ETH-Zürich spins out Celeroton to commercialise faster drive system

Spin-out formed

Researchers from ETH-Zürich’s Department of Power Electronics have developed a drive system in cooperation with industrial partners that can achieve over 1,000,000 revolutions a minute, a huge increase over existing systems with a maximum rate 250,000 revolutions a minute.

Now, Christof Zwyssig and Martin Bartholet have founded the Swiss spin-out company Celeroton to commercialise the breakthrough.

The new drive system generates an output of 100 watts and is barely bigger than a matchbox. Its rotor has a titanium shell that is able to withstand extreme centrifugal forces and the ball bearings are optimised for extremely high speeds. “Our aim of breaking the million barrier was clear but the breakthrough was only possible thanks to the new technology,” said Zwyssig, a post-graduate student from the Department of Power Electronics at ETH-Zürich.

The drive system prototype was manufactured by the German company ATE GmbH, which specializes in the development of highly efficient electrical drives. The ball bearings came from myonic GmbH, which is also based in Germany and has been manufacturing high-precision miniature ball bearings for over 70 years. The construction of the whole system, the development of the electronics and the regulation of the drive system was carried out at ETH-Zürich.

Celeroton aims to develop markets among manufacturers of fast-spinning drill or milling machines. The trend towards increasingly smaller cell phones and other electrical appliances means that smaller and smaller holes must be drilled for the electronics. This is only possible using a drive system with a high rotational speed. “In my view, a spin-off company is the most direct way of transferring research results to industry. Our findings will rapidly be converted into concrete applications and products,” said Johann Kolar, Head of the Department of Power Electronics.