Lappeenranta, Finland (July 7th, 2023) – SpinDrive, a Finnish start-up specializing in active magnetic bearing solutions teamed up with Teraloop, a forerunner in flywheel on an international consortium project Soft Magnetic Composites for Advanced Electrification (SoftCompEl) under M-ERA.NET.
The project is being carried out together with another future-oriented European company Magnax and research institutes, the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials (the project coordinator) and Flemish Institute for Technological Research.
During this three-year project, we will develop the next generation of high-performance soft magnetic composites for innovative electric machines. By using novel materials in the active magnetic bearing system of the flywheel, the specific energy of the rotor can be more than doubled up to 100 Wh/kg. By increasing the capacity of the flywheel, it can store more energy in the same amount of space and enhance the efficiency of the system while reducing manufacturing costs and environmental footprint. These advances will allow flywheels to replace Li-ion batteries for selected applications and reduce dependence on critical materials such as lithium and cobalt. SpinDrive will support Teraloop with tailor-made active magnetic bearing systems to develop next-generation high-performance soft magnetic composites for innovative electrical machines.
“It is our pleasure to work with Teraloop on the SoftCompEI project. We are happy to support our partners to improve their energy efficiency and develop groundbreaking solutions together.” says Janne Heikkinen, CEO and co-founder of SpinDrive, leading the SoftCompEl project at SpinDrive.
“Climate change is a critical issue for the Earth. It is a responsibility for all of us to do something and fight against it. At SpinDrive, our mission is to fight against climate change by improving the energy efficiency of industrial processes. We are fulfilling it by implementing active magnetic bearings easily and affordably for different rotating equipment. SpinDrive aims to support industrial leaders to develop more sustainable products with our active magnetic bearings.” Janne adds.
About SoftCompEl:
Sustainability is a strong driver for electrical machines with smaller sizes and higher efficiency. The design flexibility of electrical machines is much higher with soft magnetic composites (SMCs) providing isotropic magnetic flux in contrast to conventional laminated steel sheets. In SoftCompEl project, the potential of more efficient innovative electrical machines with higher power density shall be exploited by the customized development of high-performance soft magnetic composites for axial flux machines (AFM) and active magnetic bearings (AMB) in flywheels. High speeds of these applications result in tremendous demands regarding the magnetic and mechanical properties of the SMC components. This is a great challenge in material design affecting component design. A consortium of renowned research institutes and future-oriented companies will combine all necessary expertise to develop and demonstrate the potential of high-performance soft magnetic composites in two different applications.
About SpinDrive
SpinDrive improves the energy efficiency of industrial processes by providing active magnetic bearings to equipment manufacturers. SpinDrive solution enables the ultimate rotational speed of different machinery. Higher speed enables to increase the energy efficiency of industrial processes while minimizing the required footprint. SpinDrive system is completely maintenance-free and oil-free reducing the overall maintenance costs and eliminating the risk of oil contamination. The built-in sensors enable condition monitoring of the whole unit.
About Teraloop
Teraloop works to enable a complete transition to renewable energy and overcome the need for fossil fuels to mitigate the impact of climate change. Teraloop provides energy storage solutions that can help in stabilizing the natural intermittency of solar and wind energy and providing protection against power quality issues and power outages. Their kinetic energy storage system provides the highest round-trip efficiency of all energy storage conversion processes.
For more information, please contact:
Janne Heikkinen, CEO and Co-founder
+358 400 464 823
SpinDrive, 7th July 2023