Trezium is not a new element; it’s a registered trademark for a system to drive higher efficiency electric motor energy output. It could be an important motor market choice through the management, implementation and use of the electron flow. The mover for the technology is Thor Power. The idea is to increase motor efficiency at the shaft output by controlling the electrical current going in. Basically the system starts by correcting the power factor, converting from single-phase 120v or 240v (in a range from 100v to 264v) up to three phase and administering flow to meet demand for the desired speed. It’s a technology that’s available now.

AC electric motors are notoriously efficient now compared to internal combustion engines. Many can get to 90%, but that’s a simplistic view. What matters is the mechanical watt output from the shaft that’s applied to the load to the watt level coming in off the line. From an efficiency standpoint, one hopes to have an electric motor sized just at or above the load. That works in perfect circumstances, which don’t usually exist, so motors are always oversized to some extent. Thor Power believes they can solve that. As electricity gets more expensive, they will be correct where prices climb most.

Thor Power Grismir Motor Dimensions.

The Thor Power motor on display is diminutive, 7 or so inches (about 180mm) long by 2.4 inch (62mm) across outputting 2.68 hp (2.0kw) at 30,000 rpm with a variable range from 3000 to 30,000. Combining
the controller and the motor sets up Thor to claim the patent pending ‘TREZIUM’ electric motor system will cause a shift in product design. It cuts electricity loss by up to one-half, is half the weight and delivers twice the power of current systems up to 5kw/6.7 hp.

Thor Power Grismir Case and Rotor 2kw Size.

Maxed out at 6.7 hp covers a lot of territory. Thor is pointing out that at 6.7 hp they can cover 80% of the AC motor applications. The main difference is substituting the electromagnets and carbon brushes seen in more conventional designs with using powerful permanent magnets. The windings are simplified as well using multi strand coil windings. The Thor Trezium system also takes three-phase design to markets without three-phase access.

Thor uses iron-neodymium-boron magnets to form the 2-pole rotor, three-phase slotless permanent magnet synchronous motor. Called the ‘Grismir,’ the motor is a synchronous, sinewave, permanent magnet
motor that is also brushless, slotless and sensorless. It provides the benefits of variable speed, forward/reverse, high power-to-weight ratio, and unparalleled efficiency. The motor is classified as a brushless AC motor and shares the positive characteristics of a brushless DC motors.

But the big gains have to be coming from the drive controller. As the electric vehicle market watchers know, the controllers of great interest. The time getting used up is from the blending of three engineering disciplines, electronics, electrical and mechanical. There doesn’t seem to be enough engineers in the combined field right now. That has opened the door to innovators like Thor to kick off a market.

Thor Power Motor Controller.

The Thor controller, with a twist of marketing ‘engineering’ naming the system Trezium shows their process to take incoming line AC, correct the power factor, convert the power to DC, boost the voltage, then convert back to AC. It allows blending the DC voltage boosting efficiency advantage with the three-phase AC motor advantage. In itself, this isn’t really hard to do. What makes Thor different is the use of insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT) instead of the more common metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFET). IGBTs are improving fast with a sixth generation expected in the market soon. Not that the MOSFET market is standing around, the competition here is getting to be quite advantageous.

Thor also adds a microchip system for power oversight with integrated drivers, short circuit protection and over temperature protection. Using an application specific integrated circuit chip, the Thor design is the basis for a sensorless field oriented control of the motor. The ICC provides open-loop startup of the motor to approximately 3,000rpm then using a controlled speed ramp up to design speed. Once past the minimum speed, the field oriented controller algorithm adjusts the drive to the motor in order to optimize the power output. Speed is then regulated with a closed loop speed control algorithm that keeps the speed nearly constant from no-load to full-load.

Another dedicated microcontroller chip supervises the system by monitoring input voltage, the DC bus voltage, fault registers in the other chips, output power levels, temperatures. The system is smart and
flexible enough to recover power when the motor slows down. Complicated for sure, but two current transitions, the switching up to three phase and the “once in, all in” opportunity that comes with using
integrated circuits really pushes the working efficiency up.

One matter left unanswered is applying the Thor technology to the most common motors – the ones running at 1850 rpm commonly seen in fans and a huge array of smaller devices. Thor offers the controller and motors separately, but where the low speed examples are isn’t addressed. One doesn’t get the feeling a reduction gear arrangement isn’t going to be cost efficient.

But is it cost efficient? Well, in uses where a motor would run at variable load 24/7 you better call Thor. Electric rates won’t need to be all that high to get a payoff. If your job is infrequent, easy start, light duty you can wait. But it’s a certainty that motor controllers are coming to your home, business and that electric vehicle. The EV will have to have one, and every electric motor can benefit from one. Thor might be right; a country could do more than half again more work for the same power generated.

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? THOR POWER ANNUAL REPORT 2007

Reprinted with permission from REDNOVA

Alternating current (AC) motors are used extensively in many products, including refrigerators, air conditioners, power tools, washers, dryers and computers. The basic design, perfected in the late 1800s, involves supplying an external stator with an electrical current to produce a rotating magnetic field. This electromagnetic field spins the rotor that rests inside the stator. Such a design is only 47 percent efficient in its use of electricity, according to Dave Bonner, CEO of the Bethlehem-based company.

Thor Power’s motors, on the other hand, use highly efficient rare-earth magnets, a relatively new technology. These magnets are powerful enough to eliminate the need for electricity to generate the magnetic field that spins the rotor. This design also permits electronic regulation of the motor, compared with the mechanical methods that are used today.

Eliminating the electromagnets lowers the weight and results in a quieter, more efficient motor — 87 percent efficient, in fact. Testing has shown that the motor also lasts significantly longer than standard designs. “The typical AC motor has a life span of about 400 hours,” says Bonner. “We stopped testing ours when it reached the 2,000-hour mark with no signs of degradation.”

So what might this mean for consumers? Bonner sums it up succinctly. “Our design generates twice the power at half the weight and double the efficiency of existing electric motors,” he says. “This cuts the consumers’ operating costs by 50 percent. This is a major technological advance, particularly in the one- to two-kilowatt power range. And it comes at an opportune time, considering this country’s current energy and environmental needs.”

Bonner gives Ben Franklin Technology Partners much of the credit for getting the company ready to commercialize the intellectual property behind the motor. “Thor Power wouldn’t exist today without Ben Franklin,” he says. “It’s that simple.”

According to Bonner, “The staff at BFTP knew that we should be in their business incubator before I did.” In addition, BFTP has invested more than $400,000 in the company over the past four years and provided valuable connections and insight into the angel and venture capital world. Thor Power recently completed an “A” round of funding, bringing in $550,000 in additional money.

Bonner says the company will focus on small motors of 5 kilowatts or less, “because that’s where the bulk of the market is.” The two biggest users of electricity are refrigerators and air conditioners. The Department of Energy reports that these two products together consume 25 percent of all electricity produced in this country.

Ultimately, Thor Power doesn’t want to be in the business of producing the motors themselves, because the manufacturing infrastructure to support the efforts would be cost-prohibitive. “At heart,” Bonner says, “we’re an intellectual property company. We want to partner with different manufacturers who are already in the business of making products that use electric motors.”

Reprinted with permission from KEYnotes, the e-newsletter of the Ben Franklin Technology Partners

Click the link below to download the file.

thor_power_anl_rpt_06.pdf