M. Lee
Island Park Labs,
United States
Keywords: rare earth magnets, variable reluctance, switched reluctance, motors
Summary:
Access to rare earth magnetic materials is being limited and has evolved as a political conflict between the US and China. These magnets are critical to military, manufacturing, automobiles, and many other applications. At this point China has a near monopoly on these materials and is withholding them from the US in an attempt for power / concessions. For some percentage of the applications there is an alternative technology that produces equal performance and does not use critical materials. This technology has been forgotten / lost in the US. With a little effort it could be brought back – reducing the need for rare earth magnets for the US. In 1980, HP Labs developed a technology to turn variable reluctance stepper motor technology into high performance / high efficiency motors. They were used in applications within HP. I proposed building a business within HP based around motor and motor control. HP evaluated the business and decided that it did not match their business model. They gave me the ok to use the technology and build a business. We built a business designing and manufacturing high performance VR motors and placed them in applications ranging from CNC machines, electric motorcycles and scooters, automobile applications, marine applications, and more. The motors varied from a quarter horsepower to 80 horsepower, although they worked best in the lower horsepower ranges. The motors were very low inertia and high efficiency. They worked well in the applications we developed. A few years later, permanent magnet motors based on rare earth magnets evolved that could match our performance and had two advantages - they were lighter, and they were quieter. This technology was abandoned because rare earth magnets were readily available. If rare earth magnetic materials are in limited supply, and China is using them to negotiate concessions with the US -- rebuilding this technology and substituting VR motors and controllers for permanent magnet motors and controllers makes sense. This would allow the limited supply of materials to be used in the most critical applications.