Rotary Table Additive Manufacturing for Thin Laminated Stators
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for manufacturing stators with thin laminated layers face reliability issues and fragility due to layer thickness limitations, making it challenging to produce thin, feature-rich laminated components effectively.
Innovation Solution
An additive manufacturing system that includes a rotating table with powder dispensers for magnetically susceptible and insulating materials, a compacting roller, a binder dispenser, and a curing element, allowing for the formation of thin, alternating layers with various features, which are then sintered to create robust stators.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional manufacturing processes are used to make thin layers, then layer thickness can be reduced, but reliability and handleability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the manufacturing method from conventional mechanical lamination to additive manufacturing with selective powder deposition and binding. This parameter change in the manufacturing process enables production of layers thinner than conventional methods while maintaining reliability, as the additive process builds layers atom-by-atom or particle-by-particle with precise control, avoiding the mechanical handling issues that plague thin conventional layers
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces conventional mechanical lamination processes with an additive manufacturing system that uses controlled powder deposition, magnetic field application, and thermal processing. This substitution eliminates the need for mechanical handling of ultra-thin layers, thereby maintaining reliability while achieving thinner layer thicknesses
2Loss of energy
If layer thickness is reduced, then eddy current losses are reduced, but manufacturing reliability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the manufacturing approach to additive manufacturing, enabling production of thinner layers (reducing eddy current losses) while maintaining manufacturing reliability through precise digital control of the deposition and binding processes, eliminating the reliability issues associated with conventional thin-layer manufacturing
3Manufacturing precision
If conventional methods are used, then manufacturing process is simple, but layer thickness cannot be made sufficiently thin
Solution Approach 1:
The invention transitions to additive manufacturing technology, which although more complex in equipment, provides superior layer thickness control and enables production of ultra-thin layers that conventional simple methods cannot achieve, with the complexity justified by the significant improvement in manufacturing precision
4Loss of energy
If thin layers are produced, then stator performance is improved, but structural integrity becomes challenging
Solution Approach 1:
The invention uses composite construction with alternating layers of magnetically susceptible material and insulating material, where each thin layer is bonded to adjacent layers through controlled binding and thermal processing. This composite structure maintains structural integrity while enabling thin layer thicknesses, as the layered composite design provides both electrical insulation and mechanical strength
Solution Approach 2:
The invention employs controlled thermal processing parameters (heating and cooling cycles) to bond the thin layers together, transforming the structural properties of the material during processing to achieve both thinness and structural integrity in the final product
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables the production of thin, reliable, and feature-rich laminated stators by forming and bonding alternating layers of magnetically susceptible and insulating materials, reducing eddy current losses while maintaining structural integrity.
Implementation Method 1
The table may be rotatable about a first rotational axis... The first powder dispenser may extend radially across the table... The second powder dispenser may extend radially across the table
Implementation Method 2
a compacting roller mounted to the supporting structure and disposed vertically above the table. The compacting roller may be rotatable relative to the supporting structure and the table
Implementation Method 3
a binder dispenser mounted to the supporting structure and extending radially across the table, the binder dispenser having a third outlet disposed vertically above the table
Implementation Method 4
a curing element attached to the supporting structure and extending radially across the table. The curing element may be disposed vertically above the table
Implementation Method 5
which are then sintered to create robust stators
Data Source
AI summary
A method for manufacturing in which alternating layers of a powdered magnetically susceptible material and a powdered insulating material are deposited onto a table as it is rotated about a first rotational axis.