MEMBER PROFILE
Here we highlight one of our members to allow others to learn more about the services they provide to the Florida energy pipeline industry. See the member profile archive.

Verdicorp, Inc.
Verdicorp, Inc. develops and manufactures sustainable, environmentally-friendly technologies. Based in Tallahassee, Fla., the company was founded in 2010 by Ron Conry, who previously founded Danfoss Turbocor - maker of the most energy-efficient centrifugal compressor in the world - and Multistack, which makes modular chiller units.

Verdicorp's Early Beginnings
Verdicorp had its genesis in Australia where Ron Conry was in the compressor rebuilding business from 1980 to 1985. It came to Ron's attention that all of the large buildings being built around the world had chillers built into them during the construction phase. It was not possible to replace a chiller, so the chillers could never be upgraded, only maintained. Seeing a need, Ron began a modular chiller unit manufacturer called Multistack. By 1987, Multistack had become an international business. By 1990, the company had sales of $100 million and had established 14 factories in five different countries. By 1991, Multistack was buying 10,000 compressor per year. Multistack continues in operation today and has installed modular chillers into some of the world's largest and most notable buildings, including the World Trade Center, David Letterman's studio, and Bill Gates' home.

In 1994, concern about climate change brought huge challenges to the compressor industry. Since Ron was buying 10,000 compressors per year, he became concerned about the stability of supply. It was during this time that Ron decided to build the world's most advanced compressor, and as a result, Turbocor was born. Turbocor was started in Australia, but moved its operation to Canada in 2000 because of Quebec government enticements. While in Canada, Turbocor formed a joint venture with Danfoss and became Danfoss Turbocor. In 2007, Danfoss Turbocor relocated from Canada to Tallahassee, Fla. Today, the company employs about 200 people in Tallahassee and manufactures more than 500 compressors each month.

Because the technologies that Ron wanted to use in the new compressor were unavailable at the time, Ron and his development team had to invent all of the technologies. This included oil-free, high-speed, variable-speed, digitally controlled, permanent magnet motors, magnetic bearings, position sensing, and soft-start capabilities drawing less than 2 amps at start-up. Today, the compressor being manufactured in Tallahassee has inbuilt variable frequency drive, inegrated cooling, homo-polar active magnetic bearings, and intelligent control, in addition to being lightweight and vibration-free. Its rotor, which spins up to 45,000, floats friction-free on a bed of magnetism and its position is autocorrected 100,000 times per second.

The Danfoss Turbocor compressor has won six international energy-efficiency awards, including the prestigious EPA Climate Protection Award. Danfoss Turbocor dominates the market with a 50 percent share of the US water-cooled chiller market, a 70 percent share of the German water-cooled chiller market, and a 60 percent share of the total Australian chiller market. Recently, Danfoss Turbocor was named Florida Manufacturer of the Year, in addition to being honored with the Governor's Business Diversification Green-to-Gold Award.

Verdicorp Today
In 2010, Ron started Verdicorp, Inc., which presently has a team of about 20 employees, five of which are Ph.Ds. Verdicorp's development team holds hundreds of patents; Ron Conry himself holds about 200 patents.

Verdicorp has an exclusive, worldwide license for all of the technologies contained in the Danfoss Turbocor Compressor outside of HVAC. Building on these technologies, Verdicport has developed other products that it is presently manufacturing. One of these is a wastewater blower used in aerobic digestion of wastewater treatment plants. Verdicorp has developed what it believes to be the most energy-efficient wastewater blower in the world. This is being marketed through a large, multinational corporation. Verdicorp also has the ability to manufacture blowers for other uses.

Another exciting product Verdicorp manufactures is an organic rankine cycle system, used to convert low-temperature heat sources into electricity. The heat can come from renewable resources such as solar, geothermal, or biomass, from waste industrial heat, or from engine exhaust. Although Verdicorp manufactures complete organic rankine cycle systems, the heart of the system is an advanced turbo-generator or turbo-expander that is based on the technology platform included in the Danfoss Turbocor compressor. The turbo-generator is presently being manufactured on an international basis, with the primary client being a large German corporation.

A third product Verdicorp has under development is an oil-free industrial grade air compressor. Unlike other "oil-free" air compressors that actually have oil-containment systems, Verdicorp's air compressor is truly oil-free, making it the ideal candidate for manufacturing environments with zero-tolerance for oil, such as the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Verdicorp's technology platform includes centrifugal compression, digital controls, digital magnetic bearings, heat exchanger design, high-speed permanent magnet motors, impellers, mechanical assemblies, motor soft starters, position sensing, power conversion, power electronics, turbines, turbo expanders, and turbo machinery.

Of all the opportunities Verdicorp is pursuing, one of the most exciting is to capture engine exhaust heat that ordinarily is wasted into the atmosphere, and convert the heat into electricity with no additional fuel requirements and no carbon impact. What Verdicorp does in such a case is nothing short of turning waste heat into money and jobs!