cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/11026778
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The Dundee University study has called for the vital magnets, used in wind turbines, electric cars and mobile phones, to be shifted from manufacture in China to the UK. But the research has issued a warning over considerable political, financial and ethical challenges with the overhaul.
The appeal comes amid a difficult geopolitical landscape between the UK and China, with the Labour government blocking plans for Chinese company, Ming Yang, to set up a £1.5 billion turbine factory in the Scottish Highlands over national security and cyber security fears.
Experts from Dundee University’s Faculty of Science, Engineering and Business have warned that obtaining a UK supply of neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets, which are essential for the operation of electric vehicles, mobile phones and wind turbines, will present considerable political, financial and ethical challenges.
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Dr Thomas Jones, an expert in advanced manufacturing and materials science at Dundee University, said: “As the transition to clean energy sources intensifies, the critical role of NdFeB magnets has become increasingly apparent.
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NdFeB magnets are among the world’s strongest permanent magnets and are used in dozens of household and industrial applications.
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"We should back Scottish and British industry to build resilient supply chains as a priority. Energy security means being able to keep the lights on without having to rely on others,” said Scottish Conservative energy spokesperson, Liam Kerr.
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A UK Government spokesperson said: “From driving our wind turbines to the electric vehicles that will help power the clean transition, rare earth permanent magnets are crucial to the UK and to all advanced economies.
“That’s why we are committing £20 million of grant funding as part of the critical minerals strategy, to develop a world-class national facility to develop new and innovative manufacturing capability for rare earth permanent magnets in the UK.”
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Yup. In a car motor I’ve heard it performs better, as well. They went with a brushed design, IIRC, and have some kind of special sauce seal that makes that practical from a maintenance and robustness perspective, even if you’re on dirt roads.
Anyway, you just use an electromagnet where the neodymium magnets would have gone, basically. It’s has vaguely more geometry to it than a single permanent magnet, but that’s whatever. The other concerns are that you have to power it before you can generate any power, it can interact electrically with what it generates if it’s on the same circuit, and, if the rotor is an electromagnet, you have to transfer electrical power to that independently moving object. Those problems all can be solved one of a few ways, though.
From an outsider perspective, it sounds like the wind turbine industry locked into the permanent magnet design, because “rare earths aren’t actually rare!” and it’s easy. Now that the issues with that are appearing, they have all the typical retooling and scalability issues that come up when you want to change technologies quickly.