OXFORD FLOW WINS PRESTIGIOUS ENGINEERING AWARD

Oxford Flow has been awarded the Albert Woelfel Best Mechanical Engineering Achievement Award by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

The Woelfel BMEA Award recognises a product, device or system which best reflects innovation or practical use of mechanical engineering in solving problems, improving design or maximising performance. Oxford Flow is the first company to win since 2019.

Oxford Flow’s ES axial flow valve, which has been designed with no mechanical actuator, stem or drive train, eliminates fugitive emissions, significantly increases reliability and is considerably smaller and lighter than existing valves on the market.

Dr Chris Kennell, Technical Sales Manager at Oxford Flow, was one of a team of engineers which designed and developed the ES valve.

He said: “The ES valve was designed with the intention of solving an industry problem, creating something that was not only easy to retrofit into existing systems, but that would provide assurance to operators to know that their operations are now safer and more environmentally sound.”

Oxford Flow, based at Osney Mead in the city, designs and assembles innovative pressure control equipment using technology developed at the Thermo-Fluids facility at Oxford University.

Boiler innovator secures more than £1m in funding

Wokingham-based Tepeo, inventor of the award-winning Zero Emission Boiler (ZEB), has secured grant funding for a £1 million project from Innovate UK. The project will enable it to conduct deep research into the ZEB’s core technology, with a focus on optimising it for high volume manufacture.

The company has also secured a £42,000 grant from the Berkshire Business Capital Grant Fund to invest in an electric kiln and other manufacturing equipment enabling them to significantly scale up production of their innovative zero emission boilers.

The tepeo Zero Emission Boiler is a low carbon alternative to a gas or oil boiler – it heats homes affordably while lowering the carbon footprint and supporting renewable generation.

It provides the same heating service (heated water to any set temperature between 35-80C) as a gas or oil boiler but without the emissions, the company says.

The boiler is powered by electricity and works like a battery to store heat efficiently until it is needed. Tepeo’s patented heatmanagement technology then releases the heat to radiators or underfloor heating and water tanks when needed.

The ZEB’s smart technology charges the core with energy at the cheapest times of day ready for when its needed.

The ZEB can also charge on excess solar electricity generated by a home’s solar PV that would otherwise have to be exported to the grid for a low price.