MOTORS, DRIVES, CONTROLS
ZF motors – which in turn supports our sustainability strategy.”
POLES APART Although well known for its automotive products, ZF manufactures motors for a large, diverse range of industries, all of which rely on rare earth metals. And the company has a dual focus in this sustainability work: both in the technology involved in putting recycled materials to work and in how to design its own motors so they can be more easily recycled. Which of those two areas is the most important to Moule? “Well, it’s really a single focus,” he asserts. “It’s not possible to separate the two goals of using recycled materials and having motors that are more easily recyclable; they support each other. As more products are recycled, there will be a greater amount of recycled material available for use in motors.” Moule explains that if the properties of recycled magnets differ from those
obtained from virgin material, then design changes may be necessary to enable the use of that increasing supply of recycled material. “Conversely, if motors are more easily recyclable to allow magnets to be more easily recycled – either through mechanical changes allowing easier access to the magnets, or elimination of sources of contamination that may cause degradation in the magnet properties – then there will be more recycled magnets available,” he points out. Ultimately, Moule says, “By
understanding the recycling process, we can make changes to the designs that will improve the efficiency and yield of the recycling process.”
DESIGN FOR LIFE Successfully juggling various requirements is key to progress here. “Design engineers and recycling engineers frequently have different perspectives on a solution,” Moule observes. “A design engineer will often
think in terms of having the smallest, lightest, most appropriate materials to fulfil a function. A recycling engineer is looking to have only materials compatible with a recycling process, not wanting anything present that will contaminate a process. A design engineer focuses on one unit and has lots of detailed data in regard to its make-up. A recycling engineer, presented with that same part in years to come will likely have it included in a mix of parts to process – and have much less detailed information to hand. A design engineer is often thinking about how to make millions of parts in the same place, whereas the recycling engineer is looking to process tonnes of material that has come from many different places.” Rather than regarding these
differing aims as a source of conflict, Moule reports that, “By understanding the various perspectives and considering a whole life cycle rather than just one aspect, our
Magnetic characterisation work is conducted at ZF’s UK site
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