History of SpinDrive

The research behind SpinDrive

The story of SpinDrive began long before the company itself. 

In 1981, Jaakko Larjola filed a patent for a high-speed turbogenerator at Lappeenranta University of Technology, now LUT University, Finland. His research group set out to understand the challenges of operating rotating machinery at extreme speeds, bringing together fields such as rotordynamics, electrical machines, power electronics, thermal behavior and high-speed bearings – technologies that remain at the heart of SpinDrive’s expertise today. 

High Speed Tech staff pose to celebrate the delivery of the first HST 40 on September 4, 2009

From research to market opportunity

By the early 2010s, LUT researchers working on high-speed machinery were seeing a clear gap in the market. Active magnetic bearings offered significant advantages, including higher rotational speeds, greater efficiency, oil-free operation and advanced condition monitoring. However, the technology remained expensive, heavily customized and available from only a limited number of suppliers.

The idea that followed was simple: make active magnetic bearings accessible to a much wider range of machine manufacturers.

The birth of SpinDrive

In 2012, a government-funded research project called High-Speed Electrical Drive Engineering (HS EDEN) brought together the core team that would begin turning this idea into reality.  

Janne Heikkinen came on as project manager, Alexander Smirnov focused on software and control tools, Nikita Uzhegov on design of high-speed electric motor, and Teemu Sillanpää took on product development of electronics. Each brought a PhD-level research knowledge from a different corner of the field: rotating machinery, AMB control, high-speed machinery and electromagnetic levitation, and power electronics. 

In December 2015, they founded SpinDrive as a spin-off of LUT University. 

Scaling AMB for industry

Since 2015, SpinDrive has developed active magnetic bearing technology into a scalable industrial product offering. 

The company has built its own expertise in hardware, software, assembly and testing, with the Magma^® magnetic bearing controller platform at the center of its technology.  

Today, SpinDrive provides complete AMB solutions and technical support, helping OEMs in Europe, the US and Asia integrate maintenance-free and oil-free technology without having to develop the expertise in-house. 

SpinDrive’s AMBs are now used across a growing range of industrial applications, including turbo blowers, turbo compressors, turbo expanders, ORC systems, microturbines and flywheel energy storage. 

Still connected to LUT

Although SpinDrive has grown into an independent, global technology company, its relationship with LUT has never really ended.

The two continue to collaborate on joint research, next-generation high-speed machines, student projects, laboratory testing and the industrial validation of new technologies.

Most recently, SpinDrive and LUT have been working on a multi-megawatt high-speed machine designed with interchangeable working tools. The project is based on a three-AMB configuration and combines LUT’s high-speed machinery expertise with SpinDrive’s AMB control technology.

Looking forward

More than four decades after that first patent, the idea keeps evolving.

SpinDrive continues to push the boundaries of affordable levitation and ultra-high-speed machinery, turning advanced research into practical technologies that help industry improve efficiency, reliability and sustainability.