MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- (Marketwire) -- 03/20/13 -- Despatch Industries, the world's leading thermal technology and equipment provider, is pleased to announce that the company has received an order for a custom production furnace from Bloom Energy. Bloom Energy provides solid oxide fuel cell technology that generates clean, reliable energy around the world. The company plans to utilize the custom, high temperature Despatch furnace for applications involving fuel cell processing.

"We are excited to have the opportunity to partner with Bloom Energy for this unique furnace application," states Rick Steblay, Despatch Application Engineering Manager. "To meet Bloom's specific requirements, we were able to draw from our experience and knowledge in other high temperature furnace applications, like our solution heat treat furnace and our firing furnace, to create a new system with new technology, perfectly suited to Bloom's specific application."

The production furnace features vertical-down airflow to achieve tight temperature uniformity within the chamber. The furnace is capable of reaching temperatures up to 1000 degrees C through a combination of convective and radiant heating technology that utilizes custom heating elements. Unique to the set-up of the furnace, the furnace shell moves on a rail system around a fixed, stationary deck to allow for easy loading and unloading of product batches. The furnace will operate on Despatch's proprietary control system. The PLC-based system will be configured to provide operational, monitoring and protection capabilities, and will be integrated with Bloom Energy's master controller. Prior to shipping, the furnace will undergo Factory Acceptance Testing, along with specific temperature uniformity tests, to ensure compliance to performance specifications.

About Bloom Energy: Bloom Energy is a provider of breakthrough solid oxide fuel cell technology generating clean, highly-efficient onsite power from multiple fuel sources. Founded in 2001 with a mission to make clean, reliable energy affordable for everyone in the world, Bloom Energy Servers are currently producing power for several Fortune 500 companies including Google, Walmart, AT&T, eBay, Staples, The Coca-Cola Company, as well as notable non-profit organizations such as Caltech and Kaiser Permanente. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit www.Bloomenergy.com.

About Despatch Industries: Despatch has specialized in thermal processing for over 100 years. The company is actively using this technical expertise to provide innovative solutions and high performance products to the thermal, solar and carbon fiber markets. The company's regional offices and complete global service network allow Despatch to provide local sales and product support to all customers worldwide. Despatch equipment is consistently recognized for exceptional performance and process quality, maximum uptime and reduced operating costs.

For more information on Despatch, visit our website: www.despatch.com