Date: May 31, 2013 Author: Craig Young Source: Reporter-Herald (
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A company developing cutting-edge automobile engine technology moved to Loveland this week.
VanDyne SuperTurbo Inc., which has operated in Fort Collins since spinning off from Woodward Inc. in 2008, relocated Thursday, according to president and CEO Ed VanDyne.
VanDyne spoke at Friday's TEDxFrontRange event in Loveland.
As master of ceremonies Tim Kubik introduced VanDyne, he announced that the company was moving to Loveland.
VanDyne SuperTurbo now occupies about 10,000 square feet in a building at 3755 Precision Drive in Centerra that once housed part of defunct Abound Solar's operation.
Loveland developer Troy McWhinney, whose company owns the building, was an early stockholder in VanDyne SuperTurbo, according to VanDyne.
VanDyne is an inventor and entrepreneur who worked as Woodward Inc.'s director of engine systems research after Woodward bought a company that he founded.
His SuperTurbo invention combines a turbocharger and a transmission into one device that uses an engine's waste heat and drive train torque to boost its power and reduce emissions.
The company first will use the technology to retrofit trucks, VanDyne said, but "it will work on any piston engine in the world."
VanDyne has been working on the technology for about nine years and still is about a year and a half away from starting low-volume production, he said.
That manufacturing will take place in the Loveland facility, he said.
VanDyne SuperTurbo previously occupied three facilities in Fort Collins, he said, and two of those operations have moved to Loveland.
The company will continue to conduct its durability testing at the Colorado State University Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory in Fort Collins, he said, where he employs four CSU students as part-time workers.
The company's other 15 employees have moved to Loveland, he said.
During his talk at TEDxFrontRange, VanDyne repeatedly stressed the importance of focusing on one idea at a time.
On stage, he displayed a notebook that he said was full of his ideas and inventions. He dramatically ripped one page out and dropped the rest of the book in the trash.
"If you're ready to innovate, pick your one idea and go for it," he said.
