Open Access Conference Proceedings

With the electrification of the road vehicles in recent years, the development of electric motors strives towards smaller and more efficient designs. In order to push forward the current limits of the electric and magnetic properties, e.g. magnetic saturation of the ferromagnetic parts in the motor, novel materials must be developed. In this paper, the comparison of different materials, i.e. C45 steel, FeSi and FeCo alloys, which are used in the rotor magnetic structure of an electrically excited synchronous motor, is presented. Regarding the electic and magnetic properties, each of the materials is a representative of its own material family. The materials were evaluated by measuring their electrical conductivity and static B-H curve. It is shown by the 2D finite elemet method analysis that the materials with elevated magnetic properties allow improvements in the electric motor design, leading to the enhanced performance, which is reflected in lower energy consumption (higher efficiency) and/or lower mass (higher compactness).

Keywords: Iron-cobalt alloys, FeCo, electromagnetic properties, performance, electric motor

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