We develop, produce and license advanced technologies based on our intellectual property with an extensive network of highly qualified partners.
Birchrun Labs was founded to solve an extraordinary technical challenge for a Fortune 100 manufacturer. We solved it. That solution — a proprietary piezoelectric ceramic material with best-in-class performance — is now the foundation of a growing portfolio of technologies designed to change how industries solve fundamental problems. Our work is protected by multiple patents and backed by years of applied expertise. We commercialize through joint ventures, licensing agreements, and direct sales, and are in active conversations with partners across the industries we serve.
Birchrun Labs Introduces a Breakthrough New Rugged, High-Temperature Piezoelectric Ceramic Material
Birchrun Labs’ new piezoelectric material, developed for, and in use by a Fortune 200 manufacturer, has the highest in class displacement, and temperature tolerance. This enables exceptional performance, especially when configured as a stack actuator. Described by customers as “rugged, and robust” it provides larger displacements, higher operating frequencies, longer duty cycles and greater forces than competing materials.
Birchrun Labs' piezoelectric material delivers higher displacement, higher force, and higher operating frequencies than any competing material on the market. Its high Curie temperature, the known limiting factor for all piezoelectric materials, is the highest available. The result: actuators and sensors that run harder, faster, and longer than anything the competition can offer. Currently in production use by a Fortune 200 manufacturer. For this reason, Birchrun Labs piezoelectric actuators can be run harder, faster, and longer than those produced by the competition.
235°C continuous operating temperature — highest in class
10-15% greater displacement than closest competitor
Useful mechanical motion — not micro-motion
Validated in demanding industrial machining applications
Self-Powered Accelerometer/Vibration Sensor
Removes Uncertainty from Low Level Measurements
A passive sensor that generates its own voltage signal, in full Volts, from the mechanical event it measures. No drive power to the sensor. No signal amplifier required. As small as 0.22 grams and 250,000g shock tolerance — four times the best available alternative — it operates in environments where no other qualified sensor exists. Its 100 kHz frequency range captures the high-frequency signatures that conventional sensors miss entirely, from early-stage bearing faults to impact events in helmets and munitions fuzes.
Broad application — measures acceleration and senses vibration across vehicles, airframes, and structures of all types.
Stronger signal, greater precision — emits a stronger signal than competing accelerometers with no amplification required.
Minimal power dependency — passive sensor design works on platforms with little to no available power.
Compact and lightweight — 0.22g mass enables sensing on small, lightweight structures with minimal damping effects.
Extraordinary durability — withstands 250,000g shock forces, four times the best available alternative.
Applications: bearing failure detection, munitions fuzing, spacecraft systems, helmet impact and shock sensing (military, sports, cycling).
Precision High Pressure Pump/Valve
The cornerstone of our application portfolio
Birchrun Labs latest development project, a high pressure pump the provides instant maximum pressure. One elegant design achieves what used to require a combination of high pressure pumps, EM motors, accumulators and control valves. It functions as a combination pump/valve and is the cornerstone technology behind a number of other development projects. It is powered by the same high temperature piezoelectric actuator used everyday by our customers.
Instant pressure on demand — no accumulator required
Continuously variable flow control — not on/off
Single unit replaces pump, motor, accumulator, and control valve
No rotating components — nothing to wear, seize, or fail
Patent Pending 2025/0347272 A1
Small Submersible Ballast System
Range, endurance, and hover — for which no solution exists today.
The underwater vehicle industry is in a period of monumental growth being fed by demand from defense industry as well as research and exploratory organizations. There has never been greater need to understand what is occurring in our oceans, and Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV) of all kinds are being developed to find out. Yet there is no viable way to control the depth of these vehicles…. NONE.
To maintain depth, they rely on continuous forward motion — draining batteries that should be powering the mission. Hovering is not possible. Birchrun's compact piezoelectric ballast system changes all of that. Neutral buoyancy means propulsion can stop. Range increases. On-station time increases. And the vehicle can hold depth without moving for the first time. Compatible with virtually any platform.
Neutral buoyancy — propulsion can be shut down entirely at depth
True hover capability — currently not possible for any small UUV
Extends range and endurance — the equivalent of a more efficient battery
Single integrated unit — no accumulator, no separate motor or valves
Compatible with virtually any small UUV platform
Patent Pending 2025/0346332 A1
High Pressure Aeroponic System
More harvests per year. No change to overhead.
High-Pressure Aeroponics which use a fine mist of water and nutrients originally identified by NASA research as (20-50 microns) and now an industry standard — enables faster growth, better root oxygenation, and dramatically lower water use. Until now, HPA required complex, expensive, failure-prone equipment. Our solution delivers true HPA performance through a simple, low-pressure plumbing system, free of the complications of high pressure networks. More harvest cycles per year from the same facility and labor force — revenue that flows almost entirely to the bottom line.
Lettuce in 21–25 days vs. 35–45 days with conventional low-pressure systems
Makes it possible to grow other vegetables and fruits indoors that were previously economically nonviable.
No accumulator, no reinforced plumbing — easeful installation
Up to 98% reduction in water consumption vs. soil growing
Double-digit yield increases without increasing operating costs
INCREASE YIELD BY DOUBLE DIGIT PERCENTAGES WITHOUT INCREASING OPERATING COSTS, WHILE SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCING WATER AND POWER CONSUMPTION
Next-Generation Refrigeration and Thermal Management
No motor. No standby draw. 15-20% less power. Portable.
Scroll compressors run their motors continuously — even at partial load, which is most of the time in any real-world HVAC or refrigeration cycle. Birchrun's piezoelectric pump consumes energy only on the actuation stroke, with zero draw between strokes. No motor, no windings, no inrush current. The projected power reduction in real-world partial-load operation is 15–30%. Near-term applications include small and portable refrigeration, electronics cooling, and small device thermal management.
No rotating motor — no windings, no iron loss, no inrush current
Zero standby draw between actuation strokes
15–30% projected power reduction in partial-load operation
Near-term: miniature refrigeration, electronics cooling, medical thermal management
Spacecraft Fluid Control, Cooling and Propellant Sensing
Eliminating the primary failure mode in spacecraft fluid systems.
Mechanical pumps fail in space. Rotating seals, bearings, and impellers wear and seize in ways that cannot be repaired on orbit. Birchrun's piezoelectric pump eliminates those components entirely — no rotating parts, no rubbing surfaces, nothing that fails the way a conventional pump does. Our proprietary material's wide thermal range covers cryogenic propellant tanks through high-heat electronics. Our passive piezoelectric accelerometer enables acoustic propellant gauging with no drive power required at the sensor.
No rotating components - eliminates the primary failure mode in spacecraft fluid systems
Wide thermal range — cryogenic propellant temperatures to high-heat electronics
Passive accelerometer: 0.22g, 250,000g shock tolerance, sub-100ns response
Applications: thermal control, propellant management, in-space refueling, small satellite propulsion, fuel tank monitoring
