Transforming Heavy Trucking Companies into Mobile Clean Energy Producers

Blackburn Energy is a startup working to transform the heavy trucking industry. Blackburn Energy’s RelGen^® system is helping truckers to comply with anti-idling laws and reduce CO2 emissions by harvesting wasted kinetic energy and using it to power liftgates and long-haul sleeper cabs. Putting a 21st-century overlay on 19th-century technology, the Blackburn team developed a system to capture energy from the drive shaft rotation. They used MATLAB^® and Simulink^® to look at what the engine was doing. The team then determined if the vehicle was braking or accelerating by reading the truck’s computer output and automatically turning the energy capture system on and off.

As part of the MathWorks Startup Program, Blackburn has access to MATLAB at a startup-friendly price and engineering support from MathWorks experts, which enables them to research projects, develop prototypes, and bring their products to production.