32nd Ewing Event: The Electrification of Air Transport

Matthew Swallow, Bunting’s Technical Products Manager, reports on the UK Magnetics Society’s 32nd Ewing Conference held at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford in December 2019.

A Review of The 32nd Ewing Conference

“The UK Magnetics Society’s Ewing conference has evolved over the last 30 years from a single Key Note address and a social gathering of magnetics engineers into a fully developed conference, showcasing all that is great about magnetic technology in a particular field of interest, followed by a recognition of a Life Times achievement award and  a social gathering.

The theme of the 32nd Ewing Event was ‘The Electrification of Air Transport’ and clearly struck a chord as it was one of the most attended events in the MagSoc’s history.

The Aerospace industry needs high power, light weight, efficient and cost effective solutions, which is why companies are turning their attention to permanent magnets.  The magnets can be smaller and lighter than all other systems and when running fast can generate the power density demanded by Aerospace.  Although there is still a long way to go to get to the power density which will ultimately see true electric aircraft, UK technical research teams are confident of rising to the challenge.

Some amazing work is being done on grain orientation in permanent magnets to provide the right level of yield stress for Interior Permanent Magnet (IPM) machine laminations.  This is a key focus for Bunting, whose engineers are keen to develop magnetising systems perfectly aligned to post-assembly magnetisation, making the final assembly simple and the output utterly reliable.

While the lifetime achievement award winner (see below for additional details) was not directly related to the Aerospace industry, I was truly awestruck by the work that this brilliant engineer had carried out in her career to date.  Having visited the Eindhoven University of Technology in The Netherlands myself on a previous UK Magnetics Society event, I was struck by the scale and quantity of novel work being researched under her guidance.  I was happy to have my recommendation taken up by the rest of the MagSoc committee and to see Prof Dr Elena Lomonova offered the award.

Forging a better future inspires what I do.  The conference illustrated how amazing and different the world will be in a relatively short time and how magnets and magnetics will contribute Gigatons of carbon reduction from Aircraft by 2050, helping to secure the future of the planet.

The UK Magnetics Society events are different to many conferences as they are held to purely  enable further conferences in the many varied aspects of magnetics and represent fantastic value for attendees.  This years Ewing Event at Duxford also included complimentary access to the Imperial War museum, which was enjoyed by all conference delegates..  We hope that the 120 people attending this year’s event will join us again next year and help in making it  bigger and better than ever.”

The Society’s Lifetime Contribution Award is presented to leading members of the worldwide magnetics community.  The UK Magnetics Society stated that “Prof Dr Elena Lomonova has made an outstanding contribution to the field of magnetics through her multi-disciplinary approach to fundamental and application oriented research in mechatronics and electromechanical motion systems, power electronic system architectures, and power converters, leading to novel and effective solutions and an impressive output of projects, papers and patents. In addition, her leadership of a university research unit effective at bridging the academic / industrial gap sets an excellent example.  It is with the greatest pleasure that we present you with this award. We thank you for your dedication and achievements over the years, and for providing an example of the excellence to which we as a community should aspire.”

Bunting design and manufacture a wide range of magnets and magnetic assemblies.  Many are bespoke for specific applications.  For further information on bespoke magnet assemblies or magnet designs, please contact us via:

Phone:  +44 (0) 1442 875081

Email:  sales.berkhamsted@buntingmagnetics.com

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