"The core idea [of biomimicry] is that nature, imaginative by necessity, has already solved many of the problems we are grappling with. Animals, plants, and microbes are the consummate engineers."

Janine Benyus

Power Generation
Rising costs, increasing energy demands, and mounting concerns about the role traditional power generation plays in climate change are spawning a hot new market in alternative energy strategies, collectively referred to as cleantech. Wind turbines have long played a role in the clean energy market, but have been plagued by structural fatigue, noise, and environmental impacts, and have struggled to increase their efficiency. The turbine team at PAX is focused on blade optimization, with current concept prototypes that reduce drag and noise while maximizing power production. These optimized blades employ streamlining “winglets” that have the cross-market potential to improve aircraft, race cars, and other high-speed vehicles as well as wind generators.

HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) and Refrigeration
The global market for both room and unitary air conditioners is growing, spurred by rising incomes, climate change, and trends in building construction. Market differentiators include energy efficiency—air conditioning is a significant factor in summertime “brown-outs”—and noise. A third air cooling channel, automotive air conditioning, shares components with room and unitary products but must also manage the challenge of running a refrigeration cycle without draining the vehicle’s power. Similarly, the refrigerator/freezer market is looking at unprecedented growth while needing to address the issues created by hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) regulation.  Additionally, the industry must factor in the consumer’s desire for energy efficiency and noise reduction. To improve both air conditioning systems and refrigeration units, PAX Streamline is using our patented geometries to optimize the energy efficiency and heat transfer capacity of thermal management components such as compressors, evaporators, heat exchangers, and chillers.  Work on pumps and nozzles complements this effort.

Exploratory Activities
PAX Streamline’s core R&D team is investigating other potential markets that can benefit from our biomimetic methodologies. To learn more about the drag reduction challenges facing the aerospace industry, for example, PAX has partnered with fluid dynamics experts at Stanford University to study ways to reduce tip vortices and drag for a variety of aerospace applications. We are also performing CFD simulations to study the surface profiles of wings and wingtips.