Research & Development

Packer Engineering is a multi-disciplinary engineering consulting and Development Company serving the needs of industry and the research community. Using engineers with mechanical, electrical, materials, structural, metallurgical, and chemical backgrounds, Packer works on a wide range of research and development projects. Such as environmental remediation, materials compatibility & Longevity, composites, new construction materials, agricultural biomass reactors, space-based manufacturing and propellant-less in-space propulsion, transportation related research into crash modeling and driver behavior, and educational research aimed at increasing student interest and involvement in technical fields.

Many of our clients have turned to us for assistance in:

• Concept Generation
• Design Services
• Risk Assessments
• CAD Drawings
• Proto-Builds
• Testing & Evaluation
• Document Preparation
• Labels & User Manuals
• Applied Engineering Research

We also provide services in vendor selection and development, set-up of quality assurance systems, warranty prediction, and technical assistance in the preparation of business plans.  Most important, Packer Engineering can drive the transition of a fresh concept into high-volume manufacturing.  

ENGINEERING RESEARCH

• Battery-free weapons shot counter – working prototype
• Strong, light-weight composite structures – large-scale units built
• Hydrogen storage for fuel cells – protos built at partner University
• Middle-school engineering training aid – prototype deployed
• Oxygen extraction from lunar regolith – system model created
• Biomass gasifier for farm energy independence – patent pending

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT

• High pressure and high temperature seals – safely testing
• In-store candy dispenser – use tests
• C-store change-making drop safes – security evaluation
• Job-site tool boxes – design and test
• Firearm testing and certification – approved CA DoJ test lab
• Consumer kitchen appliances – concept and design
• Movie theater popcorn machines – performance evaluation

 PROTOTYPES BUILT

• Medical oxygen concentrator – in production
• Chicken rotisserie appliance – in production
• Point-of-purchase electronics display – in production
• Test fixture for X-ray tubes – in production
• Handle grip for wire banding tool – in production
• Wafer polishing fixture – in production
• Energy-saving timeout powerstrip – in production
• Cell phone power accessory – working prototype
• Trenchless cable-pulling unit – working prototype
• Handheld solid-state welder – mock-up built for NASA
• Natural building lighting using fiber optics – working prototype

Packer Engineering has collaborations with over a dozen universities on a variety of projects.  Our Adjunct staff includes 60 engineers and scientists that augment our full-time engineers for highly specialized projects.  We perform challenging assignments demanding quality results.

 

3-D Modeling

Packer Engineerign was one of three firms selected nationwide to help the General Services Administration of the US government to develop 3-D building models of Federal buildings for updates and defense.

 

Military Boat Structure

We designed and fabricated a carbon fiber composite structure which replaced a conventional aluminum deck house structure on the Mark V Seal insertion boat.

 

Biomass for Energy

Packer Engineering, a pioneer in the use of biomass for energy, aims to reduce reliance on foreign petroleum, and at the same time reduce the carbon footprint of energy production.  A large, untapped market is on-site generation of electricity and heat for moderate-sized operations like farms, wood and paper mills, ethanol plants, co-ops and rural villages.  Our patent pending approach has the high conversion efficiency needed to be economical at this scale.  This work is supported by grants from the US Department of Agriculture and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

The Farm as an Energy Exporter

Farm operations have been hard hit by cost increases in diesel fuel, natural gas, nitrogen fertilizer and lime.  Energy costs represent a large and increasing portion of farm budgets.  The Packer Engineering process uses crop waste -- not food -- to replace some of those energy sources.  The electricity that can be generated from a farm with 600 acres or more of corn is more than the farmer needs.  Through net metering, this excess can be sold back to the electric utility.  Our partner corporation N-Ovations located in Savanna, IL is working on a way to create nitrogen fertilizer from air, water, and electricity made from biomass.  This fertilizer can be used on the farm, or sold to others.

How it Works

The Stalk Stoker™ by Packer Engineering runs on corn stover (the cobs, stalks and leaves left after harvesting) and gasifies it.  Similar to a self-cleaning oven, the stover is heated to produce a flammable gas.  Running that gas through a microturbine, we can generate electricity and heat.  The heat can be used to dry grain in a silo, warm a barn in winter, or provide hot water to the farmhouse.  The output is a dry ash rich in minerals that can be spread back onto the land.  The only exhaust is water vapor and carbon dioxide -- but that same carbon dioxide was pulled from the atmosphere during the growing season.  This makes the Stalk Stoker "carbon neutral", but since it replaces the use of fossil fuels, there is a net gain for the Earth's environment.

To accelerate job creation with this new product, and to expand its use beyond farms and factories, Packer Engineering is asking for appropriations from the federal government. The proposed project is a collaboration between Packer Engineering, Argonne National Lab, the City of Naperville, and the College of DuPage. In this project, called the Green Fuels Depot, several emerging alternate energy technologies will be used to convert collected yard waste flexibly into three fuels (electricity, hydrogen, and ethanol) used to operate municipal fleet vehicles. If awarded, funds will be used to start-up and operate a prototype facility.

See NCTV17 Naperville (requires QuickTime)

 

What's Next

Packer Engineering is committed to addressing the energy needs of mankind.  The Stalk Stoker is a start, but we are also working on hydrogen storage for fuel cell vehicles.  Storing hydrogen safely and efficiently is one of the hardest problems in creating the Hydrogen Economy.  Our 6 patents pending cover a breakthrough technology to create powerful, yet small, energy packs for cars, portable electronics, and stationary or backup power needs.  We are also working on enabling technologies for space solar power -- the use of large solar cells in orbit (where there is no night), and beaming the power back to the earth for general use.  This suite of technologies addresses humanity's near-term needs (biomass), intermediate requirements (fuel cells), and future imperatives (SSP).

 

Hydrogen Storage for Fuel Cells

Packer Engineering holds 6 patents pending on the use of nano-porous silicon for storing hydrogen. Hydrogen is the ideal fuel for a fuel cell, but efficient storage of this tiny, energetic substance is very difficult. The Department of Energy has a large budget allocated to hydrogen storage, which is a key part of the President's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative, announced in 2003. Packer has demonstrated a very impressive 4.9% storage during an initial feasibility study funded by the Edison Materials Technology Center (Dayton, OH), co-funded by Delphi Corp. These results were first released publicly at an invited lecture at the National Nano Engineering Conference 2007 held in Boston. Current research efforts aim to validate key engineering issues to clear the way for commercialization. Beyond the vehicle market, hydrogen storage will be needed in portable electronics, and for stationary/backup power generation.

 

Oxygen from the Moon

Packer Engineering completed a NASA SBIR program on the extraction of oxygen from lunar soil. Lunar soil, also called regolith, is 40% oxygen by weight, but that oxygen is tightly bound in minerals. Oxygen is vitally important for space operations, both for propellant and for life support. To reduce mission constraints, an oxygen factory is needed which produces many times its own weight each year. A new approach to oxygen beneficiation arose during this work, in a collaborative effort between Packer Engineering and CU Aerospace (Urbana, IL) which could produce 40 times its weight in oxygen in one year. This is a potential candidate for the MoonROx Challenge, issued by the California Space Authority, for a $1,000,000 prize to the first team to produce 2.5 kg of oxygen in 4 hours from simulated lunar soil. This work is part of a broader initiative to enable space solar power, a technology with the potential to provide all mankind with pollution-free energy for all time to come.

 

1903 Wright Flyer

To commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Wright Brothers first powered flight on Dec 17, 1903, four separate groups (including NASA) built an exact, flight-worthy reproduction of the first airplane. One group, The Wright Redux Association (WRA) of Glen Ellyn, built a plane called "The Spirit of Glen Ellyn." They reached a verbal agreement with Packer Engineering to build a replica of the original gasoline engine to power their airplane.

A team of Packer’s highly professional specialists and several Midwest companies converted the engine block drawings into a 3-D computer model, used the model to construct the lost foam molds and poured the castings.

"The Spirit of Glen Ellyn's" initial "lift" testing without an engine was conducted on Oct.13, 2002. To test the airframe lift capabilities, the aircraft was loosely tethered to a four-wheeled platform and towed down the runway. During testing, the plane lifted approximately 18" off the platform. After the tests, members of WRA, said, "It was really a thrilling moment to know after all this work they actually constructed wings that created lift."

In 2003, the replica airplane made a successful flight at Clow Airport in Bolingbrook, Illinois. The plane now hangs in the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois.

 

NASA

Why wait until we are living on the moon to find out what special manufacturing problems we are going to encounter in a reduced gravity environment? Packer Engineering took part in a Solidification Design and Control Consortium project addressing one aspect of that question.

The consortium was administered by Auburn University in Alabama on behalf of the American Foundry Society Engineering Division and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Packer Engineering’s part of the project was to produce a robust simulation software package capable of predicting the thermo-physical phenomena that occur during casting in various gravity environments. Four Packer employees took their experiment up in NASA’s KC-135 during March, 2002. The KC-135 turbojet transport aircraft, reducing gravity, flew in a parabolic trajectory. The periods of reduced gravity last between 20 to 25 seconds each. The solidification of a metal was simulated during the reduced gravity by using a metal analog. An infrared camera recorded the data of the solidification process for further study as to whether the lack of gravity reconfigures the data. This experiment was all about the potential reconfiguration.

 

Wheelchair Aerobic Fitness Trainer (WAFT)

A past assignment involved the Wheelchair Aerobic Fitness Trainer (WAFT). It is a device for the evaluation, rehabilitation, and development of cardiorespiratory fitness for individuals with lower limb disabilities. The WAFT uses computer-controlled brakes and data recordings to measure wheelchair speed and physical work at each exercise stage. The WAFT was a joint development venture of Packer Engineering and the Rehabilitation Research & Development department at Edward Hines, Jr. hospital, a facility of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

With on-site laboratories and testing facilities as well as a full staff of highly-trained engineers and technicians, Packer Engineering has the resources and experience to provide quality research and development services. Contact Packer Engineering for more information on how we can assist you in your next research venture.

 

Aerospace

Packer Aerospace uses innovative, entrepreneurial and inventive ideas to assist clients with their research and development projects. With the benefit of an in-house machine shop, metallurgical lab, experimental test lab, and photo, video, and animation lab-we possess the capabilities to provide answers to many research and development questions. Static and dynamic load testing, experimental measurements of temperature or strain, fixturing and modeling, materials selection, element analysis and assistance with intellectual property acquisitions and use represent only a few of the many areas in Packer Engineering's broad range of services. Areas of expertise include:

• Advanced Product Design & Analysis
• Agile Manufacturing
• Avionics
• Casting Design & Fabrication
• Control Systems
• Flight Testing Engineering
• Intelligent Composite Processing
• Metallurgy
• Rapid Prototyping & Tooling
• Tribology

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Fires & Explosions

Packer Engineering's team of fire scientists and partnership with the University of Edinburgh's Fire Safety Engineering Centre creates a team unparallel anywhere. This partnership allows us to provide targeted research cost effectively to solve our clients' needs as well as being actively engaged in the leading edge of fire science. We conduct a wide range of research examining fire resistance, the efficacy of novel fire retardants, determination of material combustibility, as well as a host of others. Our relationships with numerous Universities and access to a wide range of test equipment and facilities as well as qualified post-docs ensure a cost effective solution, while being managed by professionals ensures we get it done right and on time.

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