A Review on Methods to Reduce Weight and to Increase Efficiency of Electric Motors Using Lightweight Materials, Novel Manufacturing Processes, Magnetic Materials and Cooling Methods

The electric motor is the mechanism that transforms electrical energy into mechanical energy. Nowadays, electric motors are the cause of a considerable share of the use of electricity and therefore of the energy consumptions (70% in the industrial sector and 25-30% in the tertiary sector). Faced with ever-increasing energy demand and with a view to adhering to the all-over-the world imperative of adopting measures to reduce energy consumption in all the involved sectors, the use of efficiency enhanced electric motors is required. Generally, the efficiency of an electric motor depends on the type of motor, the size of the motor, the utilization factor, but also on the quality and quantity of the materials employed. Therefore, from all these aspects the need of using energy and cost-efficient components for developing electric motors arises. This review paper aims to draw a general framework on the methods of increasing efficiency and of reducing weight of the electric motors.