Investment in innovation

“Green Dragon’s Den”

Water & Waterpower Sector

Central to my work over the last 35 years, I have had to design a wide range of water turbines for all-manner of sites and applications. Far from being able to use mass-produced equipment, there have always been new areas and applications that require special products. Now that ‘green energy systems’ are becoming more commonplace, what was once a totally bespoke activity is beginning to see wider adoption. A quick search on the Internet will show you that there is an almost total lack of real products and people who actually make anything.

WW-01 Fish-friendly water turbines. For many years we operated water turbines that were virtually un-chokeable on account of the large open spaces between the various components. Using carefully selected materials and innovative features, it is now possible to build a low-head water turbine that will allow even large fish to pass through without injury. This design is considerably cheaper to build and install than ‘Archimedes Screws’, will cause less injury to fish and be totally unobtrusive and safe.

WW-2 Tidal Reef Turbines. Leading on from the launch of the ‘Severn Tidal Reef Proposal’ (www.severntidal.com) there are two designs of turbine and a number of associated hydraulic structures that require developing. As the designer and builder of the first ‘Tidal Stream Turbine’ I have had a long involvement in the area. Despite the previous Governments blatant attempt to hijack the ‘Reef Concept’ and hand it to Atkins and Rolls Royce, the technology necessary to exploit this concept is still confidential and awaiting a sponsor.

WW-3 Ultra high-pressure turbines for use in marine energy converters are a much cheaper and more reliable alternative to hydraulic motors. With operating pressures in excess of 100 Bars and fluids that range from oil to sea-water, this is a very important area for future power generation. Versions of this technology have already been deployed by us in the offshore oil and gas industry. There is also a design of multi-phase turbine operating at over 100 Bars that requires development funds.

WW-4 High specific speed impulse turbine. Developed initially with the help of a DTI SMART Award, this turbine has a niche-market in competition with ‘Turgo-Impulse’ type turbines. The have the advantage of being cheaper to construct and more flexible to apply.

WW-5 Self cleaning fish and debris screens for low-head turbines. This area is vital to the development of low-head hydropower as an alternative to ‘fish-friendly turbines’. Continuing with over 30 years of successful screen building, including our innovative rotary screens, the range of products needs to be developed to cover even the largest flows.

Heat & Power Sector

HP-01 A novel grid connection system. This system that complies with all the present legal requirements for G83/G59 offers much more flexibility for the consumer when deciding how to install and operate ‘micro-generation systems in parallel with the National Grid.

HP-02 A novel domestic solar appliance. This is a domestic system that is outside my range of interest but that I would be prepared to develop to a market product with the right partner.

HP-03 A novel heat-pump evaporator. Having built what may still be the largest water turbine driven heat-pump in the UK (75 kW) I turned my thoughts to developing a concept that would give the thermal properties of a ground-source heat-pump, but at the cost of an air source heat-pump.

HP-04 Low cost solar thermal collector. This is the development of a product that has been in use for over 30 years and has not been promoted. It is significantly cheaper than other products in the market.

HP-05 Tracking solar collector. A new slant on an existing technology.

HP-06 Gasifying biomass boiler. As someone who is sceptical about the mass market appeal of chipped and pelleted fuels (because of the energy input to process), I set about designing a boiler and associated timber handling system that allowed a wide range of different biomass fuels to be used in bulk form. In my opinion, existing systems do not address the complete process of making the fuel easy to handle.

Green Transport Sector

GT-01 Personal electric transport. This came about because of my own requirement for an electric ‘buggy’ that I could put in the car in less than 15 seconds, one that I could drive along a railway platform while carrying my luggage, that I could then fold and load onto the train unaided in under half a minute. I also wanted it to go in taxis, lifts, aeroplanes and anywhere that an able bodied person would go.

GT-02 Ultra light tram system. There are many locations within modern shopping complexes, exhibition areas and even the Olympic games that are or will be inaccessible for the less mobile. All rapid transit and light-rail systems are designed for higher speeds and longer distances than the ‘Ultra Light Tram System’ that I am proposing. The system is highly flexible and can be installed in much the same way as ‘toy railway’ but is essentially a short distance ‘pedestrian compatible system’ as opposed to a street tram.

If any of the above areas of innovative technology are of interest to you as an investor or promoter, please get in contact.