Status: CANCELLED
State: CT
Project Term: 08/15/2018 - 08/01/2023
Program: INTEGRATE
Award: $11,099,612

FuelCell Energy

FuelCell Energy will develop technology for pressurized solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stack modules for use in hybrid power systems. The Compact Stack Architecture (CSA) platform will operate at a high pressure, enabling its integration with a wide range of small-to-mid-sized power cycles, including gas turbines and piston engines. Stack design will incorporate features such as internal reforming (producing hydrogen from natural gas), extending the fuel cell’s use to higher pressure values, and adding robustness to tolerate system-imposed pressure differentials. Current studies show that the…

Status: CANCELLED
State: CT
Project Term: 10/01/2014 - 09/30/2017
Program: REBELS
Award: $3,499,967

FuelCell Energy

FuelCell Energy will develop an intermediate-temperature fuel cell that will directly convert methane to methanol and other liquid fuels using advanced metal catalysts. Existing fuel cell technologies typically convert chemical energy from hydrogen into electricity during a chemical reaction with oxygen or some other agent. FuelCell Energy’s cell would create liquid fuel from natural gas. Their advanced catalysts are optimized to improve the yield and selectivity of methane-to-methanol reactions; this efficiency provides the ability to run a fuel cell on methane instead of hydrogen. In…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CT
Project Term: 05/22/2017 - 09/30/2021
Program: REFUEL
Award: $4,600,000

FuelCell Energy

FuelCell Energy will develop an advanced solid oxide fuel cell system capable of generating ammonia from nitrogen and water, and renewable electricity. The unique design will also allow the system to operate in reverse, by converting ammonia and oxygen from air into electricity. A key innovation in this project is the integration of proton-conducting ceramic membranes with new electride catalyst supports to enable an increase in the rate of ammonia production. Combining their catalyst with a calcium-aluminate electride support increases the rate of ammonia formation by reducing coverage of…

Status: ACTIVE
State: PA
Project Term: 08/26/2022 - 08/25/2024
Program: Exploratory Topics
Award: $500,000

GaNify

GaNify seeks to develop 10-kV/10-A power diode prototypes for medium-voltage power electronics systems. Medium-voltage power switches are needed for a range of power electronics. GaNify’s medium-voltage power diodes are based on a novel charge-balanced GaN super-heterojunction technology, which has already demonstrated ~2X higher effective electric field, scalability to over 10 kV, and ~3X lower on-resistance over the existing wide bandgap semiconductor technology. The team will study scalability, manufacturability, and reliability of this technology and seek to develop engineering prototypes…

Status: ACTIVE
State: PA
Project Term: 10/01/2023 - 09/30/2025
Program: Exploratory Topics
Award: $500,000

GaNify

GaNify will develop a unique power switch for gyrotron modulators in nuclear fusion systems that could switch 50-kV/1-A in less than a microsecond without the need to stack multiple switches in series. Their design would significantly reduce the complexity and shorten the modulation voltage rise time, effectively pushing the voltage limit of solid-state power switches toward the high voltage regime.

Status: Selected
State: TBD
Project Term: TBD
Program: ULTRAFAST
Award: TBD

GaNify

GaNify is developing a power integrated circuit building block that would enable an enhanced control of power electronics converters for a more efficient and reliable grid. GaNify’s medium-voltage gallium nitride light-controlled integrated circuit takes advantage of low cost, manufacturable, and scalable components to design and build an integrated wide-bandgap semiconductor module for grid-level power electronics. If successful, the module would feature high noise immunity, enhanced protection, and five-fold lower power loss than legacy silicon-based technology.

Status: ALUMNI
State: IL
Project Term: 05/13/2014 - 01/31/2018
Program: FOCUS
Award: $3,969,400

Gas Technology Institute (GTI)

Gas Technology Institute (GTI) is developing a hybrid solar converter that focuses sunlight onto solar cells with a reflective backside mirror. These solar cells convert most visible wavelengths of sunlight to electricity while reflecting the unused wavelengths to heat a stream of flowing particles. The particles are used to store the heat for use immediately or at a later time to drive a turbine and produce electricity. GTI’s design integrates the parabolic trough mirrors, commonly used in CSP plants, into a dual-mirror system that captures the full solar spectrum while storing heat to…

Status: ALUMNI
State: IL
Project Term: 09/07/2016 - 09/30/2017
Program: IDEAS
Award: $500,000

Gas Technology Institute (GTI)

Gas Technology Institute (GTI) will develop a sulfur-based methane oxidation process, known as soft oxidation, to convert methane into liquid fuels and chemicals. Current gas-to-liquid technology for converting methane to liquid hydrocarbons requires massive scale to achieve economic production. The large plant size makes this approach unsuitable to address the challenge of distributed methane emissions. Soft oxidation is a method better suited to address this challenge because of its modular nature. It also addresses a major limitation of conventional gas-to-liquid technology: the…

Status: ALUMNI
State: IL
Project Term: 01/01/2014 - 03/31/2015
Program: METALS
Award: $807,426

Gas Technology Institute (GTI)

Gas Technology Institute (GTI) is developing a continuously operating cell that produces low-cost aluminum powder using less energy than conventional methods. Conventional aluminum production is done by pumping huge electrical currents into a vat of molten aluminum dissolved in mineral salts at nearly 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. GTI’s technology occurs near room temperature using reusable solvents to dissolve the ore. Because GTI’s design relies on chemical dissolution rather than heat, its cells can operate at room temperature, meaning it does not suffer from wasteful thermal energy losses…

Status: ALUMNI
State: IL
Project Term: 01/01/2013 - 12/31/2014
Program: MOVE
Award: $873,515

Gas Technology Institute (GTI)

Gas Technology Institute (GTI) is developing a natural gas tank for light-duty vehicles that features a thin, tailored shell containing microscopic valves which open and close on demand to manage pressure within the tank. Traditional natural gas storage tanks are thick and heavy, which makes them expensive to manufacture. GTI's tank design uses unique adsorbent pellets with nano-scale pores surrounded by a coating that functions as valves to help manage the pressure of the gas and facilitate more efficient storage and transportation. GTI's low-pressure tanks would have thinner walls…

Status: ALUMNI
State: IL
Project Term: 10/01/2012 - 03/31/2014
Program: MOVE
Award: $1,485,612

Gas Technology Institute (GTI)

Gas Technology Institute (GTI) will partner with Northwestern University, NuMat Technologies, a Northwestern start-up company, and Westport Fuel Systems to identify materials with the best characteristics for low-pressure natural gas storage. The gas-storing materials, known as metal organic framework (MOF) adsorbents, hold natural gas the way a sponge holds liquids. The project team will further develop their computer modeling and screening technique to support the creation of a low-pressure adsorbent material specifically designed for natural gas vehicles. The team will also validate the…

Status: ALUMNI
State: IL
Project Term: 01/01/2013 - 09/30/2015
Program: OPEN 2012
Award: $1,640,390

Gas Technology Institute (GTI)

Gas Technology Institute (GTI) is developing a new process to convert natural gas or methane-containing gas into methanol and hydrogen for liquid fuel. Methanol serves as the main feedstock for dimethyl ether, which could be used for vehicular fuel. Unfortunately, current methods to produce liquid fuels from natural gas require large and expensive facilities that use significant amounts of energy. GTI’s process uses metal oxide catalysts that are continuously regenerated in a reactor, similar to a battery, to convert the methane into methanol. These metal oxide catalysts reduce the energy…

Status: ALUMNI
State: IL
Project Term: 03/01/2016 - 02/28/2018
Program: OPEN 2015
Award: $3,199,931

Gas Technology Institute (GTI)

The team led by Gas Technology Institute (GTI) will develop a conventional automotive engine as a reactor to convert ethane into ethylene by using a new catalyst and reactor design that could enable record-breaking conversion yields. The technology proposed by GTI would use a reciprocating engine as a variable volume oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) reactor. This means a conventional engine would be modified with a new valving mechanism that would take advantage of high flow rates and high pressure and temperature regime that already exists in an internal combustion engine. This process…

Status: ALUMNI
State: IL
Project Term: 06/01/2017 - 03/31/2022
Program: REFUEL
Award: $2,300,000

Gas Technology Institute (GTI)

Gas Technology Institute (GTI) will develop a process for producing dimethyl ether (DME) from renewable electricity, air, and water. DME is a clean-burning fuel that is easily transported as a liquid and can be used as a drop-in fuel in internal combustion engines or directly in DME fuel cells. Ultimately carbon dioxide (CO2) would be captured from sustainable sources, such as biogas production, and fed into a reactor with hydrogen generated from high temperature water splitting. The CO2 and hydrogen react on a bifunctional catalyst to form methanol and a subsequently DME. To improve…

Status: CANCELLED
State: TN
Project Term: 10/01/2012 - 12/31/2014
Program: AMPED
Award: $173,428

Gayle Technologies

Gayle Technologies is developing a laser-guided, ultrasonic electric vehicle battery inspection system that would help gather precise diagnostic data on battery performance. The batteries used in hybrid vehicles are highly complex, requiring advanced management systems to maximize their performance. Gayle's laser-guided, ultrasonic system would allow for diagnosis of various aspects of the battery system, including inspection for defects during manufacturing and assembly, battery state-of-health, and flaws that develop from mechanical or chemical issues with the battery system during use…

Status: Selected
State: NY
Project Term: TBD
Program: GOPHURRS
Award: TBD

GE Vernova Advanced Research

GE Vernova Advanced Research is developing a robotic worm tunneling construction tool that would dig and install conduit and cables for underground distribution powerlines in a single step. GE’s SPEEDWORM would mimic the natural movement of earthworms and tree roots to install 1,000 feet of cable and conduit in two hours with unmatched flexibility. The tool could deploy from a standard pickup truck and would eliminate the cost, complexity, and surface disruption compared with conventional approaches.

Status: ALUMNI
State: NY
Project Term: 03/13/2019 - 11/12/2021
Program: OPEN 2018
Award: $549,000

Geegah

Geegah will develop an inexpensive wireless sensor, using ultrasound from MHz to GHz, that can measure water content, soil chemicals, root growth, and nematode pests (a type of small worm), allowing farmers to improve the output of biofuel crops while reducing water and pesticide use. The reusable device will include a sensor suite and radio interface that can communicate to aboveground farm vehicles. This novel integration of sensing and imaging technologies has the potential to provide a low-cost solution to precision sensor-based digital agriculture.

Status: ACTIVE
State: MA
Project Term: 08/23/2022 - 08/22/2024
Program: Exploratory Topics
Award: $494,015

Gencores

Gencores enables technology for ultra-light vehicles to decarbonize transportation. Herein they demonstrate a scalable and digital production of low-cost and high-performance hybrid Polymethacrylimide (PMI) foam cores for sandwich composite constructions. Sandwich composites feature a foam core wrapped in fiber-reinforced skins and offer a 40-75% weight reduction potential compared with traditional metal alternatives. Current PMI foam cores are costly and time-consuming to produce in complex shapes. Gencores’ hybrid material and digital manufacturing technology will reduce the production cost…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 01/09/2012 - 07/31/2013
Program: GENI
Award: $2,268,543

General Atomics

General Atomics is developing a direct current (DC) circuit breaker that could protect the grid from faults 100 times faster than its alternating current (AC) counterparts. Circuit breakers are critical elements in any electrical system. At the grid level, their main function is to isolate parts of the grid where a fault has occurred—such as a downed power line or a transformer explosion—from the rest of the system. DC circuit breakers must interrupt the system during a fault much faster than AC circuit breakers to prevent possible damage to cables, converters and other grid-level components…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 09/01/2010 - 08/28/2013
Program: GRIDS
Award: $1,979,619

General Atomics

General Atomics is developing a flow battery technology based on chemistry similar to that used in the traditional lead-acid battery found in nearly every car on the road today. Flow batteries store energy in chemicals that are held in tanks outside the battery. When the energy is needed, the chemicals are pumped through the battery. Using the same basic chemistry as a traditional battery but storing its energy outside of the cell allows for the use of very low-cost materials. The goal is to develop a system that is far more durable than today's lead-acid batteries, can be scaled to deliver…

Status: ALUMNI
State: MA
Project Term: 09/13/2010 - 04/01/2011
Program: GRIDS
Award: $750,000

General Compression

General Compression has developed a transformative, near-isothermal compressed air energy storage system (GCAES) that prevents air from heating up during compression and cooling down during expansion. When integrated with renewable generation, such as a wind farm, intermittent energy can be stored in compressed air in salt caverns or pressurized tanks. When electricity is needed, the process is reversed and the compressed air is expanded to produce electricity. Unlike conventional compressed air energy storage (CAES) projects, no gas is burned to convert the stored high-pressure air back into…

Status: CANCELLED
State: NY
Project Term: 01/01/2011 - 07/17/2012
Program: ADEPT
Award: $811,520

General Electric (GE) Global Research

Magnetic components are typically the largest components in a power converter. To date, however, researchers haven’t found an effective way to reduce their size without negatively impacting their performance. And, reducing the size of the converter’s other components isn’t usually an option because shrinking them can also diminish the effectiveness of the magnetic components. General Electric (GE) Global Research is developing smaller magnetic components for power converters that maintain high performance levels. The company is building smaller components with magnetic films. These films are…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NY
Project Term: 01/01/2013 - 12/31/2016
Program: AMPED
Award: $3,122,076

General Electric (GE) Global Research

General Electric (GE) Global Research is developing low-cost, thin-film sensors that enable real-time mapping of temperature and surface pressure for each cell within a battery pack, which could help predict how and when batteries begin to fail. The thermal sensors within today's best battery packs are thick, expensive, and incapable of precisely assessing important factors like temperature and pressure within their cells. In comparison to today's best systems, GE's design would provide temperature and pressure measurements using smaller, more affordable sensors than those used in…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NY
Project Term: 09/01/2015 - 03/02/2017
Program: ARID
Award: $1,099,940

General Electric (GE) Global Research

General Electric (GE) Global Research will design, manufacture, and test an absorption heat pump that can be used for supplemental dry cooling at thermoelectric power plants. The team’s project features a novel, absorbent-enabled regenerator that doubles the coefficient of performance of conventional absorption heat pumps. The new absorbents demonstrate greater hygroscopic potential, or the ability to prevent evaporation. To remove heat and cool condenser water, these absorbents take in water vapor (refrigerant) and release the water as liquid during desorption without vaporization or boiling…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NY
Project Term: 04/13/2020 - 12/31/2022
Program: ATLANTIS
Award: $3,092,918

General Electric (GE) Global Research

GE Global Research and Glosten will design a new FOWT based on the 12 MW (megawatt) Haliade-X rotor and a lightweight three-legged acutated tension-leg platform. Applying a CCD methodology, the team will use advanced control algorithms to operate the turbine and concurrently design the integrated structure of the FOWT. The proposed turbine designs will have the potential to reduce the mass of the system by more than 35% compared with installed FOWT designs.

Status: ALUMNI
State: NY
Project Term: 08/02/2019 - 03/31/2023
Program: BREAKERS
Award: $4,147,550

General Electric (GE) Global Research

GE Research will develop a medium voltage direct current (MVDC) circuit breaker using gas discharge tubes (GDTs) with exceptionally fast response time. GDTs switch using no mechanical motion by transitioning the internal gas between its ordinary insulating state and a highly conductive plasma state. The team will develop a new cathode and control grid to reduce power loss during normal operation and meet program performance and efficiency targets. A fast MVDC breaker is an important component in uprating existing AC distribution corridors in congested urban areas to MVDC, and connecting…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NY
Project Term: 03/24/2020 - 05/31/2022
Program: DIFFERENTIATE
Award: $2,123,823

General Electric (GE) Global Research

GE Global Research will develop a probabilistic inverse design machine learning (ML) framework, Pro-ML IDeAS, to take performance and requirements as input and provide engineering designs as output. Pro-ML IDeAS will calculate the design explicitly without iteration and overcome the challenges of ill-posed inverse problems. Pro-ML IDeAS will use GE’s Bayesian hybrid modeling with multi-fidelity intelligent design and analysis of computer experiments and a novel probabilistic invertible neural network (INN). The proposed framework can be applied to general complex design problems. The designs…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NY
Project Term: 05/15/2020 - 05/14/2022
Program: DIFFERENTIATE
Award: $1,364,966

General Electric (GE) Global Research

GE Research will develop design optimization tools for the laser powder bed fusion based additive manufacturing of turbomachinery components. The team will integrate the latest advances in multi-physics topology optimization with fast machine learning-based producibility evaluations extracted from large training datasets comprising high-fidelity physics-based simulations and experimental validation studies. The integrated methodology will be used to demonstrate simultaneous improvements in the producibility and thermodynamic efficiency of a multi-physics turbomachinery component. Improved…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NY
Project Term: 08/01/2014 - 12/31/2018
Program: FOCUS
Award: $2,275,671

General Electric (GE) Global Research

GE is designing and testing components of a turbine system driven by high-temperature, high-pressure carbon dioxide (CO2) to develop a more durable and efficient energy conversion system. Current solar energy system components break down at high temperatures, shortening the system’s cycle life. GE’s energy storage system stores heat from the sun in molten salt at moderate temperature and uses surplus electricity from the grid to create a phase change heat sink, which helps manage the temperature of the system. Initially, the CO2 remains at a low temperature and low pressure to enable more…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NY
Project Term: 01/23/2012 - 01/22/2015
Program: GENI
Award: $4,412,392

General Electric (GE) Global Research

General Electric (GE) Global Research is developing electricity transmission hardware that could connect distributed renewable energy sources, like wind farms, directly to the grid—eliminating the need to feed the energy generated through intermediate power conversion stations before they enter the grid. GE is using the advanced semiconductor material silicon carbide (SiC) to conduct electricity through its transmission hardware because SiC can operate at higher voltage levels than semiconductors made out of other materials. This high-voltage capability is important because electricity must…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NY
Project Term: 02/24/2012 - 05/31/2014
Program: GENI
Award: $816,229

General Electric (GE) Global Research

General Electric (GE) Global Research is developing new, low-cost insulation for high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electricity transmission cables. The current material used to insulate HVDC transmission cables is very expensive and can account for as much as 1/3 of the total cost of a high-voltage transmission system. GE is embedding nanomaterials into specialty rubber to create its insulation. Not only are these materials less expensive than those used in conventional HVDC insulation, but also they will help suppress excess charge accumulation. The excess charge left behind on a cable…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NY
Project Term: 07/22/2019 - 10/31/2023
Program: HITEMMP
Award: $3,498,493

General Electric (GE) Global Research

The GE-led team will develop a metallic-based, ultra-performance heat exchanger enabled by additive manufacturing technology and capable of operation at 900°C (1652°F) and 250 bar (3626 psi). The team will optimize heat transfer versus thermomechanical load using new micro-trifurcating core structures and manifold designs. The team will leverage a novel, high-temperature capable, crack-resistant nickel superalloy, designed specifically for additive manufacturing. When completed, the heat exchanger could enable increased thermal efficiency of indirect heated power cycles such as supercritical…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NY
Project Term: 10/01/2010 - 09/30/2013
Program: IMPACCT
Award: $3,692,967

General Electric (GE) Global Research

General Electric (GE) Global Research and the University of Pittsburgh are developing a unique CO2 capture process in which a liquid absorbent changes into a solid upon contact with CO2. Once in solid form, the material can be separated and the CO2 can be released for storage by heating. Upon heating, the absorbent returns to its liquid form, where it can be reused to capture more CO2. The approach is more efficient than other solvent-based processes because it avoids the heating of extraneous solvents such as water. This ultimately leads to a lower cost of CO2 capture and will lower the…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NY
Project Term: 05/08/2015 - 08/07/2018
Program: MONITOR
Award: $1,438,627

General Electric (GE) Global Research

General Electric (GE) Global Research will partner with Virginia Tech to design, fabricate, and test a novel, hollow core, microstructured optical fiber for long path-length transmission of infrared radiation at methane absorption wavelengths. GE will drill micrometer-sized side-holes to allow gases to penetrate into the hollow core. The team will use a combination of techniques to quantify and localize the methane in the hollow core. GE’s plans to develop fibers that can be designed to fit any natural gas system, providing flexibility to adapt to the needs of a monitoring program in a wide…

Status: CANCELLED
State: NY
Project Term: 01/01/2013 - 04/20/2014
Program: MOVE
Award: $689,908

General Electric (GE) Global Research

General Electric (GE) Global Research is developing a low-cost, at-home natural gas refueling system that reduces fueling time and eliminates compression stages. Traditional compressor-based natural gas refueling systems require removal of water from natural gas through complicated desiccant cycles to avoid damage. GE's design uses a chiller to cool the gas to a temperature below -50°C, which would separate water and other contaminants from the natural gas. This design has very few moving parts, will operate quietly, and will be virtually maintenance-free. This simplified, compressor-free…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NY
Project Term: 06/10/2016 - 12/09/2019
Program: NODES
Award: $4,368,485

General Electric (GE) Global Research

General Electric (GE) Global Research along with its partners will develop a novel distributed flexibility resource (DFR) technology that aggregates responsive flexible loads and DERs to provide synthetic reserve services to the grid while maintaining customer quality-of-service. A key innovation of the project is to develop a forecast tool that will use short-term and real-time weather forecasts along with other data to estimate the reserve potential of aggregate loads and DERs. An optimization framework that will enable aggregation of large numbers of flexible loads and DERs and determine…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NY
Project Term: 10/01/2010 - 09/30/2013
Program: OPEN 2009
Award: $2,249,123

General Electric (GE) Global Research

General Electric (GE) Global Research is using nanomaterials technology to develop advanced magnets that contain fewer rare earth materials than their predecessors. Nanomaterials technology involves manipulating matter at the atomic or molecular scale, which can represent a stumbling block for magnets because it is difficult to create a finely grained magnet at that scale. GE is developing bulk magnets with finely tuned structures using iron-based mixtures that contain 80% less rare earth materials than traditional magnets, which will reduce their overall cost. These magnets will enable…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NY
Project Term: 04/30/2013 - 07/31/2017
Program: OPEN 2012
Award: $5,470,993

General Electric (GE) Global Research

General Electric (GE) Global Research is developing a new gas tube switch that could significantly improve and lower the cost of utility-scale power conversion. A switch breaks an electrical circuit by interrupting the current or diverting it from one conductor to another. To date, solid state semiconductor switches have completely replaced gas tube switches in utility-scale power converters because they have provided lower cost, higher efficiency, and greater reliability. GE is using new materials and innovative designs to develop tubes that not only operate well in high-power conversion,…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NY
Project Term: 05/10/2016 - 11/09/2019
Program: OPEN 2015
Award: $2,561,429

General Electric (GE) Global Research

The team led by General Electric (GE) Global Research will develop a new high-voltage, solid-state Silicon Carbide (SiC) Field–Effect Transistor (FET) charge-balanced device, also known as a “Superjunction.” These devices have become the industry norm in high-voltage Silicon switching devices, because they allow for more efficient switching at higher voltages and frequencies. The team proposes to demonstrate charge balanced SiC devices for the first time. Their approach will offer scaling up to 15kV while reducing losses for power conversion applications by 10x when compared with existing…

Status: ACTIVE
State: NY
Project Term: 08/14/2019 - 02/14/2024
Program: OPEN 2018
Award: $3,399,819

General Electric (GE) Global Research

GE Global Research will develop a device architecture for the world’s first high-voltage silicon carbide (SiC) super junction (SJ) field-effect transistors. These devices will provide highly efficient power conversion (such as from direct to alternating current) in medium voltage applications, including renewables like solar and wind power, as well as transportation. The SJ transistor devices consist of pillars of alternating doping providing charge-balancing allowing the devices to scale to high voltage while offering up to 10 times lower losses compared to commercial silicon-based…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NY
Project Term: 09/10/2020 - 09/09/2023
Program: GEMINA
Award: $5,412,810

General Electric (GE) Global Research

Advanced reactors must be designed to be financially competitive with fossil fuel power plants to gain a foothold in future energy markets. The GE Research team aims to reduce operations and maintenance (O&M) costs by moving from a time- to condition-based predictive maintenance framework, using GE Hitachi's BWRX-300 boiling water reactor as the reference design. GE will develop operational, health, and decision predictive maintenance digital twins (PMDTs) to enable continuous monitoring, early warning, diagnostics, and prognostics for the reactor systems. The team will develop a “…

Status: ACTIVE
State: NY
Project Term: 04/06/2021 - 10/05/2024
Program: ASCEND
Award: $7,176,095

General Electric (GE) Global Research

General Electric Global Research will develop a 2 MW fully integrated all-electric aircraft powertrain and demonstrate a 350-kW lab-scale prototype to enable zero carbon emission narrow-body commercial aircraft with all-electric propulsion. The technology is supported by several key innovations such as a high-voltage, direct-drive, synchronous permanent-magnet motor with transformational embedded cooling of the windings using supercritical carbon dioxide and high-temperature, high-voltage electrical insulation; a modular inverter fully integrated into the motor to reduce component count with…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NY
Project Term: 04/14/2021 - 01/13/2024
Program: REEACH
Award: $2,529,340

General Electric (GE) Global Research

FLyCLEEN will leverage the robustness and efficiency of metal-supported solid oxide fuel cells that are integrated with the combustion chamber of a gas turbine engine-generator. The result would be a hybrid system operating on a carbon neutral synfuel with a performance that leverages the power density and energy efficiency advantages of each component. Multiple advancement methods will be pursued to increase the power density of the fuel cell. The system is configured to optimize the balance of plant and thermodynamic synergies for electrified commercial aviation. Any wasted heat from the…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NY
Project Term: 02/19/2021 - 05/31/2022
Program: FLECCS
Award: $717,656

General Electric (GE) Global Research

GE Research will optimize an oxy-combustion natural gas-fired turbine—the Allam-Fetvedt cycle—for flexible generation on a grid with high (VRE) penetration at near-zero carbon emissions. The team will use gas or liquid buffering tanks and tight thermal integration between the air separation unit (ASU) and the oxy-combustion turbine. The proposed technology easily separates the CO2 and H2O in the flue gas of an oxy-combustor. The post-combustion outlet gas is more easily separated into water and CO2 to the pipeline, thereby lowering the electricity costs of grids with high levels of VRE. The…

Status: ACTIVE
State: NY
Project Term: 02/18/2021 - 06/17/2024
Program: REPAIR
Award: $5,300,000

General Electric (GE) Global Research

General Electric (GE) Global Research will develop PipeLine Underground Trenchless Overhaul (PLUTO)—a long-distance, minimally invasive pipe repair system that provides structural rehabilitation of gas pipelines faster, more efficiently, and less expensively than traditional open-cut excavation replacement. The GE team, including Warren Environmental and Garver, will develop and integrate a highly dexterous long-range pipe-crawling (robotic) system, high-speed non-destructive evaluation technologies, and advanced spray-on thick-coating epoxy lining systems. The PLUTO system will provide…

Status: ACTIVE
State: NY
Project Term: 08/09/2021 - 02/08/2025
Program: Exploratory Topics
Award: $3,448,797

General Electric (GE) Global Research

GE Research will develop a safe, lightweight, and altitude-capable megawatt power cable system with electromagnetic interference shielding capability for large aircraft. The proposed 10 MW cable system is expected to achieve ten times greater power density than conventional technology without degradation by partial discharge and is fire safe and oil resistant. This cable system will enable all-electric distributed propulsors for future large aircraft to achieve zero emissions by using aluminum conductors insulated and cooled with CO2, both of which are readily available, manufacturable…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NY
Project Term: 05/11/2021 - 11/10/2023
Program: Exploratory Topics
Award: $1,246,325

General Electric (GE) Global Research

The average age of large power transformers (LPTs) currently operating in the U.S is 40 years, with 70% older than 25 years. Insulation failure contributes to more than 60% of LPT failures, costing the U.S. over $18 billion annually. To improve transformer life, GE Research will develop a long-term stable nanofluid dielectric to double the service life of current LPTs to at least 80 years. GE’s TiO2-based nanofluid will replace the conventional transformer insulating fluid and is expected to improve thermal conductivity by >25% and enhance dielectric strength by at least 50%. Additionally…

Status: ACTIVE
State: NY
Project Term: 05/12/2021 - 04/11/2024
Program: ULTIMATE
Award: $2,340,477

General Electric (GE) Global Research

GE Research has proposed transformational material solutions to potentially enable a gas turbine blade alloy-coating system capable of operating at a turbine inlet temperature of 1800 °C for more than 30,000 hours. GE aims to develop a (1) niobium (Nb)-based alloy that can operate at 1300 °C (2372 °F), (2) coating system consisting of a novel oxidation resistant bond coat compatible with the new Nb-based alloy, and (3) thermal barrier coating for improved durability that can operate at 1700 °C (3092 °F) and a scalable manufacturing process for producing internally cooled gas turbine blades…

Status: ACTIVE
State: NY
Project Term: 07/18/2022 - 07/17/2025
Program: ONWARDS
Award: $4,499,463

General Electric (GE) Global Research

General Electric (GE) Global Research, with Lumitron Technologies and Idaho State University, will develop an innovative active interrogation technique, Resonance Absorption Densitometry for Materials Assay Security Safeguards (RADMASS), which can penetrate advanced reactor fuel (dense solid actinides) and measure fissile mass density (<1% uncertainty) on the order of minutes or less while being insensitive to high background radiation. This will enable measurements of both UNF input and transuranic/plutonium output, which are the largest factors in standard error in inventory differences…

Status: ACTIVE
State: NY
Project Term: 07/01/2022 - 12/31/2024
Program: OPEN 2021
Award: $2,696,056

General Electric (GE) Global Research

General Electric (GE) Gas Power will develop an innovative, super energy-efficient single-piece furnace for IC to produce future high-technology blades and vanes for IGTs. During the past 20 years IGT blades and vanes have grown larger with increasingly complex internal features. GE proposes an innovative furnace design coupled with additive ceramic mold technologies to make single crystal blades and vanes. This energy-efficient technology would reduce cycle time and realize improved yields through lithographic printing of the core and shell of the casting—eliminating the thermal expansion…