METHOD FOR PRODUCING A COMPONENT OF AN ELECTRIC MOTOR, ELECTRIC MOTOR COMPONENT AND ELECTRIC MOTOR

Abstract

A component, in particular a stator or a rotor, of an electric motor, in which a layer structure is generated is produced using additive manufacturing, by: forming, via alternate additive production, a layer assembly having first layers and second layers each first layer including a filament containing plastic and metal, and each second layer including a filament containing plastic and ceramic; heating the layer assembly a first temperature, at which the plastic is removed from the layers; further heating the layer assembly (2) to a second temperature, whereby the metal of the layer is sintered and an electrically insulating ceramic layer is obtained from the layer.

Claims

1. A method for producing a component of an electric motor, forming, via alternate additive production, a layer assembly including first layers and second layers, wherein each first layer includes a filament containing plastic and ceramic, heating the layer assembly to a first temperature, at which the plastic is removed from the layers, and further heating of the layer assembly to a second temperature, at which the metal of the first layer is sintered and an electrically insulating ceramic layer is obtained, via sintering from the second layer.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising, after heating the layer assembly to the first temperature and before heating the layer assembly to the second temperature, heating the layer assembly to an intermediate temperature level, at which the removal of the plastic from the layer assembly is continued.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising, after heating the layer assembly to the second temperature, heating the layer assembly to an elevated temperature, wherein sintering of the layers continue at the elevated temperature.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plastic of the filament of the first layer is different than the plastic of the filament of the second layer.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the metal is formed by an iron alloy containing more than 6.5% by weight silicon and aluminum in a range from 1% to 5% by weight.

6. (canceled)

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein a thickness of the first layer is no more than 0.15 mm.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein a thickness of the second layer is no more than 0.15 mm.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein a mass content of silicon in the first layer is greater than 6.5% by weight, and that of aluminum lies in a range from 1% to 5% by weight.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the mass content of silicon in the first layer is in no more than 10% by weight.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the component is a rotor or a stator.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the electric motor is a synchronous motor or an asynchronous motor.

13. A method for producing a component of an electric motor, comprising: forming, via alternate additive production, a layer assembly including first layers and second layers, wherein each first layer includes a filament containing plastic and metal, and each second layer includes a filament containing plastic and ceramic, heating the layer assembly to a first temperature, at which the plastic is removed from the first layer, and further heating the layer assembly to a second temperature, at which the metal of the first layer is sintered.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein, at the first temperature, the plastic remains in the second layer.

15. The method according to claim 13, further comprising, after heating the layer assembly to the first temperature and before heating the layer assembly to the second temperature, heating the layer assembly to an intermediate temperature, wherein the intermediate temperature is greater than the first temperature and less than the second temperature.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the intermediate temperature is closer to the first temperature than to the second temperature.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein the plastic of the second layer is removed at the intermediate temperature.

18. The method according to claim 13, wherein, at the second temperature, an electrically insulating ceramic layer is obtained from the second layer.

19. The method according to claim 13, further comprising, after heating the layer assembly to the second temperature, heating the layer assembly to an elevated temperature, the elevated temperature being greater than the second temperature, wherein, at the elevated temperature, an electrically insulating ceramic layer is obtained from the second layer.

20. The method according to claim 13, wherein a thickness of the first layer and a thickness of the second layer is less than or equal to 0.15 mm.

21. The method according to claim 13, wherein the metal is formed by an iron alloy containing between 6.5% by weight and 10% by weight silicon and between 1% by weight and 5% by weight aluminum.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0030] In the following, several exemplary embodiments of the disclosure are explained in more detail by means of a drawing. In the figures:

[0031] FIG. 1 shows a sectional view of an electric motor component,

[0032] FIG. 2 shows the electric motor component in perspective view,

[0033] FIG. 3 shows in a flowchart basic features of a method for manufacturing the electric motor component.

[0034] FIGS. 4 to 6 show different variants of the temperature control in the manufacture of the electric motor component.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] Unless otherwise stated, the following explanations relate to all exemplary embodiments. Parts or parameters that correspond to each other or have basically the same effect are marked with the same reference symbols in all figures.

[0036] An electric motor component, denoted overall by 1, is part of a stator of an electric motor, not shown in any more detail. The electric motor component 1 has a layer assembly 2 which is formed from layers 3 of a first type and layers 4 of a second type. Within the finished electric motor component 1, the layers 3 of the first type are metallic layers and the layers 4 of the second type are ceramic layers. A support structure 5 that can be seen in FIG. 2 is of no importance as far as the function of the electric motor is concerned.

[0037] In the production of the layer assembly 2, the principles of the ADAM method are employed. In a first method step S1, a layer 3 of the first type is built up from a plastic/metal filament. Then, in step S2, a layer 4 of the second type is built up from a plastic/ceramic filament, i.e., applied to the previously produced layer 3 of the first type. The steps S1, S2 are repeated alternately until the layer assembly 2 is completed.

[0038] A thermal treatment of the layer assembly 2 then takes place in step S3, which will be discussed in more detail below. A kiln is denoted by 6 in FIG. 3. After completion of the thermal treatment, the layer assembly 2 is post-processed in step S4, which can include surface processing. Step S5 marks the end of the method.

[0039] In FIGS. 4 to 6, three different variants of the temperature control in method step S3 are outlined. What all three variants have in common is that the temperature T of the workpiece, that of the layer assembly 2, is first raised to a first temperature level T.sub.1, at which plastic components are removed. A significantly higher temperature level T.sub.2, which is reached in all variants, causes a sintering process.

[0040] In the simplest variant illustrated in FIG. 4, the temperature level T.sub.1 is maintained during the time period t.sub.1 to t.sub.4. In this case, the constant temperature level T.sub.2 is maintained during the period t.sub.5 to t.sub.8.

[0041] In the method variant according to FIG. 5, the lower temperature level is split: The first temperature level T.sub.1 is maintained only in the period t.sub.1 to t.sub.2. An intermediate temperature level T.sub.11, which is substantially closer to the first temperature level T.sub.1 than to the second temperature level T.sub.2, is set in the time period t.sub.3 to t.sub.4. Overall, plastic components are removed from both layer types 3, 4 in the period t.sub.1 to t.sub.4, with the temperature levels T.sub.1, T.sub.11 being set in such a way that the plastic components are removed from the different layer types 3, 4 one after the other. As far as the thermal treatment at the second temperature level T.sub.2 is concerned, there are no differences between the variant according to FIG. 4 and the variant according to FIG. 5.

[0042] The method variant according to FIG. 6 corresponds to the variant according to FIG. 5 with regard to the treatment at the temperature levels T.sub.1, T.sub.11. There are only differences at higher temperatures: After the second temperature level T.sub.2 is kept constant from t.sub.5 to t.sub.6, the temperature T is set to an excessive temperature level T.sub.22 in the time period t.sub.7 to t.sub.8. This splitting of the higher temperature level ensures that the sintering processes in the layer types 3, 4 take place one after the other in a defined manner.

[0043] With each of the method variants explained with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6, thicknesses of the layers 3, 4 of less than 0.15 mm, for example layer thicknesses of only 0.125 mm, can be realized.

LIST OF REFERENCE SYMBOLS

[0044] 1 Component of an electric motor, electric motor component [0045] 2 Layer assembly [0046] 3 Layer of the first type, metal layer [0047] 4 Layer of the second type, ceramic layer [0048] 5 Support structure [0049] 6 Kiln [0050] t Time [0051] t.sub.0 . . . t.sub.9 Points in time [0052] T Temperature [0053] T.sub.1 First temperature level [0054] T.sub.11 Intermediate temperature level [0055] T.sub.2 Second temperature level [0056] T.sub.22 Excessive temperature level [0057] S1 . . . S5 Method steps