FEATURE GEARS & GEARBOXES


MAGNETIC GEARS: DELIVER IN THE AEROSPACE INDUST


With increasing energy costs and demands for greater


sustainability, energy efficiency has become ever more important for transport, especially aviation. Gary Rodgers, CEO of Magnomatics,


explains how magnetic gears provide improved efficiency for aerospace manufacturers, together with increased safety and reliability


challenges if they are to develop viable solutions. These aircraft have to operate safely in urban airspaces in which other UAMs may be close by; they will need to be quiet to reduce passenger and environmental noise; and they must be reliable with built-in redundancy. Additionally, composite materials will be required to contribute to the lightweight design that will be crucial to reduce power consumption and improve efficiency and operational distance. Another important challenge is choosing the right motor system solution – and there are several important factors manufacturers need to consider for their aircraft. Aside from energy efficiency, these include the system’s durability and reliability, easy system integration and maintenance requirements. By ensuring that these factors are included in the decision-making process, manufacturers are better placed to choose a system that makes aircraft safer, reduces the complexity and cost of manufacturing, has longer-lasting parts, and where maintenance


M


anufacturers in the rapidly evolving UAM/eVTOL market must overcome a number of design and regulatory


costs and downtime are minimised. To deliver sufficient electric power, all UAM


aircraft require multiple electric motors. While using permanent magnet motors that operate at high speeds – often in excess of 10,000rpm – is the standard approach for generating the necessary power density, the challenge for UAM aircraft is that output speeds need to be slowed to around 1/7 of the motor speed. Traditionally, this is achieved with a mechanical gearbox. However, this solution is not ideal for eVTOL


aircraft as mechanical equipment is prone to wear and failure, as well as being noisy and requiring high levels of maintenance. These risks and issues make it important to find an alternative solution.


INNOVATIVE MOTOR SYSTEMS As the aerospace industry gravitates towards sustainability and the pursuit of more efficient and reliable systems, innovative motor systems that operate on magnetic


“As the aerospace industry gravitates towards sustainability and the pursuit of


more efficient and reliable systems, innovative motor systems that operate on magnetic gears offer manufacturers significant


opportunities to develop reliable aircraft and achieve cost-effective operation”


Innovative motor systems that operate on magnetic gears offer


manufacturers significant opportunities to develop reliable aircraft


20 DESIGN SOLUTIONS FEBRUARY 2025


gears offer manufacturers significant opportunities to develop reliable aircraft and achieve cost-effective operation. NASA, which has had considerable involvement in the development of UAMs, has stated that a concentric combination of a magnetic gear and a permanent magnet motor is an ideal solution for UAM aircraft. Its 2020 paper, ‘Outer Stator Magnetically Geared Motors for Urban Air Mobility Vehicles’, details how magnetic gears address the problems posed by mechanically geared high-speed electric motors. In the context of delivering efficiency, magnetically geared motors are an enabling technology for aerospace manufacturers. Indeed, the technology is already providing an exciting alternative to traditional technology across an array of large-scale industrial applications in multiple sectors, such as offshore and onshore wind, marine propulsion, light rail and off-highway vehicles (OHVs). In the aerospace arena, smaller-scale, lightweight motor systems offer the same benefits to UAM aircraft. These smaller, lightweight magnetic gear


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