HispanicBusiness

"Building on our significant achievements in scale-up and in demonstrating novel designs for Low- and Ultra-low NOx burners reported during the second quarter, we added an emphasis in the most recent quarter on the control of flame shape and flame length in order to address significant unmet requirements in the petrochemical processing and refinery markets. We believe that the application of ECC technology in this domain may allow us to overcome system level design constraints that are characteristic of conventional combustion systems and that impose costly limits on process throughput and total plant output.

"We also successfully conducted a set of tests and bench scale demonstrations of a technique for cooling blades and/or other internal surfaces in gas turbines. The data collected from these experiments showed significant reductions of as high as 16%, or 290 degrees Fahrenheit, when the electrostatic field was engaged to repel the hot gases. The results of these preliminary demonstrations have been reviewed and well received by industry subject matter experts, including one or more prospective partners, and we intend to continue our bench scale development effort based on this early success."

According to the company, turbines typically run well below their peak thermal efficiency because the blades and other internal structures cannot withstand sustained exposure to the highest temperatures produced by the combustors. If the blade and/or other internal surfaces can be more effectively insulated and cooled, then inlet temperatures can be increased and energy efficiency will correspondingly improve.

Rutkowski highlighted that "In addition to achieving these milestones, we continue to make refinements to a variety of techniques for flame stabilization and are advancing highly innovative designs for Low- and Ultra-Low NOx burners. We believe that there is considerable need for solutions that can meet demanding new standards in California and Texas and that do not compromise system efficiency by requiring increased flue gas recirculation or excess air or by narrowing turndown ranges and response rates.

"Our technology development efforts continue to be met with success," added ClearSign Chief Technology Officer, Joe Colannino. "We have not only achieved and exceeded the milestones that we set for this year, but the technology is proving to be quite robust. We have made favorable discoveries relative to voltage and current requirements and have had early success in engineering power amplifier designs that point the way to significant improvements in the cost of our system.

"We formally introduced ECC technology in September to our peers in the combustion science and technology community at the American Flame Research Council meeting. It was gratifying to be able to report the very significant effects that we have demonstrated and to see the high level of interest from an audience that included many of the top names in combustion research in both industry and academia."

"This very productive period in the advancement of our technology has been accompanied, as one might expect, by the generation of significant new IP and patentable subject matter. We have increased our invention backlog by more than fifty new inventions during the quarter and have filed more than fifty patent applications to date. I am also pleased that we are now on a relatively steady pace of filing two or more patent applications a week."