Karlsruhe uses composite technology for electric motors

ProLeMo is funded under the German government’s “e-mobility, positioning along the value chain - Electric Power” program, and will seek to replace metals in motors with fiber-reinforced composite materials and soft magnetic composites. At the end of the project, KIT will set up a complete demonstration manufacturing cell.

Large-scale implementation of electric mobility requires low-cost and flexible production of efficient electric drives. New lightweight construction concepts may reduce vehicle weight and, hence, energy consumption during acceleration. Future work will focus on reducing the weight of electric motors.

Flexible series production of parts and models of electric motors is a big challenge in production technology, KIT notes. In addition, the motor’s power to weight ratio needs to be increased in order to reduce the weight of the complete vehicle.

For this purpose, new materials have to be integrated in the motors. Moreover, production of motor components has to be simplified.

The ProLeMo project partners from industry and science are pursuing a holistic and integrated interdisciplinary approach to tackle this set of problems. Under ProLeMo, the Institute of Production Science will study solutions for the use of fiber-reinforced plastics in the electric motor. Within the next three years, the scientists will establish the process chain needed for the production of a demonstrator.

The team plans to to produce the rotor, stator, and housing with integrating cooling. The Institute of Vehicle System Technology (FAST) will develop components made of fiber composites. Use of modern simulation tools will guarantee that these components will meet the operational requirements.

The project is coordinated by Wittenstein cyber motor GmbH, a company specialized in the development and manufacture of permanently excited high-performance synchronous motors. In the area of injection molding technology, Arburg GmbH + Co KG will work on alternative materials for motor components to be produced by injection molding.

Cutting and fiber deposition work will be performed using the lasers and milling machines of the Index-Werke GmbH & Co. KG Hahn & Tessky. Aumann GmbH is responsible for the development of the process and machines to manufacture the coils required.

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