Minnesota Technical Symposium 2013
| Date: March 28, 2013, 5:00 to 9:00 PM | |
| Location: Medtronic Headquarters at 694 & Hwy 65 in Fridley, MN. |
All interested persons are welcome to attend. Because there are a limited number of seats, sponsoring organization members and guests of members will be given preference if registrations exceed available seating.
Topic: Renewable Energy
Speakers:
Novel Iron-Nitrogen Permanent Magnet Technology
Jian-Ping Wang
Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota
Magnetic materials are indispensable for the information technologies, biomedical technologies, electric, electronic and automobile industries and renewable energy industries. For example, a 3MW wind turbine demands 500 pounds of state-of-art NdFeB magnet. NdFeB magnet, which possesses the highest magnetic energy product (BH)max in the world, was discovered during the crisis of the supply chain of Sm and Co in 1980s. Unfortunately its energy product hasn't been much improved since the early 90s. In most of these applications, an increase in the magnetic energy density of magnetic materials immediately increases the efficiency of the whole device and makes it smaller and lighter.
This lecture will cover the research effort of Dr. Wang's group in the development of high performance non-rare earth magnet. In 2010, Wang's group reported a groundbreaking theory and fundamental experimental evidence of the origin of giant saturation magnetization of Fe16N2 and produced Fe16N2 samples with both giant saturation magnetization and large magnetic anisotropy. Wang's group also managed to demonstrate that the predicted limit of maximum magnetism for an object can be indeed exceeded. The predicted magnetic energy product of this material could reach up to 140 MGOe, which is twice the best available NdFeB magnet. Together with unique features of abundance and inexpensiveness, Fe16N2 was also called the Holy Grail of magnets.
In this lecture, Dr. Wang will review the history and analyze the inconsistencies and obstacles of the Fe16N2 topic in the past 40 years. He will share the story of how his group kept working alone on this topic for past ten years after this topic was dropped by all researchers in the world. Then he will present the research progress from his group, which has been recently supported by the Department of Energy ARPA-E program. Finally remaining fundamental questions and potential engineering challenges and possible approaches to address them will be reviewed and discussed.
Novel Wind Turbine Technology
Matt Jore
Core Motion, Inc.
Since its formation, Core Innovation and Motion have developed a unique and proprietary platform of cost-effective permanent magnet motor and generator technologies and products that offer unprecedented energy density, and clear production, performance and cost-of-ownership advantages over competing permanent magnet and wire wound induction technologies. CORE machines are not typical permanent magnet motors and generators; they are manufactured using specially patterned and interconnected multi-layered stators made in a highly cost-effective manner using existing automated printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing methods. This patented stator design optimizes conductors, conductor circuits, and magnetic flux while using less raw material by eliminating wire windings and iron laminations and much of the labor used to assemble the millions of motors and generators sold each year throughout the world.
Over the past four years, Core has designed, built, and tested motors in sizes ranging from 1HP to 1000HP, with torque levels of up to 12,600 foot-pounds. In addition, Core Motion sister company, Boulder Wind Power, has developed and built a 3MW wind generator. This direct-drive generator is being tested in Ronan, Montana. The PCB process, a mature and prolific low cost industry, enables CORE machines to achieve a very high power density at a low cost while maintaining reliability and ruggedness. With no iron in the stator, CORE machines provide unique advantages over conventional permanent magnet machines: there are no magnetic forces between the rotor and the stator, there are no magnetic loads on the bearings, and there is no cogging of the rotor.
Schedule of events:
5:00 - 6:00 Registration, social with refreshments
6:00 - 7:00 Dinner (followed by move into auditorium)
7:00 - 7:15 Welcome message, introductions (Gary Korba)
7:15 - 8:00 Jian-Ping Wang
8:00 - 8:15 Break
8:15 - 9:00 Matt Jore
Dinner Menu:
To be announced