Over 50% of our students this year are working on Industry Sponsored Projects. This week's project is presented by Arnaud Bacye.
Based in Granger, Slipstream Projects is an electrical/manufacturing startup company at the forefront of smart generation and the storage of energy. Led by a team of four -- including Lead Engineer Kevin O’Keeffe, a former ESTEEM student -- Slipstream has recently been driving innovation in the field of emergency power.
For a long time emergency power technologies have been largely dominated by battery technologies. Used in emergencies such as when a vehicle battery dies, these chemical-based units are subject to a multitude of limiting factors such as short working time (hence the need for replacement), limited output power, malfunctioning under extreme weather conditions, and a slow charge/discharge cycle, restricting their use for a variety of applications including jumpstarting applications.
After several years of research and development, Slipstream Projects has designed a low-cost, customizable, and modular emergency pack based on ultracapacitor technology that essentially overcomes the issues associated with these battery units, and delivers an efficient and safe jumpstart for commercial vehicle fleets, even under very cold weather conditions.
Seeing the great value of the program, Slipstream has made this project available for one of our ESTEEM student's capstone thesis experience. Arnaud Bacye is evaluating the commercialization potential of this innovative jump-starter power pack.
O'Keefe, a 2015 ESTEEM graduate, reiterates how much the program has helped him forge certain skills, which have been enormousely useful in his entrepreneurial endeavors. Ranging from the crucial “intellectual property law we studied and the understanding of structuring agreements around intellectual property” to “learning how it is possible to bootstrap a company and learning about customer-focused design, and prototyping”, ESTEEM has, just like Kevin attests, been a major support for anyone passionate about technology and entrepreneurship.