RASIRC AWARDED CONTRACT BY LOCKHEED MARTIN
Company’s RainMaker Humidifiers to be used in ISIS Airship
San Diego, Calif. – March 22, 2011 – RASIRC®, the steam purification company, announced today that it has been awarded a contract from Lockheed Martin to supply RainMaker® Humidifiers for use in humidifying hydrogen and oxygen on an unmanned, high altitude, long endurance airship. The Integrated Sensor is Structure (ISIS) program was awarded to Lockheed Martin in April 2009 by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). RASIRC designs and manufactures products for controlled humidification and ultrapure steam generation for critical manufacturing processes.
Engineers at Lockheed Martin plan to power the airship using solar rays during daylight hours. Solar energy will also electrolyze water, with the hydrogen and oxygen stored separately and used at night to generate energy via a hydrogen fuel cell.
“Fuel cells require feed gas to be humidified without adding any contaminants,” said Jeff Spiegelman, president of RASIRC. “Our RainMakers use high purity materials and proprietary seals, making them uniquely qualified to meet the technical challenge of unmanned humidification in space.”
Under the DARPA program, ISIS is designed to revolutionize persistent, theater-wide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. It will demonstrate battlefield surveillance, tracking and fire-control, and enable engagement of hundreds of time-critical air and ground targets simultaneously in both urban and rural environments, provided by a persistent, maintenance free satellite-like system.
The RainMaker Humidification System (RHS) generates and delivers precise amounts of ultra pure water vapor purified for both ionic contaminants and dissolved gases. The RHS adds controlled amounts of pure water vapor directly into any carrier gas stream. It can humidify inert, corrosive, and flammable gases, such as hydrogen and oxygen, at a wide range of flow rates. The system can deliver into atmosphere as well as vacuum process pressures.
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