I share your skepticism Keith.
My Spidy sense is tingling and my BS detector is in alarm.
It is difficult to evaluate the motor with so little actual information.
However, given the tone and content of the hype, several Thoughts come to mind:
What? No Rare Earth magnets!
A graphic appears to show a pinion driving an internal ring gear. Not sure about that.
10% to 20% increase in efficiency. Compared to what?
"No D axis current injection." How many times have we struggled with the polarity when connecting the D axis windings on the motors that we work on every day?
The whole tone of the hype reminds me of a failing company years ago.
The owners tried in vain to attract investors.
When that failed they turned their efforts inwards and offered shares to the employees.
The comment was made;
"The smart money won't touch them so they're going after the dumb money."
Foot note; The employees invested. The company failed. The employees lost.
I have seen this type of hype a couple of times. If the product came out, it was so forgettable that I have forgotten what it was.
All I remember was Much Ado About Nothing.
I truly hope that this is a new and efficient motor and the only mistake was hiring the wrong PR guy.
I'll wait and see, and I won't be investing based on the information available to date.
To be fair:
How to increase torque:
Longer rotor, greater diameter rotor. This may becontrary to the claims of a smaller motor.
Greater magnetic flux density. Limited by the strength of existing magnets.
Magnets arranged both internally and externally to the stator windings. This may develop more torque with both a greater active area and a shorter magnetic path. However two air gaps instead of one may reduce or remove the advantage of a shorter magnetic path. This arrangement may be contrary to claims of no increase in manufacturing costs.
Let's wait and see.
Wait: A targeted sidebar add just came up about a breakthrough in magnet material for high performance motors.
Targetted Add said:
Many high-performance electric motors use magnets made of dysprosium, one of the most expensive rare-earth elements known to scientists. Now, researchers have found a potential replacement for the costly element.
A team at the U.S. Department of Energy’s AMES Laboratory, led by Arjun Pathak and Mahmud Khan, discovered that an alloy comprised of neodymium, iron and boron co-doped with cobalt and cerium is cheaper than dysprosium and functions similarly to magnets made with the rare-earth element.
Too bad. not stronger but cheaper.
Bill
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"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter