Oxford: Isis works with Lakeland to launch university-designed cooking pan

A new heat-efficient cooking pan based on research by University of Oxford professor of engineering Dr Thomas Povey has been launched by Lakeland today.

Isis Innovation, the University’s technology commercialisation company, worked with Dr Povey to protect his intellectual property, both patent and design rights, to win a Design Council award to complete professional design work and to market the opportunity and manage the license to Lakeland.

Povey applied his research into the design of high-efficiency cooling systems for next-generation jet-engines to an everyday object which transfers heat: the domestic saucepan. The brand new pan design considerably speeds up cooking, providing substantial savings of time and energy consumption.

Formed from cast aluminium and incorporating patented ‘FIN-X’ technology, Flare Pans are most effective on gas hobs, estimated to be used by over two thirds of the UK. The unique, patented, finned design channels heat from the flame across the bottom and up the sides of the pan, resulting in highly efficient, even heat distribution. This means the pans heat up significantly more quickly and food cooks faster, saving time and using much less energy too – in fact, an equivalent pan of conventional design was shown to need 40% more energy to heat up than a Flare pan.

Tom Hockaday, managing director of Isis Innovation said: "This is a great example of clever thinking from Oxford being applied to an everyday object, one which anyone can use to speed up our cooking and improve our energy consumption. Isis is delighted to have helped Dr Povey and Lakeland commercialise the Flare Pan."

Linda Naylor, executive director at Isis, said: “This project has been a rewarding one in that we were able to bring together the right expertise and co-ordinate with multiple parties, in order to enable a quick launch to market.”