Abstract
Additive manufacturing is acknowledged as a key enabling technology, although its adoption is still constrained to niche applications. A promising area for this technology is the production of electrical machines (EMs) and/or their main components (e.g. magnetic cores, windings, heat exchangers, etc.) due to the potential of creating lightweight, highly efficient rotating motors, suitable for applications requiring a low moment of inertia. This work investigates the readiness of metal additive manufacturing, specifically Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF), applied to the field of EMs to bridge the gaps of how to use this technological approach in this field. A soft magnetic material featuring high silicon content (Fe-5.0%w.t.Si) has been developed for LPBF and a rotor has been 3D-printed for a switched reluctance machine. The printed rotor was assembled into a conventionally laminated stator and the performance of the whole machine was evaluated. Its performance was compared against an identical machine equipped with a laminated rotor of the same dimensions made of conventional non-oriented silicon steel. A comparative study was carried out through both finite element simulations and experimental tests. The efficiency of the two machines was assessed together with the principal electrical and mechanical quantities under several operating conditions.
Highlights
In conventional manufacturing methodologies, a component is built through a process of material removal, based on engineering drawing or sketches, such as milling
This approach is in contrast to that adopted by additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, where manufacturing data is generated by a computer aided design (CAD) and model process-specific software to accurately create complex geometric shapes via layer-by-layer material deposition and consolidation [1]
AM technologies have only recently been utilised in the development of parts for electrical machines (EMs) [4,5,6], which can be attributed to the lack of AM processable materials with the necessary
Summary
A component is built through a process of material removal, based on engineering drawing or sketches, such as milling. LPBF has found application in the processing of electrically conductive [10, 11] and soft magnetic materials [12,13,14,15,16,17] potentially enabling the demand for high performance lightweight EMs. In literature, several examples of EM components fabricated via LPBF process can be found, comprehensive analyses, accounting for the experimental comparison between 3D printed and conventionally manufactured EMs, are difficult to find. After testing the magnetic and mechanical properties of the 3D printed soft magnetic material, 2D FE simulations are used, aiming to outline the SRM performance with a rotor core made of the high silicon content material. The outer diameter of stator and rotor and the axial length were 150 mm, 79.2 mm and 104 mm, respectively
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