TCS - Thermal Cooling System for brushed motors in RC (...)
TCS - Thermal Cooling System for brushed motors in RC 1-10th scale electric cars
Introduction
During the last few years, the power output and capacity of batteries, the windings of the motors used in competition as well as the electric speed controllers have evolved at an enormous speed.The constant increase of power, capacity and internal resistance has had the side effect of our motors having higher and higher operating temperatures.
Brushed motors are the main victims of these higher temperatures while brushless motors thanks to their almost frictionless construction, have largely shifted the overheating problem to their ESCs.
So, to counter this climate warming...uhm, no, the warming of our motors, the manufacturers have come to produce full aluminium motor mounts and even radiators with cooling fins to clamp onto the motors.
These radiator clamps have developed and now even a ventilator is mounted on top of them to provide more cooling. These "ventirads", how they shall be called henceforth, are now very commonly used in our cars and have proven themselves useful. But their ventilators are very fragile and need regular maintenance.
The arrival of the TCS - "Thermal Cooling System"TCS - "Thermal Cooling System" marks a new step towards the search of the ultimate cooling for our electric motors and proposes a solution previously unheard of in the area of radio controlled cars.
The motor is no longer air-cooled, but by a cooling liquid which circulates in an on-board liquid cooling system.
In our test we are looking at the version designed for brushed motors. A brushless version that includes a cooling element for the motor and the ESC was announced as well but is not yet available.
Does the TCS bring about a new revolution ? What is it’s effectiveness ? Is it’s installation difficult ? What does it bring in terms of performance and reliability ?
To find out all this and more, read our review of the system below.
Before we continue however, we would like to thank the french TCS distributor, 2LB Racing, who has supplied us with the TCS - "Thermal Cooling System" and allowed us to make the first worlwide review about it.
