Innovative developments for automated magnet handling and bonding of rare earth magnets

The market for electric motors in general machine applications and especially in electric driven vehicles has changed tremendously over the last years, as new materials and innovative electronics enable manufacturers to develop electric motors with highest energy densities in applications ranging from miniature up to large industrial motors. Within this development, considerations towards manufacturing and assembly technologies have become a topic of interest, especially the handling of high coercive neodymium iron boron (NdFeB) or samarium cobalt (SmCo) magnet materials for State of the Art permanent magnet excited machines (PM machines). Processes such as positioning and gluing of magnets or the integration of magnetizers into assembly are challenging current methods. Flexible production processes for rapid ramp up and small batch sizes are needed for economic manufacturing. In this paper innovative handling and assembly solutions for magnetized high coercive permanent magnets, developed at the Institute for Manufacturing Automation and Production Systems (FAPS), are presented.