After a series of promising tests with the U.S. Marine Corps, KULR Technologies is betting its anti-vibration tool can boost safety in the military and civil helicopter markets.

The company said its KULR VIBE platform recently helped identify and remedy vibration problems on two Bell AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters and one Bell Boeing Osprey V-22 tiltrotor aircraft at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in southern California.

“National security starts with a flight-ready fleet,” said Keith Cochran, president and chief operating officer of KULR Technologies. “And we simply need to get better and more efficient in track-and-balance, which eliminates excess vibration to achieve the level of security America really needs. KULR VIBE delivers that solution.”

KULR VIBE is based on technology developed by VibeTech, a track-and-balancing technology provider acquired by KULR earlier this year.

VibeTech was previously owned by Norm Serrano, a pioneer in the track-and-balance industry who worked extensively with the U.S. Air Force and has since joined KULR as senior director of Vibe Control Technologies.

“One of the big, revolutionary features of KULR VIBE is the prioritized adaptive adjustment algorithm,” Serrano told Vertical. “In other words, KULR VIBE balances things in a particular sequence, making the algorithm direct and deterministic. One reason it can be simple and deterministic is because of the prioritization of balancing.”

These unique, artificial-intelligence-driven algorithms can pinpoint where excess vibration causes a loss of energy in a rotorcraft system, according to a company press release. This vibration can lead to system malfunctions, weakened performance, and maintenance issues.

“In a worst-case scenario, you can actually have a complete destruction of an aircraft,” Cochran said. “The fatigue that excess vibration causes on the parts in a helicopter can cause them to fail in flight. At that point, you have significant risks for loss of life. At a minimum, you incur significant downtime, high maintenance cost, pilot fatigue, and performance reductions by both the aircraft and the pilot.”

KULR is working with a helicopter retrofit company with the goal of having its systems embedded in older aircraft, he said. But another key target market is original equipment manufacturers who may wish to install KULR VIBE as factory equipment.

“We can greatly improve the performance of their product by embedding KULR VIBE in the factory,” Cochran said. “The VibeTech folks have been servicing major [helicopter] operators for going-on-20 years, and we’re currently servicing a major operator ourselves that we’ll be announcing soon. We have additional agreements in the commercial space that we’re currently working on.”

In addition to helicopters, the company sees applications for KULR VIBE in eVTOL aircraft, unmanned aircraft systems, high-performance automobiles, and even wind turbines.

“Basically, anything that rotates can eventually be a target market for our technology,” Cochran said. “So our immediate focus is to grow the commercial helicopter business, be able to get integrated with the Department of Defense, get our fleet ready for flight, and significantly improve fleet readiness. And then we’ll continue to branch out into renewable wind energy and industrial motors.”