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PASADENA, Calif., March 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- VIASPACE Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: VSPC) announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued patent number 7, 499,169 to VIASPACE on March 3, 2009. The patent covers detection and measurement of water vapor (humidity) in gas streams for fuel cells and exhaust streams from combustion processes such as automobiles and factory smokestacks. Inventors are Nathan Hurvitz and VIASPACE CEO Dr. Carl Kukkonen.
VIASPACE's HS-1000 humidity sensor product is now protected by this patent. The HS-1000 uses a laser to make real-time measurements of water vapor in air or other gas streams. Humidity measurements are crucial for testing and optimization of hydrogen fuel cells and the HS-1000 has been sold to leading fuel cell developers and researchers worldwide. The other major application covered by the patent is to measure humidity in the products of combustion. Gasoline or natural gas, when burned in air, produce water vapor as a combustion product. Precise measurement of the water vapor in the exhaust may be a crucial indicator of the efficiency of combustion and the effective "miles per gallon" achieved.
One international customer extensively compared the VIASPACE HS-1000 to two leading competitors and the HS-1000 won the competition. HS-1000 customers include Ballard Power Systems, 3M, US National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology and a leading worldwide automobile manufacturer.
About VIASPACE (OTCBB: VSPC) -- VIASPACE was founded in 1998 and became a public company in 2005. VIASPACE focuses on clean and alternative energy including disposable fuel cell cartridges, and a proprietary fast-growing grass as a feedstock for biofuels and for animal feed. For more information, please see
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