VanDyne SuperTurbo raises $8M in Series C equity financing
14 February 2012
VanDyne SuperTurbo Inc., the developer of a charger with an integral continuously variable transmission (CVT) (earlier post), has raised $8 million in Series C equity financing round. The round was led by Northwater Capital’s Intellectual Property Fund with participation by existing investors. Proceeds from the financing will help drive the company’s growth initiatives and speed up the commercialization of the SuperTurbo technology.
The VanDyne SuperTurbo technology integrates the functions of supercharging and turbocharging into a single device, by combining turbomachinery with a transmission. This combination allows a third function called turbocompounding, which increases the efficiency of an engine from the collection of waste heat energy. The SuperTurbo promises to deliver up to 6% efficiency gains in trucks.
The company says that use of a SuperTurbo can enable a “half-size engine” deliver the same torque as a normal engine today. Using a half-size engine with a SuperTurbo in a car would give it 36% better mileage, according to the company’s calculations.
In 2010, VanDyne SuperTurbo, Inc. signed a contract with Cummins Inc. to develop a VanDyne SuperTurbocharger for a Class 8 truck application using a Cummins engine. The agreement was part of the Super Truck program, a cost-sharing initiative between the Department of Energy (DOE) and the private sector. (Earlier post.)
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