by Brianna Crandall — November 30, 2016 — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) just announced nearly $25 million for 13 projects aimed at advancing technologies for energy-efficient electric motors through applied research and development.
DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s (EERE) Next Generation Electric Machines projects will address the limitations of traditional materials and designs used in electric motor components by cost-effectively enhancing their efficiency, improving their performance, and reducing weight.
This effort will support innovative approaches expected to significantly improve the technology in industrial electric motors, which use approximately 70 percent of the electricity consumed by U.S. manufacturers and nearly a quarter of all electricity consumed nationally.
Improvements to these systems can be achieved by using key enabling technologies such as wide bandgap semiconductor devices, advanced magnetic materials, aggressive cooling techniques, and improved conductors or superconducting materials.
In addition, these projects will leverage recent technical advances made in nanomaterials research, new highly siliconized steel manufacturing processes, and improved performance of high-temperature superconductors — all representing potentially economical solutions for next-generation electric machines.
Each of the 13 projects have been selected to address one of four topic areas identified by EERE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office:
- Manufacturing of high-performance thermal and electrical conductors
- Manufacturing of low-loss silicon steel
- High temperature superconducting wire manufacturing
- Manufacturing of other enabling technologies to increase performance.
In addition, these enabling technologies will improve motors used in the growing clean energy sector, helping wind, solar, electric vehicle, and battery manufacturers. The projects also encourage research, development, and deployment of advanced magnets, high-frequency insulation materials, and lead-free, low-loss bearing technologies that are critical for high-speed electric motors.
Details about the 13 individual projects are available on the EERE Web site.
More information about EERE’s efforts supported by the Advanced Manufacturing Office to advance technologies in the development of electric machines is also available on the site.
