By Riley Kaminer
It was one of those long car rides that are a hallmark of young parenthood. With their two kids asleep in the backseat during a 2020 trip to Orlando, husband-wife Rob and Daniella Sladen, needed something to pass the time. So they did what two aerospace engineers would do: “We talked about weird engineering things,” Daniella told Refresh Miami.
The two met while working at Pratt & Whitney and both had experience working on jet engines, including in military contexts. So the topic of conversation that day was just about how lubrication systems are typically not designed for the mission in mind.
“For example, if your car only needed to drive one mile, it’d be designed very differently,” explained Daniella. “So why is the same lubrication system design used for both a fifteen-minute mission and a fifteen- thousand-minute mission?”
Why does this matter? Simply put: it can be a matter of life and death.
Take helicopters for example. Arguably the most important part is the gearbox, where engine torque is transmitted across the entire aircraft. The large number of moving parts and rotating gears inside the main gearbox means that it has to be filled with oil to keep everything lubricated. Without oil, the metal teeth of the gears would quickly wear down until they failed catastrophically. And unfortunately there are cases where this exact scenario has happened.
So Daniella and Rob started to build a solution. “Why couldn’t we just provide a boost of oil that would activate when needed?”
The first prototype looked somewhat like Tide Pods, although this eventually morphed into a sleek, self-contained and self-pressurized unit known as the Zulu Pod. The device provides the exact amount of fluid for optimal mechanical system performance – all packaged in a compact, lightweight, and modular system.
Now, Zulu Pods has two contracts with the Department of Defense: one with the Army for a backup system for helicopters, and another with the Navy to replace the traditional lubrication system they are using for so-called “one way” engines like drones or missiles. As part of a recently-awarded Phase 2 contract with the Army, Zulu Pods is working with two major original engine manufacturers to design a pod specifically for their engines.
Commercialization comes in Phase 3. But already Zulu Pods is thinking of applications beyond the military as well, including wind turbines. The technology can also deploy something other than oil – for example, anti-rust or anti-corrosion liquids.
Already Zulu Pods has raised funding through some angel investors as well as $3 million in government contracts. Right now they are raising a $3.5 million seed round from institutional investors.
Daniella, a North Lauderdale native, convinced Rob to build their business in Broward. She left South Florida to study at UCF and then worked primarily in Connecticut but made it back to Florida in 2019. “That was the best decision – I love living here.”
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