Scalable Design of Axial Flux Machines for Personalized Wearable Robotics

Exoskeletons are powerful wearable robotic devices for people with medical impairments or for physically challenging tasks.

The dimensioning of the individual components, especially of the electric drive, is often conducted for maximum, worst-case scenarios, without considering the individuality of the user or the variety of tasks. The strong over dimensioning lead to a high unacceptance of the users.

An increase in acceptance by reducing the weight should be achieved by a personalized and scalable design of the exoskeleton drive.

A scalable human model allows the individual determination of the necessary forces of the drive unit. By systematically analyzing the load profile, frequently occurring operating points can be determined and used for machine calculations. The developed scaling model of the double-sided multi-phase axial flux machine leads to an optimal adaptation of the drive to the user. The developed, partially additive manufacturing process of the axial flux machine enables production in quantities of one.

Within the scope of this work, it is shown that the individual adaptation of the drive unit is necessary and feasible. This enables a weight saving of up to 20% on the personalized electric machine.