Sumitomo Bakelite Co., Ltd presents novel thermoset composite materials and processes in next generation eAxle demonstrator

The New eAxle Project will demonstrate how Sumitomo Bakelite’s high-performance plastics enable higher eAxle efficiency, improved thermal management, and a reduction in both component weight and size for OEMs and Tier suppliers, within an eAxle assembly. A fully functional demonstrator unit will be delivered in 2022 that showcases the project’s newly developed materials and assemblies.

An eAxle typically combines an electric motor, electronic power management, and transmission in a single compact unit that directly powers an electric (EV) vehicle. With an EV powertrain generally accounting for >30% of the vehicle’s weight, reducing this figure is key to increasing range and allowing smaller and cheaper batteries to be used.

Sumitomo Bakelite’s portfolio of thermoset composite materials provides significant benefits throughout the entire eAxle assembly, light weighting components, helping the traction motor to run cooler than current industry standards allow, and increasing design flexibility. The demonstrator unit manufactured by the company will feature an 150kW IPM type electric motor and will target an extremely compact final assembly with a weight of just 80kg.

Some of the project’s early technical findings were presented at the recent Charged EV Engineering virtual conference by Jason Du, Marketing Manager, Sumitomo Bakelite North America, Inc. where Sumitomo Bakelite detailed how its new stator encapsulation technology uses over-moulded thermally conductive composite materials to replace traditional paper insulation and reduce stator temperatures. Additional developments in this critical area of the eAxle motor include enhanced cooling structures that will further advance the operating temperature reductions realized so far.

Sumitomo Bakelite’s eAxle testing and validation program will also include collaboration with leading research organizations such as the Fraunhofer Institute and other academic institutions in Italy and France. As some of the extended test program data becomes available during the project, the company intends to provide further updates on specific performance gains, including noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) improvements realized by the replacement of metallic components with composites.

Sumitomo Bakelite will unveil its new eAxle demonstrator in late Q1 2022, showcasing a series of composite enhancements throughout the unit and clearly outlining a path for increased composite material utilization in next generation eAxles.

“With the New eAxle project we are focusing on novel design configurations just as much as our materials, asking how we can provide manufacturers with validated efficiency improvements and increased design flexibility. Our materials combined with the new design options developed, really do deliver a powerful one stop solution,” Hendrik De Keyser, Chief Innovation and Technology Officer, Vyncolit NV.