[Albany, New York] – Mohawk Innovative Technology, Inc. (MiTi) announced today that it was awarded $2.5 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). The funding will be used to develop a small, low cost system to produce electricity and hot water for residential use. The natural gas powered machine is based on MiTi’s Hyperlaminar Flow Engine design concept that will continuously produce 1 kW of electricity for household base load demand and will use the residual heat from the engine exhaust gas to produce hot water for household use and/or heating. Key innovations of the design include highly miniaturized components operating at ultra-high speeds to compress air that is fed to a chamber where it mixes with natural gas and uses flameless combustion to completely burn the natural gas while minimizing emissions. The hot combustion gas is then used to drive the generator to produce electricity and heat water for household use.
Dr. Hooshang Heshmat, President/CEO & Technical Director of Mohawk Innovative Technology, Inc. said “MiTi’s patented Fifth Generation lubricant-free compliant foil gas bearings make this transformative product concept possible and will provide a low cost, maintenance free and long life system for the American home owner.”
Supporting MiTi will be an international team that includes experts from The University of Texas – Center for Electro-Mechanics and MITIS a small business located in Belgium. The combined resources of this team will result in a truly transformative, ultra-high-speed and lubricant-free, Hyperlaminar Flow Engine system that combines low cost shear driven compressor and expander elements, lubricant-free air foil bearings, an integrated low pressure drop recuperated flameless combustor, a permanent magnet generator, and advanced power electronics to produce grid compatible electricity and heat for home use.
Mohawk Innovative Technology, Inc. received this competitive award from ARPA-E’s Generators for Small Electrical and Thermal Systems (GENSETS SBIR/STTR) program, which seeks to develop design, build and test improved electric-power generators for use in residential Combined Heat and Power (CHP) systems, which capture the generator’s heat output for space and water heating.
Copy and paste into your browser to see ARPA-E’s Press Release: http://arpa-e.energy.gov/sites/default/files/documents/files/GENSETS_SBIR-STTR_ProjectDescriptions.pdf
