Invention: Energy-saving rotary air compressor
With his invention of the energy-saving Blade Compressor, Steve Lindsey just might revolutionise the multibillion-euro air compressor market. Also known as the "fourth utility", compressors can be found across industries, in everything from manufacturing equipment to air-conditioning units. Lindsey's highly efficient, oil-free design offers a greener solution to commonly used piston compressors, delivering energy savings of some 20%.
Largely unchanged since the 1930s,
reciprocating piston compressors use pistons to draw air into a cylinder on the
outward stroke, then compress the air as it moves inward. Not just noisy, these
compressors are inefficient, spending half their motion - and thus half of the
energy they consume - preparing for, rather than carrying out, compression.
While alternative technologies exist, no one had found a simple, effective alternative to the piston compressor - until now.
Lindsey's Blade Compressor, licensed by his UK start-up engineering firm Lontra, offers a novel and mechanically elegant replacement. Its design transforms the cylinder section into an annular chamber. A piston blade travels the length of this chamber, compressing air in front while drawing in air behind. The Blade Compressor sidesteps a piston compressor's biggest shortcoming by compressing air continuously. Its unique geometry considerably reduces stress on moving parts, is surprisingly quiet and provides excellent sealing characteristics, which add to its efficiency.
Societal benefit
Air compressors are power-hungry machines. In Europe, they represent about 10% of total industrial energy consumption. In some sectors, such as water purification and manufacturing, this can rise to over 40%. Tackling the issue of energy efficiency head-on, Lindsey demonstrated during a 2012 test trial at a UK wastewater treatment facility that his Blade Compressor could slash electricity consumption by more than 20%.
Lontra sees wastewater treatment as one of the primary sectors that could benefit from the Blade Compressor's efficiency. However, it could just as easily be employed in cement production, at paper pulp plants and in numerous manufacturing processes - essentially for any application requiring air pressure up to 10 bar.
According to Lontra, given the breadth of its potential uses, the Blade Compressor could save two terawatt hours of electricity in Europe a year (roughly the energy consumption of a city of 200 000 households) and 860 000 tonnes of CO2. In recognition of this promise, Lontra received support from the Carbon Trust, a UK firm that helps companies to cut carbon emissions.
Lontra plans to expand the use of the Blade Compressor technology to include automotive superchargers. This could lead to the development of smaller, more efficient engines that deliver equal, if not better, performance than today's models.
Economic benefit
The Blade Compressor might breathe new life into the rather stagnant global air-compressor market, estimated to be worth at least EUR 23.5 billion a year. Rather than operating as a manufacturer, Lontra is run as an intellectual property firm, licensing Blade Compressor technology for use in various industries. In 2014, Lindsey's company closed a deal with Swiss pump manufacturer Sulzer reportedly worth EUR 717 million to supply the technology to wastewater treatment plants. This will see the Blade Compressor sold across 150 countries.
In 2016, Lontra won EUR 50 000 in funding from the EU's Horizon 2020 programme, which targets SMEs showing the greatest potential to develop significant new products for a global market. Lontra will focus on introducing Blade Compressor technology into the food and pharmaceutical sectors, where it will be used for pneumatic conveyors - a common method of moving products and materials during production by blowing them through tubes.
Lontra has also agreed to a partnership with UK-based Shield Group Engineering. Their first joint project looked at ways to streamline mass production and offer substantial manufacturing capacity to licensees and partners.
