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MSU start-up in finals for Department of Energy prize

June 8, 2014

The team’s prize-winning design would reduce costs and increase the effectiveness of geothermal power plants, said Zach Hoyle, mechanical engineering graduate student and Black Pine Engineering Chief Executive Officer. The design incorporates their woven wheel technology, which is a turbomachinery wheel forged from woven carbon fiber rather than metal.

Hoyle said the benefit of using woven carbon fiber is that it’s lighter, cheaper to produce and allows for greater integration into whatever system it’s implemented in.

“It’s something that has the potential to drive down clean energy costs,” he said. “The turbomachinery wheels are used everywhere, but they’re really expensive and that’s really slowing the growth of clean energy in the U.S.”

Hoyle said there’s a lot on the line at the national competition. They stand to win $100,000, the favor of potential investors and a chance for a feature in Scientific American Magazine, if the majority of people vote for their design.

The woven wheel and its application in geothermal technology was developed by mechanical engineering professor Norbert Mueller.

Hoyle became involved with the technology last year when he approached Mueller with the idea of commercializing the technology. From there, Black Pine Engineering was born.

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