Electromechanical Engineering - Motion Products
Scope overview
Our expertise enables the design and development of the next generation energy-efficient, compact and reliable electromechanic drivetrains and drivetrain components.
Our research activities are focussed on the following aspects:
Electromechanical (novel) actuators & controls
- Detailed (unconventional) motor design
- Power electronics integration
- Machine level control
Cooling, lubrication & thermal energy management
- Computational fluid dynamics
- Fluid-structure interaction
- Innovative cooling concepts: direct coil cooling, two-phase immersion cooling, phase changing materials, etc...
- Models and know-how on experimental testing
Drivetrain (emerging) component integration
- Parametric model or experimental data based research on various combinations of motor, power electronics, controls, cooling and lubrication
- Multi-physical modelling to capture interaction between drivetrain components
Testing & validation of drivetrains & components
- Experimental characterisation of drivetrains and mechatronic systems
- Data capturing
Electromechanical (novel) actuators & controls
We have a long standing track record on the study and design of several types of (novel) electric machines e.g. Switched Reluctance Machines (SRM), Synchronous Reluctance Machines (SynRM), Brushless DC Motors BLDC, Electric Variable Transmissions (EVT) , Permanent Magnet Synchronous machines (PMSM), ..etc...and this for several industrial applications such as electric vehicles, wind or hydro turbines and industrial machines in general. We have experience and knowledge in FE modelling of the electromagnetic and thermal aspects of electric machines, using simulation packages including both commercial as well as UGent proprietary tools. With our models we can compare several types of machines and materials. We are used to carry out dedicated machine designs including controller for you company-specific application.
Axial Flux Machine Technology
Electrical motor with pulsed torque output
This novel (patent-pending) actuator is designed to drive machines and application with a large –compared to a nominal- sinusoidal or pulsed torque profile. The device consist of an electric motor with an integrated magnetic spring and has a lower amount of active materials and a lower inertia compared to standard motors used for those drive trains. It makes the drivetrain more compact and reduces the power consumption. We have fully parametrized electro-magnetic models, simplified thermal models and control algorithms available to evaluate the use of this component in any drivetrain.
A prototype will be tested in our laboratory on an industrial-relevant test bench.
High speed electrical machines
Modular power electronics for drive trains
Cooling, lubrication & thermal energy management
Through innovative cooling with high cooling capacity and low thermal resistance the power density of electromechanical drivetrain components can be increased, as well as their reliability.
Emerging lubrication techniques increase the reliability and performance of those drive trains. This enables further integration of more compact drivetrains with higher performance and lower cabling, assembly and material cost.
We perform research on topics such as direct conductive and convective coil cooling, two-phase immersion cooling and phase shifting materials within the actuator and its drive; and lubrication in drive train components.
Innovative Cooling of Electrical Machines
When used in dynamic applications, the temperature will vary leading to mechanical stresses, fatigue and insulation degradation of the windings. This degradation can be countered with various innovative cooling techniques (e.g. direct coil cooling). Our integrated multi-physical design approach allows to evaluate the impact of different emerging cooling techniques on the temperature distribution in the windings and as such helps to improve the reliability of the electrical machines by reducing the risk on insulation degradation.
Measurements on our prototype revealed a power density increase of 40% compared to machines with conventional water jacket cooling. These inserts can be combined with existing forced air or water cooling and are particularly suited for mobility applications where higher power density and energy efficiency is required.
See out technology offer for more details
Modelling and experimental testing of heat sinks for power electronics
Modelling of TEHL contacts in gears and bearings
The models include detailed 3D CFD-FSI modelling and simulation, derived meta-models for response-mapping, Flexible Multi-Body models to incorporate TEHL meta-models and novel reduced-order models for large-scale deformations. We have a long track record in numerical and experimental tribology and material behaviour under various damage mechanisms.
Proprietary tools for industrial fluid systems incl. access to supercomputer
Drivetrain (emerging) component integration
Toolchain to optimize the performance of electric machines for specific applications
Any electric machine is made to be integrated into a system for a specific application. If such system specifications are known, the machine and its controller can be optimised towards maximum performance. We have developed a toolchain to optimize the electromagnetic and thermal performance of electric motors with concentrated windings. The toolchain was originally designed for switched reluctance motors (SRM) but can be applied to other concentrated windings machines and similar motor geometries (radial double salient machines). It consists of validated parametrized models for (stretched) end winding cooling both for wet or dry end winding cooling and slot cooling with tubes of arbitrary shape. Based on various input parameters such as geometry, material properties, excitation, fingerprint curves and set points for torque and speed from system level these models provide reliable outputs such as CAD drawings, ON-OFF current angles (control), losses (core, tubes and copper), output power, efficiency and temperature distribution. This toolchain allows e.g. to find the desired output power and efficiency without exceeding the maximum temperature limit.
Integration of multi-port convertors
Platform to evaluate the application feasibility of an EVT
Additional benefits are reduced ICE motor peak power up to 20%, low tracking error on high-dynamic motion load profiles and increased flexibility (e.g. reverse motion).
Simulation of push-belt and toroidal CVT’s
We developed validated parameterized models for push-belt and CVT’s and toroidal CVT’s (with or without active slip compensation) which allow to assess the added value of the variable transmission in a vehicle in terms of losses and efficiency.
Electromechanical systems: use case stepper motor soft sensing control and flexible gripper control
Motion system design tool AMOCAD
Free Piston Variable Volume Ratio Device
Testing & validation of drivetrains & components
With our extended and flexible drive train test setups including a calorimeter with direct measurement principle and high speed thermal camera we can measure very accurate power losses allowing to build up and/or validate power loss models. We have experience in the development of emulation techniques of load conditions and have extensive load conditions available for ICE, wave and wind energy. This enables to build up the digital twin of your drive train or drive train component. We can even develop dedicated test setups for your application. For example for the company Mazaro we supported the design and build of a customized test bench for their innovative type of Continuous Variable Transmission (CVT). More about Mazaro
See here our list of infrastructure