DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE REMOTE POWER GENERATION

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Natural gas pressure differentials at remote sites typically contain enough energy to reliably and more cost-effectively generate the 50-500 Watts often required for operations and remote monitoring.  Spherical Rotors Inc. is working towards commercializing patent-pending natural gas expander technology that makes use of this energy to generate electricity.  Zero-emissions and low cost operation is expected with no need to consume natural gas or depend on intermittent sources of sunlight.

Our patent-pending valveless rotary positive displacement equipment is expected to combine and improve on the best features of screw and scroll types of equipment.  Our compact spherical rotor profile allows us to place the bearings closer to the pressure-induced loads for pressure ratings exceeding 1440 psig!

A portion of volume that cannot be evacuated, called the clearance volume, leads to inefficient recompression in a compressor and similar efficiency penalties in expansion mode.  Scroll type equipment is known to have near zero clearance volume, but other significant limitations.  Our equipment has near zero clearance volume, but high expected efficiency over a remarkably wide operating range and even with high pressure ratios!

After we prove the technology capabilities at low power, we will start addressing many follow-up applications where we may offer unique value propositions in established and rapidly developing expander, compressor and pump markets.  For example, costly line heating upstream of large natural gas pressure differentials may be addressed by a larger expander combined with a heat pump cycle.  Heat pump cycles may be several times more effective in heating applications than electric resistive heating.  As another example, using our compressor in a heat pump cycle may reduce costs and driving range loss in electric vehicles.

Spherical Rotors Inc. is committed to delivering high quality products that are proven to be reliable in their respective applications.  Ansys® software helps us to get early insights to mitigate these risks.

Please reach out to discuss challenges your company is facing so we can evaluate if/when we can address your challenge.  Even if your company is not an early-adopter of new technology, early discussions confirm interest and may guide product development accordingly.