An industrial heater built around Dynamo Micropower’s fuel-flexible TurboCore engine / photo courtesy of Dynamo Micropower
Somerville, MA – Dynamo Micropower Corporation is now producing 25TurboCore TC700H engines for Multitek North America. Multitek, a manufacturer of heavy industrial products, will use the engines in the oil, gas, and construction industries. Dynamo, based in Somerville at Greentown Labs, and Multitek worked together to develop an industrial heater around the TurboCore engine, and that heater reduces operating costs by more than 40%, compared with its diesel competition, at roughly half the weight and size. Dynamo benefited from a partnership between Greentown Labs, MassDevelopment, and the Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership, along with collaboration with Boston Engineering, to bring this product to market.
“This is the first — and most important — step in commercializing innovative technology,” said Dynamo Micropower c0-founder and CEO, Jason Ethier. “My co-founder and I moved to Massachusetts from Raleigh-Durham, N.C., for Greentown Labs and the abundance of entrepreneurial resources found here. Without an ecosystem of technical and financial partners, it would have taken significantly longer to bring our technology to the market.”
The TurboCore engine’s fuel-flexible combustion technology allows it to operate on any gaseous fuel and auto-configures for unprocessed, unfiltered natural gas as well as propane and CNG. The control system dynamically adjusts for changing composition and energy content of wellhead fuels.
The company previously produced a scalable sub megawatt flexible-fuel turbine platform that meets the power challenges of oil and gas wells by reducing maintenance and fuel expenses. The turbine operates on associated petroleum gas, propane, or compressed natural gas in a single unit. Dynamo’s turbine emissions control exceeds regulatory requirements, while its reliability translates to a lower cost of ownership. MassDevelopment issued a $175,000 revolving bridge loan from the Emerging Technology Fund to finance that project.
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“It is wonderful to see Dynamo Micropower, an early Greentown Labs member company, move from prototyping in our labs to commercialization in the field,” said Dr. Emily Reichert, CEO of Greentown Labs.
“Dynamo’s development and production for Multitek shows what start-up clean energy manufacturers can do in the Commonwealth,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Marty Jones. “The company is making engines that are fuel flexible, reliable, and easy to maintain, and larger businesses are taking notice. We’re proud to work with the Commonwealth’s manufacturing and energy network to support Dynamo and other Massachusetts startups as they turn their ideas into products.”
Greentown Labs, MassDevelopment, and the Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership have partnered to connect Massachusetts manufacturers and local startups, helping the startups achieve their potential while the established companies can learn about the latest technological trends. Through the MassDevelopment Manufacturing Innovation Grants program, Dynamo selected the Boston Engineering Innovation Center. Boston Engineering’s team of electrical, mechanical, and controls engineers revised the TurboCore’s controls design to cut system production costs, ensure that the design operated seamlessly with both Dynamo and Multitek’s technology, and maintain high performance and reliability.
“Dynamo Micropower’s amazing success reflects not only their intellectual power but also their perseverance, open mindedness and agility to challenge the status quo and leverage connectivity with other complementary progressive companies and resources,” said MassMEP’s Center Director John Killam. “MassMEP, in partnership with Greentown Labs and MassDevelopment, is fortunate to be considered one of these resources.”
“Many start-ups struggle to translate their ideas into products that can be manufactured reliably, quickly, and economically,” said Mark Smithers, co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) of Boston Engineering. “We are proud to work with MassDevelopment to provide the product development expertise and focused resources to support Commonwealth innovators during the critical commercialization process. The Boston Engineering team and I take a tremendous amount of pride in helping companies like Dynamo Micropower take their groundbreaking ideas to market.”
