'Super premium' industrial motor that benefits both business and the environment

Newswise — After its successful development of industrial electric motors (three-phase induction motors) with super-premium class efficiency (IE4) for the first time in Korea, the Electric Machine and Drive Research Center of Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) has established an "open platform" that enables SMEs to utilize related technologies.

Industrial motors are the machines that consume the most considerable amount of electricity in the world. Industrial motors account for more than 50% of total electricity consumption in Korea. In 2018, KERI published a report¹⁾ finding that increasing the efficiency of electric motors by just 3% would replace building 108 1GW nuclear power plants and save about KRW 34 trillion in value.
^{1) 'Special Report on the Development of High-Efficiency Electric Motors Worldwide' published by the working group A1.47 responsible for rotating generators and electric motors at the world's largest power industry technical organization (CIGRE). KERI's Dr. Dohyun Kang chaired the working group and led the publication.}

Industrial motors' efficiency improvement is one of the most effective ways to save energy and reduce GHG emissions. Many countries are implementing policies to phase out low-efficiency motors, requiring more efficient ones and investing significant budgets in their development.

The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) categorizes electric motors according to international efficiency standards as standard effieicncy (IE1), high efficiency (IE2), premium (IE3), super premium (IE4), and ultra-premium (IE5). Korea has been taking action to mandate the production and sale of only IE3 motors in the industrial sector since 2018. However, some developed countries started regulations to promote IE4 class getting ahead of others.

KERI's achievement is developing the core source technology to increase the capacity of motors with a total of 15kW or less, accounting for 80% of domestic industrial motors, to IE4 level. Even IE3-class motors boast high efficiency as labeled as premium. To develop motors with higher efficiency than that, KERI's research team has developed IE4 class motors after years of research and development, which are 1-2 percentage points higher in efficiency than IE3 class motors and reduce energy loss by 20%.

However, not only efficiency improvement but cost reduction of material is also essential for developing IE4 class motors. While achieving high efficiency with expensive materials is easy, KERI focused on securing market competitiveness for domestic SMEs. To this end, KERI partnered with top research institutes in each field: the Korea Electronics Technology Institute for electric motors, the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology for production and manufacturing, and the Korea Institute of Materials Science for materials technology. KERI and partners' expertise has brought about a synergy effect to achieve high efficiency and price reduction.

The research team has established a web-based open platform (URL: iexdesign.com) to expand and apply IE4-class motors to industrial sites. Companies need a lot of R&D investment, experts' design skills, and expensive commercial import softwares to produce high-efficiency motors well. It has been a big huddle for small and medium-sized enterprises. Against this backdrop, KERI was able to provide an open platform at a lower cost by utilizing the design and open source-based analysis programs developed in partnership with the Korea Electronics Technology Institute and an engineering software company, Clew. During the project period (2019-2022), participating companies have shown excellent results, with increased annual sales of electric motors by more than 20% on average. It raises many expectations regarding the impact of the technology.

"An open platform to provide electric motor design, material utilization, and production process database will significantly lower the barriers for domestic companies to access IE4 industrial high-efficiency motor technology," said Dr. Pilwan Han of KERI. "Policy support and promotion are also needed to help domestic companies in need actively adopt IE4 high-efficiency motors to respond to the energy crisis."

The global industrial motor market is estimated at USD 68 billion in 2023. The domestic market is expected to reach USD 2 billion, with an annual growth rate of 7.9%. Korea is expected to implement IE4 class motor regulations by 2026 to achieve carbon neutrality, and many motor companies are expected to grow during this period.

With its publishment of 11 SCI(E) papers and application for 11 patents related to the technology, KERI aims to meet the demands of the times by developing IE4-class motors for medium and large capacities between 15kW and 200kW and developing variable-speed and non-rare-earth permanent magnet motors for IE5-class.

This research was conducted under the project 'A Construction and Operation of Open Platform for Next-Generation Super Premium Efficiency (IE4) Motors' (May 2019 ~ Dec 2022). This project was supported through the 'Energy Demand Side Management Program' organized by the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Based on the support of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning, KERI has been carrying out research to secure high-efficiency motor technology for SMEs, such as 'Premium-class high-efficiency induction motors', 'High-efficiency induction motors under the minimum efficiency regulation,' and 'Inverter-driven super-premium (IE4) synchronous reluctance motors.'