Capstone Green Energy Corporation, formerly Capstone Turbine Corporation, was incorporated in 1988 as a

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

based

gas turbine A gas turbine or gas turbine engine is a type of Internal combustion engine#Continuous combustion, continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas gene ...

manufacturer that specializes in microturbine power along with heating and cooling cogeneration systems. Key to the Capstone design is its use of

air bearing Air bearings (also known as aerostatic or aerodynamic bearings) are bearings that use a thin film of pressurized gas to provide a low friction load-bearing interface between surfaces. The two surfaces do not touch, thus avoiding the problems of ...

s, which provides maintenance and fluid-free operation for the lifetime of the turbine and reduces the system to a single moving part. This also eliminates the need for any cooling or other secondary systems. The Capstone microturbine is a versatile and dispatchable technology that is fuel flexible and scalable enough to fit a variety of applications.

History

The company was founded in 1998 as NoMac Energy Systems in Tarzana, a portmanteau of the surnames of its two founders, James Noe and Robin Mackay. The pair were formerly employed by

AlliedSignal AlliedSignal, Inc. was an American aerospace, automotive and engineering company, created through the 1985 merger of Allied Corp. and The Signal Companies. It purchased Honeywell for $14.8 billion in 1999, and adopted the Honeywell name and iden ...

, but left to develop their ideas for a microturbine generator. Early investors included

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

, and

Sevin Rosen Funds Sevin Rosen Funds (SRF) is a Texas-based venture capital firm credited with pioneering the personal computing revolution in the 1980s and also venture investing in Dallas. It was established in 1981 by L. J. Sevin, a former Texas Instruments engi ...

(in April 1993, led by Benjamin M. Rosen). Harold A. Rosen, Ben's older brother, was one of the first to notice the fledgling turbine company, after a friend working at NASA gave him a paper describing the technology. The Rosens acquired NoMac and renamed it Capstone. In addition, the Rosens founded a separate company, Rosen Motors, in May 1993 to develop a prototype turbine-flywheel automobile power train using the microturbine, but Rosen Motors closed in November 1997 because no major manufacturer was willing to invest further. After Rosen Motors folded, Capstone continued to develop its microturbine as a source of electricity to facilitate

distributed generation Distributed generation, also distributed energy, on-site generation (OSG), or district/decentralized energy, is electrical generation and storage performed by a variety of small, grid-connected or distribution system-connected devices referred ...

, spurred by investments from computer technology executives including Ben Rosen,

Paul Allen Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American businessman, computer programmer, and investor. He co-founded Microsoft, Microsoft Corporation with his childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which was followed by the ...

, and

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software company Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend ...

, although Capstone did partner with

Richard Hilleman Richard Hilleman is an American computer game and video game producer best known for his work creating the original Madden Football game for video game consoles for Electronic Arts. Apart from ''Madden'', Hilleman was a key figure in building ...

to build the CMT-380 hybrid electric supercar, which debuted at the

Los Angeles Auto Show The Los Angeles Auto Show, also known as the LA Auto Show, is an auto show held annually at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is open to the public for ten days, filling of exhibit space. Since 2006 ...

in 2009. It uses the GTM chassis from

Factory Five Racing Factory Five Racing, Inc. (F.F.R.) is an Americans, American automobile company that designs and manufactures assembly Kit car, kits, chassis, bodies and related components for replicars and sports cars. Current models The "kit cars" are desi ...

. In distributed generation applications, microturbines often are part of

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

installations, recovering exhaust heat to boost overall

thermal efficiency In thermodynamics, the thermal efficiency (\eta_) is a dimensionless performance measure of a device that uses thermal energy, such as an internal combustion engine, steam turbine, steam engine, boiler, furnace, refrigerator, ACs etc. For ...

. On April 22, 2021, the company announced it was changing its name to Capstone Green Energy. In July 2021, the company provided the first hydrogen fueled microturbine to Austrian engineering and construction firm Innovametall Stahl-Und Metallbau to be used at their powder coating facility in

Freistadt Freistadt (, ) is a small Austrian town in the state of Upper Austria in the region Mühlviertel. With a population of approximately 7,500 residents, it is a trade centre for local villages. Freistadt is the economic centre of a district of the sa ...

. Capstone is a member of the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on De ...

's Combined Heat and Power Partnership, which is committed to improving the efficiency of the nation's energy infrastructure and reducing emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases. A DQS-Certified

ISO 9001 The ISO 9000 family is a set of international standards for quality management systems. It was developed in March 1987 by International Organization for Standardization. The goal of these standards is to help organizations ensure that they meet ...

:2015 and

ISO 14001 The ISO 14000 family is a set of international standards for Natural environment, environment management systems. It was developed in March 1996 by International Organization for Standardization. The goal of these standards is to help organizations ...

:2015 certified company, Capstone is headquartered in the Los Angeles area with sales and/or service centers in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Middle East and Asia. On September 28, 2023, Capstone Green Energy declared

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

Products

The company sells microturbine generators for

electrical power generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its delivery ( transmission, distribution, etc.) to end users or its stora ...

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 ...

biogas Biogas is a gaseous renewable energy source produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste, Wastewater treatment, wastewater, and food waste. Biogas is produced by anaerobic ...

-fueled

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

, and

hybrid vehicle A hybrid vehicle is one that uses two or more distinct types of power, such as submarines that use diesel when surfaced and batteries when submerged. Other means to store energy include pressurized fluid in hydraulic hybrids. Hybrid powertrai ...

power. Capstone offers microturbines with output power ratings ranging from . Multiple turbines can be combined with Capstone's Advanced Power Server (APS) for greater output. Capstone microturbines have generated some interest as a range extender for

hybrid electric vehicle A hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) is a type of hybrid vehicle that couples a conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) with one or more electric engines into a hybrid vehicle drivetrain, combined propulsion system. The presence of the electri ...

s, in particular hybrid electric work trucks. Their light weight, small size and quick starting time make them ideal as "instant-on" backup power to recharge the main batteries. An example of a Capstone-powered hybrid vehicle is the Capstone CMT-380, equipped with a 30 kW gas turbine generator running on diesel that recharges Li-Poly batteries when necessary. The CMT-380 has a proposed range of on battery alone, but when combined with the microturbine that range is pushed to more than .

Design

The Capstone microturbine is a

turboshaft A turboshaft engine is a form of gas turbine that is optimized to produce shaft horsepower rather than jet thrust. In concept, turboshaft engines are very similar to turbojets, with additional turbine expansion to extract heat energy from the ex ...

engine with a single coupled shaft carrying the compressor, turbine, and generator. Idealized gas turbine operation is represented by the

Brayton cycle The Brayton cycle, also known as the Joule cycle, is a thermodynamic cycle that describes the operation of certain heat engines that have air or some other gas as their working fluid. It is characterized by isentropic process, isentropic compre ...

. In this machine, intake air is drawn over the generator (G) to cool it and is pressurized in the compressor (C); the compressed air then passes through a non-mixing exhaust-to-air heat exchanger called a recuperator (R). The recuperator uses exhaust heat to preheat the intake combustion air, which increases the overall efficiency of the microturbine. In the next step of the cycle, the compressed, preheated air is fed to a combustor (X) where it is mixed with the fuel and burned. The heated combustion exhaust gas is expanded through a turbine (T), driving the rotation of the central shaft. Since the turbine, compressor and generator are mounted on a single central shaft, the rotation of the turbine produces electrical power while simultaneously drawing in air to maintain the overall process. The faster the shaft spins in the magnetic field, the greater the electrical output power. Output power conditioning is obtained using inverter based power electronics.

Sponsorship

For the

NTT IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

, Capstone has sponsored: * Driver

Colton Herta Colton Thomas Herta (born March 30, 2000) is an American auto racing, racing driver who competes in the IndyCar Series, NTT IndyCar Series for Andretti Autosport, Andretti Global with Curb Agajanian Performance Group, Curb Agajanian. He is the yo ...

(2019–20) * Driver

James Hinchcliffe James Douglas Meredith Hinchcliffe (born December 5, 1986) is a Canadian race car driver currently competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship driving the No. 9 Lamborghini for Pfaff Motorsports. He is also a commentator for Fox Sports, FOX Sp ...

(2021)

References

External links

* *
Capstone Launches the New C200 Signature Series Microturbine
*[https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2015/12/07/793432/10157994/en/Capstone-Unveils-New-Signature-Series-Microturbine-at-2015-Power-Gen-International-Show-in-Las-Vegas.html Capstone Unveils New Signature Series Microturbine at 2015 Power-Gen International Show in Las Vegas] *https://www.CapstoneGreenEnergy.com/

Patents

* * * {{cite patent , status=grant , country=US , number=5697848A , invent1=Robert W. Bosley , assign=Capstone Green Energy Corp , fdate=May 12, 1995 , gdate=December 16, 1997 , title=Compound shaft with flexible disk coupling

Case studies

*Case Study o
Lotte New York Palace Hotel
in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

using Capstone C65 microturbines vi
RSP Systems
a Capstone distributor. *Case Study o
Wintershall Holding GmbH
in Großaitingen using a C65 microturbine. *Case Study o
Oncor Electric Delivery
in

Lancaster, Texas Lancaster ( ) is a city in Dallas County, Texas, United States. Its population was 41,275 according to the 2020 census. Founded in 1852 as a frontier post, Lancaster is one of Dallas County's earliest settlements. Today, it is a suburban communi ...

using a C65 microturbine.

Product sheets

Capstone C30 (30kW) Data SheetCapstone C65 (65kW) Data SheetCapstone C65 ICHP Data SheetCapstone C200 (200kW) Data Sheet
*Capston
C200SC600SC800SC1000S
Energy companies of the United States Companies based in Los Angeles County, California Engine manufacturers of the United States Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2023 Gas turbine manufacturers

History

Products

Design

Sponsorship

See also

References

External links

Patents

Case studies

Product sheets