{"id":9682,"date":"2015-02-24T08:45:54","date_gmt":"2015-02-24T15:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=9682"},"modified":"2015-02-24T08:45:54","modified_gmt":"2015-02-24T15:45:54","slug":"power-without-rare-earth-minerals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/power-without-rare-earth-minerals\/","title":{"rendered":"More Power without Rare Earth Minerals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ricardo<\/a>, a long-time developer of internal combustion engines, has become a major force in the electric motor field, too.\u00a0\u00a0 Its latest offering is an 85 kilowatt synchronous reluctance drive designed primarily for electric vehicle traction applications, made with advanced manufacturing techniques and no rare earth minerals.<\/p>\n

Without spilling any number beans other that the expected power output, Ricardo says that, \u201cUsing a conventional distributed stator winding, the Ricardo synchronous reluctance electric machine is a highly innovative design that makes use of low-cost materials, simple manufacturing processes and uncomplicated construction. It has a rotor made from cut steel laminations, which are used to direct and focus the flux across the air gap. By maximizing this flux linkage between the stator and rotor, performance can be optimized within a tightly packaged, low weight and rare earth element free design.<\/p>\n

\"CAD<\/a>

CAD model of Ricardo Rapid Switching Reluctance motor gives a hint of small size from comparison with leads<\/p><\/div>\n

Paul Rivera, Managing Director of the Ricardo hybrid and electric vehicle systems business, explains the impetus to develop such motors. \u201cAs the market for electric vehicles grows globally, there is an imperative to explore alternatives to permanent magnet traction motors which require the use of expensive and increasingly difficult to source rare earth elements.\u201d \u00a0 Since China has a monopoly holding of most such minerals, such alternatives have strategic importance.<\/p>\n

In a counterpoint to the announced low price for the unit, Ricardo seems to intend first use of the new motors to be in Jaguar Land Rover products.\u00a0 Funded in part by the British Government, the current research is part of Innnovate UK<\/a>, a larger effort to create products in many disciplines.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/a>

In real, non-rare-earth metal, style, the motor is ready for testing<\/p><\/div>\n

On the private side, Ricardo\u2019s partners in this research include project leader Cobham Technical Services<\/a> \u2013 which is developing its multi-physics CAE design software, Opera, as a part of the project.<\/p>\n

Will Drury,\u00a0Ricardo team leader for electric machines and power electronics, has high hopes for the new motor. \u201cThe Ricardo prototype is now built and will be rigorously tested over the coming weeks in order to validate the extremely positive results that it has shown in simulation, as a concept that provides an exceptional balance of performance, compact package, light weight and low cost.\u201d\u00a0 Let\u2019s hope the real world numbers match up with the expectations.<\/p>\n