Cyclone Power delivers biomass-powered engine

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Cyclone Power Technologies reported delivery of a biomass-to-power engine system to the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency-funded company Robotic Technology Inc. for use in its Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot, a biologically inspired, organism-like robotic vehicle that finds and processes biomass in a manner similar to eating.

Cyclone's six-cylinder Rankine cycle external heat engine is capable of generating up to 18 horsepower of mechanical power. A more powerful version of the engine is expected to be used in future field prototypes of the EATR.

According to RTI, the EATR has numerous potential commercial applications outside military purposes such as in border patrol, agriculture, forestry, natural disaster clean-up and recovery, and power generation in industrial or large-scale farming and logging settings.