This project will develop manufacturing processes and techniques that are optimised for low to medium volume production of electrical machines. Many processes used in large volume manufacture require significant capital investment that can never be recouped at lower volumes, and labour intensive, hand-made machines are too expensive to reach high volumes. To break this apparent deadlock a series of automated processes will be developed that will give significant cost reduction allowing many existing applications to reach their full potential. The three areas for focus are coil winding, magnet placement and rotor carbon fibre banding. These processes have been selected as they offer the largest potential for cost reduction and supply chain value as we migrate from more manual low volume techniques. The approach will use generic robotics with the application of innovative tooling and motion control software. One key feature of the approach is that the capital equipment can be deployed to different applications such that the volume of machines over which the up-front cost can be amortised is extended beyond a single application. Existing products in underwater autonomous vehicle propulsion and construction equipment as well as an emergent Urban Air Mobility (UAM) propulsion product will serve as control projects to ensure the processes can be applied across this range. The project will be undertaken by Magnomatics, GTR and Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), Centre for Winding Excellence. Magnomatics have a series of low-volume manufactured products and will bring their existing experience and techniques and end-user requirements. GTR are specialists in carbon fibre manufacture and will develop the rotor banding processes required to reach class leading performance from these materials. WMG will bring their coil winding expertise and leverage the significant investment in equipment at their facilities for process development and validation.

Ricardo has spent ten years developing magnet free, sustainable, synchronous-reluctance, traction motor technology, which retains the attributes of magnet-rich motors. As part of this, Ricardo is completing the DER "UK-Alumotor 1" supply chain development project, which has delivered manufacturing learning for aluminium windings, low wastage stator manufacture, and composites in rotors with additive manufactured flux guides. This has been delivered in conjunction with our partners: Aspire; Brandauer; GTR; PSI; WMG and the DER Winding Centre of Excellence. This project takes the learning and concepts from the above to significantly increase a light commercial vehicle (LCV) concept motor's Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL). We will deliver a "design for manufacturing" (DFM) project of a pre-production, highly sustainable motor removing 12kg of rare-earth magnets per machine. We will develop the manufacturing processes in the supply chain, a digital-twin of the motor including manufacturing influences, a cradle to grave Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), and a business case with target pricing versus volume data output. The first project phase will develop DFM solutions, procure, assemble and then test first iteration motors, which will be used to validate the digital-twin simulation model. The first iteration motor stator will be manufactured by the DER funded Winding Centre of Excellence at WMG jointly with Aspire using lamination stacks provided by Brandauer. A second, virtual DFM phase will optimise the manufacturing processes through feedback from the LCA, performance and durability test results. This optimisation will be assessed via the digital-twin toolchain, including virtual validation. A parallel task will progress the DFM and manufacturing processes for a higher performance rotor that includes novel composites from the UK-Alumotor 1 project. This will widen the attractiveness of the motor to higher performance Defence and passenger car applications. The route to market will be identified by a business study of potential customers and markets, and a review of the assembly plants required for 5,000 or 100,000 units/year. This will inform investment decisions for Ricardo and partners for low and high-volume manufacturing. Additional commercialisation will come from deploying the learning by Ricardo and partners in client motor design and development projects. This will increase the partners' competitiveness in the UK and deliver further value from the Innovate UK DER funding.

UK-Alumotor, supported by Driving the Electric Revolution (part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund), will develop a dedicated supply chain to manufacture a patented electric machine (e-machine) which will exploit UK-based high-value manufacturing technology. The e-machine will leverage specialist material, transferring technology developed within the aerospace & motorsports sectors, together with commodity materials. The e-machine will make use of aluminium & iron, rather than copper and rare earth metals (used in permanent magnet motors) which suffer price volatility and import tariffs. This provides the UK supply chain with competitive advantage to fulfil the growing market demand for traction e-machines during the next decade and beyond. The UK-Alumotor consortium, led by Ricardo, is a diverse team of partners from across the UK in conjunction with non-grant claiming OEM stakeholders McLaren and JCB. Our manufacturing partners Aspire, Brandauer, GTR and PSI will assess, select and develop low-cost, lean manufacturing processes that can be scaled to deliver the e-machine at appropriate volumes. These scalable processes will ensure quality, minimise material waste together with the lifecycle assessment impact of the e-machine. JCB and McLaren will provide application sector feedback to the supply chain throughout the work, ensuring that the product meets the specific needs of the performance sports car and off-highway markets. By aligning our approach to application requirements, we ensure the final "design for manufacture" product remains suitable for adoption into multiple sectors including aerospace, marine and rail. Our academic partner WMG will support the programme through literature review, technical workshops and dedicated advisory work. They will deploy learning from the programme to improve their e-machine models in support of virtual validation. The lifecycle impact of the product will be considered throughout the supply chain. Using widely available, and recycled, metals within the e-machine will reduce the lifecycle impact of the e-machine compared with permanent magnet-based motors. UK-Alumotor is a transformative programme that will build a UK supply chain to deliver a high performance, e-machine at a reduced cost and volume in order to drive the electric revolution, both within the UK and the export market.