A mid-Illinois engineering and research startup is one of 68 companies and institutions that will share $175 million for clean energy technology projects recently announced by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Kiruba Sivasubramaniam Haran, Hinetics CTO
Hinetics is earmarked to receive $5,761,467 to further develop their ultra-high field superconducting electric aircraft motor.
“With ARPA-E’s support, this little technology startup from Central Illinois has the chance to punch above its weight,” said Kiruba Sivasubramaniam Haran in a LinkedIn post. He refused requests for an interview. He is a founder and CTO of Hinetics as well as engineering faculty at U of I, Urbana-Champaign
Hinetics claims its technology uses a superconducting machine design that eliminates the need for cryogenic auxiliary systems yet maintains low total mass.
Hinetics was founded in 2017 as a spin-off from the University of Illinois to commercialize technology developed with the support from NASA’s Advanced Air Transport Technologies Program. It is located at Research Park in Urbana-Champaign. The company is focused on patent-pending “air-core” magnetics technology that increases the power-to-weight ratio of electrical machines. They have two primary approaches: high field superconducting machines for low speed applications, like wind turbines, and high-frequency permanent magnet machines for relatively high speed applications, like aerospace.
According to their website they have developed one product: an electric propulsor specifically designed for the NASA STARC-ABL turbo-electric sub-sonic passenger aircraft concept. NASA awarded Hinetics a 2018 Phase I and 2020 Phase II SBIR grant for the development of the electric propulsor. Combined, those grants were for $864,036. The National Science Foundation also granted the firm a 2018 SBIR Phase I for $219,444 to design actively shielded superconducting generators for large wind turbines. In May, 2021 the Air Force awarded the firm a Phase I STTR grant for $149,890 to develop modeling tools and a control scheme for boosting eVTOL power-train performance.
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Hinetics lands $149,890 Air Force grant
