Australian research engineers are working on a system that could vastly improve the efficiency of electric motors.

Charles Darwin University’s Dr Mark Thiele has been conducting research into the sublimely technical field of mechatronics, analysing the phenomenon of “cogging torque” in particular.

He says his studies could help Australian engineers design the next generation of quieter, more efficient and cheaper electric motors.

Dr Thiele used advanced software and laboratory experiments on production motors to prove a new mathematical method to predict the source of cogging in yet-to-be manufactured motors.

Cogging, which generally takes the form of noise or vibration, is caused by an imbalance or imperfection among the moving parts in a brushless direct current motor.

“The new method is six million times faster than [using software] alone,” he said.

“Our method allows us to determine which part of the motor contributes most to the cogging: the rotor, the stator, the magnets or a misalignment among the parts,” he said.

“With this information, motor design engineers can focus on the parts of the motor that are causing the biggest problems.”

Dr Thiele said his research was focused on the mechanical aspects of a project that involved some highly specific electrical engineering in the interfacing torque sensors and encoders of the laboratory equipment at the university’s Casuarina campus.

“I co-designed the mechanical side of the test rig while the electrical engineers looked after the electrical interfacing in what was a real team effort,” he said.

Dr Thiele now works with a team of Australian engineers in Melbourne who design electric motors for global consumption.

His report - Analysis of Cogging Torque Due to Manufacturing Variations in Synchronous Machines – will be accessible soon.