High Technology, Energy and Water saving integrated hydraulic control valve for all purpose with 40% reduction in head losses

Project Information

TECOOVAL

Grant agreement ID: 664235

DOI

10.3030/664235

Project closed

EC signature date 31 May 2015

Start date 1 May 2015

End date 31 August 2015

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Climate action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

OOVAL VALVES LTD
Israel

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TECOOVAL (High Technology, Energy and Water saving integrated hydraulic control valve for all purpose with 40% reduction in head losses)

Reporting period: 2015-05-01 to 2015-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Ooval develops, manufactures and markets hydraulic control valves for irrigation, water networks, fire extinguishing systems, and industrial manufacturing applications. As an Israeli company we excel in dealing with the water scarcity problem, being a world leader country increasing the efficiency of water management.
TecOoval is an innovative project with the objective of designing, testing, manufacturing and introducing into the market a new all-in-one hydraulic control system is based on an innovative elliptical shaped flow passage valve that reduces head losses up to a 40% while assuring a secure management of pipe conditions and fluid quality through a complete system of sensors integrated in the valve (in situ metering), connected to a remote monitoring and control interface. The sensors provide both information and threshold surpassing alerts regarding fluid parameters (flow, pressure and pipe network condition), and water quality (temperature, pH, conductivity, and other customizable parameters). The system allows remote management by operators according to real time needs, leading to more accurate monitoring and water/energy savings.
Thus, the all-in-one TecOoval system comprises:
 A mechanical part, consisting in a rigidly sealable control valve for water pressure, flow rate, and pipe network condition (burst control).
 An electronic system for full management control of the water network and monitoring of water quality.
 A remote communication system that sends the information collected by hydraulic and water quality sensors to both a controller and to the end user, allowing regulation and monitoring to be made on site/online.
In order to confirm the feasibility of our project, we, Ooval, have carried out a 4-month study focusing our efforts on 3 main areas: technically, our team has further evaluated and selected components for the application and prepared a complete Execution Plan for the remaining development and engineering of our new TecOoval system; commercially, we have consolidated our knowledge of the markets and competition to develop a strong marketing strategy; financially, we have drafted detailed financial forecasts, on a 3-year-projection, and confirm the potential return on investment.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During our 4-month Feasibility Study, and based on the original Work Plan included in the Phase 1 proposal, several activities have been carried out. Firstly, technically, further calculations, tests and component selection for the application were performed. Following these developments, a preliminary risk analysis has been conducted to ensure that no issues have been left aside and thus that future development will be with a low and controlled risk. Our team has prepared a complete Execution Plan for the development and exploitation of TecOoval; we also confirm the required third party subcontractors to support us in the execution of the Phase 2 project. Commercially, we have focused on the potential new markets which has allowed us to further prepare our marketing and pricing strategy. Furthermore, a complete Freedom-to-Operate was performed to search for existing IP rights that could infringe with our technology. This analysis has confirmed the novelty of the TecOoval and the absence of existing thread for its commercialization. Financial projections for the 2019-2021 period have been calculated, and we expect a highly positive turnover. Different sources of funding have been evaluated as well, leading to our decision to present a Horizon 2020 SME Instrument Phase 2 in November 2015.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

We have designed a commercialisation strategy to quickly gain positioning in the competitive control valves market, based on an all-in-one high versatile product (easily customizable) covering a wide range of end-user industries, and excellent performance/cost ratio. We expect to introduce the new product into the market in 2019 starting in Europe and Israel, and expanding to other regions of the world from 2021 thanks to our existing commercialisation network.
Adaptation of TecOoval to the real needs or our customers is key, so we have conducted during the present project a complete end-user survey in order to adapt TecOoval to their particular. In this way we will assure our modular TecOoval development to have a high degree of adaptability, from a basic version with the most important functions for water management and quality monitoring, to the sector specific versions with up to three additional water quality sensors. The unique design of TecOoval allows a headloss reduction never achieved by existing control valves, and the remote management function according to real time needs leads to very accurate monitoring. All this features result in significant water/energy savings that not only benefit our customers but also contribute to a better environment.

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