COMPRESSORS

When Alphabet spin-off Loon came to Daniel Schübeler to inquire about how to control their stratospheric balloons with electric fans, Schübeler advised that the requested low air volume flow would lead to a stall of a classic fan when pressurizing the ballonet.

Instead, he designed a compressor that delivered high pressure at low volume flow in the stratosphere. Loon’s mission goal of deploying low cost internet in remote areas via a stratospheric balloon network did not commercially succeed but over a 6-year period, hundreds of balloons operated by Schübeler compressors were in service.