Accelerated prototyping of electric machine laminates using high throughput profile milling

Abstract

This work presents high throughput profile milling (HTPM) as a novel processing technique for prototyping stator and rotor laminates for electric machines. Current processing techniques use the flexible processes of laser cutting and abrasive waterjet (AWJ) machining to produce these prototypes. AWJ machining introduces less thermomechanical damage to the material than conventional laser cutting and therefore was selected as the benchmark process for this study. This paper presents an initial empirical comparison between AWJ machining and the novel HTPM process. The comparison metrics incorporate the post-processed magnetic properties, specifically, permeability and specific core loss, and manufacturing concerns, particularly production rate and burr formation. A measureable difference between the specific core loss and permeability was recorded within this sample set (AWJ at 3.08W/kg and HTPM at 3.12W/kg; AWJ 1350H/m and HTPM at 1335H/m respectively); however, further statistical analysis was inconclusive as the generality of these results. Nevertheless, HTPM exhibited notable reduction in burr formation (AWJ at 198um and HTPM at 8um) and an almost 6.7x increase in average production rate (AWJ at 10.1mm/sec and HTPM at 68.4mm/sec). Consequently, HTPM exhibits significant advantages as a prototyping process for electric machine laminates.