Fresh eyes and new collaborations can sometimes elicit solutions to problems that established players simply can’t see. This was the case for a new type of high precision valve that was developed for space applications at DLR, the German Aerospace Centre, and is now being applied to the beverages market by KTW Technology, with support from the ESA Space Solutions network.

KTW was founded in 2017 with the aim of finding a better way to fill bottles and cans with flavoured liquids in response to the growing market for energy drinks and flavoured beverages. Having identified the opportunity presented by DLR’s novel valve design, KTW developed it further and created the specification for a matching output stage that, together with the valves, would form a complete high speed dosing system. 

Development of this system was then supported through an ESA Technology Transfer Demonstrator project. KTW is now selling both individual valves and developing standalone filling systems.

“The beverage industry has been looking for an alternative way to fill flavoured drinks for over 10 years,” explains Wolfgang Teichmann, managing director of KTW. “Existing filling systems suffer from the problem that after filling with one flavour, the smell lingers in the pipes and equipment afterwards, despite intensive cleaning. 

“Our aim was to create a solution where fewer, faster dosing valves could be used to deliver the flavours as a concentrate at the beginning or end of the filling process, making systems more flexible and energy-efficient, and significantly reducing both the time lost to cleaning and the waste of flavours.”

KTW found its enabler in the DLR quick reacting, precision valve. The valve is unusual in that it has just one moving part – a ball that sits in a ‘valve seat’, keeping the valve closed until it is moved by a magnetic field to open it. 

From comets to cans

The valve was originally designed several years ago by Dietmar Neuhaus, a physicist at DLR. He identified its potential for manoeuvring satellites using pressurised cold gas and proposed it for the Rosetta comet lander, although eventually an alternative system was used that didn’t need quick- reacting valves.

“This valve design has a number of benefits over traditional designs, including those with springs,” explains Neuhaus. “With only one moving part, it has a very long lifecycle. The direct, stochastic switching function means it is extremely quick to react to the incoming signal and very precise in the dose it delivers.”

The valve offers response times of 1 millisecond or less and can provide incredibly accurate doses from 0.5ml upwards. 

“In a typical beverage dosing system, you would normally have a carousel with lots of valves – often over 100 – filling the containers with the final liquid, whereas with our solution you only need one or two valves providing microdoses of the concentrate at the beginning or end of the line,” explains Teichmann. “Speed and precision are vital. We can fill 1,000 cans per minute with 2ml of flavouring with just one or two valves.”

“Longevity is also important in the filling industry. Diaphragm valves used in the beverage industry typically have a lifetime of 700,000 switches, whereas our valves, with just one moving part, have been shown to last for over 10 billion doses with low maintenance. When any maintenance is needed, it’s quick, cheap and simple, taking just minutes to do.”

Other elements of KTW’s new filling station also had to be redesigned to match the speed of the valves. KTW is working with a company called Bronkhorst to provide a suitably fast flow meter.

Success from collaboration

Teichmann credits the involvement of EurA, one of ESA’s technology brokers in Germany, as key in getting KTW’s products to their current market-ready status. “They told us about the ESA Demonstration Project, which came with valuable funding of €39,000,” says Teichmann. “We were only a few people, so we couldn’t have got this far this quickly without EurA’s support before and during the Demonstration Project.”

Dietmar Neuhaus at DLR, which holds the patents for the valves, has also been supporting KTW. “Technology transfer should include taking time to make the transfer work. KTW was an ideal partner because they weren’t focussing on optimising the cost and technology of existing designs, but were instead looking for a solution to a specific problem.”

KTW is promoting the valves for additional uses, including compressed air applications. DLR’s Dietmar Neuhaus has other opportunities in mind, including applying chemicals in precision agriculture and for the production of spotted microarrays in biotechnology. He would also still like to see them used for space applications, highlighting their ability to cope with very cold liquids and gases. 

“Entering the beverages industry is a risky venture,” notes Günter Hohmann from EurA. “Projects are often time-consuming and funding can be difficult for SMEs. Our role includes providing support to help them access not just technology but also funding, which in this case enabled them to concentrate on developing their solution. It’s really exciting to now see this project come to fruition.” 

In a typical beverage dosing station, carousels have lots of valves filling containers with the final liquid. The KTW system need just one or two valves providing microdoses of the concentrate at the end of the line. This video gives an example of how fast the KTW precision valves can operate.

ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER AND PATENT OFFICE

The TTPO's funding for demonstration activities aim at proving the relevance of transferring a given technology or know-how into the non-space context, reducing the technical risk and confirming the market opportunity. An annual open call invites the submission of proposals from industry for Feasibility Studies, Proof of Concepts and Demonstrators. These have been designed as a funnel of activities, de-risking the activities on a step-by-step basis. Please see here for more information. 

ABOUT ESA SPACE SOLUTIONS

ESA Space Solutions is the go to place for great business ideas involving space in all areas of society and economy. Our mission is to support entrepreneurs in Europe in the development of business using satellite applications and space technology to improve everyday life. ESA Space Solutions is designed to provide multiple entry points such as ESA Business Incubation Centres (ESA BICs), ESA Technology Broker Network, ESA Business Applications Ambassadors and ESA Business Applications programme. Funding typically ranges from €50k to €2M and supports everything from technology transfer, business incubation, Feasibility Studies to large-scale Demonstration Projects.

With support from ESA Space Solutions, start-up Fourth State Systems has taken a sensor designed for space and developed a solution that could help save the lives of babies born prematurely around the world. The technology was originally intended for miniaturized instruments for planetary exploration, but its unique ability to handle minute sample amounts also makes it ideal for monitoring blood gases in infants.

Transcutaneous blood gas monitoring is a method of measuring carbon dioxide and oxygen levels in the body through the skin. Such analysis is important in healthcare and vital for modern neonatal care. 

Preterm birth is the primary cause of death for children under 5, even though the World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that at least three-quarters of these infants could have been saved. 

”There is an immense need for cheaper, less complex instruments in neonatal care,” says Anders Persson, CEO of Fourth State Systems. ”Every year, 15 million babies are born prematurely. One million of them die, but at least 75% could have been saved if they were given adequate care. Today, such care is only available in the advanced neonatal care units of developed countries because modern neonatal care is complex and costly.”, Anders Persson adds.

Solving a neonatal care challenge

Outside the womb, a preterm infant’s lungs are not capable of fully oxygenating their blood, so they are treated in an incubator with an elevated oxygen level. But it is also important to prevent their blood oxygen level becoming too high, so frequent monitoring is important. 

Preterm infants have too little blood for blood sampling to work. However, the skin, particularly of infants, is not completely gas tight, so measurements can be done transcutaneously instead. Unfortunately, today’s monitors are quite slow and may cause burns. Instead, Fourth State Systems’ sensor can perform the measurement quickly and without heating the skin.

Promising performance and unique features

The sensor has its roots in a research programme aimed at developing miniaturized instruments for astrobiology at the Ångström Space Technology Centre of Sweden’s Uppsala University. The goal was to study carbon isotope ratios in carbon dioxide. The concept is based on microplasma technology, which was found to exhibit some unique features, including an ability to handle extremely small sample amounts. 

By 2018, the research had matured enough for commercialization to begin. Fourth State Systems was admitted to the incubation programme at ESA Business Incubation Centre (ESA BIC) in Sweden and also got backing from the Swedish Innovation Agency VINNOVA and the EU initiative ATTRACT, where it was named a European Breakthrough Technology. 

”During incubation, the positive feedback from doctors and nurses has been the most important thing, since they will one day use this technology. Now we are getting ready for the final steps of completing our journey from looking for life on Mars to saving lives on Earth,” says Anders Persson.

ABOUT ESA SPACE SOLUTIONS

ESA Space Solutions is the go to place for great business ideas involving space in all areas of society and economy. Our mission is to support entrepreneurs in Europe in the development of business using satellite applications and space technology to improve everyday life. ESA Space Solutions is designed to provide multiple entry points such as ESA Business Incubation Centres (ESA BICs), ESA Technology Broker Network, ESA Business Applications Ambassadors and ESA Business Applications programme. Funding typically ranges from €50k to €2M and supports everything from technology transfer, business incubation, Feasibility Studies to large-scale Demonstration Projects.

This story is part of our new Story Series: Meet ESA Space Solutions Network. In this new series, we’re going to introduce you to the great teams across our Network that are using space to develop business applied in daily life. Curious about their highlights and advice? Read on.

Who is ESA BIC Noordwijk?  

ESA BIC Noordwijk is the oldest ESA BIC of the ESA Space Solutions Network. It was founded in 2004 and since 2011 SBIC Noordwijk has managed the program. Since the start, we helped over 100 companies build a space-based business. In Noordwijk, we are at the heart of the Dutch space sector, located on the NL Space Campus - near ESA’s ESTEC facility. 

Tell us about the people in your team and what strength/added value do you bring through.

Gerard Hegemans is our CEO and has a background in engineering. He makes sure every start-up in our ESA BIC gets valuable advice on their progress.

Martijn Leinweber is COO and has a background in crossmedia and community management. Martijn also is our program manager and is the go-to guy in Noordwijk.

Rianne van der Poel is our Business Development Manager and she has a background in the travel industry. Next to a great planner, she makes our partner network and community grow.

Lorenz van Gool is Marketing & Communications Manager and he has a background in business journalism. He creates and executes (content focused) marketing campaigns and gets our start-ups in the media.

If you would put us together, you’d get a giant Power Ranger. A truly complementary team of flexibility, supportive power, quick responses and endurance. 

What has inspired you to work in the space industry? 

We all fell in love with the general sense of collaboration in the space industry. Whether it being organising an event for a handful of space entrepreneurs, or building the International Space Station, you can sense everyone's passion, dedication and desire to contribute to something bigger. Needless to say, that creates a strong bond between every kind of stakeholder - something we haven't seen in any industry before. 

Do you look for/have start-ups working to solve big world problems? 

Yes, it’s always best if start-ups work for the greater good. Sustainability and safety are a big plus, and on a meta level, diversity is also celebrated. We have a soft spot for start-ups that want to have impact in the medical world as well. But we want to stress that we also look for ideas that show space tech can be used in daily life, to inspire a bigger audience.  

Please present between 1 and maximum 4 examples with the name of the start-up, website and a short sentence of what are they doing. 

Sustainability
Incubatee: 

• Sobolt - Using geospatial data & Artificial Intelligence for sustainable solutions in urban areas. 
• Trabotyx - Creating a weeding robot for organic precision farming. 

Alumnus: 

• Skytree - Filtering CO2 in closed spaces. 

Safety
Incubatees: 

• Mapture - Autonomous drone fleets for security and surveillance.
• Meandair - 4D weather forecasting for pilots, so they have safe flying routes. 

Alumni:

• OPTNET - Disaster management. 
• Blackshore - Solving world problems through crowdsourcing, gaming and earth observation. 

Medical
Incubatee: 

• smartQare - Creating a remote patient monitoring solution. 

Alumni: 

• AVY - In a consortium right now to test medical drone delivery. 
• Meds2Go - Device to keep your medicine cool. 
• Relegs - Helping people fight Restless Legs Syndrome. 

Inspire general audience 
Alumni: 

• Johan Sports - GPS trackers for athletes.  

Would you like to share an interesting/inspiring story from one of your alumni?  

We love all our alumni. But what we’re particularly proud of, is that alumnus SkyfloX recently ‘returned’ as a technical partner to new ESA BIC Noordwijk start-ups. To us, this shows the power of our community - not only during the program, but also after graduation. 

What is your advice for aspiring entrepreneurs? 

Don’t let the domain of space intimidate you. It’s serious business, yes, but surprisingly accessible at the same time. You can do more with “space” than you think, and it has become easier than ever to start a business in this sector. Next to that, at ESA BIC Noordwijk, you will notice that it pays to be open. Sharing experiences and/or resources is the modus operandi here. 

Using one word, how would you describe the ESA Space Solutions community?  

One word? SPACE! (Supportive, Purpose-driven, Ambitious, Curious, Ever-learning).  

How would you solve problems if you were from Mars? 

Invade and colonize Earth of course!  

What is your website link where the readers can find more about you? 

Check sbicnoordwijk.nl for all our news and where to find us all over the web. 

The European Space Agency Business Incubation Centre in the Netherlands - ESA BIC Noordwijk is managed by SBIC in collaboration with ESA Space Solutions and Netherlands Space Office.

ABOUT ESA SPACE SOLUTIONS

ESA Space Solutions is the go to place for great business ideas involving space in all areas of society and economy. Our mission is to support entrepreneurs in Europe in the development of business using satellite applications and space technology to improve everyday life. ESA Space Solutions is designed to provide multiple entry points such as ESA Business Incubation Centres (ESA BICs), ESA Technology Broker Network, ESA Business Applications Ambassadors and ESA Business Applications programme. Funding typically ranges from €50k to €2M and supports everything from technology transfer, business incubation, Feasibility Studies to large-scale Demonstration Projects.