FAQs: Why call the company Steelhead? Isn’t steelhead a coastal fish? Isn’t steel heavy and composites light?
FAQs: Why call the company Steelhead? Isn’t steelhead a coastal fish? Isn’t steel heavy and composites light?
Yes, steelhead are a hard fighting, sea-run rainbow trout. Yes, this prized fish doesn’t live in Colorado, where Steelhead Composites is headquartered. Yes, steel is heavy. And although Steelhead Composites shares a name and a logo with a fish, the genesis for the name is quite different. . .
Around 6 years ago, a small group of Impact investors scoured the world for a composite pressure vessel company offering a lightweight hydraulic product for the transportation market. The product needed to reliably meet the demanding needs placed on a hydraulic accumulator — high pressure, high cycle life, durability, no permeability and large port opening for servicing. The investors couldn’t find an appropriate solution in the market.
Perplexed why there was no such product, the investors established a new venture – a company setting out to combine the strength of steel, the weight reduction of composite vessels, the high cycle life of hydraulics with large port openings at a reasonable price.
To meet the unique challenges of lightweight hydraulics, we needed an innovative port design, eventually leading to the “Steelhead” patent, US9683700B2. A design whereby “the material of the polar boss has higher static strength, fatigue strength, endurance, chemical resistance and/or corrosion resistance relative to that of the liner material.” In other words, it allowed us to attach a dissimilar metal, such as steel, to our thin-walled metallic liners and create a steel head (Steelhead – ha!)
Why is this important? Standard, stronger threads are incorporated. Industry leading large port sizes are permitted without sacrificing overall cylinder strength, accommodating features like in-tank regulators. Additionally, with boss materials such as stainless steel or titanium, enhanced corrosion resistance can be achieved.
The lightweight, high strength and low cost enabled by the “steelhead” has taken our technology well beyond hydraulics, with the bi-metallic polar boss integrated in high pressure vessels deployed from the reaches of outer space to the deepest sea.
This invention has helped Steelhead Composites gain a foothold in the marine environment with high strength and corrosion resistance, as well as the aerospace industry due to the low cost, low weight and high strength of our vessels. The “steelhead” gives our product enhanced strength and safety for compressed hydrogen storage. Our technology enables in-tank regulators for unparalleled safety at ultra-high-pressures. It allows thin-walled metal vessels, reinforced with composites, which interface to customer needs for drop-in replacement. And the invention was the impetus behind a badass logo.
Not bad for such a young company changing the world, right? So the question is now — what problems can Steelhead solve for you? Feel free to contact me directly or sales@steelheadcomposites.com
