Additively Manufactured Transverse Flux Machine Components with Integrated Slits for Loss Reduction

Abstract

Laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) was used to produce stator half-shells of a transverse flux machine from pure iron (99.9% Fe). In order to reduce iron losses in the bulk components, radially extending slits with a nominal width of 150 and 300 µm, respectively, were integrated during manufacturing. The components were subjected to a suitable heat treatment. In addition to a microscopic examination of the slit quality, the iron losses were also measured using both a commercial and a self-developed measurement setup. The investigations showed the iron losses can be reduced by up to 49% due to the integrated slits and the heat treatment.

Electric Aerospace Actuator Manufactured by Laser Powder Bed Fusion

“…Copper and aluminum alloys have been additively manufactured as well, showing promising results for electrical machine design in terms of heat extraction and loss reduction at high-frequency operation [19][20][21]. Further examples of electrical machine components made using AM and unusual magnetic materials can be found in [22,23] (Fe-Al alloy), [24] (17-4PH stainless steel) and [25] (pure Fe). In this regard, despite the wide variety of materials that can be produced by AM, the use of additively produced soft magnetic materials is not widespread.…”