Peter Leijnen: “Pure technique”
March 2, 2021 | Luc De Smet |
Last Christmas, the innovative electric motor manufacturer Magnax from Deinze received 16 million euros to grow in the automotive sector. We spoke with Peter Leijnen (48), founder and CTO of Magnax.
ENGINEERINGNET.BE – Leijnen designed the axial flux motor that is set to become a game changer there, as well as in other vertical markets. The machine requires less copper and magnets, achieves 2.5 times more power than state-of-the-art production motors of the same weight, and is up to a quarter more efficient.
“So the capital increase went faster than I expected.” Peter Leijnen never had the ambition to become an entrepreneur. He points to the efforts of his two partners (Daan Moreels and Kester Goh), who know how to kickstart a business, commercially and financially, respectively. “As a junior engineer, I focused exclusively on technology. With assignments in various sectors, my perspective broadened over the past 25 years.” Through experience, he learned to apply for patents and to convince others—including non-engineers and financial people—of his ideas. “I learned to act less like an engineer, but I remain a techie at heart and I am proud of that. My passion is pure technology.”
From job hopper to self-employed.
He knew from a very young age that he would become an engineer. In his earliest memory, he stands as a three-year-old next to his father, an electrical technician who repaired radios and TVs, tinkering with an alarm clock. When he was twelve, they electrified his go-kart with a car battery and a starter motor. After a smooth secondary school (Latin, Mathematics, and Science), he went to IGHL (now PXL University of Applied Sciences). “I spent more time in the library there than in class.” In 1995, he graduated as an Electronics Engineer—with a specialization in microprocessors. For his graduation project, he developed a measuring device for a lab at the university. He got a summer job there to finish it. Later, a spin-off took him and his technology along. “I learned to work with CAD there. But after a year, I started to get bored and left.”
He joined Philips Hasselt in the development of production lines for CD players. “As a junior engineer, I was given a partial task, but naturally I looked deeper and further… That wasn’t appreciated.” Déjà vu and gone. He became a seconded engineer. “The assignments invariably became longer. So that was disappointing too. After a few months in one place, I’d had enough. I didn’t quite understand what the problem was. Other engineers looked happy… So it was my own fault.” Leijnen, a native of Hasselt, left Limburg in 2001 with his girlfriend from Ghent. “I also saw more job opportunities in the Ghent area.” He landed in Schorisse and later in Bachte-Maria-Leerne (Deinze). His last employer advised him to become self-employed. He did so in 2006 under the name ‘Leijnen Engineering’. Previously, he had built a CNC-controlled milling machine in his parents’ garage. “I used it to build PU prototypes for various machine builders for four years.”
Non-existent wind generator
The Kortrijk-based product development company PiliPili, which helped him get started as a self-employed professional in machine building, eventually also secured him the commission for a new type of wind turbine. The machine had innovative blades and had to be able to be laid down for maintenance or during a storm. “I calculated the turbine’s capabilities. The lightest generator at the time weighed 4 to 5 tons and was too heavy. For sustainability reasons, it also had to be a ‘direct drive’ machine.” Such a generator simply did not exist. But… electric vehicles had interested him for some time, and in his own time, he had already read a lot about axial flux technology.
“I found a way to actually build such a generator. Client Jo Versavel agreed to proceed with it, but I lacked the electromagnetic knowledge to complete the project.” It turned out that Prof. Peter Sergeant and Dr. Hendrik Vansompel at Ghent University’s Department of Energy Technology had already been conducting research into axial flux motors for about eight years. However, their prototypes were not having much success. “They faced two problems: mechanical and thermal. On the one hand, the stator of such a motor consists of individual stator elements that must be mechanically connected to each other. Furthermore, the heat must be able to be removed from the windings.” Leijnen’s elegant solution placed cooling fins between the individual coils that simultaneously provide cooling and hold the stator elements in place.
It works.
With this approach, Dr. Vansompel built a small machine that actually worked. Meanwhile, Leijnen himself built a large generator in his garage that also worked on the test bench. Together, they patented the technology. In the spring of 2015, Leijnen founded Magnax. Ghent University transferred the patent to Magnax. “I considered it a joint effort, and everyone recognized the value and potential applications of the solution. But Magnax is not a spin-off of the university.”
A licensing agreement compensates for their share of the technology.” In 2015, the shareholders in Magnax were only Leijnen himself and the first investor and passive shareholder Versavel, formerly of Devlonics, Traficon, Araani… Versavel was also a business angel for the Flemish wind turbine manufacturer Xant, founded in 2011, which built wind turbines from 100 to 330 kW for the microgrid and off-grid markets and was acquired last year by the Canadian Eocycle (Montreal). Shortly afterwards, the two other founders, Moreels and Goh, joined.
Pivoting to Automotive
Magnax pivoted quite quickly from large, powerful generators for wind applications to smaller, faster-spinning motors. Leijnen points to the feedback the company received from the market. Conversations with major wind turbine manufacturers revealed long, multi-year lead-up times. Not exactly attractive for a small startup. “From the automotive sector, on the other hand, we received masses of spontaneous inquiries. Low-hanging fruit.”
Originally, Magnax focused on water- and air-cooled machines. Today, it builds oil-cooled devices. “Mechanically, the construction is very similar. For wind applications, air cooling was more logical. But in automotive, oil cooling is more interesting. We can apply our same concept to both. That gives us an advantage over competitors like Yasa (UK) and Emrax (Slovenia), neither of which offers larger motors. Our motors are now primarily based on the three new patents we applied for.”
Being the very best.
The two vertical markets the company focuses on today are automotive and aerospace, where it is in talks with multiple parties but is bound by NDAs. Nevertheless, Leijnen expects to announce news in the first half of this year regarding an American five-passenger drone. He could offer that market a motor immediately without any tinkering. “However, we must maintain a laser focus and be the very best in one target area.” If the aerospace applications are successful, a subsidiary might be considered. “I do not rule out that we will then go for larger motors there as well.” He realizes that power density plays a major role there. “If you can achieve that with more expensive/exotic materials, it is worth the cost. One possibility, for example, is to work with higher-performance cobalt steel laminates.”
Even more attractive
Leijnen laid the technological foundation for his yoke-less axial flux motor before the founding of Magnax. “Developing a product requires an enormous amount of time and energy. But I am already working on five new patents that will make the technology even more attractive.” With the axial flux motor, one can do things that are impossible with radial motors. “We have twice the power density and therefore only need half the material anyway. But a bombshell is also going to drop in terms of efficiency,” predicts Leijnen, pointing to the aspect of ‘mechanical field weakening’.
Continuously Variable Transmission
Electric vehicles with radial motors use a gearbox. “An EV has more acceleration than a car with a thermal engine. But from 120 km/h, the latter catches up with an EV again. Radial motors lose power and efficiency at higher speeds. That is why electric cars like the Porsche Taycan come with a two-stage gearbox. However, using mechanical field weakening, we can achieve a continuously variable transmission. Without a gearbox.” A first advantage.
Regulating Flux
A disadvantage of permanent magnets is that they always deliver their full flux. However, by mechanically increasing the air gap between the coils and magnet cores, you can regulate that flux, which yields a second advantage, explains Leijnen. “Everyone in the automotive industry is switching to permanent magnets. At the same time, there is a trend towards multiple motors in a car. During normal driving, the car runs solely on the rear motor(s). At that moment, the motors, which simply rotate along with the front wheels, do experience so-called iron losses (hysteresis and eddy current losses) that will limit the car’s range.
“That can be solved by disconnecting those motors, so they no longer rotate. But that does require an extra clutch. We don’t need that.” By regulating that air gap, there are fewer iron losses, which allows the car to travel 20% further with the same battery. “The automotive industry often focuses on the batteries to increase range, but they overlook the engine because they think it is fully developed… Some are starting to wake up now.”
My work, my hobby
“My work is my hobby,” says Leijnen. A large part of his time is spent in meetings. Now online. But he prefers simply thinking. “Cuddling around my office. I play with ideas and designs in my head.” He rarely sketches out details and now employs engineers to turn his ideas into prototypes. “I also see many things I can improve. More than just details.” The technology strategist is also looking several years ahead. His attention is focused on, among other things, the electronics, the inverter, the controls, the dynamics of the vehicle…
“I notice a trend towards one motor per wheel, which offers packaging advantages, for example. By that, I don’t mean ‘wheel motors,’ which are a different technology. The classic differential is also going out. Although an electric motor always requires a reduction of about 1 in 10, I don’t believe in the complex control unit. This also makes ‘torque vectoring’ (playing on the torque of the different wheels) possible, which can keep a car more stable than current ESP.”
Multiple markets
Magnax technology can be deployed in multiple vertical markets, from aerospace to nautical, off-road, industry… “We can easily increase the modular motor we are currently developing from 150 to 300 kW by adjusting the amount of copper and magnets. Standard components keep production costs low.” But other aspects such as recyclability, circularity, and sustainability are also becoming increasingly important. “For windings, we do not need VPI impregnation resin that is burned off afterwards.”
Taking the plunge
Last year, Magnax generated nearly a million euros in revenue from supplying prototypes. It currently employs around thirty people. A handful of new people started in January alone, and there are still vacancies available. It aims to be ISO 9001 certified by the end of Q2. “This year we are building a pilot line on which we will develop our production techniques for our German partner. We are also investing in our own test bench this year. Currently, we have to go to Germany to test motors up to 500 kW on a specialized bench.”
To young engineers: “Trust in yourself, but also step off your island. Be bold. Take initiative. Try to find partnerships with others who are good at entrepreneurship. Trust is essential, however.” Leijnen is convinced that there are countless engineers walking around with good ideas who are not getting any further with them precisely because they lack that interaction with a commercial partner.
by Luc De Smet / photos OMP
Context: Growth funding and production start
The €16 million in growth funding that Magnax secured at the end of 2020 comes from automotive component manufacturer Hirschvogel Automotive, Vlerick Group, Torus Capital, and several business angels backing the new technology. “Hirschvogel found us when we weren’t yet looking for production partners. We had the luxury of being selective.” As a start-up, it would be very difficult to get into the ‘big’ OEMs without an established production partner. By mid-2022, a new factory will open near Munich where series production of Magnax engines will begin. Initially at a rate of 25,000 engines per year, with a rapid scale-up.