Serveron Corp. launched itself in February as the industry’s first provider of full time monitoring services for T&D equipment. Starting with the gas-in-oil sensors developed by a predecessor company, Micromonitors, Serveron offers a complete solution, from instrumentation, to on-line monitoring, to (condition-based) maintenance scheduling and asset management, to risk management.
One of the more remarkable “new” technologies mentioned is the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PMBR), actually an old idea. In the heyday of reactor development, helium gas cooled designs were pursued by the U.S. (using a fuel block concept) and by the Germans, who used a “pebble” fuel configuration.
Progress is good. The first machine is hooked to a 10 MW generator, and it’s doing better and better all the time. They’re also working hard on a 800 KW version, which will enable them to advance the technology faster, and which is size they believe the DG market wants. The disk on the new machine will be 32 inches, operating at 28,000 rpm. Efficiency is 40%, and they expect single-digit NOx.
MAG Systems has developed and patented a unique technology known as Electronic Fluid Dialysis TM (EFD). This process is capable of purifying non-conducting fluids to a much higher level of purity than conventional methods of filtration and purification. It restores the properties of these fluids to a “better than new” condition, by removing particles down to the sub-micron level.
At the risk of “excess exuberance” …this looks like something that could change everything — a zero emission, fuel flexible– *steam engine*. I first heard of them from announcements back in May 2000, and have finally been able to make contact, just in time to learn about the new company they’ve set up. They’re showcasing at the SAE conf (Soc. of Auto Engineers) in Detroit this week.
The Stirling engine is a piston engine that can operate with a variety of external heat sources (i.e., “external combustion”, when a fuel is burned to supply the heat). A contained gas, typically helium, is cyclically heated to high temperatures and pressures to provide force on a piston, which then drives an electric generator.
Proton Energy Systems, as you know, is one of the prominent new companies on the new “energy technology” scene, having done its IPO last Fall. One thing that sets them apart from other fuel cell companies is the fact that they have a successful commercial product line, namely the HOGEN hydrogen generator.
American Energy Technologies (AET) of Jacksonville, FL has been a leader in solar hot water heating systems since 1987. They now have two new products that represent a major advance in the state of the art in residential solar hot water. In addition, they are nearing the demonstration phase of a new high temperature solar collector.
