North American Windpower: Compressed-Air Energy-Storage Provider Granted New Patent

by NAW Staff on Tuesday 18 October 2011

Energy-storage provider SustainX Inc. says it has received a U.S. patent that provides additional technology options for its isothermal compressed-air system, including variants allowing either hydraulics or a mechanical crankshaft.

According to SustainX, the crankshaft design has low frictional losses, making it efficient, and can transfer large amounts of power, which supports the construction of the company's megawatt-scale storage systems.

"The patent award is an important milestone for SustainX, because it combines the mature, reliable technology of crankshafts with our patented heat-exchange methods and allows us to design energy-storage systems that are more powerful, compact and efficient than ever," says Dax Kepshire, vice president and co-founder of the company. "This patent (No. 12/879,595) expands the types of systems that SustainX can develop, providing more market options."

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