SustainX Receives Control System Patent for Energy Storage Technology
Date: 03/22/2011
Company: SustainX
Source: PR Newswire
Fourth Patent for Three-Year-Old Entrepreneurial Venture
WEST LEBANON, N.H., March 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — A fourth patent has been awarded by the US government to SustainX, a fast-growing technology venture in Lebanon, New Hampshire. SustainX has developed a transformational technology for utility-scale energy storage using compressed air. The new patent covers methods for controlling the way air is expanded and compressed in such systems.
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Energy storage is essential to making the electrical grid more efficient, according to the US Department of Energy, but affordable storage technologies have so far been lacking. To meet this need, SustainX compresses air by using electricity to drive pistons inside cylinders. The resulting high-pressure air is stored in above-ground vessels. To release energy at a later time, the system uses stored air to drive the same pistons, which in turn drive an electric generator.