BorgWarner, a global provider of sustainable mobility solutions, has won an R&D 100 Award in partnership with the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The R&D 100 Awards, hosted annually by R&D World magazine since 1963, recognize the most innovative technologies introduced each year across science and engineering.
BorgWarner and ORNL’s advanced development project powers an electromagnet-based rotor, eliminating the need for rare earth magnets and reducing supply chain risks. The transformer-based approach also eliminates brushes and sliprings, which tend to wear out over time, enhancing overall reliability in passenger and commercial vehicle applications and reducing the size of the motor by 15%.
BorgWarner and ORNL received the award for their work on a rotary-transformer-based wireless excitation system for electrically excited synchronous motors (EESM). Their advanced development project powers an electromagnet-based rotor, eliminating the need for rare earth magnets and reducing supply chain risks.
The transformer-based approach also removes brushes and sliprings, which tend to wear out over time, enhancing overall reliability in passenger and commercial vehicle applications and reducing the size of the motor by 15%.
The partnership began in 2021 and focused on designing a solution that delivers greater efficiency, lower costs, enhanced robustness, and ease of integration, all of which were achieved. Additionally, while competing concepts are restricted to certain drivetrains based on their designs, this rotary transformer is highly compatible with all forms of drivetrains and compact gearboxes.
“This partnership brought strong collaboration and significant technological advances, including nine patent applications,” said Harry L. Husted, CTO, BorgWarner. “By combining BorgWarner’s traction motor expertise with Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s wireless power transfer capabilities, we developed a technology that matches the performance and exceeds the power density of rare earth-based motors without using rare earth materials. This is a substantial accomplishment.”
The rotary transformer system wirelessly transmits power to the rotor with 92 to 95% efficiency and can spin faster than 20,000 revolutions per minute. The high-speed power density of the brushless EESM motor can be 25% higher than that of rare earth magnet motors.
BorgWarner and ORNL were recognized in the IT/Electrical category. The awards ceremony honoring the 2025 R&D 100 Award recipients will take place on November 20th, 2025, in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Filed Under: Electric Motor, Technology News