An Athens business is working with NASA to develop a brand-new technology to create electricity for potential use on future space missions.
Sunpower Inc., 182 Mill St., received a $6.4 million grant from NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland to construct a power conversion unit to convert heat into electricity in space, said Gary Wood, a technical fellow at Sunpower and principal investigator for the project. The electricity will power astronauts' experiments and needs for living while on a mission.
Sunpower's conversion unit is one component in the fission surface power project, which is a non-nuclear power plant that supplies power to a base when sunlight is limited, Wood said. Sunpower is in the early stages of developing a 12 kilowatt free-piston Stirling engine for the convertor.
We are considered leaders in Stirling engines
which are noted for high efficiency Wood said. That's why NASA chose us to work on this project - it was competitive and they were looking at other providers but Sunpower had a better design and a good reputation.
Sunpower will spend the next two years finishing designs on the conversion unit and deliver the Stirling engine to Glenn Research Center in 2012, said Lee Mason, principal investigator for the fission surface power technology project at NASA. Sunpower's component will be assembled with other parts made around the country and testing on the full conversion unit will begin around fall 2012, Mason added.
The grant money funds about four years of Sunpower's work on the conversion unit, even though NASA hasn't yet decided if it will use the convertor. Mason said he could not comment on when NASA would make a decision about using Sunpower's technology.
NASA is now in the process of re-evaluating their future and changing its focus
Mason said. (NASA) wants to develop basic technologies and put them together to do future missions.
The technology developed at Sunpower is not just a single-use development, Mason said. The technology can also be used for NASA's missions on earth that require full-scale power conversion of heat to electricity, he added.
The industry for building these units is minimal and there's not a lot of companies who do this type of work
but Sunpower has a history of building the units and doing it successfully
Mason said. The team at Sunpower is extremely experienced and we are fortunate to have them on board with us.
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Sarah Beth Hensley
