Three-dimensional printing is a promising technology that offers increased freedom
to create topologically optimised electrical machine designs with a much smaller layer
thickness achievable with the current, laminated steel-sheet-based technology. These
composite materials have promising magnetic behaviour, which can be competitive with
the current magnetic materials. Accurately calculating the iron losses is challenging
due to magnetic steels’ highly nonlinear hysteretic behaviour. Many numerical methodologies
have been developed and applied in FEM-based simulations from the first introduced
Steinmetz formulae. However, these old curve-fitting-based iron loss models are still
actively used in modern finite-element solvers due to their simplicity and high computational
demand for more-accurate mathematical methods, such as Preisach- or Jiles–Atherton-model-based
calculations. In the case of 3D-printed electrical machines, where the printed material
can have a strongly anisotropic behaviour and it is hard to define a standardised
measurement, the applicability of the curve-fitting-based iron loss methodologies
is limited. The following paper proposes an overview of the current problems and solutions
for iron loss calculation and measurement methodologies and discusses their applicability
in designing and optimising 3D-printed electrical machines.
