Cyclone Power Technologies Files Patent Application for Waste Heat Engine

Cyclone Power Technologies, Inc. has filed a patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on its production prototype waste heat engine (WHE).

The WHE is able to convert wasted heat from sources such as ovens, furnaces and engine exhaust into mechanical energy and electricity. This process of cogeneration — also called combined heat and power (CHP) — can result in substantial savings to the end user and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The WHE is capable of producing up to 16HP through its 6-cylinder radial design, but weighs a mere 18 lbs and is only 14 inches in diameter.

The WHE can also run on heat obtained from renewable fuel sources such as solar energy. Cyclone believes that the WHE will be able to deliver solar electric to consumers at a price more economically viable than current systems. This is accomplished in part by using cost-effective solar thermal collectors (reflective troughs) to produce steam, rather than expensive silicon-based photovoltaic arrays.

“With the filing of this patent application, we intend to push full-steam ahead into the commercial markets,” stated Cyclone’s COO Frankie Fruge. “There are many viable applications for the WHE that we are pursuing, including small scale industrial, restaurants, commercial trucking and distributed solar.”

The WHE is the first production-ready model of the patented Cyclone Engine, which Popular Science Magazine named a 2008 Invention of the Year. In April, the WHE won the Society for Automotive Engineers’ AEI Tech Award.