IMPCO Awarded Patent for Fuel Pressure Regulator for Fuel Cells
18 April 2000
IMPCO Awarded Patent for Fuel Pressure Regulator for Fuel Cells
IRVINE, Calif., April 17 IMPCO Technologies, Inc.
(Nasdaq: IMCO) announced today that its Advanced Technology Center in Irvine,
California, has been awarded a patent for its new and innovative In-Tank Fuel
Pressure Regulator Technology for Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles (FCVs) and
Natural Gas Vehicles (NGVs).
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19990921/IMPCOLOGO )
IMPCO's new In-Tank Regulator combined with the company's proprietary,
"TriShield" ultra-light weight, advanced composite fuel storage tanks offer a
significant reduction in fuel system cost while at the same time increasing
vehicle safety to a level not previously attained in the alternative fuel
system industry.
In conventional gaseous fuel delivery systems, the fuel is transported at
high pressure to the engine bay where the pressure is reduced prior to
delivery to the engine. Thus, a large amount of high-pressure gas is
contained in the fuel delivery lines at all times. The IMPCO patented in-tank
regulator reduces the pressure of the gas prior to exiting the tank. As an
added safety feature, the regulator also automatically shuts off the fuel flow
in the event of an emergency and will enhance the safety of the entire vehicle
and its occupants.
IMPCO solved this problem through the design of a high-pressure regulator
housed inside the vehicle fuel tank. The IMPCO design not only minimizes fuel
system operating pressure, but it can also reduce overall fuel system cost
through integration of key system functions such as tank filling, fuel
filtering, fuel tank monitoring, thermal relief valve and tank isolation
(lock-off). The new In-Tank regulator also enables low cost, low-pressure
fuel delivery lines to be easily installed as the total number of parts
required is reduced from seven to one. The current high-pressure fuel
delivery lines are both expensive and labor intensive to install throughout
the chassis of the vehicle.
IMPCO plans to offer two models of In-Tank Regulator designs:
1.0 H2R 5000 - Hydrogen Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Internal Combustion
Engines
(5000-psi (+) operating pressure, 150-psi outlet pressure)
2.0 NGR 3600 - Compressed Natural Gas Fuel Cells and Natural Gas Vehicles
(3600-psi operating pressure, 150-psi outlet pressure)
Syed Hussain, Vice President and General Manager of IMPCO's Technology and
Automotive OEM Division said, "We are delighted to offer a product that will
'raise the bar' in terms of increasing the safety of fuel cell and natural gas
vehicles at a lower fuel storage system price to the OEM. Our goal is to
continue to develop advanced technologies in the areas of fuel storage, fuel
metering and electronic control systems which are cost effective for the
automotive OEMs."
For more information on IMPCO's advanced fuel systems technology, please
contact: Alan Niedzwiecki, Executive Director, Business Development at
Tel: +1-(949) 399-4552.
IMPCO is a leading designer, manufacturer and supplier of fuel storage,
fuel delivery and electronic control systems that allow internal combustion
engines and fuel cells to operate using clean fuels such as hydrogen, propane,
natural gas and methanol. IMPCO has designed these systems to optimize
efficiency and performance by electronically sensing and regulating the proper
proportion of fuel and air used by internal combustion engines and fuel cell
systems. We supply our products to original equipment manufacturers of motor
vehicles, buses, trucks, forklifts and other material handling equipment and
small portable to large stationary engines and to the global aftermarket as
well.
Headquartered in Cerritos, California, IMPCO has more than 400
distributors and dealers and 12 offices and facilities worldwide including:
United States, Australia, Japan and Mexico. IMPCO operates in the
Netherlands, France, Germany and the United Kingdom as IMPCO-BERU
Technologies, B.V. Our website is http://www.impcotechnologies.com .
Certain matters discussed in this press release contain forward-looking
information that involves risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to differ materially from current trends. These include growth of the
alternative fuels market, OEM automotive product sales, competition, the
company's ability to design and market new fuel management products, the
company's ability to meet OEM specifications, and other such risks as cited in
the company's 1999 annual report on Form 10-K and other documents filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission.
IMPCO Technologies Inc., 16804 Gridley Place, Cerritos, Ca 90703-1741
+1-562-860-6666 FAX +1-562-860-3088