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Feature 9 | ProPulsion
Magnomatics secures contract for
PDD study
Magnomatics, a Sheffield, UK-based company that specialises in the
development of advanced magnetic transmission systems and high-torque
electrical machines, has signed a six-figure contract with the UK Ministry of
Defence (MoD) to perform a detailed design study of a magnetically geared
propulsion motor, based on the ‘Pseudo-Direct Drive’ (PDD) it has patented.
M
agnomatics Limited is a Magnomatics’
high-technology spin-out magnetically
company formed in 2006 from geared propulsion
the internationally leading research group motor based
in electrical machines and drives at the on a PDD could
University of Sheffield. Dr Kais Atallah, be suitable for
the inventor of the high torque density surface ships and
magnetic gear and high-torque electrical submarines.
machine, now spends a proportion of his
time advising the company.
Magnomatics has extensive design
capabilities for realising industrial
solutions based on its magnetic gear
and high-torque machine intellectual
property and it also provides design
services for challenging applications of
standard electromagnetic topologies such particular skills in designing machines for The contract with the UK MoD will
as motors, generators, actuators and eddy high torque, high speed, high temperatures see the company further developing
current couplings and dampers. It has and fault-tolerant applications. its technology at the megawatt (MW)
Technology leap for propulsion motors
under a £7.3 million (us$12.1 million) contract for the uK Ministry of Defence (MoD), Converteam uK ltd is to design
and build a 15MW demonstrator of a potential new generation of compact ship propulsion motor based upon their
patented designs, which will see conventional machine topology packaged in innovative ways. The new motor is
called the Advanced Propulsion Motor (APM).
Mark Dannatt, Director of the naval business segment for Converteam uK, said: “The Advanced Propulsion Motor
uses Converteam’s vast experience in rotating machines and power electronics to produce a motor compact enough
to be installed in future classes of vessel for which the present generation of propulsion motors are simply too large.
The APM takes up approximately half the volume of an equivalent present generation motor, the implications for the
design of future ships is enormous.”
The APM integrates state-of-the-art power electronics with the machine which is then liquid-cooled to reduce size
and weight. The power electronics enable a near-perfect waveform to be supplied to the motor windings resulting in a
motor with extremely low noise and vibration signatures. The motor fully complements the latest power and propulsion
system architectures and will provide a fully integrated solution. The motor is also designed to meet the other criteria
for naval equipment such as shock and high reliability and redundancy.
The APM demonstrator being built under this contract will be a full-size ship-fit machine which will have completed
back-to-back testing and demonstration for delivery to the uK MoD in April 2010.
48 Warship Technology October 2009
WT Magnomatics OCT09.indd 48 17/09/2009 11:33:43
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