Putting a New Spin on Machinery of Future : Agoura Hills: Start-up firm Avcon Inc. is seeking big markets, including aeronautics, for its energy-efficient, grease-free magnetic bearings.

Grease is found in everything from typewriters to turbo pumps. It’s the magic ingredient that has allowed shafts to turn and pistons to clank since the dawn of machines. But its monopoly is now being challenged by a small number of companies, including a start-up firm called Avcon Inc. in Agoura Hills.

Avcon makes what the industry calls magnetic bearings. These use magnetism instead of lubricants to prevent friction between machine parts, literally allowing moving parts to float in magnetic fields. The bearings let a crankshaft spin free of friction, dirt or wear.

The devices seem to defy common sense. Avcon has trouble explaining them to customers--let alone selling them--and so hands out models of magnetized spinning parts at trade conventions.

But enthusiasts say the potential of these magnetic parts is vast because lubricated bearings often fail in extreme temperatures, require costly maintenance, or cause fires. In theory, magnetic bearings could solve key mechanical problems in devices for the aerospace, power, chemical, textile and medical industries.

Avcon has patented what it contends is smaller, cheaper and more energy-efficient magnetic bearings. At the firm’s headquarters, a model crankshaft appears strangely dry as it spins between the bearings. You have to look closely to see that the shaft is suspended a fraction of an inch from the metal encasing it.

Most magnetic bearings rely on electromagnetism and require complex electronic components, said Avcon president and founder Crawford Meeks, 63, a former chief scientist for Hughes Aircraft Co.

By contrast, Avcon’s system uses a combination of electromagnetism and permanent magnets, which simplifies them and cuts costs. Also, to save power, Avcon bearings direct electric current through a single pole rather than two poles.

The tall, white-haired Meeks started Avcon in his garage in 1988. So far, the firm has produced only prototypes of magnetic bearings. In 1993, the company earned a mere $72,000 on revenue of $1.3 million. Avcon failed to raise $8 million in a public stock offering last June because its underwriter, Reynders, Gray Co. Inc. of New York, said it was an unfavorable stock market, Avcon said. Meeks said Avcon is in the process of raising about $4 million in a private placement instead.

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One investor who is excited about Avcon is Allied-Signal Inc., the $12-billion-per-year aerospace components giant, which bought rights to some Avcon technology last year and owns 15% of the company. Avcon’s magnetic bearings could potentially shrink weight, boost power, and reduce maintenance of airplanes.

“We are right at the doorstep of an engine revolution,” said Fred Klaass, an engine specialist for an Allied-Signal unit in Phoenix.

Avcon has landed a contract to produce $250,000 worth of small bearings for an undisclosed customer who will use them to manufacture laser equipment. And final negotiations for another production contract for power plant equipment, worth a potential $3 million, are under way, Meeks said.

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But Avcon is still a company in the nascent stage. Its current revenues stem from a number of research and development contracts. Among the first was a $350,000 contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA successfully ran tests of a prototype Avcon bearing designed for liquid hydrogen-fuel pumps on the space shuttle, said NASA engineer Eliseo DiRusso.

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama has since followed up with a $500,000 contract with Avcon. And the U.S. Air Force is finishing a three-year, $839,582 contract to test various Avcon bearing systems for aircraft. Other major contracts include a prototype magnetic bearing in a large oil-field pump for Arabian-American Oil Co. (ARAMCO).

Magnetic bearings have been around since the late ‘60s, but have become more practical recently due to advances in electronics. Magnetic bearings “used to be viewed as a black box--they were kind of magical. The initial vendors enjoyed that mystique,” said David Weise of bearings maker Waukesha Bearings Corp. of Waukesha, Wis. Now, Weise said, the industry must demystify the bearings and “make them a product everyone can understand.”

It’s unclear exactly how large the current magnetic bearings business is, but the semiconductor and petrochemical industries are thought to be its largest customers.

The acknowledged industry leader is Magnetic Bearings Inc. of Roanoke, Va., which has produced magnetic bearings, especially large and expensive ones for natural gas pipelines, since the early ‘80s. Each petrochemical installation costs $250,000 or more and MBI claims to have made hundreds of installations, said Paul Allaire, a magnetic bearings expert at the University of Virginia.

Small magnetic bearings are marketed to the semiconductor industry, which requires ultra-clean, greaseless machinery. About 3,000 magnetic bearings worth $60 million are produced for this industry each year, Allaire said.

Although Avcon produces light, energy-efficient bearings designed for aerospace, Meeks said the company is also trying to apply its technology to other markets. The company especially wants a piece of the lucrative petroleum market.

Magnetic bearings are getting cheaper, and a race to introduce them to new markets, including for more commonplace machinery, is under way. “Whoever comes up with a good strategic approach to this industry will walk away with the lion’s share of the market,” said Weise of Waukesha Bearings.

Avcon’s competitors acknowledge that Meeks has made contributions to the field, but they question some details of his approach. For example, H. Ming Chen of Mechanical Technology suggested that permanent magnets used in Avcon’s bearings might become cumbersome if the company starts designing bearings for giant industrial machines, such as oil production equipment.

Big bearings require big magnets, and big magnets are “a pain in the neck,” Chen said. Everything sticks to them, and they are hard to align, he explained.

Meeks acknowledged limits to permanent magnets. Although Avcon’s large magnetic bearing for ARAMCO’s prototype pump will have magnets, the company probably will have to abandon them if they try to retrofit larger equipment, he said.

Moreover, permanent magnets can become demagnetized at high temperatures, and Avcon has had to eliminate them from one prototype bearing designed for an aircraft due to heat.

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But even without the magnets, Avcon’s systems still have considerable advantages, especially flying machines where lightweight and energy-efficient equipment is at a premium, Meeks contended.

“This is not an easy sell. The costs are large, and the payoffs are not always obvious,” Meeks said. But in the long run, he added, lighter, cheaper magnetic bearings will proliferate, with considerable rewards: more powerful machines, drastic cuts in maintenance, and a cleaner environment, to name a few.