How was Oasis Engineering born? Why did it choose the compressed natural gas (CNG) market?
In the 1980’s New Zealand began a government incentivized program of CNG vehicle conversions. At the time this program was the only one of its type in the world. CNG technology from Italy and United States was imported and adapted to service the first large scale car fleet conversion since the Second World War.
As the new fuel caught on, the workload at service stations increased, with the unpopular outcome that motorists were queuing for fuel. Regulations were changed to allow greater gas pressure to be used for CNG storage. Significant redesigns of the compression, storage and dispensing equipment were undertaken. The 3600psi standard delivery pressure used internationally today has its origins in the early New Zealand experience.
One such item requiring redesign was a ball valve. Oasis’s staff was asked to come up with a high pressure, full bore ball valve, with good space characteristics, all stainless steel, anti-blowout stem, built reliably and durably. Working from first design principles prototypes were made, tested, and proven. The result is the SBV500 series – the new CNG ball valve standard.
Oasis has focused on being an industry leader in the design and development of CNG products because of the industries requirements for precision components. Oasis’ manufacturing capacity and design teams are dedicated to creating solutions for high pressure – Our niche, Our focus, Our passion.
What are the main products developed by the company today? Which is its international presence?
Oasis’s main products are CNG specific ball valves, check valves and couplings. Oasis’s key design philosophy is the production of lowest life cost, highest flow solutions to the Compressed Natural Gas Industry. We are the only valve manufacturer that is dedicated to servicing the Natural Gas Industry. The Oasis product range has expanded to cover ball valves from ¼” to 2” and includes check valves and coupling solutions. All are produced with the trademark Oasis attention to detail and precision manufacturing.
Oasis now exports directly to 36 countries with a presence in a further 50. Oasis has focused on supporting our OEM partners by putting in place trained service agents This adds significant value to their business because the stations they install are operating more consistently, delivering more gas. This means more revenue to the station owner and repeat business for the OEM that supplied him the equipment.
Right at the moment a key design focus is to support the trailer manufacturers and dispenser manufacturers with the highest flow solutions possible. This includes the release of a patented 3-way design that is a full flow 3/8” valve designed to reduce fill times on buses, trucks & high demand car filling stations. Fully serviceable, with the same lowest life cost technology as the Oasis 2 way ball valve, this product will be selling well.
One of the hallmarks of Oasis is the engineer to engineer attention with their customers. How this idea emerges and how it has impacted on the market?
Andy Cameron, managing director of Oasis Engineering, had a long history in the mining industry where he was often frustrated with suppliers who ignored simple ideas to increase the productivity of his operations. On becoming a supplier himself he has instilled a culture at Oasis of continuous improvement –driven by the customer.
Oasis has created a team of designers, engineers and technicians who work collaboratively with our OEM partners. Their close relationship identifies constraints and solves problems. Often the simplest ideas’ are the best. The e2e approach is complimented by a testing facility and a team of production craftsmen whose passion is to create technical solutions to very tight tolerances.
Because we have our own in house manufacturing we are able to take the concept through to first product run in less than 3 months. By way of example NEOgas USA wanted to create a new concept in trailer transportation of CNG. We flew to China to discuss the solution with their lead engineering team. Three weeks later the concept valve was in their hands. We continue to work with the innovation leaders in the industry to create customized solutions that meet their objectives: Higher flows, significantly increased reliability and lowest life cost.
Another important point on the Oasis valves is their lower life cost and increased flow rates. How does it achieve these goals?
Initially we had positive feedback about BV500 series and anecdotal evidence that it performed well against the competition. When we started investigating new design’s and concepts we realized that we needed to bench mark our new designs against what we already had. As result we invested heavily in a testing facility to provide this data. This also gave us the opportunity to understand the performance of the other players in the market. To date, no valve tested at Oasis has similar cycle life to the Oasis valve many of those tested are less than 1/6th. By setting high manufacturing standards we are able to set the performance standard. On average life costs calculations Oasis valves are easily the best value solution.
What we have also determined is that the cycle life is a good indicator of robustness. Many CNG applications are in dirty gas or high vibration environments e.g. trailers or compressor blow downs. Performance in a static environment is one thing; performance in the “real world” is another. Oasis has been performing, consistently, in both.
Flow rate was a key design criteria right at the start in the 80’s. It still is today because it’s what our customers want. We are the “standard” and we set those standards high for ourselves. When we decided to go down the path of a three way over 2 years ago, our initial concept was similar to what was in the market. We looked at it and asked “does this create the new benchmark, the new standard? Well the answer was no……back to the drawing board…….2 years later we have the new, patented, standard.
During the last fair NGV India 2009, Oasis launched a special product line for this country. What could you tell us about it?
In India in our collaborative work with the Industry innovation leaders we keep hearing the same theme emerging: Flow Rate, Reliability, and Serviceability.
The special product line we launched in India was the SV100 series modular system valve nicknamed the sandwich valve. The product is built to the same endurance standard as the BV700 series. What makes it stand apart is it has been designed to be removed from and returned to its installed position in very quick time. Servicing a dispenser or priority panel with this style of valve will be much faster. Fast easy servicing means preventive maintenance is simple and cheaper to perform; the overall result is a simpler cheaper better maintained (more profitable) CNG station.
Our focus is to support the gas distributors & service station owners by giving them reliable, high flow, serviceable product. This will mean they are dispensing more gas, more often, reducing queue time & generating more revenue. As a result they will be prepared to invest with the OEM’s in high quality product. Collectively we’ll take CNG to the main stream – that’s our goal. Set the standard for maintenance higher and you will get a higher standard of performance. Set the standard with Oasis.