John Weinel’s company, JTW Associates, worked with more than a dozen teams of mechanical engineering students over the last six years to develop the Nebulus Emergency Flotation Device. This winter the company plans to field-test a new model of the Nebulus. Built into the seat of a snowmobile or ATV, this version will inflate automatically if the vehicle breaks through the ice.
production for a year and a half. The target user for this model is a “first responder,” like a state patrol officer who is first on the scene of an accident but whose rescue efforts may be hampered by lack of technology. “Typically the first responder is an officer on his belly lying on the ice with an outstretched stick, waiting for the rescue crew to arrive…. Now first responders can commandeer any snowmobile on the scene, attach the [Nebulus] device, and drive out across the ice to [the rescue],” Weinel said. Another version of the Nebulus can be used by ultralight aircraft during an emergency landing over water. Still in development is the automatic version, which Weinel hopes will become a standard safety feature in snowmobiles just as air bags are in automobiles. Also being tested is a model for use in avalanche rescues. University students have been involved in every phase of the Nebulus’ development. Weinel estimates that since 1999 at least a dozen other student
teams from ME 4054 have worked on various aspects of the device. After graduation, a few of those individuals have been hired to work for Weinel’s company, JTW Associates, in Lakeville, Minn. Others have forged relationships with the company as outside consultants. Weinel said he has benefited greatly from his collaboration with the University. “I owe everything to the University,” he said. “I’m a true Gopher.” That’s not the only interaction with his alma mater that interests him, however. To put it plainly, Weinel wants to be an inspiration. “I was a terrible, terrible engineering student,” he confessed. He hopes that his example of perseverance will motivate “all those guys sitting in the back row of class with nobody to tell them to keep trying.” Weinel has another goal as well. “As soon as the Nebulus saves its first life, I’m going to call the parents [of the 1992 accident victim],” he said. “I want to tell them that their son did not die in vain.” J W
Winter 2006 INVENTING TOMORROW 35