infrastructure and reducing emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases. A DQS-Certified ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015 certified company, Capstone is headquartered in the Los Angeles area with sales and/or service centers in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Middle East and Asia. Products The company sells microturbine generators for electrical power generation, cogeneration, biogas-fueled renewable energy, and hybrid vehicle power. Capstone offers microturbines with output power ratings ranging from . Multiple turbines can be combined with Capstone's Advanced Power Server (APS) for greater output. Capstone microturbines have generated some interest as a range extender for hybrid electric vehicles, in particular hybrid electric work trucks. Their light weight, small size and quick starting time make them ideal as "instant-on" backup power to recharge the main batteries. An example of a Capstone-powered hybrid vehicle is the Capstone CMT-380, equipped with a 30 kW gas turbine generator running on diesel that recharges Li-Poly batteries when necessary. The CMT-380 has a proposed range of on battery alone, but when combined with the microturbine that range is pushed to more than . Design The Capstone microturbine is a turboshaft engine with a single coupled shaft carrying the compressor, turbine, and generator. Idealized gas turbine operation is represented by the Brayton cycle. In this machine, intake air is drawn over the generator (G) to cool it and is pressurized in the compressor (C); the compressed air then passes through a non-mixing exhaust-to-air heat exchanger called a recuperator (R). The recuperator uses exhaust heat to preheat the intake combustion air, which increases the overall efficiency of the microturbine. In the next step of the cycle, the compressed, preheated air is fed to a combustor (X) where it is mixed with the fuel and burned. The heated combustion exhaust gas is expanded through a turbine (T), driving the rotation of the central shaft. Since the turbine, compressor and generator are mounted on a single central shaft, the rotation of the turbine produces electrical power while simultaneously drawing in air to maintain the overall process. The faster the shaft spins in the magnetic field, the greater the electrical output power. Output power conditioning is obtained using inverter based power electronics. Sponsorship For the NTT IndyCar Series, Capstone has sponsored: Driver Colton Herta (2019–20) Driver James Hinchcliffe (2021) See also Distributed generation Brayton cycle Cogeneration (Combined Heat and Power, or CHP) Trigeneration (Combined Cooling Heating and Power, or CCHP) References