The TurboFlow™ Air Handling System

for Marine Applications

The TurboFlow system is a unique re-application of the patented TurboPac air injection system designed for the rapid inflation of inflatable devices such as inflatable watercraft, inflatable tents and buildings and inflatable amusements as well as air-powered pneumatic systems.  The TurboFlow device is a modification of the TurboPac air injection system that, incidentally, has lower duty-cycle, and thus lower engineering requirements.

The TurboFlow device is specifically designed to provide high-speed inflation where large air-volumes at moderate (5 to 15 psi above ambient) are required.  Our primary application is the marine market for inflatable watercraft.

Thousands of inflatable watercraft (IWC) are sold annually in three marine markets:

a)    Military inflatable boats (Coast Guard, Navy, Marine Corps and Army) for use as both transport, patrol and assault craft.  
b)    Commercial inflatable watercraft used as lifeboats and tenders.
c)    Recreational inflatable watercraft use as lifeboats, tenders and primary boats for fishing and recreational watersports.

The primary drawback to these watercraft is that inflation is a slow and time consuming process. It can take 30 to 45 minutes to inflate a 24' rigid hull IWC.  Therefore, most IWC are inflated once, and left inflated.  This dramatically increases storage space required - from vertical storage racks at boat clubs to deck space on larger vessels, and dramatically increases the engineering and cost of davits and cranes to raise and lower these IWC into the water for use. The patent-pending TurboFlow device allows inflation of a 24 foot long, rigid hull IWC in less than three minutes, and, as fast as one minute.  Deflation time is even faster.

The TurboFlow device can be either fixed installation or portable. It can inflate and deflate on battery power, and can be retrofit to virtually any IWC.

One IWC manufacturer has tried literally hundreds of different inflation techniques, and only the TurboFlow provides the speed and simplicity required for this application.

The marine market is our primary market for this device because this market, especially the large-yacht tender and boat-club market is price-insensitive.