MOTOR MANUFACTURING 101 SHORT COURSE
While the basic process for assembling small motor stators has changed little over the
past 30 years, increased international competition has driven manufacturers to seek
significant process improvements in their facilities. Although many subtle
improvements in assembly processes are ongoing (i.e. Lean Manufacturing), equipment
modernization also needs to be implemented in order to achieve maximum product
quality and minimize labor costs. In addition, drastic changes in motor control
technology, coupled with the reduction in the cost of microprocessors, has given birth
to an entire range of variable speed motors which were not available 10 to 15 years ago.
This paper will discuss the steps involved with assembling a stator for a small electric
motor. It will also cover some of the recent advancements in technology implemented
in many facilities that improved stator quality while minimizing labor, production and
material costs.
STATOR CORE ASSEMBLY
Lamination Selection
Lamination stacking is either performed by hand selecting (by weight or height) or by
automatic stack selection. Although automatic stack selection minimizes operator
intervention with the core build process, most machines still require frequent operator
attention. If the lamination process is inconsistent, automatic selection holds little
benefit over hand selecting.
Manual stack selection still remains the most popular method, since an operator can
easily compensate when selecting laminations with problems like adhering laminations
from heavy burrs, oil or annealing oxidation. To assure stack height accuracy with
manually selected laminations, motor manufacturers are using electronic gauges
mounted to the core securing machine.
Welding
Welding is a popular and widespread method for securing stator cores. New welding
machines offer flexibility and reliability since many have eliminated the need for
hydraulic operation.
Despite recent advancements in machine design, welding has a number of drawbacks
since a welding machine requires manual loading of the laminations and a high level of
maintenance. This maintenance activity (including torch tip adjustments, the
monitoring of argon and the sharpening of torch rods) usually requires the attention of
a skilled operator or technician. This is an additional concern to the electric motor
design since stator core loss could occur by welding across the laminations.
Cleating
This process “V” rolls and then flattens a strip of soft steel
down a dovetail slot on the O.D. of the stator laminations.
The cleating strip steel is low cost and the process is fast.
Cleating machines are extremely flexible and require little
setup. Unlike welding, cleating still leaves the stator with
good electrical properties and the cleats are easily stripped
out to salvage rejected cores (thereby minimizing scrap). The drawback with small
motors is that cleating still requires a machine, material (strip steel) and a relatively
skilled operator.
Lamination Interlocking
During the lamination punching process, dimples are automatically placed in each
lamination as they are stamped and collected at the end of the die. At this collection
point, the laminations are counted and a stator core is assembled to preset lamination
count and stack height.
This interlocking of the laminations provides motor manufacturers with a cost reduction
because it can eliminate the need for both a core securing machine and one operator.
The disadvantages to this process are that the die is more complex and annealing the
assembled stator stack without core warp may be difficult. To eliminate annealing and
potential warp; semi or fully processed height silicone steels are used but can add back
much of the cost.
Loose Lamination
This is the most popular method for processing stators below six (6) inch stack height.
The lamination stack is selected by the operator loose and placed directly on the slot
insulating machine. A hold down ring is then either hand or machine placed on the
laminations while cuffed slot liners hold the stator core together through further
processing. After testing, the stator is pressed in a bore to face checking machine, and
in some cases, clamped and placed in the resin process. This resin dip process not
only coats and secures the wire, it also soaks into the laminations which bonds the
stator core.
Loose laminations hold a number of advantages over other methods. Most obvious is
the elimination of a stator core securing machine (and its operator). It offers inherent
flexibility since the slot insulator operator selects and measures the laminations prior to
insulating. We have also found that loose lamination stacks are less wearing on the
stator process toolings because the loose stack is selfaligning.
The disadvantages to loose lamination stacking are twofold. First, clamping fixtures are
sometimes required on larger O.D./taller stack stators. And second, some motor
designs require that the excess resin be brushed from the O.D. of the stator so that they
can be aligned in the rolled steel shell.
STATOR INSULATING
Most motor manufacturers use automatic slot insulating machines that coat the slots or
place laminated materials in each stator slot. These machines are available for loading
stator bore either vertically or horizontally. Automatic stator handling is a cost effective
way to greatly improve productivity and reduce labor. The two methods of insulating
stators in the size range are as follows:
Epoxy Coating
The epoxy coating process requires that the stator be masked off to protect the working
surfaces and be either preheated or electrically charged to adhere the insulation
material. The epoxy materials were once limited by their heart rise capacity, which
narrowed the range of applications. The new epoxy materials can now exceed 150ºC,
but because of system investment and the process control problems (contamination,
humidity and temperature changes), this process is rarely used.
Slot Liners
The placing of film or laminate material in the stator slots is
by far the most common insulation for stators in this size
range. Polyester film is the most preferred insulation material
for cost, shelf life and temperature capability. Another benefit
of using slot liners is that changing from a polyester film to a
DacronPolyesterDacron or Nomex (just by changing rolls of
material) can quickly increase the temperature ratings. It is
also a very easy process to control with a simple cam or gear
driven punch and die machine.
To further improve the slot insulating area, there are new developments to reduce the
tooling complexity. With the integration of servo motor material feed and stator index,
slot cell insulators can be changed over within minutes.
STATOR WINDING/INJECTING
The most common method of placing wire within the stator is by winding a concentric
coil and automatically injecting it into the insulated core. The coil injection process has
dominated the electric motor industry for over 40 years because of the level of quality
and high production that a motor manufacturer can achieve.
In recent years, many advances have been made to this process to increase automation
and machine utilization by decreasing changeover and machine down time. The use of
servo motor drives to automate machine setup eliminates the need for operator
intervention in the changeover process. Not only do our customers see an increase in
quality and consistency of their products, but they also report that their machines
exceed 95% utilization. This is not only because of faster, more consistent set upsit’s
through the elimination of “crashes” caused by inexperienced operators.
Coil Winding
Partnering with the coil injection process, most of the electric motor industry uses the
“shed” type coil winders. The principle of the “shed” winder is that it wraps wire
around a tapered coilform step and then pushes this wire down the taper into the
tooling as the next turn of wire is wrapped above it. Standalone “shed” winders will
wind coils into a “transfer tool”. The operator then will use this tool to manually
transfer the coils to the injection machine.
The “shed” type winder uses short, multiple step coilforms,
which means a small flyer can be used to obtain higher
winding speeds; however, a high winding speed is not
synonymous with a reduced cycle time. Using a servo motor
to drive the flyer yields great advantages over variable
frequency drives. Although both systems can provide for +/
0 turn count, variable frequency drives can only do so by
winding the final turns at a very slow speed. Typically, a
machine using a variable frequency drive is approximately
five (5) seconds slower per pole than a machine using a servo motor drive. When
winding a typical 4 pole stator, a servo motor driven “shed” winder can produce
approximately 25 more stators per hour (depending on turn count).
With the advent of improved machine tool controls, the “shed” type winder has become
more versatile providing the motor manufacturers with additional savings on smaller
production runs. A standalone “shed” winder can be changed from one lamination to
another within two (2) minutes. Stack height changes and pole configuration changes
can be made automatically. This flexibility is crucial in JIT/Lean Manufacturing
environments since the winding process sets the pace for the entire stator assembly
line.
Coil Injection
This is still the most economical process for the quick, quality
insertion of the coil groups into the stator slots. It uses highly
polished tool steel to cover the saw tooth edged stator slot
opening from the incoming wires. As the wire is pushed into
the slots, the slot closure wedge follows the wire up through
the tooling (additional information is available at
[Link]
Most stators can be simoinjected, which means that the main
winding, auxiliary/start winding and even a multiple speed/tap
winding can be injected together. This method can typically
achieve slot fills up to 75%. For multiphase applications and
high slot fill requirements, multiple pass injection is typically
employed. In this method, one layer of coils is injected into the stator core. These coils
are drifted (intermediate formed) and the next layer of coils is injected. This method can
produce a stator with slot fills exceeding 84%.
The trend in these motor sizes is toward the addition of lead end, cuff support tooling to
protect the lower slot liner from the forces of coil injection. These cuff support tooling
fingers are being used as slot fills increase and end turns decrease (a requirement to
improve motor efficiency that reduces the material cost).
Although stack height changes can be fully automated, injection tooling does not lend
itself to flexibility outside of the lamination for which it is tooled. In order to overcome
this, Alliance supplies machines with quick release tooling features. This allows for a
coil injector to be changed from one lamination to another within 10 to 15 minutes.
Winding/Injecting/Automation
One of the best ways to improve product quality while reducing direct labor in stator
assembly is to integrate the winding and injecting operations into a common machine.
Instead of winding into a transfer tool (for manual transfer of the coils to the injector
tooling), these machines wind the stator coils directly into the correct slots of injection
tooling. The insulated stator core is manually placed within the machine and its
alignment is verified.
Many people believe that automation, flexibility and reliability are mutually exclusive
attributes in stator assembly. It has been the experience of Alliance that the opposite is
true. Not only does an integrated wind/inject machine eliminate an operator (or two),
but it also requires minimal training to operate compared to manual transfer machines.
Although reduction of direct labor in low labor rate areas may not be a primary concern,
many of our customers in these areas have a tremendous problem with employee
turnover.
Alliance customers using these machines experience very high machine utilization and
tooling life. This is due to the fact that operator error is practically eliminated since the
machine automatically winds the stator coils into the correct slots and the stator
alignment is automatically verified prior to it being placed on the injection tooling.
When this technology is coupled with automated setup features, the result is a highly
productive, flexible and reliable cell at the heart of the stator assembly process. This is
the goal of motor manufacturers regardless of their labor costs.
STATOR FORMING AND LACING
The end turn forming and lacing machines are important to improving quality,
especially as the production rate increases. The machines for these processes can
surpass many hand work operators with speed and consistency.
End Turn Forming
The end turn forming machine compresses the stator end turns which provides a tighter
bundle of wire for resin impregnation. The most common tooling offers three (3)
dimensional motion where the O.D. shoes compress, the I.D. shoes expand and the
compression ring strokes to compact the end turns on both ends. Many motors are
being formed down even further which reduces the overall length of the motor and the
cost of materials. In the forming tooling, cuff support tooling fingers are important for
protecting the slot liners from breakdown and providing access for the lacing needles.
These cuff support fingers are either attached to the O.D. shoes or individually driven.
The machines we build offer standard tooling brakes to prevent tooling liftoff and direct
more forming force to the high slot fill, low end turn stators of today’s motors.
Eliminating tooling liftoff not only reduces scrap stators—it minimizes downtime
caused by damaged tooling.
In the past, final form machines have been dedicated to a lamination. While providing
for “instant” changeover, this method greatly reduced floor space (especially in
situations where a final form machine had to be dedicated to different pole
configurations). Alliance has built a number of machines with quick change forming
tooling. These machines use dove tailed OD shoes, “turn and lock” compression rings
and modular ID shoes. Alliance has supplied turntable machines (with preform, final
form and wedge set/automatic unload stations) that can change between laminations
within ten (10) minutes.
End Turn Lacing
The lacing process is essential for tightly holding all of the magnet wire in the end turn
through the resin bonding process and to secure lead bundles. The machines to end
turn lace produce a diamond chain stitch of polyester cord around the end turns and
the lead wire groups. This provides excellent coverage and constant cord tension that
is unmatched by hand stitching.
Like final forming, the past trend
was to permanently setup a lacer
for a specific specification. This is
no longer necessary with the
design of quickchange toolings
that can go between laminations
within ten (10) minutes. The trend in
motor manufacturing is toward
more automatic lacing, which
reduces labor and adds a margin of safety by keeping operators away from the lacing
motion. Alliance has developed an automatic load/unload system that can be adapted
to existing lacing machines within the plant.
MACHINE CONTROLS
Many of the above advancements discussed have been made possible through the
implementation of standard, offtheshelf programmable logic and motion controls. In
the past, PLC’s were rather limited in their capabilities. For this reason, many
companies in the machine tool industry felt that the only way to accurately control their
machines was to develop their own, PC based control systems. The major problem with
this philosophy is that PC based controls are only supported by the vendor. The
purchaser of the equipment was forever tied to the vendor for service and support (even
for basic machine changes).
Commercial, offtheshelf programmable controls and motion controllers are
inexpensive and can be supported by various sources. Alliance has supplied machines
with a variety of PLC’s and motion controls including Baldor, Allen Bradley, Siemens,
GEFanuc, Omron, Giddings & Lewis and many others. In addition, we have supplied
automated cells with over 25 servo axis and linear systems with over 70 servo axis.
These highly automated systems use offtheshelf programmable logic and servo motor
controllers.
Although some companies still produce their own control systems, the reasons are
primarily to assure themselves of future spare parts business and service contracts.
STATOR/WIRE BONDING
The most conventional method to bond stators is the resin dip tank and the oven
system. However, there are several emerging technologies like dip and spin, trickle and
bondable wire which reduce the emissions and waste.
Dip and Spin
The dip and spin machine is a lower cost machine when compared to a typical trickle
system and it reduces the amount of resin wasted when compared to dip and drip
system. The stators are loaded on a carousel and lowered into a tank where resin is
pumped into it. After the tank is full and the resin has impregnated the stators, the tank
is drained and the carousel spins the excess off the stators. There is a savings when
the excess is pumped away and reused. The stators are then loaded into an oven for
curing. The dip and spin process is difficult to control and has been know to spin resin
back out of the stator slots. For this reason and oven emissions, trickle systems are
becoming the emerging technology.
Trickle Resin
For small size stators, the automatic trickle systems can greatly increase the amount of
resin applied to the stator, reduce emissions, and reduce the amount of wasted resin.
The trickle system is usually a chain driven system that stators are loaded on and travel
through the process. The system consists of a stator preheat area, a dispensing nozzle
area and a final postheat area to set the resin. These machines are expensive; but they
put the resin directly where it is needed to solidify the coils and reduce waste.
Typically, a stator that is trickle impregnated has a much higher resin slot fill than other
impregnation methods (including VPI).
With the advent of precatalyzed resins and computer controlled digital power supplies,
the resistance heated winding trickle systems are taking the process lead. With
resistance heating, there are fewer stators in process, curing is more exact which
significantly reduces emission and stators are cool enough that they can be assembled
almost immediately.
Bondable Wire
An emerging technology in these stator sizes is where the wire manufacturer also
precoats a polyester coated wire with a thermal epoxy. This wire is wound on the same
“shed” type winders, but during the testing process, a resistance unit heats the
windings and cures the epoxy.
Most of the development for this process has centered on the inexpensive, low torque
or intermittent duty motors where humidity/rust is not a factor. This process is usually
done in conjunction with final end turn forming on automatic turntables or linear lines.
Alliance has been working to incorporate this technology into the stator process.
SHELL TO STATOR PRESSING
The presses for this area have been refined to reduce the cost and improve the quality
of the finished motor. Many fractional horsepower stators are now being pressed into
lower cost, lighter weight steel shells and the press tooling alignment is critical. These
new shells are also being secured to the stator with dimples or other metal
displacement methods to replace dowels or rivets. Most presses are still hand loaded,
but a turntable machine with the pressing station and a separate load/unload station
also greatly improves production rates. Further automation developments can be
expected in this area in the future.
CONCLUSION
Electric motor manufacturers are under the pressure to increase product quality and
consistency while minimizing scrap, direct labor and changeover times. These
demands must be met with both modern manufacturing equipment and techniques.
Alliance continues to support meeting these demands by increasing the speed,
automation, flexibility and reliability of our stator assembly systems.