinking by Tesla's engineers. This must be done using FEA analysis.

[jameshoffman]

Plaid is a big win in power density mainly due to the higher RPMs it allows. This has 3 advantages in applications like the CyberTruck and Semi (both of which I'm expecting will use Plaid motors):
1. Lower weight -- the motor weight is reduced in inverse proportion to the increase in power density
2. Economy of materials -- the needed copper, aluminum, rare earths, etc scales in the same way
3. Reduced motor count -- CT and Semi will debut with 2 and 3 motors, not 4 and 4

[markcole]

Well done on the simplified break down. I have a preexisting knowledge on the subject and I felt like I gained a better understanding by watching your video. I’m in the process of creating learning materials for the company I work for and I wish I had your ability to make a subject comprehensible as demonstrated by this video.

[simplelife]

Your way of explaining the subject is so clear and easy to understand. If only my professor can explain the content like you do. Definitely subscribed.

[CmdrSkullcrush]

For anyone fascinated by this as much as me, I want to recommend the Lesics video on the Model 3 motor. It goes into incredible detail on how brilliantly Tesla arranged their magnets to maximize efficiency.

[RasmanZ]

Another fun fact, RC brushless motors have used wrapped rotors for many years. Not sure who holds the patent or came up with the idea. Pretty sure it wasn’t Tesla though…