Cool Mechatronics LLC have partnered together to create an electromagnetically-controlled-pitch (EMCP) fan, propeller, or turbine with the initial phase focusing specifically on combat vehicle cooling fans. The linear actuation of the pitch controller’s hydraulic piston is effectively swapped with that of a lead screw mounted on the fan’s rotating system (i.e. shaft) – with a twist that the lead screw’s nut, constituted of ferromagnetic material, is spun via electromagnets surrounding it. This solution is simple, highly novel and presents a new pareto optimization of size, weight, power, cost and cooling (SWaP-C2). It will help minimize a fighting vehicle’s cooling fan power draw (presently the third largest after the engine and tread) while reducing thermal and acoustic signatures (especially during silent watch). It will help revolutionize the electrification of aircraft by providing an efficient, lightweight means of controlling pitch with possibility for longer flight times, more aggressive maneuvering and greater VTOL lift capacity. It would be no exaggeration to say EMCP presents a strong potential for saving lives.
We have completed extensive kinematic and electro-magnetic studies in Phase I, culminating in the fabrication and assembly of a working prototype. Significant innovations on the Phase I prototype have been identified but the mechanical aspects of the fan are nevertheless mature. Our focus in Phase II will be on electronics and motor design. We will adapt GVSC’s Zeus1 inverter by building a daughterboard for EMCP control, aligning us with MIL-SPEC intent.
This innovation based on lead screws will require a motor for pitch control and a motor for spin control. Both could be realized with an axial reluctance motor which is achievable, at the moment, only with soft magnetic composites (SMC). We have identified that a laminated axial reluctance motor (LARM), made out of steel/nickel, is possible using existing manufacturing technology. The state of the art in axial reluctance motors, has avoided laminations, seemingly, because “flux must flow axially in a lamination!” and the bonding/isolating layer between laminations creates an additive air gap that would be unacceptable in radial reluctance motors as their stackup can become significant. This is not so with axial reluctance motors and, in any event, the isolating layer for laminations is nowhere near that of SMC’s (each particle of which has the same insulation thickness of one lamination). This has left low lying fruit in this intellectual-property space which we have seized upon by filing a provisional patent claiming patent-law bases like “the failure of others” and “skepticism of experts.”
With the Zeus inverter, we will be able to offer a MIL-SPEC fan for cooling, a lightweight propeller, and a low-cost motor that completely omits rare-earth magnets. EMCP-based cooling combined with propulsion creates a doubled use case; while a LARM motor creates a quadrupled use case and the combination of military and civilian potentialities creates an octupled possibility. Our patent-based monopoly in the USA, Canda, France, Germany, Great Britain and India will put us in a significant market position as the first US-based provider of controllable-pitch cooling fans and EMCP-based propellers (with entirely domestic supply chains) – ultimately serving the warfighter’s budget through economies of scale and deep expertise in manufacturing.