Qlayers B.V.
Country: Netherlands
Award:
Qlayers is a Dutch company developing innovative robotic solutions for coating large-scale industrial infrastructures, such as storage tanks, wind turbine blades, and ships. Our robotic technology enables coating contractors to overcome the limitations of manual coating methods and carry out maintenance projects in a more efficient, fast and safe manner with virtually no overspray. By doing so, we’re helping to create a more positive image of industrial painters as a career for future generations. We also envision making surfaces functional by replicating microstructures seen in nature, such as drag-reducing sharkskin. Our R&D team is developing a unique technology to print customizable microstructures on the scale of micrometres. For instance, printing sharkskin on the surface of wind turbine blades can reduce the frictional drag with air and drastically increase their yield by 5%. In the aviation Industry, smartly coated airplane wings can reduce the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of aircraft.