Westwood MA, July 24, 2006 --Acumentrics Corporation, a leading developer of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) and Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) for the distributed generation market, announced today it received a US Department of Energy (DOE) Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant. Under this grant, Acumentrics will investigate the feasibility of using a hybrid ceramic/metal heat exchanger in conjunction with the Acumentrics SOFC system. This application has the potential to lead to the commercialization of a high efficiency, low cost heat exchanger that will enhance the viability and efficiency of fuel cell power systems.
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program is a U.S. Government program in which federal agencies with large research and development (R&D) budgets set aside a small fraction of their funding for competitions among small businesses only.
"This project is a further step in our efforts to commercialize our SOFC systems," said Gary Simon, the CEO of Acumentrics. "Our progress to date on fuel cell technology has brought us to the point where we now need to refine balance of plant components that complement and enhance our system operation. The hybrid ceramic/metal heat exchanger has the potential to help bring our SOFC technology closer to commercialization."
About Acumentrics:
Acumentrics Corporation, a privately owned company founded in 1994 and based in Westwood, Massachusetts. Acumentrics is a leading developer of solid oxide fuel cell products in the 250 watt to 10 kilowatts in size for distributed electricity generating and heating. Acumentricsí unique and patented high temperature tubular solid oxide fuel cell generation units are designed to run directly from natural gas, propane and other hydrocarbon fuels (such as coal-derived hydrogen based fuels) at standard delivery pressures.
Acumentrics also manufactures a line of battery based uninterruptible power supplies that are designed to enhance power quality. These products are unique in their ability to be deployed in harsh physical and electrical environments and are used extensively for various military and heavy-duty industrial applications.