Electric machines and drives, including various types of electric motors, play an ever-increasing role in our society. In the way of making Europe the first climate neutral continent in the world, electrification of mobility and other sectors is crucial for emission reduction. In addition, electric machines and drives are vital in green energy production.

MultiMag takes full advantage of multi-material additive manufacturing (MM-AM). Stacked rotor and stator structures, combining dissimilar magnetic and electric insulating materials and built layer upon layer, are developed and demonstrated. Optimized multi-material structures are developed, manufactured and validated to ensure mechanical, thermal, electrical and magnetic performance. Internal structures, enabling e.g., more efficient cooling, are studied and designed. Material savings by topology optimization is demonstrated for weight reduction and economizing the use of REEs in magnets. However, ambitious objectives of MultiMag cannot be achieved only by implementing MM-AM, but it requires a holistic approach and innovations in all sectors, namely in design, materials, manufacturing, use and end-of-life. Each of these vital areas are addressed by MultiMag activities.

In order to have a sharp approach and focus on real industrial issues, MultiMag consortium has defined the following three real-life use cases in the field of electric machines:

Use Case 1: General purpose induction motor:
MM-AM of the low voltage motor improves its thermal, mechanical and electromagnetic properties. Higher torque performance and weight reduction of multi-material magnetic component enables its use in advanced automation and mobility applications.

Use Case 2: Synchronous permanent magnet brushless motor with axially aligned stator poles:
Improve the implementation of the brushless motor construction and manufacturing of complex geometries and shapes of the stator poles by MM-AM for e-mobility.

Use Case 3: Multipurpose Electrical rotary actuator:
MM-AM allows manufacturing of the hybrid stepper motor technology at a low price with a certain customization between different products for the new space market.

Sener Aeroespacial is one of the UC owners in MultiMag and will provide their extensive expertise in the design of magnetic systems.

MultiMag consortium has partners from 9 different countries with a wide geographical distribution within the European continent. It is bringing together raw material suppliers, end-users and RTOs for joint development of novel solutions in the field of magnetic applications and electric machines. Participants from all parts of the value chain enable rapid development and uptake by the industry. It consists of three industrial, highly recognized electric machine OEMs (SIE, ICPE, SEN), out of which Siemens is one of the world leading electric motor manufacturer, three magnetic material suppliers (LCM, ELK, ESPD), also world’s leading providers in their sectors, four international RTOs and universities (VTT, CEA, MGEP, HTW) all well recognized, and three SME research actors (STAM, 3RC, TALOS), focusing on sustainability, recycling and exploitation, dissemination and communication.

Calculating the annual electricity production of a PV plant in a complex orography terrain is a problem with no commercial solution today.

Sener has developed ORUGA® software, which selects the optimal lay out alternative in terms of LCOE (Levelized Cost of Electricity) for PV plants on any given terrain. This tool has optimal performance to address the most common problems that can affect the profitability of your project: the Lay Out module defines the optimal distribution by sweeping different combinations of DC power, trackers, panels, inverters, pitch/GCR and even batteries; the Civil Works module accurately calculates the Earthworks, as well as the length of the pylons required for plant construction; and its advanced 3D Backtracking algorithms maximizes production by positioning the trackers at the optimal angle to minimize shadowing between trackers throughout the day.

There are other reference software in the Market for Banks, Technical Advisors and Engineering firms – the most widespread, for example, is extremely accurate and detailed for flat terrains – but they present an important limitation: precise performance calculation on complex (undulating) terrains, where shadowing between trackers appears. The reference software on the market, for example, can only be used on plants of the order of a few MWp at most; it sets a reasonable limit of about 1 MWp and an upper limit of 5 MWp, due to the calculation time, which would be prohibitive at higher powers.

The decrease in annual electricity production when moving from a flat terrain to a complex one typically varies between 0 and 10%. The specific value depends on the complexity of the terrain in each case.

ORUGA® software calculates accurately the Annual Electricity Production of PV plants in complex orography terrains for any tracker model, applying Flat Backtracking or Sener proprietary 3D Backtracking strategy.

ORUGA® therefore overcomes the limitations of the Software considered as the Reference in the Market for commercial plants (>1 MWp) in complex orography terrains. This new feature can positively reduce the uncertainties associated to complex orography in PV projects at all levels: Development, EPC and Operation.

These results have been endorsed after a 6-month Technical Audit process carried out by a company specialized in the photovoltaic sector and at the request of an independent power producer. Sener has thus obtained the certification that positions ORUGA® as a more accurate alternative to the market standard for complex terrains.

To this end, FLEX4FACTS will design and test the effectiveness of an innovative methodology that seeks to improve the production flexibility of industrial plants, the optimization of the energy flow and the generation and storage potential of local industries.

Thus, FLEX4FACT is an industrial cluster flexibility platform for sustainable factories to reduce CO2 emissions and to meet the energy transition objectives of the European Union.

The methodology developed should be applicable to companies of all sizes and from different sectors thanks to the optimization of energy generation and consumption processes, as well as their capacity for reusing the excess of energy.

FLEX4FACT has the following objectives:

1. Develop solutions to transform rigid production processes into flexible ones as a tool to achieve environmentally friendly production.
2. Digital tools to enable flexibility and demand response in industrial processes.
3. Reuse excess of energy of industrial processes.
4. Deliver a scalable and interoperable system architecture.
5. Demonstrate through 5 different pilots the benefits of the FLEX4FACT Solutions.
6. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all, a goal in line with the UN SDGs.
7. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation, also in line with the UN SDGs.

As part of the consortium, SENER will contribute its expertise in energy and sustainability, and also in digital processes and Machine learning that will incorporated to Flex4Fact’s methodology, which includes the development of digital twins.

FLEX4FACT is receiving funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation program under grant agreement 101058657. The European Commission is co-funding the project with nearly € 18 million.