Magnetics Business & Technology - May/June 2022 - 22

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Peer into the Future of Magnetics for Energy at ARPA-E Summit
" We are applying this technology to see if we can sense roots
growing in agricultural soils and characterize them, " explains
Nithya Rajan, AgriLife Research crop physiologist and agroecologist
in the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences Department of
Soil & Crop Sciences, who is leading the multidisciplinary project
team. " To date, imaging roots in soil has been challenging
because the soil is complex, with solids, moisture and roots. We
just want to image the roots. "
GE Global Research - Electric Powertrain for Narrow-body
Commercial Aircraft (eFLITES)
Magnetics technology plays a key role in much of today's energy
research - looking for breakthroughs in electric propulsion for
aviation, high-temperature superconductors, fusion energy,
machine modeling for power magnetics, new embedded cooling
and winding topologies for improving permanent-magnet motors,
even magnetic resonance imaging of crop roots. Visitors to the
U.S. Department of Energy's ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit
& Technology Showcase can explore a fascinating array of these
and meet the scientists behind them, as well as many other aspects
of energy R&D. It will be held in Denver in May. This article
highlights some of the magnetic-related projects.
Texas A&M - MRI Rhizotron for Seeing Crop Roots in the Field
Texas A&M AgriLife Research is developing low field magnetic
resonance imaging instrumentation that can image intact
soil-root systems with an aim toward determining ideal plant
characteristics. Operating much like a MRI used in a medical
setting, the system can function in the field without damaging
plants, unlike traditional methods such as trenching, soil coring,
and root excavation. The team will test two different approaches:
an in-ground system shaped like a cylinder that can be inserted
into the soil to surround the roots; and a coil device that can be
deployed on the soil surface around the plant stem.
GE plans to develop a 2 MW fully integrated all-electric aircraft
powertrain and demonstrate a 350-kW lab-scale prototype to enable
zero carbon emission narrow-body commercial aircraft with
all-electric propulsion. Key innovations include a high-voltage,
direct-drive, synchronous permanent-magnet motor with transformational
embedded cooling of the windings using supercritical
carbon dioxide and high-temperature, high-voltage electrical
insulation; a modular inverter fully integrated into the motor to
reduce component count with high-temperature, low-loss siliconcarbide
inverter modules; and an ultracompact thermal management
system that services the motor and inverter.
Raytheon Technologies - Ultra-Light Motor & Converter with
Advanced Cooling for Aviation
Targeting the market for small regional aircraft, Raytheon Technologies
Research Center is developing ULTRA-COMPACT
to improve the electric-to-shaft power electric drive train and
demonstrate feasibility of a turbo-electric distributed propulsionbased
electrified aircraft propulsion system. The system leverages
a novel high-speed permanent magnet machine, a seriesparallel,
multi-level silicon-carbide based motor drive topology,
a high-power density gearbox using lightweight composite, and
(4) an integrated and actively controlled thermal management
system that provides coolant directly to the motor, gearbox and
power converter.
Imagen Energy - SiC Inverter for High-Speed Permanent
Magnet Synchronous Machines
Imagen Energy is developing a silicon carbide (SiC)-based
compact motor drive system to efficiently control high-power
High-speed, high-power electric drive from Imagen
Texas A&M agriscientist Nithya Rajan and Rhizotron for studying
crop roots using MRI
22 Magnetics Business & Technology * May/June 2022
(greater than 500 kW) permanent magnet electric motors operating
at extremely high speed (greater than 20,000 rpm). The
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