Flavien joined Bluebox Energy in June of 2015 as our Principle engineer. Flavien’s most recent work included being a control specialist, manager of complex programs and business development at Ricardo, then Strategic Consultant in Brazil. His key achievements were the design and development of the control system of the 1st Diesel Hybrid demonstrator for VALEO and PSA Peugeot Citroën (World Premiere). International complex programs coordination (Europe, Americas, Asia). Delivery of Mégane RS 225 derivative for Renault from concept to production. At Bluebox Energy, Flavien will look after controls and programme management as well as supporting our business development activities.

Rachel joined Bluebox Energy in May of 2015 as our project administrator. In previous positions Rachel was involved in the consumer electronics industry for over 25 years, helping to develop innovative products in companies such as Hasbro, Psion Computers and Frontier Silicon with new Digital radios (DAB).

Following the successful review of our feasibility study, Schmid Energy chose Bluebox Energy to provide a DUO+ hot air turbine system to accompany their biomass furnace. The system wil generate 100kW of electricity as well as provide heat to a site in Dudingen.

Link to Schmid Energy hot air turbine system

Link to Dudingen hot air turbine “Lighthouse” project website

Schmid energy solutions is a Swiss family business, which has been dealing with energy issues for over 75 years and employs around 300 people. Schmid have evolved into a specialist manufacturer of biomass energy systems.

Due to their complexity and maintenance requirements, Schmid Energy have found that ORC systems and steam turbines only become worthwhile as large-scale systems with a thermal capacity above 2 MW. In many cases, heat offtake all year round cannot be ensured for such high capacities. The hot air turbine therefore fills the gap in the smaller operating range.

Schmid Energy have developed a prototype hot air system with a micro-turbine system.  However, they wished to find an alternaive with improved performance and asked BlueBox Energy to perform a study to evaluate the performance and economics of our hot air turbine solution coupled with Schmid Energy’s combustion and heat exchanger system.

Due to the need for high efficiency’s, the study concluded that the Duo+ system was the most suitable.  Schmid Energy are now in the process of deciding whether to move forward with the technology.

Link to Schmid Energy hot air turbine system

We assisted Bowman Power in their development of a turbogenerator system for a Caterpillar 3516 engine in Sumatra.

Testing was held at site over a period of one week and confirmed the performance of the engine system was as anticipated and gave the team valuable information on how the engine performed in this environment.

Link to Bowman Power Caterpillar 3516 solution