Dr. Justin Scheidler is a Research Aerospace Technologist at the NASA Glenn Research Center. His expertise includes electromechanical devices, magnetic materials, and mechanical vibrations. He has conducted research on electric machines and magnetic gears for aeronautics and space applications and vibration control technologies for helicopter transmissions. He received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from The Ohio State University in 2015.
Magnetic gears harness the magnetic force between non-contacting sets of permanent magnets. They achieve a gear ratio through the geometry and constrained motion of the magnets or the transformation of the magnetic fields by carefully shaped soft magnetic material. Their non-contact nature eliminates the need for gear lubrication and the wear mechanisms associated with mechanical contact. Magnetic gears have the potential to reduce the strong, tonal vibration and noise that is inherent to mechanical gears. Magnetic gears are also easily integrated into electric machines because they rely on the same physics and utilize the same materials and many of the same components. For these reasons and the invention of higher performing magnetic gear configurations over the past 20 years, magnetic gears have received growing attention for aerospace applications. This presentation will summarize the motivation for studying magnetic gears and the progress made in developing the technology to meet the demanding requirements of aerospace applications. An emphasis will be placed on the development completed and ongoing at NASA, but the contributions of industry and academia will also be reviewed. The discussion will focus on the application of magnetic gears and magnetically-geared motors in electrified aircraft propulsion systems and actuation systems for space mechanisms. The NASA work that will be discussed includes the design, optimization, and testing of magnetic gears and magnetically-geared motors for electrified vertical takeoff and landing aircraft and the design and ambient environment testing of a magnetically-geared actuator for use in extremely cold and dusty space environments. The presentation will conclude with thoughts on the technical barriers to adoption and potentially fruitful topics for future research.
The motivation for studying magnetic gearing, The progress that has been made within and outside NASA to develop this technology for aerospace applications, technical barriers to adoption, and areas of future research.
