We’re upgrading our facilities for even better results for you!

27 June 2022

We’re upgrading our facilities for even better results for you!

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Hear from our Head of Operations, James Smith, as he explains the importance of investing in continually upgrading Bowman’s facilities to provide the best working environment for our employees, and the capabilities we need to put our eTurbo Systems through their paces!

It’s a common juggling act in business, when everyone is deeply focussed on project and product delivery, to fit in improvement activities related to the working environment and facilities. However, sound investments in new capabilities and capacity are important, and improvements to the working environment pay back quickly in respect to employee morale and engagement, which, in turn, knocks on equally quickly to productivity and quality of output.

It is also fair to say that appearances are important, and with all the work we have been doing at Bowman in relation to our branding and website over the last year, we feel it is equally important that we refresh the look and feel of our offices, workshops, and test areas in equal measure. To that end, we had a couple of projects in the schedule for 2022.

State-of-the-art hot and cold test cells

Firstly, we have been undertaking a significant upgrade to our eTurbo Systems test infrastructure to supplement our ability to test eTurbochargers over a very wide range of boundary conditions. Our Hot Gas Stand already had capability to provide up to 0.5kg/s of air at over 600°C to simulate a very wide range of exhaust gas conditions. To this we are adding a Thermal Conditioning Rig that has the ability to provide coolant water and lubricating oil over a wide range of temperature and pressure conditions, as well as enable environmental ambient temperature simulation to allow the full spectrum of hardware environmental conditions to be evaluated. In addition, we have also added a further 128 channels of simultaneous data acquisition and a dedicated high-frequency vibration monitoring system. These are all necessary to enable detailed evaluation and validation of Bowman’s products in the context of the highly challenging operating conditions in which our advanced TorqIQ™-based eTurbo Systems will be installed.

As a part of this same test cell development, we have also taken the opportunity to dedicate facilities for eCompressor testing – a Cold Gas Stand if you will. This cell is fitted with advanced power supplies and instrumentation to enable testing of our ultra-fast response high-speed compressors, which have been described in other articles. It is not a trivial exercise to match test infrastructure to machines capable of spinning up to 15kW at 50,000 RPM in less than 300ms (the equivalent of an eye blink!) or 55kW at 90,000 RPM in ~850ms – from a standing start.

Providing the optimum working environment

In terms of the working environment, plans are developing well for an overall refurbishment of the Bowman site in Southampton, UK, covering the office and meeting room areas as well as the workshops and other test cells. This work has begun with a full refit of office furniture, and I have to say that the combination of an improved layout and new fittings has really given our early 20th century maritime industrial building a wonderful lift, the modern interior now complementing perfectly the heritage exterior. This isn’t purely about aesthetics – we have grown the team by around 50% in recent months, predominantly in engineering roles, in response to growing workload on a number of projects, and we needed to fit a few more desks in!

These improvements are just part of our continual investment to ensure our ongoing ability to provide the best conditions for our workforce to continue to provide the best products and service for our customers. Stay tuned for further exciting developments!

27 June 2022

We’re upgrading our facilities for even better results for you!

Share this article
Image

Hear from our Head of Operations, James Smith, as he explains the importance of investing in continually upgrading Bowman’s facilities to provide the best working environment for our employees, and the capabilities we need to put our eTurbo Systems through their paces!

It’s a common juggling act in business, when everyone is deeply focussed on project and product delivery, to fit in improvement activities related to the working environment and facilities. However, sound investments in new capabilities and capacity are important, and improvements to the working environment pay back quickly in respect to employee morale and engagement, which, in turn, knocks on equally quickly to productivity and quality of output.

It is also fair to say that appearances are important, and with all the work we have been doing at Bowman in relation to our branding and website over the last year, we feel it is equally important that we refresh the look and feel of our offices, workshops, and test areas in equal measure. To that end, we had a couple of projects in the schedule for 2022.

State-of-the-art hot and cold test cells

Firstly, we have been undertaking a significant upgrade to our eTurbo Systems test infrastructure to supplement our ability to test eTurbochargers over a very wide range of boundary conditions. Our Hot Gas Stand already had capability to provide up to 0.5kg/s of air at over 600°C to simulate a very wide range of exhaust gas conditions. To this we are adding a Thermal Conditioning Rig that has the ability to provide coolant water and lubricating oil over a wide range of temperature and pressure conditions, as well as enable environmental ambient temperature simulation to allow the full spectrum of hardware environmental conditions to be evaluated. In addition, we have also added a further 128 channels of simultaneous data acquisition and a dedicated high-frequency vibration monitoring system. These are all necessary to enable detailed evaluation and validation of Bowman’s products in the context of the highly challenging operating conditions in which our advanced TorqIQ™-based eTurbo Systems will be installed.

As a part of this same test cell development, we have also taken the opportunity to dedicate facilities for eCompressor testing – a Cold Gas Stand if you will. This cell is fitted with advanced power supplies and instrumentation to enable testing of our ultra-fast response high-speed compressors, which have been described in other articles. It is not a trivial exercise to match test infrastructure to machines capable of spinning up to 15kW at 50,000 RPM in less than 300ms (the equivalent of an eye blink!) or 55kW at 90,000 RPM in ~850ms – from a standing start.

Providing the optimum working environment

In terms of the working environment, plans are developing well for an overall refurbishment of the Bowman site in Southampton, UK, covering the office and meeting room areas as well as the workshops and other test cells. This work has begun with a full refit of office furniture, and I have to say that the combination of an improved layout and new fittings has really given our early 20th century maritime industrial building a wonderful lift, the modern interior now complementing perfectly the heritage exterior. This isn’t purely about aesthetics – we have grown the team by around 50% in recent months, predominantly in engineering roles, in response to growing workload on a number of projects, and we needed to fit a few more desks in!

These improvements are just part of our continual investment to ensure our ongoing ability to provide the best conditions for our workforce to continue to provide the best products and service for our customers. Stay tuned for further exciting developments!

27 June 2022

We’re upgrading our facilities for even better results for you!

Share this article
Image

Hear from our Head of Operations, James Smith, as he explains the importance of investing in continually upgrading Bowman’s facilities to provide the best working environment for our employees, and the capabilities we need to put our eTurbo Systems through their paces!

It’s a common juggling act in business, when everyone is deeply focussed on project and product delivery, to fit in improvement activities related to the working environment and facilities. However, sound investments in new capabilities and capacity are important, and improvements to the working environment pay back quickly in respect to employee morale and engagement, which, in turn, knocks on equally quickly to productivity and quality of output.

It is also fair to say that appearances are important, and with all the work we have been doing at Bowman in relation to our branding and website over the last year, we feel it is equally important that we refresh the look and feel of our offices, workshops, and test areas in equal measure. To that end, we had a couple of projects in the schedule for 2022.

State-of-the-art hot and cold test cells

Firstly, we have been undertaking a significant upgrade to our eTurbo Systems test infrastructure to supplement our ability to test eTurbochargers over a very wide range of boundary conditions. Our Hot Gas Stand already had capability to provide up to 0.5kg/s of air at over 600°C to simulate a very wide range of exhaust gas conditions. To this we are adding a Thermal Conditioning Rig that has the ability to provide coolant water and lubricating oil over a wide range of temperature and pressure conditions, as well as enable environmental ambient temperature simulation to allow the full spectrum of hardware environmental conditions to be evaluated. In addition, we have also added a further 128 channels of simultaneous data acquisition and a dedicated high-frequency vibration monitoring system. These are all necessary to enable detailed evaluation and validation of Bowman’s products in the context of the highly challenging operating conditions in which our advanced TorqIQ-based eTurbo Systems will be installed.

As a part of this same test cell development, we have also taken the opportunity to dedicate facilities for eCompressor testing – a Cold Gas Stand if you will. This cell is fitted with advanced power supplies and instrumentation to enable testing of our ultra-fast response high-speed compressors, which have been described in other articles. It is not a trivial exercise to match test infrastructure to machines capable of spinning up to 15kW at 50,000 RPM in less than 300ms (the equivalent of an eye blink!) or 55kW at 90,000 RPM in ~850ms – from a standing start.

Providing the optimum working environment

In terms of the working environment, plans are developing well for an overall refurbishment of the Bowman site in Southampton, UK, covering the office and meeting room areas as well as the workshops and other test cells. This work has begun with a full refit of office furniture, and I have to say that the combination of an improved layout and new fittings has really given our early 20th century maritime industrial building a wonderful lift, the modern interior now complementing perfectly the heritage exterior. This isn’t purely about aesthetics – we have grown the team by around 50% in recent months, predominantly in engineering roles, in response to growing workload on a number of projects, and we needed to fit a few more desks in!

These improvements are just part of our continual investment to ensure our ongoing ability to provide the best conditions for our workforce to continue to provide the best products and service for our customers. Stay tuned for further exciting developments!