SustainX Inc., a developer of energy storage technology, has been issued 11 additional U.S. patents related to its isothermal compressed-air energy storage (ICAES) technology. The new patents bring SustainX's overall ICAES-related patent count to 23, all of which have been issued within the last two years, the company notes.
The ICAES system removes heat from air being compressed for storage and returns heat when that air is expanded to generate electricity. This heat transfer reduces the energy efficiency losses of conventional high-pressure air compression and eliminates the need to burn fossil fuel as part of the expansion process, the company says. In addition, the SustainX system uses pipe-type storage, which can be located almost anywhere.
SustainX is now building its first megawatt-scale system, which will be operational in the first half of 2013.
