ThinGap’s permanent magnet motors are widely used in airborne and space platforms, but there are more applications that benefit from their zero-cogging technology. With the insatiable demand for high tech devices, comes an equally high demand for precision equipment used to make integrated circuits. Today’s semiconductor equipment and test platforms need high degrees of force density, and decisive move-and-hold steps. Robust, yet compact semiconductor equipment enable inline process functions, yield enhancements, and higher levels of throughput.

Motors and actuators used in wafer processing and test require the benefits of cogless, absolute precision. Low profile motors are ideal because of the large internal aperture so that optics, cabling, or prisms can be routed through the center, yet be compact, enabling deep system integration. Additionally, precision brushless motors are used extensively in optical systems for applications such as beam steering, delivering micron-level resolution.

The ongoing transition to direct-drive solutions enables system-level advancements needed by today’s semiconductor industry. Frameless, slotless motor kits with high torque are in many cases the ideal solution for semiconductor equipment with low profile, high torque coreless motors being the right fit for metrology and optical-based systems.

Beyond zero cogging, ThinGap’s air core motor kits have near zero Eddy-current, and a harmonic distortion of less than 1%, so torque output is directly proportional to current. The resulting smooth motion, linear output makes them perfect for use in precision industrial applications.

ThinGap’s LS Series of slotless motor kits are an industry leader for semiconductor applications. Standard kits range in size from 25-267 mm outer diameter, and a continuous torque output from 0.1- 24.4 N-m. Always cogless, always low profile and with high power density and with standard and modified configurations, the LS Series is ideal for semiconductor applications.

Renewal for three more years underlines ThinGap’s commitment to stringent customer quality requirements and the widely recognized ISO Standards

ThinGap’s ISO 9001:2015 certification has been renewed for another three years, and will remain in effect until March 2026. An audit and renewal of ThinGap’s certificate was completed by American Global Standards, LLC of Montecito, CA as the basis for the Certification renewal.

Based on ISO 9001:2015, ThinGap’s Quality Management System (QMS) serves as the baseline for delivering high quality products to many customers with program-specific QC requirements for a wide variety of industries. ThinGap has a track record of supporting the exacting requirements for its base of Fortune 500 companies, Government customers, including NASA, and regulatory specifications across multiple sectors, be it space, medical, defense or airborne.

With more than two decades of experience in the design and production of slotless motor kits, ThinGap can leverage proven designs and analytical modeling that results in highly accurate transitions from predicted performance to real world operation. Furthermore, the process steps needed to produce motors of all sizes is highly scalable; ThinGap has shipped motors from 19 mm up to 600 mm in size.

Unmanned aerial systems of all sizes and shapes have varying requirements in terms of payloads and flight ranges. From Group 1 to 5 UASes, there is a need for electric motors offering high power, efficiency, and light weight for all forms of onboard actuation.

Multiaxial gimbals require high performance motors to directly drive their movements and hold position. In airborne systems, high performance is defined by Size, Weight, and Power (“SWaP”), as well as smooth motion. Gimbal makers have an inherent need for a high amount of torque, in some cases to move large payloads quickly and precisely and stabilize the housing against forces caused by aerodynamic drag. ThinGap’s LS Series of slotless motor kits is an industry leader for gimbal applications requiring high performance and efficiency, as well as decisive positioning and smooth motion. Their ring architecture allows for optimized optical designs, by allowing critical parts of the system, such as lenses or cabling, to be integrated through the large through hole in the center of the motor.

Another airborne application where ThinGap’s motor technology provides a competitive edge is as a starter-generator. There is a long-standing truism that good motors make good generators, and for starter-generator applications, ThinGap’s TG Series is the industry leader. This is enabled by the light wave-wound composite stator, and weight-optimized rotor with large clear internal aperture, which can be integrated into both piston and turbine engines. The TG Series offers high efficiency, high peak torque, low harmonic distortion, and weight optimization which are all desired traits. In the case of UAS applications, ThinGap motors can start the Internal Combustion Engine with its high peak torque, then switch to act as a generator to supply valuable conditioned power to onboard systems.

With more than two decades supporting airborne applications, ThinGap can produce motor kits to fit all size and power requirements. To learn more about ThinGap’s motors for airborne applications, click here.

Showcasing ThinGap’s highly scalable slotless motor technology, the TGO 385 was designed with renewable energy in mind, but many potential applications exist.

ThinGap has completed its latest large-size motor prototype, the TGO 385 for a commercial customer. The TGO 385 motor kit has an outer diameter (OD) of 385 mm (15 in.), and an axial height of 223 mm (9 in.), making it about the same volume as a 5-gallon bucket.  The power output capability of the TGO 385 is estimated to be 100 kW or more depending on the application.

Showcasing the highly scalable nature of ThinGap’s motor architecture, the TGO 385 is the newest variant of the TG Series of slotless motor kits. The company’s TG motors are unique in having a stator architecture with an ironless coil. Due to the absence of slots or “teeth”, ThinGap’s stators do not saturate during operation, allowing the motor kit to produce more torque as current is applied, without the falloff seen in traditional iron core motors. Combined with a mechanical design that promotes convective cooling during operation means that the TG Series has unrivaled power density.

The TG Series has been successfully used in a wide variety of generator, propulsion, and flywheel applications, ranging from gyro-stabilization in boats and satellites to airborne starter-generators. To learn more the highly efficient, zero-cogging TG Series of slotless motor kits, click here.

The TGO 385 demonstrates ThinGap’s ability to deliver tailor-made high-power solutions.  With more than two decades of experience in the design and production of slotless motor kits, ThinGap leverages its proven designs and analytical modeling that results in highly accurate transitions from predicted performance to real world operation. Furthermore, the process steps needed to produce motors of all sizes is highly scalable, and ThinGap has shipped large class motors of up to 600 mm OD, ranging from 10-400 kW of output power.

January 2023 marked the quiet end of NASA’s ERBS (Earth Radiation Budget Satellite). Launched in late 1984 from Space Shuttle Challenger during mission STS-41-G, ERBS was launched to study how the Sun’s energy was absorbed and reflected by the Earth, as well as carrying other payloads designed for atmospheric study.

Originally designed for just a two year operational lifespan, ERBS far outlived this by 19 years until it was retired in 2005. What made ERBS one of NASA’s most important satellites was the SAGE II instrument, that was critical in observations confirming the depletion of the Ozone layer due to CFC usage, ultimately resulting in their ban. After exhausting its onboard propellant and energy stores, NASA decommissioned the satellite in 2005, and through the end of 2022 it orbited the Earth before burning up during atmospheric re-entry near the Alaska.

Though ERBS’s story may have ended, it helped reinforce the importance of using satellites for atmospheric observations and experimentation. ThinGap is a proud supplier to NASA’s upcoming PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) mission, set to launch from Cape Canaveral in early 2024 aboard a SpaceX rocket. ThinGap’s LS Series of slotless motor kits are part of the OCI (Ocean Color Instrument) advanced spectrometer designed to measure the color of the ocean in wavelengths from ultraviolet to infrared frequencies.

With the smallest stator yet, the TGR 29-12 demonstrates the scalability of ThinGap’s slotless motor technology

ThinGap has delivered its latest small-size product, the TGR 29-12, to several commercial customers. The TGR 29-12 motor kit has an outer diameter (OD) of 29 mm and an axial height of just 12 mm, providing a continuous in-vacuum torque output of 0.0028 N-m, and a peak torque of 0.034 N-m. A complete datasheet is available on ThinGap’s website.

With a total part mass of 31 grams, and a coil OD of 19.2 mm, the TGR 29-12 has the smallest stator of any ThinGap motor to date, showcasing the company’s highly scalable architecture. Designed for Attitude Control in CubeSat applications, the new part continues the build out of the Space focused TGR product line.

Prior TG Series models have been widely used in Reaction Wheel Assemblies (RWA), due to a patented architecture’s inherent advantages when used in any type of flywheel applications. Because of the efficient lightweight ironless core, zero-cogging stator, and high power-to-weight ratio, the TGR 29-12 offers more than double the torque of the closest competitor with minimal losses and no radial forces between the stator and rotor.

With more than two decades of experience in the design and production of slotless motor kits, ThinGap can leverage proven designs and analytical modeling that results in highly accurate transitions from predicted performance to real world operation. Furthermore, the process steps needed to produce motors of all sizes is highly scalable; ThinGap has shipped motors from 19 mm up to 600 mm in size.

For additional information on custom motor development, please contact us.

What do Formula 1 race cars, satellites, surgical robots, and high-end turntables have in common?  All have benefitted from the low profile, smooth motion, and highly linear output of ThinGap’s slotless motor kits. One application that has gotten our attention has been our friends at VPI Industries, who have leveraged the benefits of cogless motors for their turntables.

Over the last decade, music enthusiasts have rediscovered the authentic, warm sound of vinyl records, even in the era of convenient streaming. For high-end turntables, direct-drive motor designs ensure reliable and consistent motion for music playback through Hi-Fi systems. Historically turntables have been belt-driven, which though cost-effective, wear down over time affecting music playback and requiring replacement. While more expensive, “direct-drive” turntables get around this by mounting the record platter directly to the motor, making it more reliable as well as having smoother playback.

Precision direct-drive motors, such as those made by ThinGap are an ideal solution for modern turntables. A high-performance stereo system is nothing without clean input sources, and ThinGap’s smooth, zero-cogging motion profile is key to precise playback. Another contributing factor to the long-standing relationship between VPI and ThinGap has been the shared pride in American-made products. Since the beginning, VPI has been both sourcing components from American suppliers, as well as manufacturing their turntables in-house in New Jersey.

The re-emergence of demand for vinyl records, especially by audiophiles has shown that you can’t be too sentimental, and that when music is played on a modern direct-drive turntable it sounds better than it did when new. No matter if you’re listening to the next phase, new wave, dance craze, so long as there is a ThinGap motor powering a VPI turntable, it’s still rock and roll to us.

Central to the deployment of cutting edge technologies that require dynamic sensors and precision photonics, such as self-driving cars, laser communication, and medical equipment, optical stages are at the core of these systems. Optical systems often require precise, highly linear and cogless brushless DC motors to actuate lenses and prisms for directing laser beams, or to collect light need in high speed communications, sensing, or scanning.

An optical platform refers to any instrument that relies on photons to transmit, receive, or direct energy. Common forms of optical platforms include metrology instrumentation, medical diagnostics, inspection equipment, free-space laser communication, as well as LiDAR scanners.

Optical Communications Terminals (OCT), used in both terrestrial and space-based applications are a kind of gimbaling device that transmit and receive data through free space. Mounted on a turret, these devices use highly collimated light generated by lasers to communicate at high rates of speed, over long distances, including in satellite-to-satellite communication. ThinGap’s LS Series of slotless motor kits is an industry leader for gimbal applications requiring high performance and efficiency, as well as decisive move-and-hold positioning, and smooth motion for long-range target lock. LS motors have been widely used in OCT systems and even NASA’s PACE Mission’s optical scanner.

The emergence of self-driving vehicles and other unmanned systems has been enabled by the integration of LiDAR technology. LiDAR is an acronym that stands for Light Detection And Ranging, and operates by projecting out laser energy and then measuring the time it takes for it to be returned. LiDAR platforms benefit from slotless motor technology, such as ThinGap’s TG series that combines extremely precise and controlled movement, high speed, and a large throughhole needed for tight integration.

Broader use of optical systems includes laser guidance and directed energy for the military, scientific spectroscopy, and medical treatment and diagnostics. Industrial segments, like semiconductor wafer processing and test heavily rely on the precision of optical systems, as does material processing. In most cases, to leverage the precision of highly collimated light and highly sensitive sensors, precision actuation is need in the form of smooth motion profiles, highly linear torque constant and little or no hysteresis caused by the motor.

Low profile and high torque air-core motors are a perfect fit for many optical systems. With a large through hole, lenses or prisms can be integrated inside the footprint of the motor. Precision, cogless motion is demanded in both transmission and receipt of photonic signals, and quality, qualification for medical or space and reliability go together with these targeted applications.

ThinGap’s LS and TG Series of motor kits come in sizes from 25 mm up to 267 mm OD, with modified and full custom options are also available. All ThinGap motors are zero cogging and have a thin coil, with a large through-hole. The LS Series are designed for torquer motor applications, and feature a steel lamination stack that retains the stator coil, and ideal thermally efficient architecture for clamping or bonding into systems. The TG Series offers both high speed and high torque performance, and is ideal for haptic feedback because its ironless stator produces no attractive forces when unpowered.

There is a long-standing truism that good motors make good generators.  High efficiency, smooth operation, low harmonic distortion and weight optimization are commonly desired traits in both motors and generators. In the case of a starter-generator for applications like UAVs and ground-based portable systems, ThinGap motors can start an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) with its high peak torque, then switch to generator mode to supply valuable conditioned power to onboard systems. What is effectively two functions from one electro-mechanical device.

ThinGap designs and builds high efficiency, air core-slotless motor kits with large through-holes and high-torque and power density. This architecture largely eliminates internal magnetic losses by virtue of design and offers the highest possible BLDC system efficiency (up to 95%).  The low impedance Stator provides a stable, pure 3-phase sinusoidal, low-droop (less than 1% harmonic distortion) voltage output. Because of the thin radial cross section and with an optimized Rotor, the bulk of the material is at the maximum radius yielding high torque.

As part of its ongoing support of Government end-customers, ThinGap and its industry partners were recently selected for two different airborne starter-generator projects for use on DOD platforms. ThinGap has been supplying starter-generators for several years, and recently has worked to expand offerings and more widely deploy these solutions. There is growing demand, especially in Defense, for generators that run off a heavy full engine.

To better understand ThinGap’s position in supplying electric motors for starter-generators, it helps to understand starter-generators. Starter-generators are a unique application that requires high peak starting torque at relatively low speed, and then power generation at high speed. Aircraft require starter-generators to begin operation, where on startup in both piston and jet turbine powered aircraft, power is drawn from onboard batteries to operate the starter-generator first as a motor to get the main engine up to a speed that can sustain combustion for propulsion. This process takes a few seconds on piston motors and up to a minute with jet turbines. Once combustion has been sustained, current is cut to the starter, and from there the free-spinning rotor is driven by the crankshaft or turbine shaft to now act as a generator to power aircraft systems and recharge the aircrafts internal power supply from startup.

ThinGap’s TG Series is ideal for starter-generator applications. This is enabled by the lightweight wave-wound composite Stator, and weight-optimized Rotors with large clear internal apertures which can be integrated into both piston and turbine engines. For the TG Series, peak torque capacity is much higher, giving a dynamic response significantly better than the competition at a lighter weight.

The TG Series is air cooled by convection, and unlike most motor kits generates more power the faster it is spinning, due to faster airflow over the composite coil, and power ranges between 3-7 kW when used as a starter-generator, and standard offerings range between 5 and 7 inches in diameter, with custom motors delivered for UAV applications as large as 14 inches.

To learn more about ThinGap’s TG Series of motor kits, click here.