The ongoing gas industry expansion calls for quick and strong advances in turbomachinery-coupled highspeed electric motors. Very high efficiency, dynamic performance and reliability are among the main requirements to be met at competitive costs by electric machine suppliers. This paper reports on an industrial R&D project aimed at finding the best compromise between performance targets and production cost reduction. The development of a 640-kW 10.000-rpm PM motor prototype with slotless stator and Halbach-array magnetically-levitated PM rotor is discussed, including in particular the basic technology selection and design optimization processes. In a companion paper (Part II), prototype manufacturing and testing will be reported to assess the technology and design solutions adopted.
