On: Ask HN: Any hardware startups here?

[V__]

This is really cool. Can you talk about some interesting challenges/problems you encountered?

[franckl → V__]

We started in 2016 with just an idea, and we probably encountered every problem you can think of !

- hard to raise funds for large deeptech projects (thank you YC and Wefunder for unlocking that one!)

- a corrosion issue in 2019 that nearly killed us (we found a way around it after months of brainstorming and completely got rid of corrosion issues)

- we had to build our own physics algorithm for very specific problems, and ended up selling the software we use internally to DENSO (a large japanese company) which funded the development. See https://tanatloc.com

- tackling a market that doesnt exist yet with a seasonal energy storage solution (a change of engine architecture allowed us to use the same engine but for industrial heat pumps, an existing market much easier to tackle)

- finding the right industrial space,

and so on :)

[zodzedzi → franckl]

> ... we had to build our own physics algorithm for very specific problems, and ended up selling the software ...

Like a simulation algorithm? Can you elaborate on what kind of algo and the problem it solved?

[franckl → zodzedzi]

I can't go into details for confidentiality reasons but we published a paper last December on one of the simulation models : https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-12019-0_...

[V__ → franckl]

On the frontpage right now is a video about water desalination: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36602909

It got me wondering, would your heat pump be a solution to improve the efficiency of those plants?

[tape_measure → franckl]

I'm very interested in anything else you can share about the corrosion problem you solved. Wet, hot ammonia must be awful.

[papaver-somnamb → franckl]

How did you get into conversation with DENSO? Channels through YCombinator or investors?

[franckl → papaver-somnamb]

at a mathematical conference :)