Design of an Additively Manufactured Polymer Composite Electrical Machine

Abstract

This paper presents a permanent magnet electrical motor prototype with an additively manufactured (AM) core, using a polymer binder based soft magnetic composite (SMC) material. The relative permeability of the electrically non-conductive SMC material was measured to be 2.4, which makes it a viable solution to be used in air-core machines. The AM prototype motor was tested under load and it generated a maximum torque of 0.31 Nm. This measured value is 30% higher than the simulated torque for an equivalent air-core machine. Therefore, the composite material can be considered a superior material in the context of ironless motors.