Tennessee Technology University and Special Power Sources wins award for ARPA-E Range Extenders program.
Alliance OH, (12 Jul 2021) – Tennessee Tech University (TTU) with Special Power Sources (SPS) as the Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) provider was selected for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) “Range Extenders for Electric Aviation with Low Carbon and High Efficiency” (REEACH) program. TTU and SPS will work to develop a Energy Storage and Power Generation (EPSG) System capable of providing power for all-electric commercial aircraft. ARPA-E awards are cutting edge, highly competitive research-based programs that provide U.S. small businesses the opportunity to engage in research, development, and commercialization. TTU and SPS will combine a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) stack with a gas turbine combustor to address challenges faced in all electric propulsion-based aviation. The combined SOFC- combustor concept maximizes power density and efficiency while minimizing system complexity, weight, and cost. By eliminating components and subsystems typically found in fuel cell-gas turbine hybrid systems, this design provides operational flexibility with a rapid response to flight and load conditions and enables system startup in less than 30 minutes.
“This ARPA-E subcontract award will propel our Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) technology into future all electric aviation technology. This unique opportunity combines the mature SPS tubular SOFC technology and gas turbine systems to demonstrate using carbon neutral liquid fuels (CNLFs) into electric power for aircraft propulsion and other systems.”- Roland Dixon, President/CEO
ABOUT SPECIAL POWER SOURCES
Special Power Sources (SPS) is a renewable energy technology company developing, manufacturing, and servicing for our 650+ units delivered to USA, Canada and Mexico for Gas & Oil, Telecommunications & Mining Industries. The commercial products, in the 250W to 1500W ranges, have shown tremendous reliability and longevity in remote, off-grid applications even when deployed in “the middle of nowhere”. Since 2019, SPS has been awarded numerous Research and Development (R&D) prime contract opportunities between the US Army, US Air Force, Department of Energy and NASA for groundbreaking remote, space and aviation system applications.
