CAREER: An Inclusive Approach to Diversity Inspired Design on Novel 3D Printed Electric Motors

电动马达广泛应用于所有造成温室气体排放的经济部门。提高电机的效率和功率密度可以减少排放到环境中的污染物的数量和类型。对于传统的制造技术来说，旨在提高电机性能的制造设计修改可能是一场噩梦。3D打印技术在尺寸、形状和材料多样性方面提供了独特的多功能性，提高了电机设计的灵活性，这是传统制造技术目前无法实现的。为了创造下一代高性能电机，3D打印可以用来在电机制造过程中战略性地储存材料，就像蜘蛛在关键区域战略性地储存丝绸以优化网络设计一样。蜘蛛利用网络丝绸中的多样性来构建结构更健全的网络。丝绸性能的可变性是网络的强度，使其能够更有效地执行其预期任务。同样，3D打印允许电机设计师制造重量轻、坚固的电机，这可以显著减少温室气体的排放，这是保护环境的关键。这个拟议的项目旨在将想象力扩展到传统电机设计之外，通过采用蜘蛛使用的基于包容的多样性设计方面来创建新的设计规则和材料。拟议的项目扩大了以包容为基础的多样性，以加强工程人才的渠道。拟议项目的一个组成部分包括为代表不足的少数族裔和妇女提供由教师指导的本科生研究经验，以及为面对面和虚拟授课开发廉价的、基于项目的大学前基础物理课程。虚拟授课将促进来自服务不足的国内社区和其他大陆的学生的参与。电机的性能取决于其设计、材料的性能以及制造过程中使用的工艺。传统的制造技术对功率密度设置了上限，并抑制了更紧凑的电机设计的生产。此外，与传统的(减法和粉末冶金)技术相比，包含复杂的设计特征以增强电机性能是复杂的。3D打印(添加制造)可以潜在地克服目前限制许多新颖电机设计实现的许多挑战。这个拟议的项目将考虑3D打印的能力，它模仿蜘蛛的直觉，包括材料多样化，对资源和环境的考虑，以及在不牺牲功能的情况下优化能量输入。该项目的具体研究目标是重新考虑在定子和转子设计中使用均匀电工钢，并探索用于多材料3D打印磁芯的非均匀电工钢的能力。拓扑优化技术是探索这一未知领域的极佳选择；然而，需要电机模型来准确计算机器的性能特性。将开发包括局部和空间材料异质性的子域模型。每个子域将包括材料(磁性、导电性和介电性)的热、机械、电和磁性的变化。需要探索优化算法，包括社会蜘蛛优化、遗传算法和梯度方法，以选择最适合处理多目标、多变量和多物理的算法。回归分析、灵敏度分析和方差分析将提取新的设计规则。在电机设计中的附加制造工艺在文献或工程行业中还没有得到充分的探索。该研究活动将提供广泛的知识基础，并推动电机的开发，在不牺牲性能的情况下利用添加剂制造的好处。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Electric motors are widely used in all of the economic sectors that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Improvements in efficiency and power density of electric motors can reduce the amount and types of pollutants emitted into the environment. Manufacturing design modifications aimed to improve the performance of electric motors can be a nightmare with conventional manufacturing techniques. 3D printing technologies offer unique versatility in size, shape and diversity of materials, promoting flexibility in motor design that is presently unavailable with conventional manufacturing technologies. To create the next generation of high performance electric motors, 3D printing can be used to strategically deposit material during motor manufacturing similar to the way spiders strategically deposit silk in key areas to optimize web design. Spiders use diversity in web silks to build a more structurally sound web. The variability of the silk properties is the strength of the web and enable it to perform its intended task more efficiently. Likewise, 3D printing allows motor designers to manufacture lightweight, robust motors, which can significantly reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases, which is key to preserving the environment. This proposed project aims to stretch the imagination beyond conventional electric motor design to inform creation of new design rules and materials by adopting aspects of the inclusion based diversity in design used by spiders. The proposed project extends inclusion-based diversity to strengthen the pipeline of talent in engineering as well. An integral part of the proposed project includes faculty-mentored undergraduate research experiences for underrepresented minorities and women, as well as, development of inexpensive, project-based, pre-college basic physics courses for both in-person and virtual delivery. Virtual delivery will facilitate participation of students from underserved domestic communities and those on other continents. Electric motor performance is dependent upon its design, properties of its materials and the processes used in manufacturing. Conventional manufacturing techniques place a ceiling on power density and inhibits production of more compact motor designs. Moreover, the inclusion of intricate design features that enhance motor performance is complex with conventional (subtractive and powder metallurgy) techniques. 3D printing (additive manufacturing) can potentially overcome many of the challenges that currently limit realization of many novel electrical machine designs. This proposed project will consider the capabilities of 3D printing, which mimic the intuits of a spider, which include material diversification, consideration for resources and environment as well as optimization of energy input without sacrificing functionality. The specific research goals of the proposed project are to rethink the use of homogeneous electrical steel in the design of stators and rotors and explore the capabilities of non-homogenous electrical steels for multi-material 3D printed magnetic cores. Topology optimization techniques are excellent options for exploring this uncharted territory; however, a model of the electric motor is required for accurate computation of the machine performance characteristics. Subdomain models will be developed to include local and spatial material heterogeneities. Each subdomain will include variations in thermal, mechanical, electrical and magnetic properties of the material (magnetic, conductive and dielectric). Exploration of optimization algorithms, including social spider optimization, genetic algorithms, and gradient methods, is required to select the algorithm that best handles multiple objectives, multiple variables, and multiple physics. Regression analysis, sensitivity analysis and analysis of variance will extract new design rules. Additive manufacturing processes in design of electric motors have not been adequately explored in literature or the engineering industry. The research activity will provide a broad knowledge base and advance the development of electric machines that capitalize on the benefits of additive manufacturing without sacrificing performance.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.