Performance boost for electric motors thanks to thermally conductive casting resin

The machine manufacturers Gehring and Wafios develop and produce turnkey production lines for hairpin stators for the worldwide automotive industry. Gehring stands for extensive know-how in the production of the electric drive train. The integrated portfolio includes production technology for the manufacture of traction drives in electric vehicles. WAFIOS completes the portfolio with the production process of forming technology. WAFIOS supplies the bending technology for the complete hairpin and I-pin geometries. Both companies will present their latest products in this field at CWIEME 2023.

Partner Lambda Resins is contributing Lampdapox, a potting material that fills all cavities in a ready-to-install stator where air would otherwise be present. The potting ensures rapid heat transfer from the winding into the cooling jacket. Whether a stator consists of hair pins or a conventional wire winding is irrelevant. The potting reliably protects the motor from overheating. The motor can either be operated with a higher output or be dimensioned smaller from the outset to save costs.

Lambda Resins offers Lambdapox with thermal conductivities in the range of 2 to 8 W/mK, depending on the requirements or the amount of heat to be dissipated. This is about 100 to 400 times the value of air. Compared to liquid cooling media such as oil, the solid potting material has a number of advantages: no pipes or pumps are necessary, there is no risk of leakage, and there is no additional handling or maintenance effort.

For the trade fair appearance at CWIEME 2023, the Managing Director of Lambda Resins Uwe Köhler has specially designed a test stand with two identical electric motors. There is one difference however: one of the motors was cast with Lampdapox 8 (8 W/mK). A hydraulic pump serves as a brake or load to bring both units to their performance limits. "We record the operating temperatures of the motors and display them graphically on the monitor together with the performance data. The viewer can see exactly what difference the Lampdapox potting makes in operation when we increase the load, for example," explains Uwe Köhler. The expert reveals in advance: "We have already proved that an engine with our potting achieved twice the performance of one without potting."

Gehring, WAFIOS and Lambda Resins at CWIEME 2023: Hall 3.2, Stand 32A14-B15

press release