The trend of electrification, in particular in transportation, requires more energy-, material- and cost-efficient solutions for electrical energy conversion. Additive manufacturing, or 3-D printing, opens up interesting possibilities for decreasing the mass and improving the performance of the soft magnetic cores used for guiding the magnetic fields in electrical motors. The consortium combines the expertise of Tampere University on magnetic material modeling to the expertise of VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland on additive manufacturing techniques in order to develop innovative soft magnetic cores for electrical machines. The research addresses important challenges in 3-D printing of composite powders, tuning the material properties by introducing new geometries, modeling of power losses, as well as optimization of electrical machines. A working electrical motor prototype with 3-D printed magnetic cores will be manufactured to validate the feasibility of the concept.

2020

2024