Soft Magnetic Composite on Electric Motors/Generators

Ixellion aims to develop and industrialize innovative electric Motors/Generators based on proprietary technology and know how on Soft Magnetic Composites.

World energy demand is continuously growing, the resources in use today are mainly fossil fuels which are present in limited quantities and are also responsible for harmful emissions into the atmosphere.T

o ensure a balanced and lasting supply of energy and to intervene to mitigate the processes of climate change in progress, world governments and primarily the European Union, have decided to intervene on the levels and methods of consumption of energy resources with the aim of reducing 20% of energy consumption by 2020 compared to current ones.

In order to achieve this goal, one of the ways to be pursued is the improvement of efficiency in energy end uses of existing plants. Particular attention is paid to the analysis and management of the consumption of electric motors which, within the production cycles, are the largest users and therefore consumers of electricity.

Savings can be obtained both by modifying the energy processes so that there is less waste, and with technologies that are able to transform energy from one form to another in a more efficient way. In particular, electric motors absorb up to 74% of the total electricity attributed to the sector


Main electricity consumption in the industrial world (Italy)

Hysteresis cycle

To date, with modern materials technologies and careful design, we are able to optimize the active parts and therefore build higher efficiency motors than those already in use.

To fully understand this innovation just think that traditional electric motors are affected by high losses of various kinds such as:

  • Mechanical losses due to friction in the bearings and brushes and for anti-heating ventilation;
  • Magnetic losses in iron due to hysteresis and eddy currents;

Losses due to the Joule effect.The new generation of high efficiency motors use newly designed powders, made up of pure iron granules coated with insulating layers, which allow to substantially reduce the possible negative effects of losses due to eddy currents that are generated inside immersed conducting magnetic bodies in a variable magnetic field, thus greatly improving efficiency.

SMC materials offer to  designers an additional advantage: the three-dimensionality of magnetic flux.

To go into the details of soft magnetic composite materials, it is necessary to understand upstream the properties, the advantages and the choice criterion in production, to obtain the maximum advantage in the applications on electric motors.

Soft magnetic materials are easily magnetizable and demagnetizable, have tight hysteresis cycles with low Hc coercive forces and exhibit isotropic behavior.

The energy supplied to the ferromagnetic core during the magnetization phase is not completely returned during the demagnetization phase; in consequence, part of the energy remains stored in the material.

The quantity is proportional to the area of ​​the hysteresis cycle and depends on the type of material, the maximum induction value and the frequency of the magnetizing current.

A variable magnetic field created by an alternating electric current produces transient voltage gradients in a conductive magnetic material which in turn generate parasitic electric currents and are the cause of energy losses due to the dissipation of heat by electrical resistance. The induced currents are inversely proportional to the resistance of the material.

The most obvious solution to counteract leaks and improve the efficiency of electric motors is the application of soft magnetic materials based on Fe metal powders or Fe alloys and other components covered with a thin layer of electrically insulating phenolic resin which has the function of glue.

Methods for reducing losses