October 26, 2016 | Motion Control | Robotics, Automation & Control

New Steel Enables Better Electric Motors

Motion Control & Automation Technology INSIDER

Jun Cui of Iowa State University’s Ames Laboratory works with a metal spinner, which rapidly solidifies metal into thin ribbons. (Photo by Christopher Gannon)

In order to make plug-in electric vehicles as affordable and convenient as internal-combustion cars, their motors must be smaller, lighter, more powerful, and more cost-effective. A research team is working to develop motors with the stator core (a non-rotating, magnetic part) manufactured with thin layers of a new “electrical steel.”

The new motors could run at much higher frequencies, producing a much higher motor power density. Different processes for making electrical steel are being studied to make it more ductile and cheaper to manufacture.