The grant we received from the National Science Foundation covers the design and construction of several new machines to accelerate the production of YellowJacket insulation. These machines are as follows:
The HTTR is a thermal testing system which will be used to analyze new insulation prototypes and validate the production quality of the YellowJacket batts we manufacture.
The IRIS is an imaging system which will be used for biomimicry research to study insects under infrared (IR) and ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths. IR radiation plays a huge role in heat transfer, so finding better techniques to reducing the IR absorption of materials could have a huge impact on the future of insulation technology.
Several very technically complex production machines
(which - for trade secret reasons - we cannot talk about in detail at this time!). These machines will allow us to produce YellowJacket insulation at scale, and are therefore the most important machines to the success of this project.
Overall, the Owlfly team is making great progress! In just a month and a half, we've already wrapped up most of the design work and begun construction. Expect more exciting news in the months to come!
