Professor Eric Severson at ECE Spring 2024 Colloquium

Multiharmonic Electric Machines for Manufacturing and Sustainability

Rotating electric machines have long functioned as the workhorse of industry, using electromagnetism to convert electric power into useful shaft torque. This seminar will present new research in this storied technology that challenges our long-held assumptions about electric motors and generators—how they look, behave, and are manufactured. While traditional machines rely on a single magnetic field in the airgap, the machines presented in this seminar create and control multiple magnetic fields. The seminar will show how recent research in metal additive manufacturing can be used to make these new machines a reality. This facilitates a step improvement in torque capacity and enables creating radial forces to levitate the shaft, thereby eliminating bearings and oil-lubrication. These advancements have potential to unlock new capability within manufacturing and sustainable systems, including electrification of off-highway vehicles, high speed spindle tools, flywheel energy storage, and oil-free turbomachinery for HVAC and clean energy generation.