Tuesday, December 2, 2008

6:00 PM BBQ Dinner and Presentation
Followed by a tour afterwards

Please RSVP by November 24, 2008 - if you plan to attend please reply to this invitation. To reply or for further information, please contact Mike Noth.

As far as attire goes, this is pretty casual. Blue jeans and comfortable shoes are fine. Steel toes are not required, nor are safety glasses or hard hats. We will supply safety equipment in the unlikely event it is needed. Spouses and teenagers are welcome. We would discourage anyone from bring small children, for two reasons:  they would probably not be very interested, and while Active Power enjoys a stellar safety record, their products store a tremendous amount of energy and have internal voltages in excess of a kilovolt, so it is vital that every visitor understands that they simply cannot touch any equipment nor walk outside of the safety alleys.

We will be discussing Active Power's power quality products, which are based on an innovative flywheel energy storage system. The technology is in general more efficient, more reliable, more cost-effective, and more "green", and we will happily go into as much detail about our designs as the group cares to hear. The tour will be not only the manufacturing facility but also the world-class test line.

David Perkins is Chief Technology Officer for Active Power, Inc. and has been involved in the development of high-power electric machines and power conversion for more than 22-years. He joined Active Power in 1996 and has led several design teams during development and commercialization of the company’s DC flywheel, integrated flywheel UPS systems, and Thermal and Compressed Air Storage technology. Prior to joining Active Power, Mr. Perkins was a Research Engineer with The University of Texas at Austin Center for Electromechanics and was involved in numerous development projects for commercial and military applications. He holds BS and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and six patents with several patents pending.

Jim Andrews holds the title of Principal Engineer at Active Power. He joined the company in 1993, and is one of four original inventors of Active Power’s patented flywheel technology. He has been a key technical contributor or project manager on several other development efforts, including a novel fully-passive magnetic bearing system and a highly integrated backup power system featuring kinetic, thermal, and compressed air energy storage technologies. Prior to joining Active Power, Mr. Andrews spent six years as a research engineer at The University of Texas at Austin Center for Electromechanics, where he primarily worked on advanced coaxial accelerator projects for the US government. He received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla (now Missouri S&T) and an MS in Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin.  He also holds seven patents, with several patents pending.

From I-35:  turn west on Braker Ln., drive about 2.3 miles past Metric to 2128, turn into the parking lot. Proceed to Bk 12, Active Power main entrance.

From Mopac: exit east on Braker Ln., drive about 1.5 miles  to Metric and make a u-turn to the north  side (westbound) lanes of Braker. Drive west to 2128, turn into the parking lot. Proceed to Bk 12, Active Power main entrance.

A Google map is available Here.

A satellite photo is available Here.