Sheffield-based Libertine FPE Ltd (www.libertine.co.uk) has opened a new headquarters and technology development centre to lead the way in research, development and prototyping of free piston engines and linear power generation systems.

The new 6,610ft² facility, which will enable the company to develop cleaner sources of energy, is the result of a £650,000 funding injection in 2017, led by the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF).

The company was established in 2009 to create linear machines for power and motion, drawing on decades of experience in the automotive and motor-sport industries, consumer product engineering and low-cost manufacturing techniques.

The result is a suite of ‘linear power system’ technologies that will replace the crankshaft in small engines, making them more efficient, more flexible, easier to maintain and much cleaner.

Sam Cockerill, founder and chief executive of Libertine, said: “Free piston technologies and linear power systems will play a vital role in the future of the internal combustion engine.

“The technologies that we will develop and prototype at this facility will generate electrical power |from a wide range of low-carbon fuels and renewable resources.

“We are engaged with Innovate UK on a project to demonstrate a modular Free-Piston Gas Expander prototype for small-scale distributed heat-to-power applications, using heat from bio-mass boilers.

“Our technology is also helping a university in Malaysia to develop power generator solutions for rural electrification, using agricultural waste products.

“We have doubled our workforce in the past two years, and we could double it again over the next 12 months.”