An investigation of sustainable technologies in the field of electric mobility

Remanufacturing a Synchronous Reluctance Machine with Aluminum Winding: An Open Benchmark Problem for FEM Analysis

“…In this type of case, the equations have to be modified in such a way that the cross-section of aluminium is 20% less if the specific resistivity and the overall length of the wires are assumed to be the same. Based on the market prices used by Vajsz et al, the total cost of winding when using copper and aluminium was found to be significantly different [17]. The cost of winding when using aluminium was only 12.48% of the cost of winding when using copper, which also had similar results to the calculations of Ghahfarokhi et al [88].…”

“…The losses of electric machines-excluding mechanical losses such as friction or ventilation-were calculated by summarising the DC and AC losses. Specifically, the winding losses at a high-frequency range were expressed as a combination of the DC loss (I 2 R), which was only affected by the amplitude of the applied current (I) and the DC resistance (R) skin and proximity effects, and the circulating current effect that was caused by uneven current sharing via the strands is shown in Equation (17) [81,82]. When alternating current flows through a conductor, the current density near the surface became greater than that in the core because of the generated eddy currents, which is known as the skin effect.…”

“…As only one unique electric machine was remanufactured, small-volume production was considered. The material cost difference between copper and aluminium was approximated with the data and calculation method that was published by Vajsz et al [17]. Using aluminium instead of copper reduces the weight of the winding by almost half, and this is despite the need to increase the conductor cross-section to maintain the same wire resistance.…”

“…However, aluminium has a significantly 70% lower mass density (2.7 g/cm 3 ), which aids in reducing the weight of the machine and is especially important in electric vehicle applications. The ∼39% lower melting point (660 • C) of aluminium eases the natural separation from electrical steel during recycling via the melting processes, and it does not pollute it as copper does [17][18][19][20]. The corrosion resistance of pure aluminium improves as the metal's purity increases.…”

Circular Economy Aspects of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Reluctance Machine Design for Electric Vehicle Applications: A Review

“…Furthermore, the monetary impact value of the steel sheet, aluminium components, and copper wire production is 2.16 EUR/kg, 3.27 EUR/kg, and 277 EUR/kg, respectively [134]. Due to the environmental issues related to copper [51,96,134], the easier recycling and lower mass density of aluminium [135], the significantly lower price of it [136], its abundance [137], and higher flexibility in manufacturing [138,139], the use of aluminium has re-emerged as a possible winding solution over copper in the case of electric machines. Even though aluminium has ∼65% higher resistivity (2.83 µΩcm), ∼47% lower thermal conductivity (210 W/m • C), and ∼41% higher thermal expansion coefficient (19.63 mm/mm) considering pure metals [140,141].…”