Brayton Energy - Research and Development in Alternative Energies - Hampton, NH - 603-601-0450

Brayton receives legislative support for grant submissions

jkarp — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:19:56 +0000

Brayton has recently been active in subitting proposals in response to the Department of Energy’s Recovery Act opportunities. Out of 3500 pre proposals submitted nationally Brayton was honored to be one of 200 selected to submit a full proposal. The subject of this submitttal was compressed air energy storage with high efficiency compression and conversion to electricity.

We wish to thank Senators Judd Gregg and Jeanne Shaheen and Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter for their endorsements of our proposal.

Brayton receives notice to submit novel energy storage proposal to DOE

jkarp — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 22:14:27 +0000

Brayton has received notice of encouragement to submit its novel energy storage proposal to the U.S. Department of Energy for possible funding. While this proposal remains part of a competetive pool, only 70 such letters of encouragement were issued in response to over 3,500 pre proposals. Brayton’s unique approach to the long standing problem of bulk energy storage may dramatically enhance the viability of many solar based power generation technologies.

Brayton honored by Pew Charitable Trusts

jkarp — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:32:45 +0000

Brayton Energy was honored today by the Pew Charitable Trusts as one of the two top examples of clean job growth in New Hampshire, and was featured as the announcement point for thier new report The Clean Energy Economy- Repowering Jobs, Businesses and Investments Across America. With excellent media coverage and Speakers from Senator Jeanne Shaheen’s and Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter’s Offices, this was an excellent opportunity for Brayton to highlight several key programs currently in house, including Solar Compressed Air Turbine (SolarCAT) grid scale electric power generation at a cost far below photovoltaics per kilowatt; direct fired biomass turbines for electric power generation, and our latest motive power project in high efficiency, low emission heavy truck engines with sponsorsdhip by Wal Mart and others. With many recently added staff members present, Brayton really is, to quote Congresswoman Shea-Porter, an example of how “You can do well while still doing good”. Thanks to Jan Pendlebury of the Pew Environmental Group for arranging this honor and event. The Pew report may be found at: www.pewtrusts.org/cleanenergyeconomy

Brayton expands again

jkarp — Thu, 14 May 2009 19:05:54 +0000

Renovations are underway to expand our laboratory space again. After an expansion this winter of our biomass combustion lab facilities, we are growing again, converting storage areas into laboratory space for performance testing of engines. An engine dynamometer will be the first major piece of test equipment to enter the lab, followed shortly by further instrumentation and data acquisition systems.

Brayton Resumes Next Generation Nuclear Power (NGNP)

jkarp — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 14:43:28 +0000

Brayton Energy received continuation funding through our partner, Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Our focus on the very challenging Intermediate Heat Exchanger (IHX) is a corner-stone of this intrinsically safe technology. The IHX enables the high temperature helium working fluid to draw energy from the pebble bed reactor. The He-cooled reactor is immune to the dreaded loss of coolant accidents (LOCA) that have plagued conventional water-cooled reactors currently used in the industry. In this phase of the program, Brayton will perform detailed thermal mechanical analysis on our patent-pending IHX design.

Brayton Receives Phase-2 Continuation of Solar America Initiative (SAI)

jkarp — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:42:33 +0000

Brayton Energy successfully completed te Detailed Design Review of the Brayton Solar Conversion System. This solar conversion system is an advanced gas turbine engine, coupled with a novel solar receiver. In Phase 2, the DOE is sponsoring the fabrication of the engine and the solar receiver. Both will be tested this year. In a parallel cooperative development effort, Brayton and SolarCAT Inc. are developing the nominally 300 sq. meter parabolic dish concentrator. That development effort will merge with the SAI project, fielding the first full system in late 2009.

Sothern California Gas Co joins Brayton’s Advanced Microturbine Development Program

jkarp — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:37:46 +0000

SoCal Gas, a subsidiary of SEMPRA Utilities, has joined Brayton’s development effort, currently co-sponsored by the California Energy Commission. This funding will enable our team to design, fabricate, and test an advanced 350 kWe gas turbine cogeneration system. This program addresses several of the key technical and economic challenges that have held-back the growth of the microturbine industry. The chief attributes of the engine are its high specific power, a characteristic that results in an increased power to weight ratio – which is shown to have a substantial impact on the product cost. Additionally the advanced microturbine employs a ceramic turbine rotor, enabling thermal electric efficiency to surpass 42%. Brayton will apply its patent-pending recuperator and advanced combustion system to this emerging product.

Solar and Renewables

admin — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:22:02 +0000

The solar electric conversion system under development at Brayton places top priority on reducing capital cost. It’s projected cost and that of the energy it produces are… substantially lower than for other solar-based schemes, and competitive with conventional power-generation systems over the 1MW to 100MW scale. This program is a collaborative effort with various universities and two major US utilities. The attractions of this product include exceptional conversion efficiency of heat to electricity, load-following capability through the use of supplemental fuels, and high reliability from the incorporation of proven industrial gas-turbine hardware. Brayton Energy is currently securing patents ensuring protection for this novel product.

Brayton Energy Wins DOE Solar America Initiative program

admin — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:32:21 +0000

Alexander Karsner, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy announced the winners of the nation-wide competition. Brayton Energy was one of two companies receiving an award to develop electric power generation using concentrating solar thermal dish systems. On this program, Brayton will complete the design, fabricate, and test our patented hybrid solar Dish-Brayton module. Dish systems collect more energy than competing trough and central receiver systems, and have demonstrated the highest thermal to electric conversion efficiency. Our proposed system met the DOE’s challenging electric power cost criteria of $0.05 to 0.07/kWH.

Biomass Conversion

admin — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:44:55 +0000

Brayton is developing a novel combustion scheme enabling the burning of wood chips in gas turbines, recognizing the abundance and low cost of this fuel source. This strategy… shows great promise for distributed power generation in the 1 to 5 MW range, where prior attempts have failed based on steam-turbine boiler conversion for wood combustion. Brayton’s sponsor for the program, a major US energy company, identifies a strong and immediate need for this product.