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The motors might be small, but the big-brain technology driving these electrical wonders was on full display at the 2014 Small Motor &
Motion Association Fall Technical Conference, convened November 4-6 in St. Louis, MO. SMMA, the manufacturing trade association (120 members
strong) that tends to the best interests of the electric motor
and motion control industries — including manufacturers, suppliers, users, consultants and universities — played gracious host to a wide array of presenters from an equally diverse range of sources — from academia to the federal government. Like gears, motors are most everywhere, as evidenced by SMMA’s membership (consumer-, public interest-, national defense- and commercial-oriented) demographic
which includes: appliance; transportation; medical equipment; office automation and computers; aerospace; and industrial automation. The association’s mission: To “serve as the principal voice of the electric motors and drives industry” and to provide a forum to “develop, collect and disseminate technical and management knowledge.”
A wide variety of companies displayed mechanical power transmission and motion control technologies at Pack Expo, held in November in Chicago. The event, which is the largest packaging and processing trade show in North America, attracted more than 48,000 attendees, according to show owner and producer PMMI. The four-day event included 2,352 exhibiting companies, an increase of more than 19 percent from the previous show in 2012.
According to the Department
of Energy (DOE), more than
half of all electrical energy
consumed in the U.S. is used
by electric motors. To address
this, several years ago, the DOE conducted
a technical study as to what
could be done to raise the efficiency
levels of “small” motors. After years
of study and litigation, the Small Motor Rule (SMR) was passed that covers two-digit NEMA frame single- and three-phase ¼ through 3 horsepower
motors in open enclosures.
Electric motor-driven systems
are the single largest enduser
of electricity, accounting
for over 40% of global consumption
according to the International
Energy Agency.
If you read only one article this issue, it should
be Norm Parker’s article on the Chinese bearing
manufacturing industry. Parker is an engineer
with General Motors, a true industry insider who has become
a regular contributor to Power Transmission Engineering.
The Formula Renault 3.5 is seen as a crucial stepping stone on the way into the premier class, the Formula 1. Ambitious racers do not just bring their talents - they also have highly efficient motors on board to control the throttle of their 530-hp V8 engines.
There are three major types of reluctance motors: all three reluctance motors are non-permanent magnet, brushless motors. They are synchronous motors with a non-linear relationship between torque and current. The variable-reluctance step and switched-reluctance motors utilize the principle of magnetic attraction by inducing magnet poles within the soft-iron rotor, and by energizing a set of coils wound around stator teeth resident in the laminated stator. These two reluctance motors must be sequentially excited to achieve continuous, steady-state rotation. The design of all reluctance motors requires finite element analysis (FEA) software.