n TECHNOLOGY May 2025 www.drivesncontrols.com 18 A US MOTOR DEVELOPER called Conifer has raised $20m in seed funding to commercialise its “magnet-agnostic”axial- ux motor and powertrain technologies, including a proprietary tool-free, software-driven method of manufacturing. Founded by former Apple and Lucid Motors engineers, the San Francisco company has spent the past two years developing and validating its technologies. Conifer has invented a compact axial- ux motor with a proprietary stator technology that uses widely-available ferrite magnets to achieve high eciencies and power densities, said to be comparable to those of rare-earth-magnetbased motors. This cuts costs and reduces dependence on foreign supply chains. If an application needs it, Conifer's motors can use neodymium-based magnets to double their power densities. This can reduce stator core sizes by 95% and eliminate the production of scrap steel. The motors can be used either to power vehicles, or for stationary applications. Conifer has a vision of powering 10 billion new applications by 2040. The company reports that it is attracting signicant interest for stationary applications such as HVAC, industrial automation and pumping. The IE5-ecient motors are said to be half the length and weight of induction machines of a similar rating, and can act as drop-in replacements for motors with the same IEC/Nema frame size. Prices of the electronically commutated motors are similar to those of induction motors. Conifer is launching a pilot program for partners with stationary applications. It is oering the stackable motors in three ratings: 1.5hp/1.1kW, 5hp/3.7kW and 10hp/7.5kW. Their torque ratings range from 3-19.8Nm, they weigh 10-51kg, and their rated speed is 3,600 rpm (5,000 rpm peak). The $20m funding will be used to expand the stationary product lines, and to deliver production versions of the company's rst product – a geared in-wheel powertrain for small on-road and o-road vehicles, such as two-wheelers, small four-wheelers, lawnmowers and tractors. Conifer says it is rethinking powertrains “from the ground up”. Powertrains – comprising motors, inverters, gearboxes and control software – can account for up to 30% of total vehicle system costs. Current vehicle powertrains rely heavily on rare-earth elements and tool-heavy manufacturing processes, where any design changes can result in months of delay and add signicant costs. “We took inspiration from battery cell design and manufacturing,”says Conifer co-founder, Yateendra Deshpande. “Given our modular motor design, for the rst time, motors can be manufactured at scale without expensive tooling, using a fully parameterised softwaredriven process. Our process allows a single production line to create motors of various sizes under 25hp (18.6kW), while reducing manufacturing costs for the key winding step by over 90%. Integrating with our modular inverter, gearbox and exible software layers, helps us deliver customer requirements cost-eectively and rapidly.” Conifer is targeting applications such as lawnmowers, tractors and power tools currently served by more than a billion petrol-powered engines. Manufacturers of these products wanting to create electric versions are often limited to inecient and failure-prone hub motors. Conifer's drop-in, geared in-wheel powertrain is designed to address this problem. It is said to deliver high eciencies and continuous power densities. Users who have tested it in real-world conditions have reported increased ranges, lower parts costs, and the ability to rely on local supply chains. Conifer plans to start shipping production versions of these in-wheel systems later this year. “Our mission is to make electrication and automation both exciting and practical at scale,” says co-founder, Ankit Somani. “It's dicult for customers to get their ideal powertrain, which simultaneously solves for longer range, meets specications in the smallest volume possible, and is cost-eective. They also don't want to be stuck managing multiple vendors and an unreliable supply chain.” www.conifer.io pSiemens’ Industrial Copilot has won the Hermes Award, made annually by the organisers of the Hannover Messe for a cutting-edge innovations. The AI-powered Copilots assist people working in industry and are designed to enhance e ciency by eliminating repetitive tasks and boosting productivity. Siemens oers a suite of Copilots spanning areas from design and planning, to engineering, operations and maintenance. For example, a Copilot for Siemens' TIA Portal engineering platform allows engineers to write precise, reliable code faster. pMitsubishi Electric has announced a 3.3kV, 1,500A high-voltage insulated-gate bipolar transistor (HVIGBT) module for large industrial equipment such as inverters. The XB Series module is said to cut total switching losses by around 15% compared to earlier models. By adopting proprietary diode and IGBT elements, as well as a unique chip termination structure, moisture resistance has been improved to help to raise inverter e ciency and reliability. www.mitsubishielectric.com pPI (Probus & Pronet International) is reporting “moderate growth” for its technologies in 2024 compared to previous years. Some 9.7m IO-Link nodes were put on the market in 2024, taking the total to 61m. An additional 3.1 million ProSafe nodes took the total to 28.7m. The number of Pronet nodes increased by 9.5m, to give a total of 78.8m installed Pronet products. The growth in the number of Probus devices was “moderate”, with 1.1m devices being sold – 800,000 of them to the process sector. pThe International Society of Automation (ISA) has published ANSI/ISA-95.00.01-2025, (IEC 62264-1 Mod), Enterprise-Control System Integration − Part 1: Models and Terminology as the latest update to its ISA-95 series of standards that describe the integration of logistics systems with manufacturing control systems. The new standard, also known as ISA-95 Part 1, summarises the scope of the manufacturing operations and control domain, discusses how physical manufacturing assets are organised, lists functions associated with the interface between control and enterprise functions, and describes information shared among these functions. It is an update to the 2010 version. www.isa.org/standards-and-publications/ isa-standards/isa-95-standard The US-based Association for Advancing Automation (A3) has released its vision for a National Robotics Strategy aimed at ensuring that the US maintains its leadership in robotics and automation. The vision provides a roadmap for strengthening US competitiveness, innovation and workforce readiness. Its priorities include establishing a central Robotics O ce and Robotics Commission to strengthen US competitiveness in robotics, drive innovation, and support workforce development. It also calls for tax incentives to accelerate robotics investment and innovation. www.automate.org/a3/advocacy-principles TECHNOLOGY BRIEFS Conifer says that its axial-¢ux motors can be half the weight and length of equivalent induction motors US developer raises $20m for ‘magnet-agnostic’ axial-flux motors
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