Charged EVs | Transense to supply Surface Acoustic Wave sensing tech for Cummins heavy-duty EV motor

Transense Technologies has landed a role in a Cummins-led project to develop a sensor-enabled smart electric motor for heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles. The 12-month project, called DriveSense, is backed by the Advanced Propulsion Center’s R&D program and part-funded by the UK government through the DRIVE35 Innovation Fund.

DriveSense is aimed at next-generation smart electric drive systems for heavy-duty vehicles, with the partners planning to develop and demonstrate a motor that can measure conditions inside the machine while it operates.

Transense is contributing its SAWsense technology, which uses Surface Acoustic Wave sensors to capture real-time torque and temperature data from inside electric motors. That kind of embedded sensing can give motor and drivetrain developers a better view of how a system is performing under load, and where efficiency losses, thermal stress or durability issues may be showing up. For engineers working on heavy-duty electrification, those data streams matter because motor and inverter performance can be limited by heat and by incomplete visibility into what is happening inside the drive unit.

Cummins is bringing its electric drive system expertise to the program, and the companies said the combination of real-time sensing with new motor and inverter technologies is expected to support more efficient and reliable electric drive solutions. The release also says the project is intended to help develop power electronics and drive systems that can be manufactured at scale in the UK.
Ryan Maughan, Managing Director of Transense Technologies, said embedding real-time sensing into next-generation electric drives gives manufacturers “critical data to enhance performance and reliability.”

Ankit Patel, Director of Research and Technology at Cummins, said the project will embed advanced sensing within electrified drivetrains to improve “efficiency, durability and performance,” and that the APC- and Innovate UK-supported collaboration is meant to accelerate commercialization of intelligent propulsion systems.

Source: Transense Technologies