The Story of Gen2
In recent weeks, as we prepared for the launch of this new concept of Pool Covers, we spoke with two of the key players involved in its development – Managing Director, Peter Adlington, and Research & Development Engineer, Joe Webster. Here’s what they had to say:
How did the idea for Gen2 come about?
Peter: I was listening to Radio 4 about 9 months ago, and they were talking about this Graphene product that could be added in to items like plastic as an additive, which would hugely increase the strength of this material, as well as it’s chemical and UV resistance.
It was like a lightbulb moment, I thought “Perhaps this is something we could use!”. I need to find out who’s doing this, who’s working with Graphene. I knew this physicist in Hastings, and he put us in touch with Manchester University, and away we went!
How exciting was that?
Peter: Very exciting! And also very exciting to have the people within the company that are able to take that forward. Joe and Tim that work within the R&D department that are able to work with the university and actually do it in such a way that we can work quickly with these things in getting from an idea like that through to actually being a product within 9 months.
We’re one of the pioneers that have been able to hear this magic word *Graphene* and think “we can embrace that, we can take that forward”.
How important to you personally is R&D?
Peter: It’s our lifeblood. If we had not been involved in R&D for the last 15-20 years, we would not be in business now. There’s so much competition in the market now, the only way we’re able to be successful is through R&D and having high-performance products that work and pay for themselves in one year.
It’s an incredibly competitive market, and you’ve really got to be having these ideas all the time and acting quickly on them.
What is Gen2?
Joe: Gen2 builds on our previous Sol+Guard™ material, the benefit of this being it uses 20% less material, but lasts just as long and performs slightly better thermally, gets more heat into the pool and retains more overnight.
There’s minimal pigment in Gen2, we’ve tried to keep it as transparent as possible to maximise the solar gain we get from the sun. It contains our new, state of the art Graphene masterbatch which gives it its inherent strength, making it resistant to tear, puncture and deformation. This means we can use 20% less polymer while retaining the 8 years warrantied lifespan we’re known for.
So you use less plastic?
Joe: Absolutely, and that can only be a good thing. Part of our company ethos is saving energy and resources so being able to produce a new material that does more with less is really important to us.
Why this colour?
Joe: The colour comes from the Graphene. All of our pool covers have quite distinct colours. We’re big believers of form after function, so the colours are always chosen for function, not just to look pretty. There’s nothing in this product that doesn’t add to the performance of the cover. We could make this any colour you wanted, but it would detract from the solar gains that you get, which make it a high performance cover.
How much better is it than the original Sol+Guard™?
Joe: Performance wise, it’s its natural successor. It’s not hundreds of times better, we’re at the point of production where we’re getting incremental gains. But what we’re looking to do now is to reduce the carbon footprint of our products and do better for the environment.
Gen 2 is as good – even better – than the Sol+Guard™ we know and love, but we’re using 20% less polymer, 20% less pollution and 20% less environmental damage.
What difference has Graphene made?
Joe: In a similar way that diamonds are made of carbon, Graphene is made of carbon, so it improves the strength of the material, which means we can lightweight the material but retain the strength and the resistance to impact and tear. It’s nice and robust, just as robust as the thicker material but it’s easier for the pool owner to use. Easier to take on and off the pool.
Is this a ground-breaking product?
Joe: It’s so ground-breaking that it’s changing the way we look at our manufacturing processes. Using Graphene means we can run our machines quicker, we can use less material and we can make products last for longer.
We’re planning to roll out Gen2 to the rest of our High-performance Guard range of product line so that we can continue to reduce the amount of polymer we’re using, and reduce the carbon impact our company has.
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