Moller International has announced that it has successfully coupled its 150cc Rotapower® engine to a high-performance brushless generator to create a breakthrough in the portable 10KW electric power range. This latest Rotapac Power Module follows an earlier 35 KW very compact Rotapac unit the company developed for the hybrid car industry under a DARPA/CALSTART contract. Both units occupy less than 20% of the volume and weight of existing gen-sets. This remarkable achievement is due to the attributes of the company’s Rotapower engine originally developed for its aeronautical products. The 10KW Rotapac occupies only 1.5 cubic feet and is one-man portable. Existing gen-sets of comparable power can occupy 8-to-12 cubic feet of volume.

In the emerging Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) market, using either Rotapac would leave far more volume available for batteries. “The Rotapac is a marvelous little package for anyone in need of portable electric power,” said Dr. Paul Moller, founder and President of Moller International. “It can be used in many applications such as home emergency power, construction or transportation.” A single 10KW Rotapac Power Module provides enough electrical power for a number of average size homes during an emergency.

In recent emissions tests the Rotapower® engine ran equally well on gasoline or ethanol and has demonstrated its potential to run on diesel fuel as well. Previously the Rotapower® engine was able to achieve very low emissions (see “Moller's Rotapower® Engine Produces Emissions Far Below California's SULEV Standard”, September 15, 2006). In these tests it met the California’s Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle (ULEV) standards on gasoline and the Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle (SULEV) standards on ethanol.