Stephan Helma Joins Bruntons Propellers R&D
Following the recent addition to their research and design team of Robert Mutton, Bruntons have added a further highly qualified propulsion expert in the shape of Stephan Helma. Stephan comes to Bruntons with the wide career path and experience that Managing Director Adrian Miles has been looking for. He left the Vienna University of Technology as a Dipl.-Ing. Dr.techn; a degree in Marine Technology covering mechanical engineering, naval architecture and marine engineering. This was followed by an additional year studying at Newcastle University; his ‘education’ finishing with a post-graduate course in Ecodesign at TU Wien.
Over the years Helma has added to his knowledge with work at the Austrian Energy Agency, the Christian Doppler Laboratory, Vienna University of Technology’s Institute for Fluid Dynamics and Heat transfer, and at the Potsdam Model Basin. He starting working as a Freelance in 2000 and has acted as an expert witness for Austrian courts since 2005.
Adrian Miles made it clear recently, when he appointed Mutton, that he would not be the last person to be added to the department he intends should be far more than just a design operation. “It is obvious that propulsion methods for vessels, large and small, are going to develop dramatically over the coming years; our involvement in the European FP7 Hybrid Power consortium, (The Hymar Project), is just one of several research programmes we are involved in. In order to maximise our contribution to these projects and to keep our own products as industry leaders it is very important that we are knowledgeable in every aspect of propulsion design.”
The addition of Stephan, and the recent promotion of Toby Ramsay to Technical Manager, completes phase two of Bruntons development plan. With a healthy order book giving confidence for the future phase three is now being started which includes building additional office space and developing the in house design software.
In addition to its own work, the Bruntons Research and Design Centre team will become a, ‘centre of technical excellence’, for the whole Stone Marine Group to develop and design new propulsion products for the leisure, commercial and military markets world-wide.