Description:

This project is proposed by Teknatool (www.teknatool.com), a global manufacturer of woodworking equipment.

Soft Magnetic Composites (SMCs) are a material that has recently attracted significant interest for use in electric motors. The material is consists of iron powder particles coated with an insulating layer, this powder is then pressed to form a solid shape which can be used to create motor stators or rotors. Currently there are other universities researching this area and there are even some commercial companies who offer services of parts created from SMC. We would be looking for a student to focus on research about additive manufacture (3D printing) of an SMC prototype which we will be used to test and verify the performance of SMC vs traditional lamination.

To achieve this, the students will need to do a comprehensive review of the current capabilities for manufacturing SMC parts, and assess their feasibility to manufacture prototype parts in a timely and cost-effective manner. The work will then focus on producing said parts (either within the University or through an identified third party) so that their performance can be verified against existing parts. Furthermore, the project will look at means of optimising the geometry of the stator and rotor, so as to better exploit the combined benefits of both soft magnetic composites and 3D printing.

Milestones

1. Review the current state-of-the-art in producing SMC parts, with a focus on 3D printing techniques to enable rapid manufacturing of prototypes.

   • The research with regards to suppliers should be completed as soon as possible to allow parts to be manufactured and tested.

   • The suppliers must be able rapid prototype using SMC material and produce a motor stator and/or rotor to our specified dimensions  

2. The students will do further research into SMC motor design and optimization, and various other factors of SMC which may affect the motor performance over traditional design

3. If appropriate, the students will develop a method that exploits the benefits of 3D printing to enable the rapid manufacture of prototype SMC parts 

4. Teknatool will contact the SMC suppliers directly to arrange for a one off prototype to be produced.

   • All prototype models will be sent to a Teknatool facility to be assembled into a functional motor

   • The prototype will be tested on various motor rigs, with data recorded and compared to the motor currently being manufactured.  

5. The students will be able to get motor performance information and suggest possible design improvements to take full advantage of the SMC material.

Type:

Undergraduate

Outcome:

Prerequisites

None

Specialisations

• Mechanical Engineering
• Mechatronics Engineering

Categories

• Design/Systems Engineering
• Mechanics of Materials and Manufacturing Processes

Supervisor

• Jonathan Stringer

Team

Allocated (Not available for preferences)

Lab

Lab allocations have not been finalised