UTC Power was a fuel cell company based in

South Windsor, Connecticut South Windsor is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 26,918 at the 2020 census. History In 1659, Thomas Burnham (1617–1688) purchased the tract of land now covered by the towns of South Windsor and East H ...

. It was part of United Technologies Corporation; it was purchased by

ClearEdge Power ClearEdge Power, Inc. was a fuel cell manufacturer focusing on the stationary fuel cell. It was headquartered in South Windsor, Connecticut, U.S. The company employed 225 people as of August 2011. It closed its operations in Connecticut in April ...

in February 2013. The company specialized in fuel cells for buildings, buses and automobiles. It has also developed fuel cells for

space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually cons ...

and submarine applications in the past.

History

UTC Power began as a division of Pratt & Whitney in 1958. In 1966, the company supplied fuel cells to NASA for the Apollo project space missions, to supply electric power and drinking water for the astronauts on board and, later, for the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...

missions until 2010. In 1985, the company became a wholly owned subsidiary of UTC under the name International Fuel Cells. It was later renamed UTC Fuel Cells, and became UTC Power in 2001. In the early 1990s, UTC Power commercialized a large,

stationary fuel cell Stationary fuel-cell applications (or stationary fuel-cell power systems) are applications for fuel cells that are either connected to the electric grid (distributed generation) to provide supplemental power and as emergency power system for critic ...

for use as a

cogeneration Cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP) is the use of a heat engine or power station to generate electricity and useful heat at the same time. Cogeneration is a more efficient use of fuel or heat, because otherwise- wasted heat from elec ...

power plant. The company has expanded into the broader fuel cell industry over the last 10 years, developing fuel cells for automobiles and buses. In February 2013, UTC Power was sold to

Fuel cells for buildings

UTC Power’s stationary phosphoric acid fuel cell product is the PureCell Model 400 System. This stationary fuel cell system provides 400 kilowatts of electricity and 1.7 million Btu/hour of heat. The

PureCell System The PureCell System is a stationary phosphoric acid fuel cell designed, manufactured and marketed by Doosan Fuel Cell America (formerly ClearEdge Power/UTC Power) of South Windsor, Connecticut. Intended for distributed generation and micro com ...

is considered a good match for combined heat and power applications including supermarkets, hospitals, hotels and educational institutions. The UTC Power fuel cell system uses natural gas which is converted in a "catalytic reformer" into hydrogen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and water. The hydrogen is used to run the four fuel cell stacks to produce electricity and the power plant then converts the exhaust heat into cooling and heating, turning potential waste into usable energy. The product has a 10-year cell stack durability and 20-year product life. UTC Power has designed, manufactured and installed more than 300 stationary fuel cells in 19 countries on six continents. The fleet has exceeded 9.4 million hours of field operation and has generated more than 1.6 billion kWh of energy, enough to power nearly 140,000 homes for an entire year. PureCell Systems are operating at Whole Foods Markets in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts; Price Chopper stores in New York, a Coca-Cola Refreshments bottling facility in New York and another in Connecticut, a powerplant in South Korea, and at other sites around the world.

Fuel cells for buses

The PureMotion Model 120 System was UTC Power’s zero-emission proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell for transit buses. UTC Power’s PureMotion Model 120 system is powering a fleet of transit buses in Connecticut and California. On Friday, March 16, 2012, UTC Power participated in an event hosted by Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) to highlight

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

passage of federal surface transportation legislation. The event was held at CT Transit facilities in Hartford and included representatives from the

Connecticut Department of Transportation The Connecticut Department of Transportation (often referred to as CTDOT and occasionally ConnDOT, or CDOT) is responsible for the development and operation of highways, railroads, mass transit systems, ports and waterways in Connecticut. ...

. On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate passed a two-year reauthorization of federal highway, transit and safety programs to fund highway and transit improvements nationwide. The legislation included a Clean Fuels Grant Program to prioritize funding for transit agencies to purchase zero emission passenger buses.

Fuel cells for automobiles

UTC Power developed and manufactured PEM fuel cells for automobiles. The company worked with BMW, Hyundai and Nissan as well as the U.S. Department of Energy on development and demonstration programs.

Energy Security

The UTC Power Control Center monitored the global fleet of PureCell systems 24/7 and often detected potential problems before they could impact successful operation of the system, ensuring maximum uptime for customers. Each PureCell included an internet-based communication system, called the Remote Monitoring System (RMS). The RMS provided the Control Center with remote access to fuel cell operating data and allowed limited control, including start-up, power output kW set point and shut-down commands. The fuel cell could independently “call out” to alert technicians of out-of-limit parameters, status, and need for maintenance. The RMS also supplied the system owner with website access to view the fuel cell’s operating status.

References

External links

ClearCell Power Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Utc Power United Technologies Companies based in Hartford County, Connecticut Fuel cell manufacturers South Windsor, Connecticut