Magnetics Business & Technology - May/June 2022 - 36

INDUSTRY NEWS
Funds Flow to Niron and CorePower to Commercialize Rare-Earth-Free Magnet
Technologies
Niron Magnetics and CorePower Magnetics, two start-ups in
the U.S. working on building electric motors and power electronics
components free of rare-earth magnets, are in the path
of numerous venture and technology development fundings to
support commercialization of their visions.
Minneapolis-based Niron is developing what it calls the world's
first high-performance permanent magnets free of rare earths. It
brought in $21.3 million in new financing in August as the Volvo
Cars Tech Fund and Volta Energy Technologies joined existing
investors Anzu Partners and the University of Minnesota. Niron
is using the funding to build its pilot production facility in Minnesota
and accelerate the development of its technology.
" The demand for more sustainable vehicles,
power generation and electronic
devices should be met with innovation in
the magnets that drive these technologies,
rather than increasing the mining for rare
earth materials, " said Andy Blackburn,
CEO of Niron Magnetics. " This new funding
from investors like Volta Energy
Technologies and Volvo Cars Tech
Fund shows that there is strong global
interest in making our unique Clean
Earth Magnet technology widely available. "
and
commercialization of CorePower's axial motor technology
developed at Carnegie Mellon University with Niron's iron
nitride rare earth-free permanent magnet technology for electric
vehicles.
The program represents the third successful SBIR program
for CorePower, based in Pittsburgh. Earlier, it successfully
wrapped up a phase one Air Force SBIR focused on high temperature
inductors for hybrid electric aviation; it also took part
in a program with Carnegie Mellon University and University
of Pittsburgh funded by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency. This six-month effort centered on applying the
company's technology across an array of Department of Defense
applications for inductors, transformers and high-speed
motors.
Andy Blackburn, CEO
of Niron Magnetics
CorePower founders Kevin Byerly, lead engineer; Leah Ohodnicki,
COO; Samuel Kernion, CEO; and Paul Ohodnicki, CTO commemorate
their new digs in Pittsburgh
The first generation of Niron's " Clean Earth Magnet " will offer
a magnetic field strength of approximately 0.9 Tesla and will
address a wide range of applications from audio speakers,
magnetic sensors and consumer appliances to industrial motors
and automotive accessory motors, says the company. Plans
call for its second-generation magnet to offer a magnetic field
strength of 1.5 Tesla and address higher torque density applications
and high operating temperatures including electric
vehicle drivetrains and wind turbines. The company's strategy
calls for sampling in limited quantity to selected partners who
can collaborate closely with Niron to design the magnets into
suitable high-volume applications.
" By investing in the technological advancements happening
at Niron, we are able to help build a more sustainable electric
economy from the inside out, " said Pratik Budhdev, global investment
director of Volvo Cars Tech Fund. " We look forward to
working with the team to further enhance their roadmap of rareearth
free magnets that can help make a low carbon economy
more accessible. "
Niron's manufacturing process combines breakthroughs in
nanomaterial engineering with well understood, mature metallurgical
methods to deliver high performance magnets at less
than half the cost of alternatives, it says. Its manufacturing techniques
precisely control and manipulate the crystal structure of
Iron Nitride to obtain high strength magnets.
Both companies are part of a Small Business Innovation Research
(SBIR) effort funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's
Vehicle Technology Office that began about the same time. The
program seeks to establish a foundation for technology transfer
36 Magnetics Business & Technology * May/June 2022
In September of 2021, CorePower took on a new home, establishing
its headquarters at Pittsburgh's Energy Innovation
Center. " We're thrilled to call the Energy Innovation Center
home, " said Dr. Samuel Kernion, CEO. The company has collaborated
with the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of
Engineering to access incubator space where it will establish
corporate offices as well as lab space for the manufacturing and
assembly.
CorePower's central technology is to produce metal amorphous
nanocrystalline magnetic cores with scalable, in-line manufacturing
processes. The patented materials and processes
address three key challenges: thermal management, power
density and efficiency. Its processes provide the ability to
spatially engineer magnetic core properties to optimize performance
across these dimensions.
Its materials represent a new class of metal amorphous nanocrystalline
FeCo and FeNi alloys, capable of withstanding tension
annealing, it says. " The unique material properties of these
alloys provide flexibility and control in engineering the magnetic
core properties in our products. Our in-line processes apply
time-varying mechanical, magnetic or other applied fields to
engineer for ultimate magnetic core performance. This process
transforms amorphous metal ribbon into spatially tuned, high
performance magnetic cores for power electronics components. "
For
more info, see www.nironmagnetics.com and www.corepowermagnetics.com.
www.MagneticsMag.com
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Magnetics Business & Technology - May/June 2022

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