Hinetics unveils fully integrated cryogen-free superconducting motor

Local startup Hinetics, a member of the POETS center, has developed the first fully integrated superconducting motor in the world without liquid cryogen cooling and is working to commercialize the technology for aerospace applications.

Hinetics – a Champaign, Illinois-based startup founded by POETS Director Kiruba Haran – unveiled the world’s first fully integrated cryogen-free superconducting motor in May 2025. The company’s engineers demonstrated that superconducting magnets can be cooled to the operating temperature of -370 degrees Fahrenheit using only a commercial cryocooler. The demonstration system nicknamed “Baby Yoda” is a proof of concept for Hinetics’ CRUISE motor, which will continuously deliver 10 megawatts with 99.4% efficiency at 3,000 revolutions per minute.

Photo Credit: Heather Coit

“Electric motors use magnetic fields to convert electrical power into mechanical power, and superconducting magnets make the strongest magnetic fields on Earth with virtually no losses,” explained Noah Salk ('20, B.S., electrical engineering), the Hinetics director of advanced technologies. “The big problem has always been cooling them to the extremely low temperatures required to operate as superconductors. We’ve shown that you can do this without the complicated, unreliable and bulky infrastructure of an auxiliary open-loop cooling system.”

Baby Yoda only uses standard, commercially available electrical and cooling interfaces. A conventional Stirling-cycle cryocooler can maintain the incredibly low temperatures for superconductivity because several design features thermally isolate the magnets from the outside environment. This includes maintaining the magnets in a vacuum environment, suspending the structure with thermally insulating Kevlar ropes, and rotationally resistive multilayer insulation made with aluminized mylar.

Photo Credit: Heather Coit

“All told, the benefit is a two- to threefold increase in magnetic field strength from something that weighs significantly less than electromagnets or permanent magnets while also eliminating most of the iron present in traditional machines, translating to a factor of 10 improvement in torque density and losses for aerospace and marine applications,” Salk said. “This is the benefit of the electro-thermal codesign mindset that POETS teaches and advances.”

In addition to Baby Yoda, Hinetics is pursuing the commercialization of several other propulsion and electromechanical technologies. These include permanent magnet systems for aircraft propulsion and gensets, and the 13 kilowatt per kilogram permanent magnet motor developed at Illinois and tested at Collins Aerospace. The company is also exploring maritime applications of such technologies for use in passenger ferries and commercial shipping.

Photo Credit: Heather Coit

Hinetics maintains close ties to POETS. Many employees began as student researchers in the center. The company regularly collaborates with the center’s academic researchers, uses the center’s testbed infrastructure for product development, and primarily operates out of the POETS Research & Development Center.

“POETS provides us with a lot of equipment and facilities that would otherwise be inaccessible to a company of our size,” Salk said. “And we give back by working with students, hiring interns, and providing a commercial perspective to their work. We and the other industry members of POETS make up an ecosystem in which we all benefit from each other’s expertise.”

Hinetics, Inc. was founded in 2017 with support from NASA and the National Science Foundation’s Small Business Innovation Research programs. It also has received support from the U.S. Air Force’s AFWERX and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). Haran is the Grainger Endowed Director's Chair in Electric Machinery and Electromechanics in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.