Edinburgh-based Vert Rotors (www.vertrotors.com) has won the Innovator of the Year title in the Made in Scotland Awards, in recognition of its newly launched Nautilus portable air compressor technology, which is said to deliver pressure on demand that previously required large static compressors.

At the heart of the compressor are male and female conical screws that are manufactured to very tight tolerances on a DMG Mori HSC 20 linear five-axis machine.

Olly Dmitriev, Vert Rotors managing director, said: “Six months ago, we were achieving ±10µ; we are now achieving sub ±5µ despite having changed the material of the parts from brass to 4140 alloy steel, which is much harder to machine.

“The key factors that help us to achieve such accuracy with the HSC20 are the linear drives and its 40,000rev/min spindle speed. This machine allows us to manufacture with 100% repeatability and zero scrap.”

Having achieved the 5µ tolerance, Vert Rotors saw the energy efficiency of the compressor increase by 11%.

The Nautilus is said to be already 55% more efficient than conventional scroll compressors.

“We can produce 21 bar from a single-stage compressor, compared with 7 bar for conventional compressors.

“In addition, the air is Class 1 purity. The Nautilus weighs just 35kg, and we are investigating ways of reducing this to 21kg.

“Noise is a major factor for compressors, but the Nautilus can be used in an office environment due to its low noise level.”