Dr Alexander Goodall - University of Sheffield

Research Fellowships 2024

Electrical machines are key to enabling the decarbonisation of transport sectors and are widespread throughout the world. Within the aerospace industry, there are critical challenges to overcome in achieving the power densities required for zero emission commercial flights. Research into functional materials is instrumental to delivering higher power density electrical machines, with both soft magnetic material and conductive materials listed on the Aerospace Technology Institute’s (ATI) electrical propulsion systems roadmap of requirements.

Dr Alexander Goodall’s Royal Academy of Engineering’s Research Fellowship aims to improve the power density of electrical machines to exceed the 12 kW/kg power density target laid out by Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) by improving the design and processing of additively manufactured (AM) functional materials. His research, undertaken at the University of Sheffield, is investigating soft magnetic materials to reduce energy losses and enable 3D magnetic circuits. 

This will enable novel electrical machine architectures with higher power density, previously beyond the state-of-the-art manufacturing techniques. He is also looking at conductive materials, where delivering lighter weight and higher operating temperature windings will further increase power density.

To achieve these goals, there are a common set of limitations in AM that limit improvements in both soft magnetic materials and conductive materials. To realise the benefits of AM, these limitations must be understood and reduced. Process manipulation and control, along with post-processing techniques to improve surface finish will be investigated. This will result in reduced volume components, yielding further increased power density. Dr Goodall’s research will then bring all the individual components together to demonstrate the potential increase in power density in an electrical machine designed and optimised to capitalise on these performance gains, to exceed the targets required for zero emission flights.

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