United States. Regal announced that its Marathon Motors division has received a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for research and development aimed at increasing energy efficiency in electric motors.
DOE announced a total of $25 million in grants to enable innovative electric motors used in manufacturing, of which Marathon Motors received $1 million to develop a rare earth-free engine.
"The Marathon Motors team will direct their research towards the development of an engine using soft magnetic composite materials and grain-oriented electric steel in a state-of-the-art air-spaced conical motor architecture," said Paul Knauer, Regal's advanced technology manager. Beloit. "The goal of the project is to improve the efficiency of a standard 5-kilowatt industrial motor from 92 percent to more than 96 percent."
According to the U.S. Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, industrial electric motors account for 70 percent of total U.S. manufacturers' total electricity consumption and nearly 25 percent of all electricity used nationally. The goal of the grant program is to increase the efficiency of these engines, saving energy and increasing the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers.
"The opportunity to further develop this drive technology arose with Regal's acquisition of NovaTorque technology in 2016 and our ability to leverage that technology," said Howard Richardson, business leader at Regal Beloit. "We are excited to be a part of this grant, along with the research group of Dr. Hamid Toliyat of Texas A&M, which is assisting in the development of models and tests."
