"We don't need expensive high-temp magnets. We can use the cheapest, cooking-grade neodymium magnet because we can keep it cool enough and still maintain the performance."
Been waiting for five years for that statement writ large, although it has obviously been happening for at least three years, i.e. Siemens D6 upgrade to D7, an addition MW largely from enhanced cooling enabling greater "power" from NdFeB.
Dr. Stan Trout spelt it out in March 2013, although this development is an extension of his thoughts:
"I need to make special mention about point #5 (Designs minimizing the use of Dy), which many people overlook. We must learn to design devices to use significantly less Dy. And we must update some older designs, at the same time."
http://www.magneticsmagazine.com/main/spontaneous-thoughts/dysprosium-2-0/
From 2012 to 2015 we saw huge advances in point 3. "Widespread application of Dy reduction technology, i.e. Dysprosium 1.2", and incremental gains since, but now we are seeing the results of the past three years emerging, specific design of high efficiency permanent magnet motor to capture the greater "power", and cost effectiveness of NdFeB, sans DyO. And NOT via hi tech mag manufacture, even "cooking-grade" neodymium.
And for those who made the right choice to invest in Nd, rather than the much hyped Dy, the far end of the MSC, RE enabled components, just got one hell of a lot closer;
"The problem is cooling. With the magnets in this standard arrangement, it's hard to get coolant close enough to them to keep them in their operating zone under constant high-power operation."
"You can offset this kind of thermal cut-off by using more expensive magnet materials – neodymium itself demagnetizes quickly as the temperature rises, but you can specify your magnets to include additives that bump the thermal shutdown temperature higher, as long as you don't mind the additional cost of these fancy high-temp magnets."
"This arrangement gets better use of the magnetic material; it means that for a certain torque we can use 25 percent less magnet material, or use the same amount and get 25 percent more torque."
"It also means, because the magnet sits right on top of the hub, we can get water inside the hub and cool the magnet directly. So the spoke architecture gives us more torque to start with, but more importantly it lets us get water right underneath the magnet and get it much better cooled."
"We don't need expensive high-temp magnets. We can use the cheapest, cooking-grade neodymium magnet because we can keep it cool enough and still maintain the performance."
Vs
"a conventional motor of very similar performance in terms of peak and continuous power, we're about 50 percent of the volume and 80 percent of the mass."
Clearly that is a massive boost to the cost effectiveness of NdFeB, sans DyO, "
cooking-grade neodymium magnet" will do fine. And it's out of the lab and in commercial development:
https://newatlas.com/equipmake-electric-spoke-motor-interview/54694/
And nor is it the only version, merely the most specific description, here's a couple of other designs with visuals:
Several other examples, interestingly being developed largely in the EU, that confirm the rapidly growing obsolescence of Dy/Tb in PMM.
(20min delay)
