Very small electric motors – also known as micromotors – are all around us, from the motor in your electric toothbrush to your dentist’s drill and modern industrial robots. Their use is set to grow, driven by the growth in medical devices and robotics.
The single most important component that determines motor performance and its functionality is the copper winding, which, through the interaction with the magnets inside a motor, dictates how much performance a motor can generate for a given current. The way these copper windings are produced has not changed significantly over the last 40 years: they are either wound by hand for prototyping or small production runs, or they are produced by expensive machines that are very complex to operate and viable only for large production runs.
Mirmex DC Motor is a start-up transforming the way slotless brushless micromotor windings are produced: instead of winding copper wire by hand, we print them on PCB’s [Printed Circuit Board] before compacting them with a high degree of precision. This enables us to produce a far greater number of innovative geometries, which in turn allows many high value-added, product-specific, windings geometries to be designed and manufactured cost-effectively.
Such new geometries have never been seen before in the industry.
Our innovative approach to producing motor windings has many user benefits:
• motors can be 50% more compact
• motors can offer up to 70% greater dynamics
• motors are more flexible in design terms
• motors are more durable, lighter, and become hot less quickly
• motors are easier and cheaper to prototype
The main objectives of the SME Phase 2 project were the following:
a) Demonstrate volume production capability and scale up. We had to demonstrate to our motor customers that we were capable to manufacture motor windings of exceptional quality in commercial volume. Now that a complete pilot production line has been built, this step is more than achieved.
b) Complete medical product development to make our motor winding meet the stringent requirements of our medical and dental customers. Now that we have mastered the design and potting of autoclavable windings, this step is achieved.
c) Complete our motor modelling software tool (modelization and optimization of the windings). No such tools exist in the industry and our disruptive approach that offers such a high degree of design freedom requires totally new software to be used by motor design engineers. Now that this software tool is fully released, this step is achieved.
d) Prepare commercialization and secure Intellectual Property. We have spent most of our time in a lab and now is the time to communicate the added value we bring to the rest of the world. We will secure new intellectual property assets at the same time. After 3 years of work, we are now known on the market as a unique provider of high power-density, patented, custom-made windings and SBLDC micromotors.
