Minute Lectures

Benefits of Motors with Copper Rotors

Copper or Aluminum for Motor Rotor?
• Copper has a higher conductivity than
aluminum (57 MS/m compared to 37
MS/m)
 An induction motor with copper rotor can
be more efficient, or for the same
efficiency, lighter and smaller
• For a long time, the high melting point
of die-casting copper was a major
barrier
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Benefits of Motors with Copper Rotors

Die casting copper
• Over the past years, several breakthroughs in copper
die-casting technology have been achieved
 Leading to industrial production of copper motor rotors
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Benefits of Motors with Copper Rotors

Copper rotor today
• Regular production of copper rotor motors in the
range 100W – 100kW
• 250,000 units are in use
• Average efficiency improvement compared to
aluminum rotor motors is around 3%
• Global electricity savings potential is 108 TWh/year
 Equivalent to 60-70 million tonne CO2 emissions
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Benefits of Motors with Copper Rotors

Main benefits of motors with copper rotor
• Two ways to use the higher
conductivity of copper:
 Same design
The motor has a higher efficiency,
compensating for its higher
purchasing price
 Same efficiency
The motor can be made lighter and
smaller, and therefore cheaper
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Benefits of Motors with Copper Rotors

Other benefits of copper rotors
1. A lower temperature rise in operation
 Other parts can heat up more, or less
cooling facilities are required
 A more compact machine,
fitting better into a system
2. A flatter efficiency curve
 Smaller efficiency drop when
deviating from the nominal load
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Benefits of Motors with Copper Rotors

Other benefits of copper rotors
1. Torque-speed characteristic
reaches maximum torque at
higher speed
 Useful for combining high speed
with high torque (e.g. centrifugal
pumps)
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Benefits of Motors with Copper Rotors

Other benefits of copper rotors
1. Improved steel properties
 Due to the higher melting point of copper,
the temperature of the surrounding steel
becomes higher during die-casting, which
can lead to a more energy-efficient
magnetic steel with proper steel
specifications
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Benefits of Motors with Copper Rotors

Environmental performance
Two possibilities:
 Constant efficiency
= reduced material consumption
 Improved efficiency
= reduced energy losses
Recycling:
 A copper rotor is a composite material
= difficult to recycle, but techniques exist
to separate copper
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Benefits of Motors with Copper Rotors

Operation issues
A copper rotor motor has:
 Lower starting torque
→ can be addressed by a special
design of the rotor slot shape
 Higher start-up current
→ requires use of a soft starter
 A higher rotor inertia
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Benefits of Motors with Copper Rotors

Examples of applications
• Agricultural pumps (efficiency, torque)
• Water circulation pumps (efficiency, torque)
• Oil well pumps (efficiency, torque)
• Airport baggage handling (low volume)
• Rolling curtains (low volume, high speed)
• Aeronautic applications (low volume, high speed)
• Refrigeration compressors (high efficiency)
• Ceiling conveyor belt (low weight)
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Benefits of Motors with Copper Rotors

Round-up
• Industrial production of induction
motors with die-cast copper rotor is
available today
• Main advantage: better conductivity of
copper, leading to improved efficiency,
or with the same efficiency, to lower
volume, weight and variable cost
• Improved steel in combination with
die-cast copper rotors enables Eff1
performance, or better, resulting in
reduced environmental impact
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Benefits of Motors with Copper Rotors

Further information
• Website
www.copper-motor-rotor.org

• Production of copper rotors

www.favi.com

• Motors with Copper Rotors Can Cost

Less to Produce
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