US electric motor design and software company ECM PCB Stator Tech announced the public release of its PrintStator Motor CAD SaaS today at CES 2024. The launch coincides with ECM’s selection as a CES Innovation Awards Honoree for PrintStator.
ECM’s software as a service application fundamentally transforms the way electric motors are devised and manufactured. From the cloud-based interface, PrintStator users can dial-in precise performance and dimensional specs to create custom electric motor solutions for multiple verticals: Consumer Electronics, HVAC, E-Mobility, Medical, Robotics, Aerospace, and more.
“PrintStator Motor CAD uniquely enables a motor as software product, mobilizing unprecedented rapid innovation within the global electric motor industry. Within minutes, PrintStator’s SaaS platform optimizes user specs into PCB Stator motor solutions. Those PCB design files can then be printed immediately worldwide, facilitating vertical or local manufacturing,” said ECM CEO Brian Casey.
Casey invited innovators to demo the PrintStator SaaS platform at ECM’s CES 2024 exhibit and visit ECM’s Design Your Own page.
The many benefits of using PrintStator CAD include the following:
- Exact Solutions — Advanced algorithms transform discrete motor specifications into optimized PCB Stator electric motor solutions.
- Rapid Design Cycle — Models and functioning prototypes are available in minutes, hours, and weeks vs. months or years.
- Manufacturing Ease — PrintStator generated design files can be used to produce optimized electric motors with preferred manufacturers worldwide, enabling the vertical integration of motor manufacturing.
- Design Flexibility — The platform extends unrivaled flexibility in specifying machine parameters and application constraints.
“PrintStator offers innovators unparalleled design optimization. If a global electronics manufacturer needs a 1.62 horsepower appliance motor that achieves 94% efficiency, conforms to an exact form factor, and complies with regional regulatory requirements, PrintStator can design that,” said ECM CEO Brian Casey.
Motor as Software
ECM’s PrintStator is an advanced design-to-manufacture tool. As a SaaS offering, the Motor CAD platform allows companies with manufacturing capacity to advance designs immediately to production. PrintStator users without manufacturing capability can leverage the global capacity of the printed-circuit board industry to enable rapid production of their perfect-fit electric motors.
“With PrintStator, ECM aims to positively disrupt an electric motor space that hasn’t seen transformative innovation for eons. PrintStator enables any innovator in any sector to become an electric motor designer and OEM. Moreover, PrintStator designed machines incorporate the axial flux, PCB Stator technology that 21st century motors need,” said ECM CEO Brian Casey.
As a company, ECM pairs PrintStator Motor CAD to patented PCB Stator innovation to create next generation electric machines that are smaller, quieter, and more energy and space efficient across a broad range of use cases.
ECM’s PCB Stators replace the bulky copper windings in traditional motors with an ultra-thin disc. PCB Stator motors designed via PrintStator are up to 70% lighter than conventional options—while achieving efficiencies in the mid-90s and requiring just 20% of the raw materials.
Scalability and Sustainability
As a design product, PrintStator serves a critical market need while offering significant benefits to energy sustainability.
Macro trends—such as mass electrification and automation—are pushing global demand for specialized electric motors to over a billion units annually in a sector valued at over $200 billion.
This trend carries environmental considerations. Research underscores that conventional electric motor systems account for over 50% of global electricity consumption.
These scenarios present a complex challenge: how to meet the supply needs of a world that demands over a billion specialized electric motors annually in a more sustainable way.
PrintStator delivers a product and technological solution in results and scalability.
As a software platform, PrintStator powers the design, manufacture, and integration of optimized PCB Stator electric motors to precise performance and form factor requirements.
These benefits extend to energy sustainability. The US and EU project that converting to nextgen electric motor technology could yield CO2 emissions reductions of over 100 million tons. That’s why both regional economic blocks are mandating ecodesign, Minimum Efficiency Performance Standards (MEPs) for electrically powered machines.
“Releasing PrintStator to the public via SaaS will expand the optimization and environmental benefits of PCB Stator electric motor design at scale,” said ECM CEO Brian Casey.
Patented and Evolving IP
PrintStator and ECM’s integrated PCB Stator technology have earned 12 US patents. This list has grown (and will continue to grow) based on persistent R&D and upgrades shaped by PrintStator user input worldwide.
ECM has structured PrintStator for constant product improvement via a PrintStator user-group program. Member feedback funnels into consistent updates of the Motor CAD platform to propel the global adoption and evolution of PrintStator as a disruptive technology.
Infinite Use Cases
PrintStator has been leveraged to integrate ECM’s advanced PCB Stator electric motor technology into numerous applications. That includes collaborating with partners to design smaller, lighter, and more efficient electric motors for consumer appliances, defense and aerospace vehicles, e-bicycles, robotic medical devices, and gaming consoles.
ECM believes the release of its advanced MotorCAD platform as SaaS will serve accelerating demand for optimized PCB Stator machines.
“The need for specialized electric motors is an overlooked technology trend. The world will require billions of specialized motors annually—in every vertical imaginable—designed precisely to specs for performance, efficiency, and size. In ECM’s view, the best way to serve that electric motor future is to offer PrintStator Motor CAD to the public as SaaS,” said ECM CEO Brian Casey.
