Brayton Energy

Brayton Energy is looking to bring a new engineering team member onboard to support its work in emerging renewable and high-efficiency power systems. More specifically, the right candidate will be heavily involved in (a) developing and demonstrating our hybrid Solid Oxide Fuel Cell – Gas Turbine (SOFC-GT) powerplant for flight applications (Brayton’s NASA Ignite program), (b) new hybrid SOFC-GT programs in the stationary, portable and vehicle power sectors that are coming online, and (c) solid-particle Thermal Energy Storage (TES) efforts, including Brayton’s new Department of Energy-funded Sandewirm program. The accompanying infographic outlines an “ideal fit” for this position. The left side describes candidate characteristics and skillsets that are most in-demand at Brayton, not only for these efforts but across all of the organization’s projects. The right side outlines specifics for the role currently being recruited; an ideal candidate will slot into this landscape, hitting the ground running in some areas and growing quickly to master the others. Please note that we are looking for high-achieving newly-graduated candidates as well as seasoned engineers for this role. Brayton is a fast-paced cross-functional organization with ongoing research and development work in all corners of the energy sector, including renewable, space, nuclear, flight, vehicle, and ground power applications. We are an energetic team devoted to a clean energy future and engineering excellence. If you find this position and environment compelling, we’d love to hear from you. Tell us how you fit in this exciting landscape. Please send an email to [email protected] to start the discussion!

Brayton Energy was awarded a Phase 2 SBIR through NASA IGNITE to continue development of the hybrid Solid Oxide Fuel Cell / Turbo-Generator powerplant, specifically to target the emerging VTOL Urban Air Mobility market. With partners Special Power Sources, Tennessee Technological Institute, Minco Technologies, and GAIA Energy Research Institute, the team will be constructing, operating, and validating a 14 kWe combined SOFC+TG powerplant. Success in this program will demonstrate a flight-capable technology that can achieve fuel efficiencies twice those of state-of-the-art Internal Combustion and Turbine-based powerplants.

Thermal Energy Storage and Exchanger with Integrated Rotating Media Transport (T.E. Sandewirm) We are pleased to announce that Brayton Energy has been awarded funding through the Department of Energy's FY23 Solar-thermal Fuels and Thermal Energy Storage Via Concentrated Solar-thermal (CST) program. Brayton's project will advance a novel particle-based thermal energy storage architecture to replace the emerging SOTA 2-reservoir plus skip hoist/bucket elevator designs; the new system promises to be simpler, more reliable, and have lower capital and operating costs. Success in this program could enable broad deployment of concentrated solar technologies to provide power around the clock, capture and return heat to offset industrial process heating loads, and enable Pumped Thermal Energy Storage (PTES) systems to provide high-efficiency grid storage.

Brayton was awarded a Phase 1 SBIR through the NASA IGNITE program to develop a high-efficiency hybrid-electric powerplant for aircraft applications. Partnering with Special Power Sources, Tennessee Technological Institute, Minco Technologies, and GAIA Energy Research Institute, the team is coupling gas turbine generator (TG) technology with innovative and field-proven tubular solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology to produce an ultra-high-efficiency lightweight engine suitable for NASA’s emerging Urban Air Mobility (UAM) vehicle variants. Within Phase 1 the integrated system is being modeled and optimized across candidate mission profiles, while testing is taking place at Brayton to demonstrate stable and efficient operation of the gas turbine combustor with a range of sustainable aviation fuels. A proposed Phase 2 effort will see a 14 kWe combined SOFC+TG powerplant built up and tested to validate operation and performance estimates.