A Bloomfield-based engine technology company is hoping that more than 20 years of development — and 10 years of crowdfunding — are on the verge of paying off.
LiquidPiston’s first product nearing commercialization is a portable power generator designed to support U.S. Army mobile command posts. The system is powered by the company’s 25-horsepower engine.
“We’re right on the cusp,” said LiquidPiston co-founder and CEO Alec Shkolnik. “It’s transitioning from a research company to a product company that also does research. Getting this first product to market is huge for us.”
The project was selected for an Army innovation funding program that, with matching private investment, could total $15 million.
One of the generator’s biggest advantages is portability. The Army’s current 10-kilowatt generator weighs about 1,000 pounds and requires a truck and trailer for transport. LiquidPiston’s version weighs 270 pounds and can be moved manually.
The engine itself — designed to run on multiple fuels, including diesel, gasoline, propane, jet fuel, hydrogen and, in one recent test, even vodka — is about the size of a basketball.
“They have a very painful need for better, smaller, lighter, more efficient engines because power is everything for the [military],” Shkolnik said.
Alec Shkolnik, co-founder and CEO of LiquidPiston, stands inside the company’s Bloomfield engine development facility, where the startup is working to commercialize compact power systems for military and aerospace applications. HBJ Photo | Harriet JonesLiquidPiston is also developing a larger engine for aircraft and military drones, including hybrid systems that combine conventional engines with electric power, and can support vertical take-off and landing.
That effort is backed by a three-year, $35 million Air Force contract.
In total, LiquidPiston has secured more than $65 million in Army and Air Force contracts, in addition to more than $50 million raised through seven crowdfunding rounds, including one launched in April.
Engine rethink
The innovation in LiquidPiston’s engine design has long roots.
Shkolnik’s father, Nikolay, who has a doctorate in physics, had always been troubled by the inefficiency of conventional internal combustion engines, which can convert only about 20% of fuel energy into usable power.
His rethink was inspired by a rotary engine developed in the 1960s that was famed for its engineering elegance but plagued with problems.
While the design offered strong power for its size, low vibration and quick response, it was plagued by problems with sealing, cooling, lubrication, efficiency, emissions and durability, Shkolnik said.
Nikolay Shkolnik set out to solve those issues by creating what LiquidPiston describes as an inside-out version of the rotary design while preserving its advantages.
LiquidPiston was founded in 2003, while Alec Shkolnik was pursuing a doctorate in artificial intelligence at MIT. Father and son spent years refining the concept into what became the X-engine platform, now in its fourth generation.
Over that long development arc, the company also weathered a period when electrification appeared poised to eclipse internal combustion engines. Shkolnik said he now sees growing demand for hybrid systems that combine combustion engines with electric power.
“We think the world is going to be hybrid in the end,” Shkolnik said. “Fuel is 50 times more energy dense than batteries, so why not take the best of both worlds and combine the two technologies together?”
Growing footprint
To support that work, LiquidPiston has expanded its Bloomfield facility to handle the full engine development process, from design and prototyping through machining and testing.
The 16,000-square-foot site includes electronics and materials labs, 3D printing equipment, a machine shop and three test cells where engines are put through their paces.
LiquidPiston employs 55 people, including software developers, machinists, engineers and artificial intelligence specialists, and plans to hire at least 10 more, Shkolnik said.
Despite the physical engineering on display in Bloomfield, Shkolnik said software sits at the center of the company’s process.
“We lean really heavily into software-first design,” Shkolnik said. “We try hundreds of thousands of ideas in software before we cut metal.”
Engine Build Supervisor Martin DeGumbia, who has worked on engines for about 20 years, including the past two at LiquidPiston, said the company’s design simplicity is one of its strengths.
“There’s a lot less rotating pieces, so there’s a lot less to go wrong,” DeGumbia said. “Fewer parts to manufacture.”
The engines DeGumbia assembles are moved into test cells, where technicians adjust cooling, fuel flow, pressure and temperature. Those tests generate terabytes of data that engineers use to refine the designs.
Engine technician Anthony Matte said the company’s narrow product focus creates a shared sense of purpose.
“Everybody’s working on different things, but because we only have two engine programs, there’s nobody you can talk to in the building that doesn’t know what it is we’re trying to do,” Matte said. “It’s cool because everybody’s a part of it.”
LiquidPiston has also recruited experienced engineering executives, including Vice President of Engineering Vincenzo Perrone, who previously held leadership roles at Rehlko Engines and John Deere Power Systems, and Vice President of Operations Peter Hartman, former head of powertrain strategy at Fiat Chrysler.
Meantime, LiquidPiston is already planning another Connecticut expansion.
Last year, the company purchased a 30,000-square-foot Suffield property that is being converted into a new headquarters. Some operations are expected to move there before year-end, though the Bloomfield facility will remain in operation.
The Suffield site will include seven test cells, more than doubling the company’s testing capacity as products move closer to market.
But despite its broad in-house capabilities, Shkolnik says LiquidPiston isn’t aiming to manufacture at scale.
“We primarily view ourselves as a technology company. We’re not gearing up to make a million engines,” he said. There are “a lot of companies that are really good at making engines, and they already have the sales service, distribution, all those channels.”
Instead, LiquidPiston plans to develop specialized power systems for targeted applications and license the technology, he said.
