“This advanced variant of a separately excited synchronous motor is thus an alternative to permanent-magnet synchronous machines (PSM)” ZF explains in a recent press release. The novelty is a separately excited I 2 SM synchronous motor by ZF that transmits the energy for the magnetic field through an inductive exciter inside the rotor shaft. This makes the motor extraordinarily compact with the maximum power and torque density.
PSM machines are currently the most used motors in electric vehicles but they are based on magnets that need rare earth materials for their production. With I2SM, ZF establishes a new standard to make electric motors extremely sustainable in production and highly powerful and efficient in operation.
Dr. Holger Klein, CEO of ZF said: “With this magnet-free e-motor without rare earth materials, we have another innovation with which we are consistently improving our electric drive portfolio to create even more sustainable, efficient and resource-saving mobility. This is our guiding principle for all new products. And we currently see no competitor that masters this technology as well as ZF.”
Compared to common SESM systems, the inductive exciter can reduce losses for the energy transmission into the rotor by 15 percent. In addition, the CO2 footprint in production, which arises with PSM e-motors in particular due to magnets including rare earth materials, can be reduced by up to 50 percent.
