—
Magnus Palmstierna, Founder and Member of Board & Thomas Turk, President, Hexaformer AB
Founded in 2004 and based in Sweden, Hexaformer is an
innovative company that has introduced radical solutions
to transformer making technology. In 2010, the company
signed a licence agreement with Raychem RPG to bring
Hexaformer technology to India. In this exclusive
interaction,
Magnus Palmstierna and
Thomas Turk tell us
about the innovative Hexaformer technology and efforts
underway to take it to even higher levels. They concur that
India is a booming market with a big appetite for costefficient
technology. An interview by
Venugopal Pillai.
It is very interesting to observe that a company that is less than
a decade old could bring about a radical change in an industry
as traditional as distribution transformers. Tell us about the
about the key elements of Hexaformer technology and how has
it changed the way people now look at distribution
transformers.
The Swedish inventor Lennart Höglund is a brilliant person with
a strong interest in green energy. The idea to wind a
symmetrical core was not new but his idea-the Hexaformer
technology-suggested for the first time an affordable and
practical way to manufacture a cage core without any loss of
electric steel. Mr. Höglund was lucky to find support for his
ideas with private investors even whilst there was no interest
to be found among the established producers of distribution
transformers.
Hexaformer Produktion AB, a company within Hexaformer
AB, has played an important role being the first company to
produce and sell Hexaformer distribution transformers (dry
and oil filled) in large quantities. At first the customers were
very skeptical to try the new technology but this attitude
changed as time went by.
The "signature" of the Hexaformer technology is that:
- the wound core is made from thin bands of grain oriented
electrical steel of equal band width
- the core is symmetrical - 120 degree cage core type
- the Hexaformer transformer uses less material than an
equivalent capacity e-type core
- the manufacturing process can be highly automated
We further understand that Hexaformer has bettered its
expertise by introducing "Generation 2" technology. Tell us
more.
Yes, Generation 2 is the result of better understanding the
impact on core loss that each of the manufacturing processes
have on the final core. Attention to detail when winding,
forming and annealing the core plus additional steel windings
to increase the fill factor of the leg, has resulted in smaller and
lighter cores.
Please elaborate on the recent agreement regarding use of
amorphous steel.
Amorphous steel has excellent qualities with respect to iron
losses. This material is today available only in a limited number
of widths. It is extremely thin, very hard and brittle but can
easily be wound using the patented Hexaformer technology. In
September this year, ABB bought a non-exclusive worldwide
patent from Hexaformer allowing them to undertake R&D,
manufacture and sell ABB Hexaformer amorphous
transformers. ABB's decision to go "Hexaformer" will certainly
pave the road for many manufacturers to follow suit.
How is your collaboration with Raychem RPG shaping up?
In March 2010, we signed a license agreement with Raychem
RPG for India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan.
Bringing new technology into any market is a challenge even for
an established company like Raychem. But our experience tells
us that they, with the dedicated effort they are showing, will
succeed. Further Raychem has already type-tested some 5-
star ratings and now developing an industrial range to shift
focus from the market which is only L1 driven. The huge
benefits like low noise level, low excitation currents, less space etc, when translated into value, Hexaformer designs work out
to be cheaper. We have to educate customers who believe only
in L1!
Your plans then entailed setting up of two manufacturing units
in Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh. What is the current
status?
The Raychem plant in Maharashtra (at Pune) will mainly be
used to supply the export markets. The capacity in the Nalagarh
(Himachal Pradesh) plant is mainly to be used for supplying the
domestic market. Both are producing Hexaformer
transformers but so far in limited quantities.
Are you looking at more indian partners for Hexaformer
technology?
ABB will be active in
India starting 2013 in a
limited market niche.
With India representing
such a huge market
potential for
Hexaformer distribution
transformers (dry and
oil filled), no single
company can effectively
cover all applications! It is likely that we, in close collaboration
with Raychem, will appoint one or two additional licensees in
India with complementary market coverage to Raychem.
What is your view on the demand potential for distribution
transformers in India? Who would you consider as your
principal business drivers?
According to market specialists like "Goulden Report 2008 -
2015," the market for transformers in India will grow from
$1,930 million in 2008 to $4,580 million which represents
growth of more than 100 per cent, which is impressive. Of
course we expect Hexaformer technology to do well under
these very positive market conditions. The dedication to the
task by Raychem as well as the visibility of other producers of
transformers using other cage core technologies should open
up the Indian market. At present the market growth is negative
but seeing that India is a power-deficient country, the demand
is going to go up.
Indian state government-owned power utilities are big buyers
of distribution transformers. However, they are bound by the
L1 philosophy in their procurement process. How do you
therefore see the market for Hexaformer transformers from
Indian government power utilities?
Hexaformer technology uses less material and that gives you a
good starting point. When the Raychem production of
Hexaformer transformers have reached a certain critical level
providing economy of scale Raychem will be able to compete in
the very competitive distribution transformer market.
Furthermore, in other countries, we see more and more of
government involvement in providing guidelines and
recommendations for minimum efficiency standards to utilities
and in some countries these minimum efficiency standards
have become the law. We hope that the Indian government will
soon follow suit. Hexaformer transformers meet these
efficiency standards with no or very limited extra cost. The
present competition will mainly be with amorphous and once
this product is developed the situation in market will be more
interesting!
The Indian distribution transformer market is very widespread
and dominated by marginal manufacturers that allegedly churn
out substandard products. What is your view? How does this
affect your business strategy in India?
This situation is well known to Raychem! With Hexaformer
technology the Raychem sales force now have many features to
sell such as higher efficiency, low in-rush current at start up,
smaller size, less noise, reduced magnetic stray field and no
third harmonic. These arguments will convince the customer to
give preference to Hexaformer style transformers which can
not easily be copied by marginal manufacturers. Customers
who are concerned with no-load losses and have put a price on
such losses will even be prepared to pay a premium price for
Hexaformer transformers which over time will be the most cost
effective alternative.
Does Hexaformer AB have plans of producing higher rating
power transformers?
At the moment we as Hexaformer AB are focusing on
developing our Hexaformer technology "Generation 3" and we
leave the task to develop and build larger sizes to our licensed
partners. Even as we are now discussing Raychem is
developing Hexaformer transformers sizes up to 800 KVA. Our
licensee in Sweden, Nordtrafo AB, has experience in building
up to 2 MVA dry-type Hexaformer transformers 11/0.44kV. The
Hexaformer technology sees no size limitation but further
improvements on the manufacturing processes will be needed
to handle the higher power capacities (> 15 MVA).
We understand that Hexaformer has its transformers installed
in over 100 countries. Which are your biggest markets?
We have patent protection for Hexaformer technology in over
90 countries with the biggest installed base in our home market
which is the Nordic region of Europe.
In the next 5-7 years, do you think that India could contribute
significantly to Hexaformer's global business?
Yes, of course! The size of the Indian market makes it of great
importance for Hexaformer. India should bring significant
royalties to Hexaformer as a percentage of total sales by our
licensees in India. when Raychem is capable of providing
Hexaformer transformers with excellent quality at reasonable
prices it will become the Hexaformer manufacturing centre of
excellence with capacity to produce Hexaformer products to
service other Hexaformer licensees in mainly Europe. We
believe that India has a bright future with exceptional market
growth in energy distribution. With its large domestic market
Indian transformer manufacturers will be in a position to
compete successfully in export markets.