Pictures Inside AC Forklift Controller (Danaher)
Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 12:04 pm
Just for anyone's curiosity, I have no goal or need for this. I took pics and figured I'd share.
I saved the controllers for the traction and pump motors, from the forklift I yanked my AC motor from (a Hyster 50, I think, super common).
They are proprietary, and Danaher would not give me documentation on them.
The way their licensing is set up, they create some kind of generic controller for all the different manufacturers, and then the manufacturers do the last mile of design, all the CAN communication, etc. That way they get to keep their trade secrets on how they are controlled. The license to do this is tens of thousands of dollars, and is proprietary to each manufacturer. So the guy was very kind, and very helpful, but could not give me any info, he didn't even have it to give. He also said he's never heard of anyone being able to reverse engineer them, except a foreign military that used them as their air filtration motor controllers in tanks, though he didn't say which.
Specifically: Danaher AC Superdrive ACS4820-700c (rev5) and an ACS4815-525c (rev19).
On the forklift:
Inside the case:
Underneath the control board (just 4 identical boards, with what looks like paralleled header pins, the smaller controller was the same but with 3 boards):
Decorative Silicon Ballet:
Capacitors:
...
The reason I took them apart is because I wanted the 22mm aluminum plates they were mounted to, to mount my motor and transmission together :p . They're otherwise garbage to me. Though I'd save the caps.
I wish I'd been able to remove the heatsink on the forklift that these aluminum slabs bolted to. It was at least an inch thick, probably 24"x36", with a few crude fins cast into it and some fans to help cool it.
Then that was bolted to a 1" thick steel plate wall between it and the forklift battery.
So if anyone's ever wondered what's inside an AC forklift controller, there you go, that's what's inside. If anyone is extra curious, I still have the parts, let me know and I'll take better pics.
I saved the controllers for the traction and pump motors, from the forklift I yanked my AC motor from (a Hyster 50, I think, super common).
They are proprietary, and Danaher would not give me documentation on them.
The way their licensing is set up, they create some kind of generic controller for all the different manufacturers, and then the manufacturers do the last mile of design, all the CAN communication, etc. That way they get to keep their trade secrets on how they are controlled. The license to do this is tens of thousands of dollars, and is proprietary to each manufacturer. So the guy was very kind, and very helpful, but could not give me any info, he didn't even have it to give. He also said he's never heard of anyone being able to reverse engineer them, except a foreign military that used them as their air filtration motor controllers in tanks, though he didn't say which.
Specifically: Danaher AC Superdrive ACS4820-700c (rev5) and an ACS4815-525c (rev19).
On the forklift:
Inside the case:
Underneath the control board (just 4 identical boards, with what looks like paralleled header pins, the smaller controller was the same but with 3 boards):
Decorative Silicon Ballet:
Capacitors:
...
The reason I took them apart is because I wanted the 22mm aluminum plates they were mounted to, to mount my motor and transmission together :p . They're otherwise garbage to me. Though I'd save the caps.
I wish I'd been able to remove the heatsink on the forklift that these aluminum slabs bolted to. It was at least an inch thick, probably 24"x36", with a few crude fins cast into it and some fans to help cool it.
Then that was bolted to a 1" thick steel plate wall between it and the forklift battery.
So if anyone's ever wondered what's inside an AC forklift controller, there you go, that's what's inside. If anyone is extra curious, I still have the parts, let me know and I'll take better pics.