Research and devel­op­ment at Oilon

In a rapidly-​changing world, product devel­op­ment is indis­pens­able. It allows com­pan­ies to ensure busi­ness prof­it­ab­il­ity and future growth and improve com­pet­it­ive­ness within their selec­ted markets. At Oilon, the purpose of R&D is to steer the company towards expan­ded know-​how, improved tech­no­lo­gical cap­ab­il­ity and better products – towards the best pos­sible sus­tain­able energy tech­no­logy.

The goal of our research and devel­op­ment efforts is to utilize inven­tions and innov­a­tions in devel­op­ing and man­aging both exist­ing and new products. We are con­stantly mapping out devel­op­ment needs from a mul­ti­tude of sources. Our efforts focus on cus­tomer needs, research, and new tech­no­lo­gies as well as market needs and reg­u­lat­ory require­ments. The key areas in our product devel­op­ment include energy effi­ciency, the envir­on­ment, usab­il­ity, product appear­ance as well as con­sid­er­a­tions for pro­duc­tion and main­ten­ance. Our research and devel­op­ment activ­it­ies are handled by Oilon Tech­no­logy Oy, a firm within the Oilon group.

Oilon products are developed in close co-​operation with experts from dif­fer­ent stake­holder groups. A big part of our devel­op­ment process is computer-​assisted sim­u­la­tion and digital twin mod­el­ing, which allows us to optim­ize the prop­er­ties of our products and systems before extens­ive pro­to­typ­ing and testing. We can fine-​tune product prop­er­ties for maximum per­form­ance and create the best pos­sible service solu­tions.

The bulk of our exper­i­mental work takes place in two research centers, both in Lahti, Finland, and in sep­ar­ate test sta­tions located at our pro­duc­tion sites around the globe. These facil­it­ies are equipped with precise meas­ure­ment systems for veri­fy­ing the heating or cooling provided by our products as well as their other prop­er­ties (emis­sions, power con­sump­tion, and noise and vibra­tion levels).

Another import­ant part of our R&D is the devel­op­ment of digital tools, IoT systems, auto­ma­tion, and user-​friendly user inter­faces. For years now, Oilon has been heavily inves­ted in IoT-​based solu­tions. Already, the major­ity of heat pumps delivered by Oilon are IoT-​enabled. Our cus­tom­ers have the option to monitor and manage their devices over a remote con­nec­tion and gen­er­ate reports cov­er­ing device util­iz­a­tion, energy output, and the cost savings gen­er­ated. Cor­res­pond­ing systems for burners are cur­rently under devel­op­ment. Addi­tion­ally, we are working on AI-​based solu­tions that would auto­mat­ic­ally assess equip­ment per­form­ance, sup­port­ing both optim­iz­a­tion and pre­vent­ive main­ten­ance.

Research centers

“We invest approximately 6% of our annual revenue in research and development.”