ECM's Core Advantages
Driving competitive advantage through superior technology.
Our patented stator design and PrintStator software offer many advantages to the motor industry.
ECM PCB Stator Advantages Overview
High
Efficiency
Lightweight
and Compact
Increased
Durability
Superior Quality
of Motion
High Torque
Density
Low Noise
& EMI
Increased Thermal
Performance
Unique Design
Flexibility
Manufacturing
Ease
Sustainable
Motor Design
PCB Stator Advantages: High Efficiency Electric Motors
ECM’s patented PCB Stator technology has been integrated in motors with efficiencies in excess of 90%.
- Lower operating costs
- Extended battery life
- Lower carbon footprint
PrintStator’s optimization capabilities can create machines with superior efficiency.
- Optimizing the copper geometries and thickness of traces in PCB stators for the targeted reduction of efficiency losses – resistance and eddy current.
- Optimizing/ restraining all other design parameters for the most optimal efficiency result.
Lightweight and Compact Solutions
The unique form factor of PCB Stators enables remarkably compact, ultra-thin and lightweight motors.
PrintStator optimizes the use of copper and other materials to provide superior torque with less mass.
- Up to 70% lighter
- Up to 80% less raw materials
- No iron in PCB Stators
PrintStator creates Low Volume Motors for Compact System Integration.
- Planar form factor: Remains ultra-thin even at large power ratings.
- Compact integration with torque multipliers.
PCB Stator Advantages: Increased Durability
The ECM PCB Stator’s continuous coil design and fully encapsulated windings eliminate many of the failures common to traditionally wound motors and increase life expectancy.
- ECM motors have been HALT tested with impressive results.
- ECM machines are weather resistant and fully operable in oil and salt-water environments.
Reliable, robust design for longer motor life.
- Durable design: Less moving parts, less vibration.
- Durable material: FR-4 is a composite of glass fiber used in military applications, including missile/rocket PCB’s.
Superior Quality of Motion
ECM motors have zero cogging and smooth torque for a superior quality of motion compared to conventional machines.
- Cogging is eliminated because ECM motors are air core machines with PCB Stators that have no iron.
Exceptional pointing accuracy and precision.
- Ability to create actuators with absolute resolution.
- 24-bit encoder = 16,777,216 discrete positions.
High Torque Density
PrintStator designs electric motors that deliver more torque with less mass.
Up to 30% less mass compared to competing designs.
- PrintStator’s optimal use of copper and other raw materials results in extremely torque dense machines.
Motors with high power density but minimal axial-length and weight.
- The flexible form factor of ECM motors also enables extremely compact motor and gearbox integrations.
- Stacking multiple PCB Motors on the same shaft is also possible.
PCB Stator Advantages: Low Noise & EMI
PCB Stator Motors produce significantly less electromagnetic interference and acoustic noise.
Up to 30db quieter.
- ECM coils are fully encapsulated in composite structure, eliminating acoustic noise and reliability problems caused from vibration and other forces on traditional stator windings.
- Zero cogging motors eliminate mechanical excitation of attached structures as a source of noise.
ECM motors are considered to produce the least EMI of any competitive motor.
- Harmonics do not excite mechanical modes in the motor because it’s not used as a filter.
Increased Thermal Performance
PrintStator embeds patented thermal features in each motor design for safe continuous operation.
- Effective thermal features enable motors that do not require active cooling
- ECM PCB Stators utilize a continuous copper path from the loss generating parts of the stator, to the case where heat can be rejected to ambient:
- These non-current-carrying portions of the PCB copper function as “heat pipes”
- These non-hollow “heat pipes” conduct heat from the center of the stator to the outside edge, where the stator is clamped into the case
PCB Stator Advantages: Unique Design Flexibility
PrintStator reduces design cycle time and improves design flexibility, ultimately producing the most optimized solution for every application.
- Exact Solutions with PrintStator
- Automatically designs motors with exact operating characteristics
- Significantly reduces design cycle time – Eliminates human error
- Design Optimization – For Efficiency, Cost, Size, Weight, Voltage, etc.
- Revolutionizing motor capability through design opportunity
- Ability to design motors as thin annular rings or with hollow shafts – Compact motor+gear integrations, unique propeller integrations, etc.
- Other Motor Shapes – Segmented Stators, Circles or Rectangles
- Stacked Motor Designs – For limited diameter applications
- Specialized Case/ Rotor Designs – Ultralight, System integration, etc.
Manufacturing Ease
ECM’s technology leverages the well-stablished manufacturing methods used in the construction of all printed circuit boards (PCBs) to enable the cost-effective and reliable production of PCB stator motors.
- No manual copper winding
- Unmatched time-to-market and scalability
- Enables Global Production
Each PrintStator design automatically generates a file, used to print the specific stator.
- Immediately produces Gerber Files for each design – a set of printing instructions for the stator utilized by the global PCB manufacturing industry
- Rapid Manufacturing – Your designs from paper to tested prototype motor in <12 weeks
Sustainable Motor Design
Increased energy efficiency and the decreased use of raw materials contribute greatly to ECM’s sustainability initiatives as well as its emphasis on cost-effectiveness.
- Up to 80% less raw materials – PrintStator optimizes the use of raw materials
- Optimized magnet and steel mass
- PCB Stators require significantly less copper than conventional motor windings
- Highly efficient motors do more work with less power and have a reduced carbon footprint
- ECM motors have power efficiencies in excess of 90%.
