Cummins Power Generation Team Receives Department of Energy Contract to Develop 10-kW Fuel Cell.Business Editors MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 4, 2001 Will Engineer Affordable, Efficient, Reliable Fuel Cell Modules In Partnership With McDermott Technology, Inc. Cummins Power Generation, a leading global provider of backup and prime power systems and a division of Cummins Inc. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :CUM), was selected in August to receive a $74.9 million development contract by the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL NETL - A semantic network language, for connectionist architectures. ["NETL: A System for Representing and Using Real-World Data", S.E. Fahlman, MIT Press 1979]. ) to develop an affordable, compact and virtually pollutant-free 10-kilowatt (kW) fuel cell module. Today the Company announced that it had received a contract for $20 million from the DOE to initiate the first phase of the project. Cummins Power Generation, working together with McDermott Technology Inc., intends to engineer a fuel cell power generation system for multiple consumer and commercial markets. The fuel cell system will generate low-noise, highly reliable power with significantly lower fuel consumption and exhaust emissions compared to existing fossil fuel fossil fuel: see energy, sources of; fuel. fossil fuel Any of a class of materials of biologic origin occurring within the Earth's crust that can be used as a source of energy. Fossil fuels include coal, petroleum, and natural gas. technologies. The Cummins/McDermott team has proposed to provide an additional $75.5 million in funding the over 10-year, three-phase effort. Paul Plahn, director of Advanced Product Development at Cummins Power Generation, said, "We're pleased that the Department of Energy has selected us to bring advanced, affordable fuel cell technology to mainstream energy markets. Our inclusion in this program represents a prestigious endorsement of our generation system expertise and market leadership." "This contract will provide the basis for us to develop competitively priced stationary and mobile power generator sets utilizing next-generation fuel cell technology," Plahn continued. "Our goal is to reduce the manufacturing cost of solid oxide fuel cell A Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is an electrochemical conversion device that produces electricity directly from fuel. Fuel cells are characterized by their electrolyte material and, as the name implies, the SOFC has a solid oxide, or ceramic, electrolyte. (SOFC SOFC Solid Oxide Fuel Cell ) systems to that of existing power generation technologies. Once we have succeeded in meeting our commercial cost objectives, we believe that the performance attributes of these SOFC systems -- high fuel efficiency, low emissions, low noise, high reliability and long life -- will generate tremendous interest among our consumer and commercial customers alike." Plahn concluded, "The solid oxide fuel cell has enormous potential as a clean, efficient and silent power source. What's more, the building blocks we develop can be incorporated into much larger systems for our stationary power markets. The modular nature of SOFC systems will ultimately permit rapid scale-up in system sizes from 10 kW to 250 kW and beyond." Ron Moore, vice president and general manager of Cummins Power Generation Americas division, said, "Cummins has long been a leader in promoting environmentally friendly Environmentally friendly, also referred to as nature friendly, is a term used to refer to goods and services considered to inflict minimal harm on the environment.[1] engines, filtration products and power generators. At Cummins Power Generation, we are working on multiple fronts to develop lean-burn and natural gas products that meet the most stringent emissions standards. This fuel cell project fits nicely with our portfolio of environmentally friendly new technology focused on short, medium, and long term commercial availability." "One of our most exciting near term growth initiatives is our alliance with Capstone Turbine Capstone Turbine Corporation NASDAQ: CPST, incorporated in 1988, is a California based gas turbine manufacturer that specializes in microturbine power and heat cogeneration systems. Capstone has sold and shipped more than 3,000 of these one-moving-part systems worldwide. to develop and market stationary, low-maintenance power systems driven by a low-emission 30 and 60 to 200 kW microturbine. This agreement represents yet another example of how we are successfully leveraging our advanced technology, worldwide market presence and power systems packaging expertise to create new product lines that will bring significant value to our customers. We have also formed a joint-venture with Vancouver, Canada-based Westport Innovations to develop natural gas engines with diesel-like performance that meet or exceed U.S. EPA EPA eicosapentaenoic acid. EPA abbr. eicosapentaenoic acid EPA, n.pr See acid, eicosapentaenoic. EPA, n. emissions requirements," concluded Moore. Cummins Power Generation has received numerous grants in recent years from both the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense on the strength of the company's technological expertise and environmental commitment. The 10-year fuel cell contract was issued through and is being managed by DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory. How Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Work Fuel cells operate by oxidizing a reformed fuel on the surface of a special ceramic substrate to generate direct-current (DC) electricity without combustion. The only waste products are water vapor and a small amount of carbon dioxide carbon dioxide, chemical compound, CO2, a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that is about one and one-half times as dense as air under ordinary conditions of temperature and pressure. . Most fuel cells in current limited production require either very large and complex hydrocarbon hydrocarbon (hī'drōkär`bən), any organic compound composed solely of the elements hydrogen and carbon. The hydrocarbons differ both in the total number of carbon and hydrogen atoms in their molecules and in the proportion of hydrogen fuel reformers to produce pure hydrogen or a supply of bottled hydrogen gas as a fuel source. The distribution of bottled hydrogen is not currently economical or practical. A major advantage of SOFC technology is that it can be used with low-cost, compact fuel reformers that make it possible to substitute natural gas, LP, gasoline and diesel fuels in place of bottled hydrogen to power the fuel cells, resulting in high efficiency and very low emissions. The Cummins/McDermott team's initial design will include a fuel reformer that will convert LP or natural gas into a form of fuel usable by the fuel cell stack. Once the team has concluded the first phase of system design, engineering, component design and development, it will work toward full commercialization of the SOFC system. Cummins Power Generation will be the fuel cell system integrator and will develop the DC to AC power inverter (1) A logic gate that converts the input to the opposite state for output. If the input is true, the output is false, and vice versa. An inverter performs the Boolean logic NOT operation. (2) A circuit that converts DC current into AC current. Contrast with rectifier. , electronic controls, air/fuel controls, thermal management and the physical housing for the fuel cell. McDermott Technology, Inc. will develop the fuel reformer and heat exchanger heat exchanger Any of several devices that transfer heat from a hot to a cold fluid. In many engineering applications, one fluid needs to be heated and another cooled, a requirement economically accomplished by a heat exchanger. and provide its proprietary solid oxide fuel cell stacks (SOFCo(R)) for the system. About McDermott Technology McDermott Technology, Inc., is an operating unit operating unit A type of operating company that engages in transactions with outsiders and that is owned by another business. For example, in 1995 the stockholders of Capital Cities/ABC approved a $19 billion merger with the Walt Disney Company, whereupon of McDermott International, Inc. (NYSE:MDR MDR, n See multidrug resistance. MDR, n the abbreviation for minimum daily requirement, specifically the Minimum Daily Requirements for Specific Nutrients compiled by the United States Food and Drug Administration. ), a leading worldwide energy services company. About Cummins Power Generation Cummins Power Generation is a world leader in the design and manufacture of power generation equipment including PowerCommand standby and prime power systems. Cummins, headquartered in Columbus, Ind., is the world's largest producer of commercial diesel engines above 50 horsepower horsepower, unit of power in the English system of units. It is equal to 33,000 foot-pounds per minute or 550 foot-pounds per second or approximately 746 watts. . The company provides products and services for customers in markets worldwide for engines, power generation, and filtration. Cummins reported sales of $6.6 billion in 2000. Press releases by fax may be requested by calling News on Demand (toll free) at 888-329-2305. Cummins' home page on the Internet can be found at http://www.cummins.com |
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