THE OUTCOME The benefits that AM can provide for each component of electric motors were identified, and a research and development roadmap was created to outline a route for progressing the implementation of AM in electric motors. Consequently, the MTC was able to propose new projects that can address the challenges and constraints of using additive manufacturing in electric motors. The redesign of the casing allowed the motor to produce more power by the implementation of liquid cooling channels to prevent overheating. In addition, the design freedoms of additive manufacturing enabled for a weight saving of 10% and size reduction of 30% due to component integration. These design activities were supported by the software capabilities provided by Siemens Digital Industries, such as Siemens NX for CAD modelling, digital verification and technical product specification.
BENEFITS TO THE INDUSTRY The process of manufacturing electric motors has a number of challenges to overcome; complex or manual assembly, materials that are difficult to process and can be rare and/or expensive, thermal management and lightweighting. By leveraging the AM capabilities through the product redesign as demonstrated in the casing, key benefits were identified throughout the product and supply chain: Increased motor power density, resulting in a reduction in size and mass of key components Part count reduction, leading to simplified assembly and supply chains Increased manufacturing efficiency and reduced lead times Lower running costs Waste reduction Reduced assembly and inspection costs The additive manufacturing motor roadmap provides a clear picture of the necessary developments required and potential challenges and constraints to introduce additive manufactured motors to industry.
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