Proton Energy Systems Successfully Completes Contract With NASA for Advanced UNIGEN(R) Unitized Regenerative Fuel Cell System
ROCKY HILL, Conn., Jan. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Proton Energy Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: PRTN), a leader in practical applications of Proton Exchange Membrane, or PEM, technology and products, announced today that it successfully completed a contract with NASA for an advanced solid-state 1 kW capable UNIGEN(R) Unitized Regenerative Fuel Cell, or URFC, system.
NASA selected Proton to demonstrate UNIGEN URFC systems as energy storage technology for zero-gravity and micro-gravity environments. Specific applications of interest to NASA include satellite propulsion, solar powered aircraft, space stations, and planetary bases. This contract success is the culmination of the second stage of a two-part NASA contract.
This advanced fuel cell system, incorporating features that eliminate rotating equipment such as fans, compressors and pumps, was developed under a $600,000 contract to NASA as part of its Small Business Innovation Research, or SBIR, program. Achievements under this SBIR support Proton's recently announced contract worth up to $6.2 million with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, and the Naval Research Laboratory. It also includes partners General Dynamics and ATK Thiokol.
"We are pleased with the successful integration and demonstration of our 1 kW UNIGEN URFC system under the NASA Phase II SBIR program. Further development of Proton's novel URFC architecture will continue through its recent contract award from the Naval Research Laboratory," stated Jason Shiepe, Proton's program engineering manager for this project.
Trent Molter, senior vice-president, technology and new business, observed, "The URFC architecture that Proton developed and demonstrated under this contract is revolutionary in that all moving parts were eliminated. Proton's partners, ATK Thiokol and General Dynamics, are interested in rapidly integrating the newly developed technology into DARPA's water rocket satellite propulsion application. Further, the commercial implications of this technology development allow for greatly simplified, low cost automotive fueling and energy storage products. This is an excellent example of how the private sector and the U. S. government can cooperate to achieve critical technology breakthroughs that benefit commercial, military, and aerospace applications."
Proton's proprietary UNIGEN URFC energy storage system uses a unique PEM cell that can operate as both a fuel cell and an electrolysis cell. This cell can make hydrogen at pressure by electrolysis of water and then can reverse and make power when needed from the stored hydrogen. This critical technology is currently under commercial development by Proton for telecommunications, renewable energy and other energy storage applications. |
