What’s more, PCBs are manufactured by an automated process, which means they’re much more uniform and reliable than hand-wound machines. Our motor generates as much power as a traditional AC induction motor but has half the weight and size, makes a fraction of the noise, and emits at least 25 percent less carbon. Because the magnetic air gap is narrow, we need only a small magnet, which is why we can wring a lot of power from a given mass and volume. ![]() As in other axial-flux motors, that flux is parallel to the axis of rotation, rather than radial. This arrangement creates a constant magnetic flux. The absence of a stator core allows us to put two identical rotors facing each other on either side of the stator, with each rotor carrying powerful permanent magnets. And conveniently, the copper and the laminate expand and contract similarly as the temperature rises and falls, avoiding stress that might otherwise slowly pull the components apart. Eliminating the iron core and minimizing copper together save 50 to 65 percent of the weight and 50 to 67 percent of the volume of the motor, when compared to an equivalent conventional iron-core motor. As a result, the air gap was so wide that only a substantial magnet mass could create the necessary magnetic flux.Īt Infinitum Electric, we did away with those copper windings and instead use photolithographic techniques to etch thin copper traces interleaved with epoxy-glass laminate, which insulates each coil from neighboring coils. A complex manufacturing process was needed to build the stator, the copper windings were bulky, and the coil support structure was intricate. In the past, attempts to build such a motor faced serious practical obstacles. Put all these things together and the result is an air-core axial-flux permanent-magnet motor. The motor also has an air core-that is, there is no iron to mediate the magnetic flux and nothing in between the motor’s magnetic parts but thin air. When alternating current flows through, it makes the rotor spin. The Infinitum Electric motor is what’s known as an axial-flux motor, a design in which the stator’s electromagnetic wiring stands parallel to a disk-shaped rotor containing permanent magnets. It is now finding applications in HVAC, manufacturing, heavy industry, and electric vehicles. Our motor generates as much power as a traditional alternating-current induction motor but has half the weight and size, makes a fraction of the noise, and emits at least 25 percent less carbon. Infinitum Electric, of Austin, Texas, has developed a PCB stator motor that fits a wide variety of purposes. greenhouse gas emissions more efficient electric motors will help cut emissions in these sectors.Īxial-flux motors easily fit onto the axle of a car and the fan drive of an HVAC system. ![]() Transportation, construction, and HVAC together account for about 60 percent of all U.S. Electric motors are making serious inroads into cars, trains, and aircraft, as well as industrial equipment and heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning systems. Some 800 million motors are now sold annually worldwide, according to the market research group Imarc, a number that has been increasing by 10 percent each year. Electric motors consumeĪ little over half of the world’s electricity today. This saving of energy is critically important: Software may be eating the world, but electricity is increasingly what makes the world go round. The layered components of an Infinitum Electric axial-flux motor are shown here, in exploded form. Expect it to save weight and thus energy in just about everything that uses electricity to impart motive force. Now, though, the PCB stator is getting a new lease on life. ![]() To lighten the stator, some people proposed making it out of a printed circuit board.Īlthough the idea of replacing a hunk of iron with a lightweight, ultrathin, easy-to-make, long-lasting PCB was attractive from the outset, it didn’t gain widespread adoption in its earliest applications inside lawn equipment and wind turbines a little over a decade ago. Stator iron accounts for about two-thirds of the weight of a conventional motor. The stator, traditionally made of iron, tends to be heavy. The heart of any electric motor consists of a rotor that revolves around a stationary part, called a stator.
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