How does it work?

• The canned heat unit is essentially a “thermal battery”.
• Uses adsorbents to store energy in chemical bonds.  As the material is heated,  water is driven off the adsorbent- essentially drying the adsorbent. This is energy storage phase.
• Combining water with dry adsorbent releases energy.  When we add moist air at the inlet,  water molecules will interact with the surface of the adsorbent, forming a type of chemical bond.  This releases heat.
• We can capture this heat by flowing air through the reactor chamber and using the warm air as a space heater.  There are other applications.

How much will it cost to purchase and operate?

• a 5 kWH unit will list for approximately $700 before rebates and energy credits
• If recharged at optimal conditions,  the overall efficiency is about 50%. The total energy required to recharge the unit from “0” is 10kWh.
• If you supply this energy from wind or solar, your cost to charge is $0.  If you use this heater during peak pricing, around $0.25/kWh,  you will save about $1.30 in grid charges.
• Taking advantage of time of use pricing will save you the difference between the off-peak rate and the rate at time of use.
• What if I use propane?  Substituting a canned heat unit for a propane heater may save you considerable amount of money if you combine the canned heat unit with a properly sized PV installation.

What is the intellectual property position?

• Many patents were issued in this technology in the 1970s and 80’s.  Nearly all have expired, creating a huge repository of know how for us to leverage.
• Canned Heat is developing new patents that combine current and emerging technologies not available in the “early days”.  This creates new fields of use, operation, and manufacturing.
• We are also exploring licensing relationships with some of our national labs that use a similar technology but in a different, non competitive, field of use.