Thank you for taking the time to speak to one of our surveyors regarding our client, Rockwell Automation. Rockwell is the largest supplier of industrial motor drives in North America and an industry leader in the design, manufacture and application of liquid cooled drives for a wide range of challenging applications. You know them in the marketplace by their brand name-- Allen-Bradley and Reliance Electric-- both Rockwell Automation brands.

Since early 2000, Rockwell has been actively engaged in the development and demonstration of advanced drive, motor and control technologies for use on heavy electric and hybrid-electric vehicles.

Today we would like to preview Rockwell’s direct die bonded inverter power structures designed for heavy wheeled and tracked vehicles. We’re particularly interested in your reactions to these designs and discussing the possibility of modifying any of these emerging products for inclusion in your latest vehicle designs.

Rockwell Automation Advanced Technologies
for Electric and Hybrid Electric Traction Systems

The Rockwell Vehicle Power team has developed:

• Direct die bonded inverter power structures which double the power density of today's packaged IGBT devices,
• Optimized AlSiC cold plates to enable simple and reliable direct die bonding even under highly cyclical vehicle traction loads,
• Lightweight castings to minimize drive weight,
• Direct liquid cooling techniques using refrigerant, water-glycol and light oil alternative coolants,
• High voltage, high current automotive-style connectors and
• Packaging to allow completely exposed under-vehicle mounting of power electronic packages.

Motor developments have included:

• High-speed induction and PM rotors, with ratings to 700HP at 20,000RPM,
• Hybrid PM motors whose interior magnet design can produce maximum power density under wide constant power speed ranges
• Low loss electrical steels,
• Water-glycol and oil cooling schemes, and
• Environmentally hardened frame and bearing structures.

Rockwell's involvement in the field of heavy hybrid traction includes developments performed under contract for the U. S. Department of Energy/USCAR and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory 21st Century Truck program.

Rockwell has delivered drives, motors and control systems for joint engineering and demonstration programs with leading manufacturers of school buses, wheeled military vehicles, underground track-driven mining machinery and class 8 commercial on-highway vehicles. Ongoing development will bring Rockwell-developed crank-driven motor-generator-control systems to diesel-electric hybrid heavy agricultural and construction machinery.