Lappeenranta-based SpinDrive, a Finnish company that specialises in affordable active magnetic bearings for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), has raised €3.8M in a Series A round of funding.
The investment was led by US-based investor Rhapsody Venture Partners. Other participants included Finnish firm Innovestor and German company Born2Grow.
Easy and affordable AMB systems
Founded in 2015 by Janne Heikkinen, Nikita Uzhegov, Alexander Smirnov and Teemu S., SpinDrive specialises in designing, prototyping, and producing active magnetic bearings (AMBs) for OEMs.
The company’s technology reduces energy losses in machines by half, leading to substantial environmental benefits. For instance, a 500-kW unit equipped with SpinDrive’s solution can mitigate 200 tons of CO2 emissions annually, equivalent to 2,000 barrels of oil burnt, and offers a 2-year payback time.
These active magnetic bearings eliminate mechanical friction, enabling maintenance-free operations for up to 20 years, claims the company.
SpinDrive’s oil-free solution allows OEM customers to access fast-growing markets and align with eco-friendly strategies, resulting in increased system efficiency, reduced material consumption, and minimised maintenance costs.
Ultimately, SpinDrive helps lower customer equipment lifecycle costs by 35 per cent.
Benefits of AMB
SpinDrive’s frictionless bearings are smaller, more energy-efficient, and cost-effective compared to competitors. Using magnetic levitation, these bearings eliminate contact between moving parts even in high-speed applications.
This technology ensures high rotational speeds and energy efficiency without the risk of equipment downtime or maintenance breaks.
In industrial high-speed applications, traditional ball bearings need replacement every 12-18 months. SpinDrive’s bearings offer condition monitoring and predictive maintenance, eliminating the need for external sensors and reducing equipment maintenance costs by over 80 per cent.
Additionally, SpinDrive’s bearings operate without oil, eliminating the use of polluting lubricants in industrial production. This eco-friendly approach addresses the issue of leakage and contamination risk, common in traditional bearing-based machinery.
The lubricant-free operation not only makes production more ecological but also enables manufacturers to enter new markets like food, beverage, pharma, semiconductors, and hydrogen-based production, where contamination-free processing is crucial.
Reducing industrial emissions
SpinDrive’s frictionless bearings offer energy-saving benefits, particularly for large machinery operating at high power levels. For example, large machinery operating at 100kW to several MW requires considerable energy, and ball bearings limit machinery efficiency due to friction.
Unlike traditional ball bearings that limit efficiency due to friction, SpinDrive’s Active Magnetic Bearings (AMBs) and controllers provide an affordable solution.
These AMBs allow increased rotational speeds in various systems, reducing energy needs by up to 15 per cent. Considering industrial electric motors contribute to 46 per cent of the world’s electricity consumption, this innovation marks a substantial step toward energy conservation.
SpinDrive claims to focus on enhancing energy efficiency to reduce industrial emissions. It aims to cut 500Mt of CO2 annually by 2050 through innovations like SpinDrive digital bearings.
Co-founder Janne Heikkinen adds, “Climate change is the biggest challenge of our time, but we often get stuck thinking about technologies like carbon capture when it comes to CO2 emissions. Industrial production is a massive part of the world’s energy consumption and climate emissions, so we must create energy-efficient and clean components to turn this tide.”
“By improving the energy efficiency in existing and new machinery, we tackle the problem in a massive area and provide a significant impact.”
SpinDrive’s technology is used in turbo blowers, compressors, expanders, process machinery, flywheels, and energy recovery systems. Its high rotational speed enhances energy efficiency in gas transfer and compression, while frictionless operation reduces energy losses in spinning rotors.
SpinDrive has customers in Finland, Germany, the US, Denmark, France, Italy, China, and the UK. Its offices are in Finland and Germany.
Capital utilisation
SpinDrive says it will use the funds for global commercial expansion and enhance industrial efficiency in factories internationally.
Co-founder Nikita Uzhegov says, “We have seen increasing international demand for more energy efficiency and cleaner solutions in industrial production, and we are excited to build SpinDrive to meet those customer needs with our active magnetic bearing systems and controllers.”
“With its specialisation in industrial technologies and global reach into industrial companies, Rhapsody Venture Partners is an ideal partner for us, and we’re thrilled to be working with them.”