ELMSFORD, NY (August 9, 2005) - Reveo has been awarded an Army Phase II SBIR Project entitled “Novel Oxygen Pump for High Altitude Air Breathing Engines” granted on 8/9/05, following the successful Phase I. The mission of this project is to develop an oxygen enrichment pump to aid in the efficiency of airplane engines when they reach extremely high altitudes, harnessing the electrochemistry expertise of Reveo and its subsidiary eVionyx.
In this SBIR program, a novel hydroxide conductive ceramic membrane is used in an oxygen compressor for air breathing high altitude engines. As compared to the oxygen compressor based on the traditional mixed electron-ionic conductive (MIEC) membranes, Reveo’ novel air pump can operate at much lower temperature (<150oC), can provide much higher oxygen flux and is far less expensive to fabricate. Since the state-of-art oxygen conduction ceramic membrane (MIEC type) requires an operation temperature more than 600oC, it requires integration into the combustion liner of the engine. Consequently, a major design change and therefore huge risk are involved. On the other hand, our oxygen generator can operate at ~ 150oC, the residue heat from the engine exhaust can be used to heat the compressor, and the unit can be physically separated from the engine, which can significantly reduce the redesign requirement. Therefore, our novel oxygen pump is the best choice for the high altitude engine application.
In the Phase I program, we have demonstrated the feasibility of using novel hydroxide conductive membrane to make the oxygen compressor for air breathing high altitude engines. In Phase II program, we will further optimize the oxygen pump components, fabrication processes, carry out system design, and integrate with a small engine to test the validity of the prediction made in the Phase I.
In addition to the military applications, such an oxygen pump can be used in other vehicles to boost the fuel efficiency and reduce the air pollution; home medical usage of enriched oxygen could be another potential market. Moreover, oxygen is ranked among the top five in the production of commodity chemicals in the U. S., successful development of the low cost production technology could thus have huge economic effect.