A long-standing outerspace client, Patron Power engaged our team to engineer and design a new MPod 300 modular service pedestal system for modern marinas.
Patron needed to develop a modular service pedestal design to accommodate a wide range of different sizes and function configurations without having to create new tooling for every new model.
With funding assistance for the MPod 300 project from the Victorian Government Boost Your Business Advanced Manufacturing Grant program the project started with an innovative modular design concept.
Our team designed, engineered and detailed the new MPod 300 pedestal system and managed the design throughout the product development process to final tooling and production.
The first Patron Power MPod 300 is installed and operating at Sanctuary Cove marina in Queensland, facilitated by marina manufacturer, Superior Jetties. The state-of-the-art MPod 300 pedestal design is designed to be configured to accommodate a range of different size requirements and functions including 400AMP high output units. The new modular design unites the various specialized customizations that Patron has created for their marina clients over many years.
In the past, specialized units were custom built. This required a lot of manual assembly and customized design for Patron Power. The new modular MPod 300 design, offers multiple custom functions encased in one styling theme and construction. The design streamlines manufacturing and customization, reducing the high-level of manual assembly required in order for Patron to satisfy customer needs and requests.
MPod 300 is engineered and designed using marine grade stainless steel, robust polymers and high strength aluminium alloys making it strong and resistant to the harsh elements of sun, wind and salt typical of marine environments.
The MPod 300 design enables units of different heights and widths to be manufactured using common moldings and aluminum extrusions with minimal investment in tooling. One set of moldings and extrusions can produce at least four different types of units, the MPod 300, MPod 300-2, MPod 220 and SOS models.
Overall, the design maintains a high degree of ingress protection (IP66) ensuring product compliance in the toughest conditions. A cleverly engineered ‘rail’ lighting system wraps around the entire pedestal. The lighting provides significantly higher presence and visibility with only marginal increase in power usage.
It features a precise ‘neon’ effect that can be customized and programmed to customer requirements, with a crisp white light for standard pedestal units and a red neon color for an emergency SOS unit. RGB mode has been slated to enable customers to change pedestal colors and lighting patterns on demand. There is also potential for a new smart system architecture that combines, power and water monitoring with status indicators.
Patron Power is well on its way to capture the market for high output marina pedestals with the new MPod 300 design. Its innovative modular design with multiple high-end functionality now makes mooring at any modern marina a totally connected experience.
