Industry Leading
Research & Development

Behind-The-Meter Pty Limited (Trading as Energy Consulting Engineers (or “ECE”) is a Professional Engineering practice that specialises in the research, design development, testing and commissioning of renewable energy based systems and their associated applications.

The fields of thermodynamics utilised to achieve the design outcomes take in;

  • Energy Generation (such as solar PV, solar thermal, geothermal, biomass (gasification and anaerobic digestion), biofuel production, Hydrogen production, waste heat recovery, etc.),
  • Energy Storage (thermal, electro-static, electro-chemical, chemical and mechanical); and
  • Energy Back-up (Rankine Cycle, Brayton Cycle and Carnot Cycle).

The applications are broad and 4 dimensional in nature, for example:

  • Agricultural Products Fumigation and/or Sterilisation (Solar PV Generation, Electro-static Energy Storage and thermal treatment);
  • Hydrogen Production (for Internal Combustion Engine Injection for fuel efficiency and emissions reduction, as well as use in Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cells for electricity production or for fertiliser manufacturing etc.).
  • Electro-static Energy Generation and Storage (for use in pieso-electronics and the enabling of nuero-prosthetics) etc.

Our services include professional engineering, scientific research, design development, testing and commissioning of renewable energy-based systems.

Stage I: Preparation of work brief

With the benefit of our past experiences we have found that our clients need assistance in clearly defining the works needed to achieve their desired outcome. So, this stage is considered to be one of the most important and accordingly we spend a little more time clearly defining the works brief and in particular the project objectives;

Stage II: Preliminary Research

Once the works brief and the Project Objectives have been clearly defined, an investigation of existing systems and other research works shall be carried out to ensure that there are no possible breaches of third party intellectual property rights. Investigations into the actual project parameters shall also be undertaken to assist with down-stream design;

Stage III: Preliminary Design and Project Prefeasibility

During this stage a preliminary design and prefeasibility shall be carried out to assess the viability of the project. Several iterations of the preliminary design and prefeasibility shall be undertaken to ensure that the system design has been optimised.

Stage IV: Detailed Design

Taking into consideration the previous 3 stages, a detailed design shall be completed and simulated on CAD where appropriate. This detailed design may also be used to achieve any applicable regulatory approval.

Stage V: System fabrication, trialing and commissioning

The completed design drawings shall then be used to fabricate the system for the purposes of conducting various trials. The trial results shall be compared to the Project Objectives. Minor adjustments and system upgraded designs will generally follow.

Stage VI: Intellectual Property Protection

Having completed the necessary testing and commissioning, Intellectual Property protection shall commence, which may involve the lodgement of patent applications.