Mechanical Design and Fabrication of Novel Prototype Electric Machine Designs

Abstract

The conceptual design of two novel machine designs, a tractive integrated machine-drive and an integrated machine-fan, were defined and needed to be made into physical prototypes for experimentation. Other students performed extensive theoretical analysis to derive each machine architecture and predict its corresponding performance. This allowed for the high-level dimensions of each machine to be defined; however, this did not provide sufficient detail to completely define the prototype design to be tested. The creation and finalization of the mechanical design aspects of the system components, in addition to the fabrication and assembly methods, were required to ensure the testing could be successfully conducted. Due to the complexity of the machine design, the integrated machine-drive required support from an industry partner, Arnold Magnetics Technologies, to collaboratively complete the design of the prototype machine and fabricate it. The prototype machine was successfully delivered to the laboratory, where the final manufacturing tasks were developed and executed within the laboratory to complete the prototype integrated machine-drive assembly. The integrated machine-fan had its assembly integration components designed and sourced from a large mechanical component manufacturer. Methods were carefully developed to manufacture and assemble the unconventional prototype machine, which were executed within the laboratory. Additionally, this included the design and manufacturing of numerous supporting fixture assemblies to successfully carry out these methods. Both prototype machine assemblies were set up on the dynamometer, and sufficient tests were conducted to characterize each machine performance. This indicates the designs and fabrication methods developed were successful for both novel prototype machines.