Vanzetti Engineering, which funds the initiative, and Turin Polytechnics have established a partnership for the implementation of a PhD lasting three years, aimed at the study of pumps driven by an electric motor.
The applications of these machines can be manifold, including the use of a space launcher where pumps will have the task of pressurizing the propellants by bringing them from the tank pressure to that of the combustion chamber, where they react by releasing the energy needed to generate the thrust that allows the rocket to take off.
In the conventional configuration, pumps are driven by dedicated turbines but they can be sometimes replaced by battery-powered electric motors.
The project, exciting for the competences it permits to develop in the ambit of the turbomachine study but also for the fascination of the possible applications, features important advantages for both Turin Polytechnics and for Vanzetti Engineering. “Due to this project, the university further strengthens its collaboration in the sector of the research with companies on the territory while Vanzetti Engineering, specialist in the sector of cryogenic pumps in marine, automotive and industrial ambits, has the opportunity of exploring new possibilities in a technologically advanced and steeply rising sector like the aerospace one”, states Valeria Vanzetti Ghio, sole director of Vanzetti Engineering.
A PhD was born for the study of pumps driven by an electric motor
University of Nottingham starts electric motor consultancy
The University of Nottingham has created a business unit for the industrialisation of electrical motors and drive systems, claiming that it is the first UK institution to establish an independent business unit for the industrialisation of electrical motors and drive systems.
Nottingham Drive Specialist Services (NDSS) will provide «bespoke development, manufacturing and testing of electrical motors and drives to support the industrialisation of power electronic converters, electrical machines and drives from design through to manufacture and testing», according to the university.
It is based at the recently opened Power Electronics and Machines Centre (PEMC) and has access to more than £20m of equipment. Funding has come from Research England, Getting Building Fund, D2N2, the Wolfson Foundation and the Driving the Electric Revolution Industrialisation Centre. «Over the past 25 years, we have built up a store of intellectual property on this subject area and making this available for companies to benefit from is a key part of what we are doing to support the drive towards electrification and developing the UK supply chain» said NDSS general manager Hitendra Hirani.
The facilities include Test cells: 2MW, 5MW, 500kW altitude environmental, 120,000rpm; propulsion; aircraft generator and actuator test; Characterisation: magnetic materials and insulation; 3MVA PSU and energy storage emulation and Specialist coil winding: Needle (concentrated and distributed stators), Litz, flat conductor, hairpin (continuous and variable cross-section).
A kit for the hybrid conversion of ambulances is under study
A University project carried out by Tiziano Montella, Master’s Student in Managerial Engineering at Alma Mater in Bologna, in collaboration with Bonfiglioli, was aimed at defining a hybrid conversion solution for ambulances, based on the use of a kit manufactured by the company, made up by a high-efficiency electric motor and an advanced electronic control system.
The project was organized in two phases. «In the first, we have explored ten different application fields in order to identify new market opportunities for Bonfiglioli products. In the second phase, we have focused on the implementation of a hybrid solution for ambulances, which provides for the replacement of the conventional internal combustion engine with an electric system», the student explained.
The work methodology was focused on the information collection through interviews carried out with a broad range of stakeholders, including nurses, ambulance drivers and vehicle outfitting providers. «Due to this attentive analysis of users’ requirements and preferences, we have developed a customized efficient solution that allows the transition of a conventional vehicle into an ecologically sustainable solution, significantly reducing the environmental impact and improving the energy efficiency. The kit at stake is intended for ambulance outfitting suppliers, which will be able to integrate it easily into their conversion processes».
Moreover the system includes a customized configuration of the motor in P4 position, the latter indicates the motor arrangement on the vehicle’s rear axles (rear 4 wheels), instead of on the front axis. This configuration allows improving the vehicle’s energy efficiency and handiness, since the traction is more uniformly distributed on the four wheels. Furthermore, it enables a higher design freedom and a better balancing of the vehicle’s weight.
Coventry University. More and more hydrogen-power research
Europe, and especially UK, pay utmost attention to the tests about the electric and hydrogen trend. In fact, more than £4 million of new hydrogen testing contracts have been secured within the Centre for Advanced Low-Carbon Propulsion Systems (C-ALPS) at Coventry University.
The £50 million research centre, a joint investment between the university and global engineering consultancy FEV, is working with some of the world’s leading engine and vehicle manufacturers, electrification start-ups and UK and European research consortia to develop new solutions for e-mobility innovations and zero-emission drive systems.
The success of this venture has been made possible thanks to the close collaboration, with £3 million jointly invested over the last two years in the creation of a state-of-art hydrogen research, development and testing facility.
This facility is now capable of evaluating prototypes and pre-production hydrogen propulsion systems for use in trucks, coaches, off-highway machinery, ships, and trains, not to mention light to medium sized aircraft.
Simon Shepherd, Director of C-ALPS, commented: “The latest contracts take the total value of joint projects active and completed at C-ALPS to more than £20 million. This, along with the level of interest we are seeing from collaborators, is a sure sign that we have created the environment and expertise required to support UK companies in meeting future propulsion technology demands”.
Forefront laboratories for the research on electric motors will be set up in Modena
And in this future, the former Foundries in Modena are today at the core of an important redevelopment project that aims at implementing an enormous “innovation hub”, where electric motors will play a central role. Giovanni Franceschini, professor at the Engineering Faculty and already Dean of Unimore Engineering School, has explained the topicality of this area standing out for its great potentialities. «As president of the technical-scientific Committee of Democenter, my missions include seizing the technological challenge represented by the green mobility. So, the National Centre for the sustainable mobility, financed with NRRP resources, was born. Modena is involved in three specific ambits: the first concerns connectivity and autonomous-drive cars, of which Modena is national coordinator, the other two are linked with innovative propulsion, biofuels, hydrogen, fuel cells and electric traction: batteries, inverters and electric motors. The NRRP funds the purchase of equipment to create laboratories and to provide development systems. The idea is to succeed in making a part of the former Foundries a place where implementing these innovative laboratories for the sustainable mobility».
These spaces with academic propensity would represent an excellent opportunity for start-ups and spin offs. Moreover, the whole tertiary training might be moved here. With Democenter, for instance, we have recently started a master dedicated to companies’ employees with “more classic” mechanical education who need to learn how to operate in the new more electric world.
University, an infrastructure to experiment new electric vehicles
University constantly operates in the research and development of an electric future. A scenario that frames also Turin Polytechnics, which has recently presented the CARS-HEV infrastructure for the experimentation of conventional, hybrid and electric vehicles implemented by CARS Inter-department Centre and co-funded by Piedmont Region through European Funds. Everything was presented during an event organized by the Polytechnics in collaboration with FPI Fondazione Piemonte Innova, Mesap, Pole of Mechatronic Innovation and Advanced Manufacturing Systems and AVL Italy.
During the meeting, they described the activity of the Center for Automotive Research and Sustainable Mobility CARS and of the innovative test chamber Hybrid/Electric powertrain and Vehicle Test Facility and they presented as best practices the collaborations with JRC-Joint Research Center, with Stellantis and with AVL.
The infrastructure allows carrying out the test cycles demanded by international regulations, in addition to non-standard drive cycles, like those acquired by the experimentation on the road to validate control strategies of the energy management system, measuring consumptions, efficiency and emissions.
Professor Matteo Sonza Reorda, Vice-Rector of Research for Polytechnics, stated: «Turin Polytechnic, with this new forefront structure has succeeded in orienting the available resources at best, seizing the opportunities offered by INFRA-P announcement by Piedmont Region to support the implementation of new open-access research infrastructures, through which boosting territory’s socio-economic development according to a cooperation between public and private»
India, EVR Motors’ TSRF technology on Napino bicycles and tricycles
EVR Motors is the inventor of a newly designed and patented motor topology – the Trapezoidal Stator – Radial Flux Permanent Magnet (TS – RFPM) topology to develop and manufacture motors for electric two-wheelers in India.
Recently, a partnership has been established between the motor manufacturer and Napino Auto & Electronics. This is EVR Motors’ second partnership in India; earlier it had inked a partnership with Omega Seiki Mobility for the electric three-wheeler segment.
The TSRF technology is said to be distinctive because of its lightweight and compact design. The proprietary TS Topology has a unique trapezoidal tooth shape core structure, which improves flux distribution, reduces leakage, and gives superior heat dissipation with good thermal capacity.
The TS topology can be tailored for a wide variety of requirements and enable multiple variations based on the same design and tooling. The air-cooled motor for two-wheeler application weighs under 7kg, has a diameter of 130mm and is said to be a perfect fit for Indian electric two-wheeler applications. The modular voltage range is between 48- 96V.
The partners will pool in their expertise of designing and manufacturing the all-new TSRF motors at Napino’s manufacturing facility.
The twice as fast electric motor from Australia
In the University of New South Wales in Sydney, a team of researchers-engineers has created an electric motor able to double the maximum rotation speed, increasing the potential of standard permanent-magnet motors. The motor, in fact, can reach rotation speeds exceeding 100,000 RPM and, moreover, the manufacturing method allows decreasing the quantity of necessary rare earths, diminishing the motor’s costs and environmental impact.
One of the consequences of the high rotation speed is the rise of power density, a fundamental factor to achieve excellent performances, taking up little space and weighing less. In the Australian motor the peak power density is about 7 kW per kilogram.
Furthermore, the system has been studied to be scalable and adaptable to manufacturers’ different requirements, and it can be modified at will with a study that lasts about 6-12 months.
Where does the inspiration start from? From a bridge in South Korea.
Designing e-motors with artificial intelligence
The two Japanese giants Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and Toshiba Mitsubishi-Electric Industrial Systems Corporation (Tmeic) have recently announced they have developed a support system to the design of electric motors that integrates the artificial intelligence.
It is AI Maisart® technology by Mitsubishi Electric that allows drastically reducing the necessary time to implement projects of electric motors that can reach the same performances as conventional engineering methods manually used by skilled engineers.
What is expected? Tmeic will adopt the system since 2024 to design electric motors for pumps, compressors and blowers in industries. It is a precious opportunity because it allows, in simpler manner, adjusting design specifications to balance performances versus design, such as for instance the energy efficiency with regard to motor sizes.
Power converters, gallium nitride technology
The collaboration between Power Electronics Innovation Center (PEIC) of Turin Polytechnics and Marelli Motorsport, the Motorsport business unit of Marelli global automotive supplier, expert in the development of hybrid and electric systems for motorsport, concerns the area of gallium nitride technology (GaN) for the power electronics intended for electric motors.
The collaboration is aimed at the design and prototyping of an innovative multi-level 900-V high-power inverter for electric traction, based on GaN technology.
It is a forefront technology that can reach record switching frequencies and low switching energy, allowing a drastic reduction of passive components.
GaN technology opens new horizons in the ambit of the design of power converters, the field where the collaboration aims at excelling in terms of high-efficiency multi-level architectures, gate driving, reliable and optimized parallelization of devices, technologies of high-frequency and temperature capacitors, integration of capacitors and semiconductors on printed circuit boards aimed at the cost reduction, advanced cooling solutions.
The concept study started in 2021 and it is currently in the prototyping phase, which provides for two development stages by the end of 2022.