Management and expertise

Personal details of the management

Messrs Dr G.C. Dijkhuis and K.W. Wevers together constitute both the Management Board of the Company, and the Management Committee of the Issuer. This section provides some personal details.

Dr G.C. Dijkhuis 

Degrees:

• Master of Science, Applied Physics, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands (1968);

• Master of Science, Applied Physics, Stanford University (1970);

• Ph D, Applied Physics, Stanford University (1973);

• Diploma Course, Numerical Fluid Dynamics, Von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics, Brussels (1977); awarded with the Belgian Government Prize;

• Radiation Expert A, Dutch Ministry of Public Health and Environment (1981).
   

Publications: see bibliography (separate menu item).

Main activities:

• teacher of mathematics and physics, Zeldenrust College, Terneuzen, The Netherlands (1974-1977 and 1978-2005);

• one year on leave for Diploma Course at Von Karman Institute (1977-1978);

• co-founder and managing director of Convectron N.V. (1983-2009);

• co-founder of International Committee on Ball Lightning (Secretary, 1990-2008; President, 2008-present)

• member of the City Council of Terneuzen, The Netherlands (1989-1997);

• contract research and teaching at Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands (2001-2008);

• co-founder and managing director of Convectron Natural Fusion N.V. (2010-present).

K.W. Wevers

Degrees:

• Master of Science, Chemistry, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands (1976);

• Bachelor of Economics, Erasmus University of Rotterdam, The Netherlands (1982);

• Radiation Expert A, Dutch Ministry of Public Health and Environment (1984).

Main activities:

• initiator and co-founder of the Dutch Association for Preservation of the Wadden Sea (Waddenvereniging) (1965);

• co-founder and managing director of Convectron N.V. (1983-2009);

• International map provider for in-vehicle and other applications, The Netherlands, Industry Relations Europe and Government Marketing and Strategy Europe respectively (1992-present; project and business development manager; extensive involvement in international consortium research projects and standardization); in the framework of this employment, various duties in international organizations were exercised;

• co-founder and managing director of Convectron Natural Fusion N.V. (2010-present).

Expertise and experience of the key technical staff

Both members of the Management Board also constitute the key technical staff of the Company. Both have been actively and intensely involved in the large-scale experiments carried out by the Predecessor in the 1980's, and through this have both acquired extensive expertise and experience that is highly relevant to the planned research and development activities of the Company. These experiments involved two different test facilities.

The first series of tests consisted of circuit breaker short-circuit disruptions from a circuit of initially one, and at a later stage two complete submarine batteries, having in total about 32 MW short-circuit power (see above, second photo from left). Relevant activities included: acquisition of the batteries (with cooperation and support of the Dutch Navy, Varta and Holec); construction and operation of the facility (first in an old Holec factory building, later in a rented factory building in Rotterdam); close cooperation with the small enterprise Kooy Techniek in Rotterdam for the design and engineering of highly specific, custom-made switches, circuit breakers and control equipment; operation of a high-speed camera, on loan from the Delft University of Technology; and acquisition and operation of custom-made and standard measuring equipment.

The second test facility was using a 250 kV capacitor bank discharge over a supersonic gas flow. Relevant activities included: construction of a mach 2.5 Laval nozzle of insulating material, based on design calculations especially made by the Von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics in Brussels, Belgium, and including two electrodes for discharge of the capacitor bank; close cooperation with two small Dutch enterprises for engineering of a die, and die-casting of the nozzle (Mekufa); close cooperation with and help from AKZO for design and engineering of an special insulating pipe of high strength from its then brand-new fibre product Twaron; design and engineering by HoekLoos, now part of the Linde Group, of special equipment for generating a 10 bar nitrogen gas discharge through the Twaron pipe and Laval nozzle, and for introducing small quantities of deuterium gas into the main gas stream; close cooperation with the small enterprise Kooy Techniek in Rotterdam for the design and engineering of additional structural components of the discharge unit, and for assembly of the unit; operation of this facility at KEMA High-Power Laboratory (see above, third photo from left).