Segmented Stator Lamination Stacks Manufacturer

At Sino, we know the constant need for better efficiency, more power in a smaller size, and easier manufacturing in the electric motor world. As a top Chinese motor lamination maker, we are a leader in providing new solutions that meet the changing needs of motor manufacturers everywhere. Our skill in Segmented Stator Laminations is a key step forward, completely changing how electric motors are designed, made, and how well they work.

Introduction to Segmented Stator Laminations

Segmented Stator Laminations are a new way to build the stator core of an electric motor. Unlike the usual full-ring laminations, which are stamped out as one solid ring, segmented stators are built from separate, curved pieces. Each piece, usually made of thin, coated electrical steel sheets stacked together, is carefully designed to get the best magnetic results and reduce wasted energy. These individual pieces are then put together with great accuracy to create the full stator core, often using clever interlocking or dovetail joints for strong mechanical support.

Slashing Material Waste

When we at Sino manufacture segmented stator laminations, we’re stamping out smaller, often geometrically simpler, individual pieces. This allows for much more efficient nesting of these shapes on the steel sheet. This reduction in scrap isn’t trivial; it can be quite significant, directly cutting down your material costs. That’s a direct boost to your bottom line and a nod to more sustainable manufacturing. We’ve seen clients in the appliance sector, constantly battling tight margins, find this benefit particularly compelling.

Use in Many Different Motor Types

Sino’s segmented laminations are designed to work with a wide range of motor types and layouts:

Radial Flux Machines: The most common motor type, where the magnetic field flows outward from the center. Segmented designs in these motors make it easier to add windings and manage heat.
Axial Flux Machines: Motors where the magnetic field flows along the motor’s axis (from front to back). Segmented stators are especially useful here, allowing for high power in a small package.
Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machines (PMSMs): Get big benefits from segmented stators because they allow for more copper in the slots (higher slot fill factors), lower energy loss in the core, and better heat management. This is important for EV motors and powerful industrial machines.
Synchronous Reluctance Machines (SynRMs): Segmented designs can improve the magnetic saliency ratio, which gives the motor more torque and higher efficiency.

Choosing the right way to segment the stator is a very important design choice. It depends on things like the motor’s size, its running speed, how much power it needs to produce, and how many will be made. Sino’s engineering team works closely with our customers to find the best lamination design, making sure the chosen layout gives top performance and is easy to make.

Simplifying a Complex Process

Anyone who’s dealt with motor manufacturing knows that winding copper coils into the narrow slots of a conventional, solid stator core can be a real pain. It’s often a fiddly, labor-intensive task, especially if you’re gunning for a high copper fill factor. A high fill factor means packing as much copper as possible into those slots, which is crucial for reducing electrical resistance and boosting motor efficiency. Trying to achieve this in a closed-slot, one-piece stator is like trying to thread a needle in the dark while wearing mittens.

Enter segmented stator laminations. Because you’re often dealing with individual teeth or segments before they’re assembled into the full stator, the winding process becomes dramatically simpler. Many segmented designs utilize open slots or allow for “tooth-winding” (also known as concentrated winding), where coils are wound directly onto individual stator teeth. This unprecedented access allows for:

Higher Copper Fill Factors

Sino provides laminations precisely engineered to support these advanced winding methods, ensuring the segments fit together perfectly after your simplified winding process.

Automation Friendliness

Winding individual segments is far more amenable to automated processes than trying to automate winding on a complex, bulky single-piece core. This can slash labor costs and improve consistency.

Shorter End-Windings

The parts of the coil that loop outside the active stator slots (the end-windings) don’t contribute to torque production but do contribute to resistance and copper losses. Concentrated windings on segments naturally lead to shorter end-windings. Less inactive copper means lower I²R losses and, you guessed it, better efficiency.

Modern Manufacturing Methods

Sino’s factories have the latest technology to make, assemble, and fit segmented stator cores accurately.

Precision Stamping and Surface Treatments

Our stamping lines are made for the high accuracy needed for segmented laminations. We also use modern surface treatments, like dry lubricants (e.g., molybdenum disulfide-based coatings) and micro-texturing. These treatments, tested by companies like Bosch and Siemens, reduce friction during assembly, reduce sharp edges, and make the segmented stacks stronger. They also help the insulation stick better and lower the chance of layers separating when heated and cooled.

Automated Assembly and Integration

Putting together segmented stators is a tricky job that needs to be very accurate. Sino uses and keeps investing in advanced automation:

Automated Robotic Assembly Systems: We use multi-axis robots with force-torque sensors and high-quality vision systems to line things up with less than 0.1 mm of error. These systems can handle a large volume of work, with quality checks during the process using machine learning to find defects.
Precision Alignment and Clamping: Our assembly stations include special tools that actively line up the parts using piezoelectric actuators and laser systems to keep gaps between segments smaller than 30 microns. Live feedback loops adjust clamping pressure and position, lowering the total amount of misalignment and reducing magnetic energy loss.
Segment Interconnection and Bonding: Bonding techniques done on the spot, like laser welding and ultrasonic welding, are being added more and more to join stator segments. These methods are very fast (under 2 seconds per joint) and create joints with very low electrical resistance (below 10 µΩ), which is key for high-efficiency e-motors. We also use automated glue dispensers for a mix of mechanical and chemical bonding.
Vision-Guided Quality Assurance: Inline vision systems that use deep learning are a normal part of checking segment direction, measuring gaps, and finding defects. These systems have a very low rate of missed problems (below 0.5%) and can spot tiny cracks or insulation flaws as small as 20 microns, so they can be fixed or removed right away.
Flexible, Modular Assembly Lines: Our production lines are designed to be flexible, letting us switch quickly between different segment counts and shapes. This flexibility helps us support both large-scale car production and smaller-scale, more varied uses like in aerospace or specialty motors.

Our Segmented Stator Lamination Products

Important Material Choices

Electrical Steel Grades

The basic building block of any great stator is the electrical steel. For segmented stator designs, certain types are preferred for their magnetic qualities and because they work well for complex shapes:

Non-Grain Oriented (NGO) Electrical Steels: These steels, especially those 0.20–0.35 mm thick, are mostly used. Their magnetic properties are the same in all directions, which is vital for the complex, multi-directional magnetic paths that are part of segmented designs. Sino gets special NGO grades (like M235-35A, NO20) from big suppliers. They offer very low energy loss (as low as 1.2–1.5 W/kg at 1.5 T/50 Hz). This is needed to get the high efficiency required by electric cars and modern industrial machines.
High-Silicon Electrical Steels: Steels with up to 3.2% silicon are used more and more to increase electrical resistance, which reduces eddy current losses. While they have great magnetic performance, more silicon makes the steel less flexible, which can be difficult for the precise stamping and interlocking needed in segmented designs. Sino’s advanced stamping tools are set up to work well with these materials.
Amorphous and Nanocrystalline Alloys: For extremely low energy loss in the core, especially in high-frequency uses, amorphous (iron-based, like Metglas 2605SA1) and nanocrystalline (like VITROPERM 500F) alloys are being tested in segmented stator prototypes. These materials show extremely low core losses (as low as 0.2–0.4 W/kg at 1.5 T/50 Hz). For now, they are brittle and hard to work with (e.g., laser cutting, stacking), which limits their use in mass production, but Sino is actively working on ways to use these advanced materials in the future.

Inter-Laminar Insulation

Good insulation between the steel sheets is very important to stop eddy currents and make sure the motor lasts a long time.

C5 Organic Coatings: Commonly used for segmented laminations, C5 organic coatings (like Backlack from Henkel, C5 from Cogent) offer good electrical insulation (>800 V), can be applied in a thin layer (<5 μm), and can handle being heated and cooled many times.
Electrophoretic Deposition (EPD): Methods like EPD, created by companies like Aisin Seiki and Voestalpine, create even insulation layers with no tiny holes. This further cuts down on eddy currents between layers and improves long-term reliability.
Balancing Heat Flow and Insulation: Sino understands the important balance between high electrical resistance and enough ability to let heat pass through. We look into new insulation systems (like inorganic-organic hybrids, sol-gel coatings) to find the best balance. For example, Voestalpine’s isovac® insulation system says it gets rid of heat 20% better than regular organic coatings, a key point for high-power segmented stators.
High-Temperature Insulation Materials: For tough working conditions, like in aerospace and high-performance EVs, Sino is ready to use new high-temperature polyimide and ceramic-based insulation that can work in temperatures above 250°C.

Boosting Performance

The benefits of segmented stator laminations directly translate into superior motor performance.

Enhanced Efficiency

As we’ve touched on, higher copper fill factors and shorter end-windings mean lower resistive losses (I²R losses). Less energy wasted as heat means more energy doing useful work. This isn’t just a marginal gain; it can be the difference that pushes your product into a higher energy efficiency class.

Improved Thermal Management

Heat is the enemy of many electrical components, including motors. Segmented designs can inherently offer better thermal pathways. Sometimes, the small gaps between segments (if not detrimental magnetically) can even aid in air or liquid cooling. Moreover, because the windings can be more compact and efficient, they might generate less heat to begin with.

Higher Power Density

Want more power from a smaller package? Or the same power from a significantly lighter motor? Segmented stators help you get there. The improved copper fill and reduced losses mean you can push more current through for a given size, or achieve the same torque with a physically smaller motor. This is gold dust in scenarios like portable power tools, electric bikes, or any application where space and weight are at a premium.

Impact on Motor Feel and Sound

Besides better efficiency and more power, segmented stators also improve other important motor features:

Cogging Torque and Torque Ripple: Real-world data shows that segmented stators, especially when used with fractional-slot concentrated windings, can reduce cogging torque by up to 40% compared to older designs. While the wrong segmentation can increase torque ripple, Sino’s smart designs reduce this risk through careful shaping and accurate assembly.
Acoustic Noise Reduction: Data shows that segmented stator designs can lower sound levels by 3–5 dB(A) in industrial induction motors. This is because they separate the paths that vibrations travel along and can reduce vibrations at certain frequencies. Careful clamping of the segments and resin filling can further reduce NVH (noise, vibration, harshness) by 8 dB, performing as well as one-piece designs.

Mechanical Strength and Reliability

mechanically strong:

Fatigue Life: Using advanced glues and smart interlocking shapes can help prevent fatigue cracks from starting, making the part last 1.5–2 times longer under high-speed use (up to 20,000 rpm).
Tolerance Control: Sino’s automated assembly lines keep very exact measurements during production. It has been shown that differences of more than 50 μm in how segments line up can cause local overheating and make the part less strong, which shows why our strict quality control is so important.

Tailored Solutions & Design Flexibility

The modular nature of segmented stators opens up a playground for motor designers.

Modularity: You can potentially design families of motors with different stack lengths or even pole counts by using common segment designs, streamlining your inventory and design process.
Fault Tolerance: For certain critical applications, some segmented designs allow for better physical and magnetic isolation between phases. This means that a fault in one phase is less likely to propagate and cripple the entire motor – a huge plus in aerospace or critical industrial machinery.
Material Combinations: While less common, segmentation could even open doors to using different material grades for different parts of the stator if a specific, unusual performance characteristic was targeted.

At Sino, we don’t just offer off-the-shelf solutions. We work with you to understand your specific motor design and performance targets. Our expertise in manufacturing segmented stator laminations means we can produce segments with the precise geometry, material properties, and tight tolerances your innovative designs demand.

Traditional vs. Sino's Segmented Approach

To make it crystal clear, here’s how segmented stator laminations from Sino stack up against the old guard:

Feature	Conventional Stator (One-Piece)	Sino’s Segmented Stator Laminations	Source/Rationale & Sino’s Value
Material Utilization	Lower (significant center scrap)	Higher (efficient nesting of segments)	General manufacturing principle; confirmed by industry studies (e.g., E. Bostanci et al. on manufacturing). Sino’s precision stamping maximizes this.
Winding Process	More complex often manual or semi-auto	Simpler can be fully automated for many designs	Widely acknowledged (Hendershot & Miller, “Design of Brushless Permanent-Magnet Motors”). Sino laminations are designed for ease of winding.
Copper Fill Factor	Typically 40-60%	Can exceed 70-80% with concentrated windings	Research like F. Parasiliti et al. (2005) on “High Fill Factor concentrated Windings.” Sino segments enable this.
End-Winding Length	Generally longer	Can be significantly shorter	A direct result of concentrated windings. Less wasted copper.
Thermal Performance	Can be challenging	Often improved due to winding/design	Better heat dissipation paths, lower intrinsic losses.
Power Density	Standard	Potentially Higher	Achievable through better fill factors and thermal performance.
Design Flexibility	More constrained	Greater modularity and design options	Allows for novel configurations and potentially easier scaling of motor families. Sino supports custom segment designs.
Assembly	Simpler single piece core handling	More complex assembly of multiple parts	This is a trade-off, but the winding benefits often outweigh this. Sino’s high-tolerance parts ensure smooth assembly.
Inter-segment Magnetic Gaps	None (solid core)	Small gaps require careful design & manufacturing	A key consideration. Sino’s precision minimizes these gaps and their impact. Research by N. Bianchi & S. Bolognani often delves into segmentation design criteria.

Table information synthesized from common findings in electric motor design literature and Sino’s manufacturing expertise.

Sino's Unwavering Commitment to Quality

The performance of a segmented stator hinges on the precision of its components. Those inter-segment gaps, if not meticulously controlled, can indeed introduce unwanted magnetic reluctance (resistance to magnetic flux) or even localized eddy currents, potentially nibbling away at the performance gains. This is why at Sino, we’re obsessed with:

Tight Tolerances

Our advanced stamping and manufacturing processes ensure that each segment is produced with exceptional dimensional accuracy. This means when you assemble them, they fit together snugly, minimizing air gaps.

Material Excellence

We utilize high-quality electrical steels chosen specifically for their magnetic properties and suitability for your motor's operational demands. Our material knowledge helps in mitigating any potential negative effects from segmentation.

Interlocking Features

For many designs, we can incorporate interlocking features (like dovetails or other keyed shapes) into the laminations themselves. These not only aid in precise alignment during assembly but also enhance the mechanical robustness of the final stator core.

Surface Finish and Burr Control

Cleanly cut laminations with minimal burrs are crucial for good stacking, reduced eddy current losses, and electrical insulation integrity. Sino's processes are geared towards delivering just that.

Where Sino's Segmented Stators Truly Excel

The beauty of segmented stator laminations is their versatility. If you need a motor that pushes the boundaries of performance, efficiency, or compactness, there’s a very good chance that a segmented design, built with top-quality laminations from Sino, is your answer.

The Trade-offs and How Sino Helps

The primary consideration often cited is the increased complexity of the final stator assembly compared to simply handling a single-piece core. By providing segmented stator laminations manufactured to exceptionally high precision, with features that aid alignment, we significantly de-risk your assembly process. The upfront benefits in winding automation, material savings, and performance gains often far outweigh the slightly more involved assembly, which itself can be highly automated with modern robotics and fixturing.

Sino is Your Partner in Building The Future

Are you looking to:

Boost your motor’s efficiency?
Increase its power density?
Reduce manufacturing costs through material savings and winding automation?
Explore more flexible and modular motor designs?

If any of these ring true, it’s time to talk to Sino. Let our expertise in segmented stator laminations help you build better, smarter, and more competitive electric motors. Don’t let old manufacturing methods hold you back. Embrace the segments, embrace the future.

Note: To speed up your project, you can label Lamination Stacks with details such as tolerance, material, surface finish, whether or not oxidized insulation is required, quantity, and more.

Segmented Stator Lamination Stacks Manufacturer

Introduction to Segmented Stator Laminations

Slashing Material Waste

Use in Many Different Motor Types