Originally Posted by
Panomaniac
The way the motor speed was controlled was to vary the frequency of the 220V sine wave. The higher the frequency, the faster the motor turned. And because it was always full voltage, it was always full power. Same as for the amp motor controllers mentioned above. The controller could also apply DC to act as a brake. The 3 phase allowed the direction of rotation to be controlled. Using Class-D (switching) just meant they were more efficient than a linear amp or PSU. They worked great. Made by Citroen.