Wanted Power Electronics Engineer – Custom 12S / 80A ESC Development (Contract)

[Buckyou 2]

developing a pulse driven axial flux motor for a heavy lift agricultural UAV and need a contractor to design a robust, production ready ESC.
Specs: – 12S Li ion (44V nominal) – 50–80A continuous, 100A peak – Single phase pulse motor commutation – Hall sensor timing – High efficiency MOSFET stage with proper gate drive architecture
Required skills: – High current ESC design – Gate driver IC selection + layout – Low inductance PCB design (2–4oz copper) – Current sensing + protection (OC, OV, thermal) – Firmware for timing, PWM, and safety
This is not a hobby ESC—this is a multi kW agricultural grade controller.
If you’ve built motor controllers in the 2–5 kW range, let’s talk.

Looking for an ESC engineer!
I need a custom 12S, 80A ESC built for a pulse driven axial flux drone motor.
Must know: – High current MOSFET stages – Gate drivers – Hall sensor timing – PCB layout for big amps
Target: 15–20 kg thrust per motor for an ag drone platform.
If you’ve designed real ESCs before, DM me with your portfolio.
Immediately required- I’m looking for an experienced embedded + power electronics engineer to design a custom high current ESC for a pulse driven axial flux UAV motor.
Project requirements:
12S Li ion (≈44 V)
50–80 A continuous, ~100 A peak
Single phase pulse motor architecture (not BLDC)
Hall sensor rotor timing
High current MOSFET stage with proper gate drive design
Low inductance PCB layout (2–4 oz copper)
Current sensing + protection (OC, OV, thermal)
Deliverables:
Schematic + PCB layout
Component selection (MOSFETs, gate driver, sensing, protection)
Firmware for timing, PWM, and safety logic
Optional: prototype assembly + testing
About the application:
This ESC will power a mid/heavy lift agricultural drone targeting ~15–20 kg thrust per motor with a 20 kg spray payload. This is a multi kW controller, not a hobby ESC.
Looking for:
Someone who has actually built motor controllers or ESCs in the 2–5 kW range, understands gate drive behavior at high di/dt, and can design a reliable power stage.
If you’re interested, DM me with:
Examples of past ESC/motor controller work
Your preferred toolchain (KiCad, Altium, etc.)
Availability + rough estimate

[Simon]

Are you the companies HR department? That job spec on the one hand is telling people what to do and on the other demanding things that have nothing to do with the ESC design like the thrust.

you are saying that this product does not already exist? Do you need a procurement specialist instead?

[r0d3z1]

I sent you a PM

[Smokey]

Unless you have a couple of years of engineering time you want to spend on research development prototyping in production, I would highly recommend finding something off the shelf. This does not actually sound like an out of the ordinary application

[NeoNotion]

Hi,

I have over 20 years of product design experience spanning PCB, firmware, magnetics design, power electronics, sensors and instrumentation.  For the last 6 years I have been developing PCBs and FET based systems for HV and high current up to 5kVA and beyond. PCBs have been using 2oz copper weight and higher temp laminates. 

I'm Australia-based (Queensland), so there's a time-zone gap to recognise, but I'm happy to work flexibly and arrange calls at times that suits you.

Lets have a chat...

Best regards,
Jeff +61 (0)430 548 543

[KokonC]

If this is still open, I'm interested — and I'll be straight about where I fit.

My background is DC-DC power conversion (push-pull, full-bridge, buck) rather than a portfolio of finished ESCs. What I have actually done is the power stage and everything that protects it: MOSFET selection worked from the datasheets rather than the summary table (RDS(on) vs Qg vs Qrr at 44 V, 80 A continuous and 100 A peak), gate drive sized for the di/dt that follows from it, low-inductance layout on heavy copper with the commutation loop area minimised, current sensing placed so it survives the switching edges, and protection that latches in hardware and does not depend on the MCU being alive — cycle-by-cycle OCP, OTP, UVLO, plus a documented SOA map for the FETs rather than assumed limits.

On firmware I write bare-metal STM32G474 — HRTIM with deadtime, FAULT input and blanking, TIM1 and ADC — which suits Hall-based timing and PWM with hardware fault shutdown.

What I would not claim is production experience with single-phase pulse commutation on an axial flux machine. That part is your motor, and I'd be learning its behaviour with you rather than pretending otherwise. If the commutation strategy is something you already have a handle on and you want the power stage, protections, layout and control firmware done properly, that's the work I can take.

Toolchain: KiCad 10, with ngspice/PySpice for the stage, Elmer for thermal and openEMS for layout parasitics.

Happy to discuss availability and a rough estimate. My account here is too new to send PMs, so reply in the thread and we can move to email.

[SamElectronics616]

Hi,

I’m interested in your custom 12S high-current ESC project for the pulse-driven axial flux UAV motor.

I have experience with power electronics, embedded systems, and PCB design, and I’m comfortable working on high-current, high-power designs where gate-drive performance, current paths, thermal management, protection, and PCB parasitics are critical.

In particular, I worked the some drone PCBs like the flight controllers and video transmitter, and radio devices, as well as ESC.

If you can share the motor specifications, Hall sensor information, target RPM, current waveform/commutation requirements, and any existing mechanical or electrical documentation, I can review the requirements and provide a realistic development estimate and project schedule.

Thank you

[Paul1990]

Hi,

Your posting sounds interesting and it seems to be aligned with my expertise.

During my career, I have worked on many power electronics projects and I have repaired & designed off-shield ESCs with various capacity.

I am very familiar with Kicad, Altium and Cadence for schematics & pcb layout design.

If you are still looking for an engineer for this project, I am willing to work with you.

Regards,
Paul

[Smokey]

What you described is an off the shelf item.  Just go buy that.

[Smokey]

This is what ChatGPT said based on your "spec"

Controller	Voltage	Current	Power @ 44V	Motor / Control	Hall	Price	Link
Flipsky 12100	18–50.4V	100A cont. / 180A max	4.4 kW	BLDC / AM32 / BLHeli	?	$49.99	Link
Flipsky 12120	18–50.4V	120A cont. / 150A max	5.3 kW	BLDC / AM32	?	$56.60	Link
SEQURE 12100	5–12S	100A	~4.4 kW	BLDC / AM32	?	$59.17	Link
Flipsky 75100	14–84V	100A cont. / 120A burst	4.4 kW @ 44V	BLDC / VESC	Yes	~$77–89	Link
OddityRC Vortex F100HV	6–12S	100A cont. / 120A peak	4.4 kW	BLDC / Bluejay	?	$99.99	Link
Flipsky FSESC 110100	14–110V	120A @ 50V	>4.4 kW @ 44V	BLDC / VESC	Yes	$100	Link
Makeflyeasy 12S 100A	12S	100A / 120A peak	~4.4 kW	UAV BLDC	?	$100.60	Link
T-Motor Flame 80A 12S V2	12S	80A	~3.5 kW	UAV BLDC	?	$119.99	Link
Taurus C60	12–52V	70A cont. / 100A peak	3.1 kW cont. / 4.4 kW peak	BLDC / FOC	Yes	Quote	Link