NEWS | EUREKA!
LMOONTGO RU AFVO RFL YIGEAHRT-S MOTOR DESIGN AND manufacturer
Printed Motor Works was challenged
to design the motors for the PHASA-
35, an all-electric UAV intended
to stay aloft for a year at a time
providing low cost, persistent service
for the delivery of 5G networks by the
aircraft’s designers, Prismatic.
To meet Prismatic’s demanding
speci cations and deadline, PMW
had to design a cutting-edge motor,
drive and commutation system that
would not overheat at take-o or
during the fast climb necessary to
reach the 65,000ft cruising altitude.
The near space environment
meant taking into consideration
the ambient temperatures of -80°C
and pressure of just 5.6 kPa. This
required an understanding of the
three-dimensional heat dissipation
from the motor and adjacent
components, while ensuring every
motor, drive and commutation
component selected was both
mechanically and electrically rated
for these conditions.
“Despite the project’s
complexity, our leading-edge R&D
meant we were able to deliver the
motors to t with the development
and build timeline,” said PMW project
manager, Ian Matthews Golledge.
“It was a challenge pushing the
envelope for this technology, but we
knew our design team could do it.”
In creating the IR20E brushless
DC motor, PMW shaved every
possible gram from its structure
and electromagnetic components
without compromising e ciency,
which was crucial in limiting power
consumption so that the weight
of the batteries and cables could be
minimised.
CCOHAFFLELEE SOLUTION TO LAST NTIGMEE MONTH’S The solution to last month’s
at night to avoid dazzling
Co ee Time Challenge of how
people while still adequately
to invent a more e ective
illuminating the way ahead.
bicycle light comes from
In addition, the light
Ireland in the form of the Kogii
incorporates proximity
light. This smart light senses
sensors, enabling it to detect
the ambient lighting conditions
vehicles that trigger the light
and adjusts its brightness in
to ash dynamically if they get
order to maximise the cyclist’s
within a dangerous range of the
visibility.
cyclist. It can also detect the
In practical terms, this
cyclist braking and illuminates
means that the light is
like a car brake light.
brightest during the day for
The data from the light’s
maximum e ect and dims
sensors is stored and the
Magnetic particles
changing cehnaanbglein sgh ampaet-material
erial
RESEARCHERS FROM THE
Georgia Institute of Technology
and The Ohio State University
have developed ‘magnetic shape
memory polymer’, a soft polymer
material that uses magnetic elds to
transform into a variety of shapes.
The material could enable a range
of new applications from antennas
that change frequencies on the y
to gripper arms that can lift 1000
times their own weight.
The material is a mix of three
ingredients: two types of magnetic
particles, one for inductive heat
and one with strong magnetic
attraction, and shape-memory
polymers to help lock various shape
changes into place.
Jerry Qi, professor of
mechanical engineering at Georgia
Tech, said: “This is the rst material
that combines the strengths of all of
these individual components into a
single system capable of rapid and
reprogrammable shape changes
that are lockable and reversible.”
The new material builds on
anonymous information
gathered can be used to
analyse tra c patterns and
road safety factors from
a cyclist’s perspective by
analysing how the cyclist
moves in conjunction with
their external environment.
This is then combined
with known locations of
previously reported crashes
and fatalities to further
verify the analysis and
predictions.
research that outlined actuation
mechanisms for soft robotics and
active materials and evaluated the
limitations in current technologies.
“The degree of freedom is
limited in conventional robotics,”
said Ruike Zhao, assistant professor
in the Department of Mechanical
and Aerospace Engineering at Ohio
State. “With soft materials, that
degree of freedom is unlimited.
“This process requires us to
use magnetic elds only during the
actuation phase. So, once an object
has reached its new shape, it can
be locked there without constantly
consuming energy.”
10 WWW.EUREKAMAGAZINE.CO.UK | JANUARY 2020
/WWW.EUREKAMAGAZINE.CO.UK