Overview
Plettenberg is the leading developer and manufacturer of rugged tailored electric propulsion systems for the uncrewed systems as well as aerospace & defense markets. It provides the best power-to-weight-to-robustness ratio and customizes its motors to ideally match the mission profile of its customers.
The company was originally founded in 1935, is headquartered in Baunatal, Germany and develops and manufactures 100% of its products in Germany. Its operations are EN 9100:2018 (equivalent to AS 9100) certified and its product portfolio is NDAA compliant.
Plettenberg’s product portfolio comprises the entire electric drive ecosystem. It includes ultra-rugged high-performance inrunner BLDC motors, lightweight outrunner BLDC motors, brushed DC motors, ESCs, starter & generator systems as well as mission critical accessories.
Product Offering: Standard vs. Custom Solutions
COTS
Plettenberg’s commercial-off-the-shelf (“COTS”) product range has been designed to cover a wide range of applications in demanding end-markets. The COTS portfolio comprises more than 30 COTS standard motors of the NOVA, ADVANCE as well as ORBIT series. Datasheets for all COTS motors are available. Lead times for COTS motors are typically ~4-6 weeks.
MOTS
MOTS (“modified-off-the-shelf”) motors have the same mechanical parts as COTS motors but come with a customized winding. The winding of the motor determines the Kv (rpm/V) and allows for adapting the motor to the application requirements. Plettenberg offers MOTS motors with electrical design support from its engineering team, including an engineering study, which covers data sheets and performance simulations.
Fully Custom
If a MOTS solution is not sufficient and significant tailorization is required, a FC (“fully-custom”) solution is the best choice. FC drive solutions are often highly application specific and adjusted to complex requirements. Examples of customization options include:
- Custom housing and shaft
- IP67 rating
- Compliance with MIL-STD 810H or RTCA DO-160 requirements
- Special wrapping of magnets for ultra-high rpm applications
- Redundant winding solutions
- Ultra high/low temperature versions
- Frameless stator / rotor kits
- Single line replaceable units with integrated ESC
- Aerospace connectors
Plettenberg has more than 40 years of motor design and manufacturing experience, with proprietary design and simulation tools, which utilize a huge database of actual dyno measurements. This allows for highly accurate performance and thermal simulations of custom motor designs.
Most projects start with a COTS or MOTS solution, and progress to FC solutions as first data has been gathered and requirements become more rigid.
Product Series
NOVA Series
Inrunner BLDC motors with closed housing design
The NOVA series of inrunners feature an extra rugged closed housing design with ingress protection of up to 67. The motors can be applied in the harshest environments, such as desert, snow and sea water operations. The COTS products from the NOVA 4 and 15 series are fully qualified to MIL-STD 810H. At the same time, the NOVA motors are designed to be extremely efficient and have market leading power-to-weight ratios. This allows for very long endurances and operational times. Available in the power range from below 1 kW to 50 kW.
Check out our new NOVA 15 LW from our family of super rugged inrunner BLDC motors which has been specifically designed for UAS and aerospace. NOVA 15 LW BROCHURE
ADVANCE Series
Inrunner BLDC motors with open housing design
The ADVANCE series of inrunners feature a weight-optimized open housing design. This allows for best-in-class power-to-weight ratios and makes the motors very suitable for professional drones and other applications with constraints in space, weight and power supply. Available in the power range from 1 kW to 5 kW.
ORBIT Series
Series of Outrunner BLDC motors
The ORBIT series of outrunners have been developed for applications with constraints in space, weight and power supply, such as professional drones. Compared to other outrunners in the market, the ORBIT series is built much more robust and features a three-bearing design. Available in the power range from below 1 kW to 15 kW.
Generators & Starters
Plettenberg designs and manufactures generators & starters as well as related (starter) generator control units (“(S)GCUs”) for combustion engines in uncrewed systems and light aircraft applications. Its generators are available in the power range from 500 W to 15 kW for payload and hybrid-power systems. Its solutions are available as external generator (separate to combustion engine), attachment kits (to be attached to combustion engine) or as integration kits (to be integrated in combustion engine housing). The generators can be combined with boxer engines, inline engines and single-cylinder engines from 100-650 cm³.
Accessories
Plettenberg provides a wide range of high-quality, low-weight mission critical accessories. Products include the Gold Plug connector series as well as propeller couplings for the NOVA series specifically developed for UAV applications.
Additional Information
Selecting the Ideal Propulsion system
White Paper – Get our white paper on how to select the ideal propulsion systems for UAVs.
MIL-STD 810H Qualification
Call +1 (810) 441-1457 or Email: bob@uavpropulsiontech.com for cost/delivery.
Suter Industries website: https://plettenbergmotors.com/
