Rare Earth Magnet & Motor Materials worked example
Energy Cost at 92% on-load duty: a worked example in rare earth magnet & motor materials
This scenario runs the energy cost calculation on the strong side: 92% on-load duty, with every other input held at its documented default. A plant manager prices the power draw of a vacuum sinter campaign to size it into the magnet quote.
The inputs for this scenario
- Sintering furnace runtime: 120 furnace-hours (unchanged)
- Electricity rate: 38 $/kWh-equiv hr (unchanged)
- On-load duty: 92 % (raised for this scenario; the documented default is 80)
- Vacuum and chiller base load: 600 $ (unchanged)
Working through the calculation
- Applying the documented formula (Total energy = furnace-hours x power rate x on-load duty + base load) to the inputs above produces each figure below.
- At this operating point the engine returns 4,795 $ for total energy cost, the number this scenario is built around.
- At this operating point the engine returns 39.96 $ / piece for energy cost per unit.
- At this operating point the engine returns 4,195 $ for variable energy cost.
- At this operating point the engine returns 600 $ for fixed energy cost adder.
How this compares with the baseline
- Against the tool's baseline example, where on-load duty sits at 80% and the headline result is 4,248 $, this scenario comes in 12.88% above the baseline at 4,795 $.
- Use it when costing a sintering or heat-treat batch, benchmarking furnaces, or deciding whether to consolidate small lots into fewer long runs. Treat this as a target state: the delta against the baseline quantifies what the improvement is worth before you commit to chasing it.
Results at a glance
- Total energy cost: 4,795 $ (headline result)
- Energy cost per unit: 39.96 $ / piece
- Variable energy cost: 4,195 $
- Fixed energy cost adder: 600 $
Run it with your numbers
- Every input above is editable in the live Energy Cost calculator, which recalculates instantly and can be shared with the inputs intact.
Last reviewed 2026-05-12.