Constantly researching industrial motion-control solutions that can match competitiveness, high control performances and energy efficiency, in its research centres Bonfiglioli has developed a product to meet such requirements. It is a Power Drive System based on the coupling of synchronous reluctance motors of BSR series with the electric drives of Active Cube series, equipped with dedicated sensorless vector control.
The solution is available in two optimized packages, respectively for the compactness and reduction of operation costs, with very high efficiency levels (IE4 class for the motor and IES2 class for the Power Drive System, according to the new Ecodesign EN 61800-9-2 regulation). Bonfiglioli Power Drive System allows minimizing the energy consumption in any operation point, thanks to the complete mathematical characterization of the motor on board of inverter (motor digital twin) that also grants a simple and reliable configuration of the system. The full integration of the package and the broad variety of available control strategies at software level determine accuracy in the sensorless speed control, stability in the torque control, high torque delivery even at low or null speed and excellent overload features.
Equipmake, developer and manufacturer in the United Kingdom of electrification products for battery-powered electric vehicles’ transmissions, has recently presented a compact, light and high-power drive system for the manufacturers of high-performance electric vehicles. Ampere-220 e-axle brings a radical change in standard performances for electric sports cars and supercars. How? Combining one of the most advanced electric 3D-printed motors in the world with the whole power electronics, including the silicon carbide inverter and a transmission system integrated into a compact unit that directly powers the vehicle axis.
At the centre, the e-axle presents the Ampere electric motor with a spoked rotor design that has been recently used also in the Ariel Hiper under the form of APM motor of Equipmake.
Extremely light but efficient and cheap, Ampere has a peak power of 220 kW and a maximum motor speed of 30,000 rpm. With a weight slightly under 20 kg, if features a power density of 11 kW per kg, over the double compared to a conventional electric motor. The key of its performances is the combination of the spoke design of Equipmake with the additive manufacturing, which allows 3D-printing the metal structure of Ampere instead of milling it from a solid billet. Ian Foley, Equipmake CEO, said: “Equipmake has always been at the forefront of innovation in electric motors, with our APM range offering class-leading power densities thanks to their compact, lightweight designs. Ampere showcases the next-gen of motor technology. Combined with our own power electronics, including our silicon carbide inverter, and transmission system, we have created the Ampere-220 e-axle. With such a huge amount of performance in a compact, light unit, one that is also ISO 26262-compliant and ASIL-D ready, it provides the total off-the-shelf solution for manufacturers of electric sports cars, further underlining Equipmake’s position as a leading provider of state-of-the-art electrification systems to the automotive industry.”
While at the beginning it was not welcomed with great enthusiasm, today the idea of replacing an iron stator with a light PCB one is achieving a new prospect. Lightening the stator means attaining more motor efficiency, therefore fewer emissions and electric energy consumptions.
In 2012, there was already feasibility evidence, when Boulder Wind Power integrated a PCB stator into a direct-transmission generator with 12-metre diameter for a wind turbine that produces 3 megawatts of power and slightly more than 2 million Nm of torque.
The Texan Infinitum Electrichas a lot to say about this issue, having developed a PCB stator motor that suits a broad variety of purposes and generates the same power as a conventional alternate current induction motor, but with half weight and sizes. Now, the specific motor is finding applications such as HVAC and electric vehicles.
To support automotive startups and OEM in speeding up their course towards electric vehicles, Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) has started a partnership with the design and development company Italdesign, to provide a solution of customized modular EV platform. It is an offer in world preview that combines the new sliding frame for WAE electric vehicles with turn-key vehicle development services signed by Italdesign.
Standing out from the other EV platforms currently on the market, EVX integrates the battery casing with elements more commonly perceived as part of the body structure. The front and rear frame structures are mounted on the carbon composite housing and shock loads can be transferred via internal reinforcements to the integral side sills.
The joint venture will support the creation of premium electric vehicles as high-performance GT, Crossover and Sedans.
Italdesign Engineering team completes then the vehicle’s architecture, adding safety systems, structures and UX devices to constitute the modular platform that will be the basis to implement various high-performance vehicles.
In the production of electric motors, more precisely in the casting of the coil in the stator, very liquid, low-viscosity materials are processed. A continuous pulsation-free dispensing flow of the material is particularly important here. In order for the resin masses to harden, they – and also the stators – must be heated. This requires perfect process reliability. ViscoTec dispensing systems are excellently suited for the application of resin masses. They can easily be integrated into existing production lines. However, they are also impressive in newly designed customer-specific systems. The endless piston principle used in the ViscoTec dispensing pumps enables pulsation-free, continuous dispensing. Continuously adjustable in application quantity and application speed. Therefore, the dispensing technology specialist can guarantee an ideal penetration behaviour and a completely clean impregnation result, both when processing 1- and 2-component resin masses or trickle resins. ViscoTec dispensing pumps function regardless of viscosity. Even if viscosity fluctuations occur due to storage time or storage temperature, the dispensing functions perfectly.
Converting conventional boats with thermal engines into electric or hybrid ones is the goal of the Electric Wave startup, system integrator in Ancona for the electric boating, operating in the development of a port charge network with a circular nautical zero-emission approach.
The company has implemented a demo boat, EW01, full electric: an 8.5 metre long goiter, with a 15 kW Bellmarine motor provided with photovoltaic awning with Sunerg modules with bifacial cells and with a power of 1 kWp. The vessel is available for potential owners interested in the advantages of silence, comfort and sustainability, which implies that this electric boat travels at a speed of 5 knots. In a sunny day, the boat has an autonomy of over 6 hours in full electric modality, which can be extended to 20h by using the suitable Range Extender kit in hybrid modality.
Two new electric drive train solutions for off-highway vehicles, including the e-Axle and e-Gearbox, are recently introduced in the market by Dana. These technologies enable electrified propulsion by leveraging the company’s portfolio of motors, inverters, and controls.
Aziz Aghili, president of Dana off-highway drive and motion technologies, said: «Vehicle manufacturers in mining, construction and other off-highway markets are efficiently transitioning toward electrification, while retaining a large portion of their products in traditional technologies. Dana has positioned the company to be energy-source agnostic to support our customers across drivetrain configurations, including electrodynamic components that accelerate the adoption of electrification through the introduction of technologies specifically selected to meet the needs of current vehicle architectures».
The Spicer Electrified e-Axle combines Dana’s heavy axle design with a high-efficiency TM4 Sumo HP motor/generator and inverter combination for medium-sized mining trucks, medium-sized load haul dumpers, and large lift trucks.
Supplying 139 kW of continuous power and 193 kW at peak power, the TM4 motor/generator and inverter join together at the center housing of the axle. So to provide the right torque and efficiency within the usual space of an internal-combustion engine and transmission.
Based on the new concept of “dual drive system”, the device designed and implemented by BTSR International can grant the perfect combination between the feeding control and the accumulation control. A multi-patented system that, actually, is qualified as the first “positive and driven” feeder introduced on the market.
About 120 employees, more than 25 million Euros of turnover expected for 2018, with over 70% represented by an export addressed worldwide. We are speaking of BTSR International, company specialized in the design and in the implementation of electronic sensors for the quality control in the productive chains of textile-clothes, of mechano-textile and technical textile, for years operating also with solutions for the check of metal wires (copper and precious metals). Ambit, the latter, that has allowed it to further enhance its presence in the automotive market. Solutions with high technological content, which include electronic sensors and smart systems, aimed at satisfying the most diversified requirements concerning the monitoring of the yarn running, the feed tension keeping and the primary quality control parameters on any type of yarn: traditional yarns, elastomers, glass fibers and carbon fibers. A broad range of devices among which stands out CWF 2000, specific high-tech system for the control of the metal wire tension.
A highly technological multi-patented system that, thanks to a fully new wire tension control modality, differing from the already known and more conventional ones, allows reaching unprecedented process efficiency and quality.
«CWF 2000 – underlines Caviggioli – allows feeding the wire constantly and uniformly, irrespective of the speed of the wire itself, connected with the machine speed and the coil size, as well as with the coil section/shape».
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CWF 2000, with a single device, can cover a wide range of diameters and tensions, from 0.01 to 0.6 mm (58 – 23 AWG), from 0.5 to 2,000 g. Thanks to a series of small easily replaceable accessories, it can be reconfigured to suit the most different requirements
Double closed loop for total quality: from the coil to the winding
Based on the new concept of “dual drive system”, able to grant the perfect matching between the feeding control and the accumulation control, the new CWF 2000 represents the first “positive and driven” feeder released on the market.
«Very compact and ergonomic – specifies Caviggioli – this device can be integrated also on existing lines and can process wires from 0.014 to 0.6 mm of diameter. Thanks to its intrinsic peculiarities, it allows programming up to three different tension values of wire feeding, without any interface/connection to the coil winding machine, or up to four different wire feeding tension values during the winding cycle, using two digital outputs of the coil winding machine».
More in detail, the programmable tension range is included between 5 and 2,000 g, with 1 g resolution that drops to 0.01 in the 0.5 Ă· 200 g range. The feeding speed range is instead 0.1 Ă· 25 m/s, that is to say 6 Ă· 1,500 m/min.
Technological core of the system, which enables such performances and assures excellent results in terms of quality and repeatability in the winding process, is represented by the two particular (and patented) controls: Motor Torque and Lwa (Length of Wire Absorbed).
«In short – highlights Caviggioli – there is a double closed loop that controls the feeding tension of the wire and its advancement speed, along the entire path, from feeding coils to final coils. The Motor Torque function assures the perfect control of the motor torque and then the constancy of the input tension, annulling eventual tension peaks».
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CWF 2000 finds application in several sectors, like for instance by producers of ignition coils for automotive, solenoids, transformers, relays, stator windings and rotors for household appliance motors
The digital motor torque control can detect and adjust an eventual tension anomaly of the input feeding, generating an alert and the process stop before the wire can be damaged. Thus avoiding any production not in compliance with the demanded requisites. Essential is also the capability of managing automatically the sudden absorption or release of the wire during the work process and the simultaneous maintenance of the wire feeding tension at the set value.
«The second closed loop – adds Caviggioli – represented by the function called Lwa, it too patented, assures instead a constant consumption of output wire».
Such function allows detecting and controlling: any dimensional variation of the shapes of the winding coil; a wrong wire size; the wrong setup of clamping chucks (core sliding); eventual accumulation of filth inside the wire guide; damaging of the wire guide; any mechanical variation or friction on contact points after the feeder (between CWF and coil). Moreover, it allows monitoring the gradual deterioration of the mechanical machine parts (wire guide, chucks and so on), registering eventual temperature differences between hot/cold machine, as well as the passage of the wire through the wire guides with different angles and frictions.
With constant focus on the process innovation, the production division of Btsr International avails itself of real 4.0 advanced plants and instruments, among the most advanced existing on the market
Control, monitoring and planning of the production 4.0
In addition to the two motors that control and keep the winding feeding tension constant during the entire process, CWF 2000 relies on a third motor, too. The latter adjusts a tensioning arm that, automatically, can suit the already mentioned broad range of metal wires to be processed (from 0.016 to 0.6 mm of diameter). High flexibility assured by a set of small accessories that make it a component able to satisfy and to suit the most different requirements.
The base version, CWF 2000 is suitable for loads from 5 to 800 g but it can be easily upgraded to endure max. loads of 2,000 g, adding a tension stabilizer of the input wire. The execution called CWF 2000/L (provided with load cell from 0.5 to 200 g, resolution of 0.1 g) is in fact suitable for processing very thin wires and low loads. The CWF 2000/Slk execution features the same peculiarities as the previous model but it is equipped with special input tensioning arm, apt for the processing of spiral wires.
The company in brief
Tiziano Barea, president and general manager of Btsr International, Olgiate Olona (VA)
The company in brief Established in 1979 thanks to the entrepreneurial farsightedness of a very young electronic engineer, Tiziano Barea, class 1960, president in charge and general manager, Btsr International (acronym of Best Technologies Study and Research) is headquartered in Olgiate Olona (VA). A plant extending on 6,000 covered square metres that host the research and development centre, administration and accounting offices and the production centre where high-tech and human resources synergistically operate at the service of the process and product innovation. «Our production cycle – states Tiziano Barea – can be subdivided into two main sequential phases. The first is highly technological and extremely robotized. It provides for the use of a minimal highly skilled labour force and the use of fully automated lines for the mass-production of electronic components, constituting the core of our products. The second manual phase provides for the division into organized work teams. They carry out the testing, the assembly, the calibration and the serial identification of all components, for a precise and total traceability of finished parts». Constantly pursuing the process innovation, the production division avails itself of advanced plants and instruments really conforming to 4.0, among the most cutting-edge available on the market. Lines able to manufacture 400,000 components/hour, to carry out 3D analyses of the electronic board welds and X-ray machines to test the finished product fully automatically. High added-value systems that allow a 100% controlled just-in-time production, able to satisfy the most different market requirements. «A prevailingly international market – adds Barea – with a presence of our brand in over 30 Countries, which we address with a strong “problem solving” attitude, since the design phase. With an operational structure subdivided into four business units: textile, technical-textile, electronic components and on-demand projects, upon precise specifications». Know-how, competences and intellectual property that, at the threshold of the first thirty years of activity, means over 500 international registered patents. «Our growth – ends Barea – has always been based on intense, unceasing and constant research and development activities, for which about 7-10% of our turnover is allocated every year». Never-ending innovation, then, from which derives also CWF 2000, the new high-tech system in the technology of metal wire feeding tension Btsr-branded.
«With a really minimal expense – confirms Caviggioli – you can replace the accessories to reconfigure the system quickly according to specific requirements, without any additional and/or replacement intervention».
The innovative system proposed by BTSR International stands out also for maintenance and safety aspects. Not being a brake, in fact, it does not need particular maintenance activities, apart from the simple substitution of the o-Rings.
In the new Sipro production line of needle winding and brushless motors, CWF 2000 allows the accurate control of the wire tension, granting the dimensional uniformities of the wound coils even at extreme speeds
«Concerning safety – further underlines Caviggioli – without needing a direct contact with the wire, the operator can check on the display the work tension, the speed and the various process phases. Data that obviously can be displayed also from remote».
Keeping pace with Industry 4.0, the new CWF 2000 is in fact based on a control software that can be also integrated also into the PLC of the coil winding machine on which it is installed, with all consequent operational benefits.
«In this way – adds Caviggioli – the data browsing and analysis, the process monitoring and programming become immediate. Activities that can be carried out from remote by the new Matrix Touch Coil, a functional dedicated tablet. Opportunity that allows identifying easily also the critical points of each winding line, transforming the device also into a powerful support for the operators and the managers of production and planning. Each single line can then be visualized by the App Easy Coil, for departmental operational reporting».
New Nortech line for the production of solenoids; the Btsr software can be easily integrated into the PLC of the new coil winding machines
The various production lines (which can be spread also in different plants) are instead supervised by the Pc Link Web Coil, a web-based app that allows collecting uniform data to monitor the entire production. This grants a homogeneous data collection according to Industry 4.0 requisites, not only in case of installation on new lines but also of less evolved winding plants.
«Control, monitoring and planning of the production – underlines Caviggioli – that can be performed with Pc Lin Web Coil for any device developed by us, in addition to CWF 2000, and installed on any other line typology».
In the new Sipro production line of solenoids, CWF 2000 assures a decrease of wire breakages and then minor downtimes, besides a shortening of cycle times and a very fast investment payback
Technological innovation for a fast investment payback
The mentioned operation principles of new conception, like the digital “dual drive” system, the double closed loop control, the “tension profiler” function and the forefront control system of the motor torque represent radical innovations that imply exclusive benefits at different operational levels.
Paolo Caviggioli, project manager of Btsr International in Olgiate Olona (VA)
It is a highly innovative solution that aims at redefining the state-of-the-art in the wire feeding technology, expected to exert a significant impact in the metal wire winding sector.
«Not only in terms of versatility – states and reconfirms Caviggioli – but also in terms of production efficiency, quality and repeatability. The device allows the processing of a broad range of wire diameters, centralized programming and monitoring, great versatility to keep a tension value constant and granted».
At the same time, CWF 2000 represents a highly profitable investment. As witnessed by the numerous applicative ambits that have benefitted from it for a long time.
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Ignition Coil production line retrofitted with CWF 2000. This new technology allows optimizing processes and improving the product quality
Relay production line retrofitted with CWF 2000. The investment return, also in these cases, is granted in very short times thanks to Btsr patented technology
«They are manufacturers of ignition coils for automotive – ends
Caviggioli – of transformers with primary and secondary windings, contactors, relays and also producers of stator windings for household appliance motors, just to make some examples. Applications carried out on new plants and retrofits of existing lines, which have brought higher production efficiency, cost saving and quality increase. Benefits that, together with the drastic reduction of wire breakages and rejects, have allowed an investment payback in few months».
It is called HPM-400 the new ultra-light electric motor by Equipmake. Owing to the original intention of using it as rocket fuel pump, it features different innovations in comparison with conventional motors/inverters, making it ideal for the use in space, aerospace and marine high-performance applications. With a maximum motor speed of 20,000 rpm, peak power/torque of 400 kW/250 Nm, but a mass of just 30 kg only for the motor, the HPM-400 id deemed to rank among those featuring the highest power density in the world. In combination with its silicon carbide integrated inverter, which weighs only 10 kg, the whole system weighs only 40 kg.
HPM-400 maintains the air pressure inside and it has been completely redesigned mechanically to withstand the pressure from the interior when it goes from the atmosphere to the void. This has resulted in a super-compact cylinder package with a carbon fibre shell to keep pressure and weight low. Everything is added to an advanced high-power and low-weight motor/inverter that is at its ease in the space, in air or in water. Ian Foley, CEO of Equipmake, declared: «The complete package is ultra-light and able to withstand unbelievable accelerations and the inverter that must operate in the void, must be at high voltage, because a lot of power is really requested».
Sealence Spa SB is the startup that has invented the first fully electric jet for naval propulsion, DeepSpeed. The last funding round, completed last December 15th, ended with 7.556.386,25 due to 175 investors, through equity instruments and debit grants. Resources are mainly intended for the support of experimental research and industrial development activities and it is just another growth step. «The total fundraising since the start of the industrial plan activities overall reaches about 16.5 million Euros, whereas the investments made in industrial research and experimental development activities reach about 9 million Euros». The target is to be sought in the super-deepspeed motor at the service of more efficient and performing electric boating. To date, the fleet of boats that test electric Sealence motors consists of four boats from 6 to 15 meters. Moreover, it seems that Sealance is designing the building of a gigafactory of batteries.
