- New CEO appointed at Hirst Magnetic Instruments Ltd
Hirst Magnetic Instruments ltd, is pleased to announce the confirmation of Dr James Mckenzie as CEO. James will lead the team at Hirst as the company focuses on commercialising its newly developed 8th generation PFM magnetic measurement products and EV motor production line solutions.
Dr James Mckenzie, the new CEO commented “I am very proud to be part of the Hirst team, it is an exciting time to be in magnetics”
James has a strong sales, marketing and business growth background and has been involved in bringing new technology and products to market over the last 25 years. James has held senior management positions and leadership roles in deep tech organizations from start-ups to multinationals. Most recently James co-founded Crossfield Fusion ltd in 2019 and prior to that co-founded and ran Photonstar LED group plc an AIM listed business for 10 years.
James is a Member of the Institute of Directors, Society of Light and Lighting, a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Physicist. James was also Vice President of Business for the Institute of Physics and was a trustee of the IOP from 2016-2020.
James takes over from interim managing director John Camacho who is no longer with the company. Prior to this, John Dudding the ‘father’ of Hirst Magnetics was MD from 1986, sadly passing away in May 2021. Since 1981, John Dudding devoted his career to building a thriving high-tech industry in his home county of Cornwall. For much of that time his focus was on the development of proprietary pulsed-field magnetometry (PFM) technology for the measurement of hysteresis loops in rare-earth magnetic materials.
John Dudding oversaw a number of changes in magnetiser and magnet measurement techniques including the development of the first microprocessor-controlled magnetisers in the 1980s. However, his innovatory focus was to introduce the pulsed-field magnetometer (PFM) as an internationally accepted standard method for the measuring of magnetic materials. He became a globally respected authority in magnetometry and was a project leader at the British Standards Institute and the International Electrotechnical Commission. The legacy of his work lives on at Hirst, with scientific research and the development of international standards now overseen by Dr Robin Cornelius.
Dr Robin Cornelius, Chief Technology Officer commented “Although I am deeply saddened by the tragic loss of my colleague and friend John Dudding, I am proud that his legacy lives on and excited to be pushing forward the technological advances that we had worked on over the last 20 years. It’s an exciting time for Hirst with the world rapidly expanding in electric vehicles and green energy generation, magnets are the future.”
Recently, Hirst has been developing a new generation of PFM instruments for characterising magnetic materials for high-yield volume manufacture of magnetic machines such as motors, generators, and transformers. In contrast to previous generations of PFMs, the new PFM08 magnet characterisation system allows closed-circuit equivalent magnetic measurements to be made using an open-circuit system. This is an essential step in the accurate and rapid characterisation of modern, high-coercivity magnetic materials prior to assembly and magnetisation and enables quality assurance in magnetic systems manufacturing.
Hirst won the Institute of Physics Business Innovation 2020 Award for the development of this closed-circuit equivalent technology. The availability of an accurate open-to-closed mapping is expected to usher in a new era in the measurement of magnetic materials enabling the characterisation of previously inaccessible, extremely hard magnetic materials in any geometry sample.
Dr Mark Scibor-Rylski, Chairman of Hirst commented “Hirst Magnetics is an important product innovator in a rapidly expanding sector, its products already set standards in China, and now it is ready to expand into an international market under its new CEO, who brings the skills and energy needed to raise Hirst to its proper place in international magnetics “ - PEMD 2022
Hirst are pleased to announce that we’ll be exhibiting at PEMD 2022
Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) in Newcastle, June 21st – 23rd.There’s a whole host of interesting speakers and talks. Have a look here to see what it’s all about:
https://pemd.theiet.org/Come and talk to us about our in-situ magnetising solutions and mesaurement techniques.
We’ve dealt with all the different motor topologies over the years including IPM, and axial flux.
If you are using permanent magnets as part of your powerchain, there are numerous advantages to in-situ post assembly magnetisation, and we’d be happy to guide you through them.
- CWIEME Berlin
It’s been just a little over a week and the dust has settled after attending CWIEME Events (Coil Winding & Electrical Manufacturing Exhibition) Berlin.
It was Hirst’s first time at the show, and we were delighted to meet up with some familiar faces, but also meet new ones.
We had a lot of visitors to our stand we are already looking forward to the next one.
In particular we noticed lots of interest in our rotor magnetisation solutions, as the world moves towards EV. We have a full range of solutions for all topologies of motors
Some were surprised we had been involved with axial flux motor magnetisation as long ago as 2005, back before it became so mainstream. We really have a great deal of knowledge and experience in this application, and would love to talk to you about it.
If you weren’t able to make it to the show maybe you’d like to have a look at this webinar hosted by our technical director Robin Cornelius it’s a great introduction to the company and showcases our capabilities in driving the electric revolution.
https://ktn-uk.org/events/driving-the-electric-revolution-engage-with-hirst-magnetic-instruments/
- CWIEME Tradeshow
Hirst Magnetic Instruments are looking forward to exhibiting at CWIEME in Berlin, 10-12 May 2022.
CWIEME is The world’s largest coil winding, transformer, electric motor, generator and e-mobility exhibition & conference series.
Come and talk to us about all things magnetics.
We make a range of Magnetisers, Demagnetisers, Magnet Characterisation, calibration, measurement and bespoke equipment tailored to customer’s needs.
Come and see how we can help and support you.
Join us on Stand 12B54 in Hall 1.2
Solutions for rotors, motors, speakers, sensors and more.
- Demagnetiser Workstation
A common problem in industry is residual magnetism in parts after machining or working. Often parts stick together, proving difficult for additional processing. Another typical problem after machining is that parts can pick up swarf, and even washing can prove ineffective.
By demagnetising parts, the above problems can be alleviated.
There are various different ways to demagnetise something. But by far the most efficient and non-destructive method is to use a capacitive discharge demagnetiser.
A magnetic material is made up of separate domains which are aligned.
By applying a magnetic field we are able to switch the domains between north and south, and completely randomise the domains, resulting in a demagnetised object.
For more detailed description of how this works see our article on the principles of demagnetisation
We just completed an order for a capacitive discharge system for a client in the medical sector.
The parts to be demagnetised were very small and supplied in trays containing around 250,000 parts. Each individual part needed to achieve an overall level of ≤5 Gauss to pass QC.
A tray of parts is loaded into the aperture in the worktop.
The demagnetizer is then configured using the touch screen interface.
When the two start buttons are pressed the demagnetizer charges a bank of capacitors, which discharge into the demagnetizing coil and create a “ringing” (decaying oscillation) magnetic field.
The system is fitted with light curtains, linked to a safety relay, to ensure safe and easy operation.
The image below shows the waveform captured via a pickup coil and PC oscilloscope during the testing procedure. This decaying oscillating field is key to successful demagnetisation.
The whole process takes seconds from start to finish and is completely non-destructive.
If you would like to find out more about any of our demagnetizing equipment please have a look on our page here