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AUTOMOTIVE


INDUSTRY FOCUS


ightweight materials and design have always been important in industries such as aviation, aerospace and shipbuilding. In recent years, however, global trends toward


BUILDING THE VEHICLES OF THE FUTURE L


The transportation landscape is ever evolving, with the increasing demand for micromobility


CO2 reduction and resource efficiency have also significantly increased the importance of this topic in the automotive sector, with an ever-growing focus on sustainable materials and technologies to build the vehicles of the future. In particular, there has been a growing trend towards lightweighting, which demands that all components be optimised for their lightest possible weight. The concept of reducing the weight of a vehicle by optimising the mix of materials and the design makes sense, as lighter vehicles reach higher levels of performance, can be safer, are cheaper to operate, and are ultimately more efficient.


LIGHTWEIGHTING AND LEVS While any vehicle can potentially benefit from lightweighting, the concept is especially important for lightweight electric vehicles (LEVs) – or micromobility solutions – such as electric bicycles, scooters, motorcycles, and three- wheelers, as their batteries are heavy and


“Lighter vehicles


reach higher levels of performance, can be safer, are cheaper to operate, and are ultimately more efficient”


may increase their weight by as much as 35%. Using lightweight materials and components can offset this weight, thus improving efficiency. After all, the key value driver for micromobility solutions is efficiency. While LEVs are inherently complex systems, their performance can be significantly improved with intelligent system-level design. Reliable motors, in particular magnetically geared motors, are a key enabling technology for micromobility solutions to ensure efficiency. Since the first developments with high- efficiency magnetic gears were presented, interest in their application in transportation, mainly in electric vehicles, has increased


solutions requiring the continuous modification of technologies and processes. David Latimer, CEO of


significantly. Typically, in an LEV, the mechanical power from the electric motor is transferred to the drive wheels via a single ratio transmission performed with a mechanical gearbox. Unlike the gearbox in a wind turbine, the gearbox in an LEV has only one driving gear operating as a step- down transmission to provide an appropriate speed and torque to the traction wheels of the car. Magnomatics offers revolutionary magnetic


gears which have been implemented in a range of innovative industry solutions, including offshore wind, marine propulsion and light rail. Having achieved success at large scale the company has turned its attention to much smaller machines, including drives for personal micromobility vehicles such as e-scooters and e-bicycles. The company’s patented Pseudo Direct Drive (PDD) – which is designed to overcome the torque limitations of conventional direct drive electrical machines – consists of a magnetic gear mounted inside a stator. The outer magnetics of the magnetic gear are attached to the inner bore of the stator, and copper windings in the stator are used to drive the inner rotor of the magnetic gear. This is a relatively high-speed electric motor


with a relatively low load, which results in low currents and, hence, low temperatures. This in turn brings great efficiency, long life and prevents demagnetisation of the outer magnet array. The torque in the inner rotor is then geared up in the novel polepiece rotor, typically by between 5 and 10:1. The result is a very compact and highly efficient electric motor, which is perfect for LEVs.


ADVANTAGES OF MAGNETIC GEARS Magnetic gear technologies have important advantages over their conventional mechanical counterparts. They can perform the speed change and torque transmission between input and output shafts by a contactless mechanism, with a quiet operation and overload protection, without the issues associated with conventional mechanical gears. In addition, and of particular importance to the LEV market, they boast drastic reductions


Magnomatics, looks at lightweighting and how magnetically geared


motors can contribute to this growing trend


in motor size, no minimum cooling requirements, and reduced maintenance requirements. Efficiency is also improved as there are no gearbox losses and, of course, gear wear is eliminated altogether. Ultimately, the lower mass and compactness of the PDD generator, when combined with partial load superior efficiency, low speed, high torque technology and improved reliability, makes it ideal for meeting the requirements of the broad range of LEVs being developed. In the pursuit of increasingly light yet powerful and efficient micromobility solutions, the addition of innovative magnetically geared motors can be a game-changer, as it enables greater power efficiency at a smaller size and lighter weight.


Magnomatics www.magnomatics.com


Magnomatics’ Pseudo Direct Drive (PDD) APRIL 2023 DESIGN SOLUTIONS 23


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