ExOne manufactures industrial sand and metal 3D printers using binder jetting technology. The company has announced a collaboration with Maxxwell Motors to develop a copper e-winding design for the latter’s axial flux electric motors for use in applications ranging from electric cars to heavy-duty vehicles.
The pair have already binder jet 3D printed a high-efficiency copper e-winding design for an electric motor without the use of rare earth magnets. They claim that the manufacturing process is more efficient and cost-effective, and improves motor performance compared with traditional methods.
Currently, the manufacturing method used to produce the windings for electric motors is slow and expensive, and the achievable designs limit the product’s performance. ExOne and Maxxwell have proved that binder jet 3D printing a high-efficiency design in copper overcomes many of the issues associated with traditional manufacturing processes. The pair state that further development and testing of the components will now be carried out.
A major goal for Maxxwell is to binder jet 3D print winding assemblies as a monolithic piece, thus eliminating the need for coil wrapping, bending, tooling and welding individual components together. Binder jet 3D printing enables fewer manufacturing steps, less material wastage and a component that is not only more reliable and affordable but also offers a higher level of performance.