A Safe High Energy Density Power Source for Undersea Applications
Navy SBIR FY2016.1


Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2016.1
Topic No.: N161-030
Topic Title: A Safe High Energy Density Power Source for Undersea Applications
Proposal No.: N161-030-0671
Firm: Bettergy Corp.
8 John Walsh Blvd., Suite 321
Peekskill, New York 10566
Contact: Lin-Feng Li
Phone: (914) 290-6293
Web Site: http://www.bettergy.com
Abstract: U.S. Naval operations, like other U.S. military operations, have come to depend more and more on manned and unmanned vehicles to carry out missions, including missions such as ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance), mine countermeasures, anti-submarine warfare, inspection/identification, oceanography, communication, payload delivery, information operations and time critical strikes. These mission capabilities are essential to help our naval forces maintain maritime superiority around the world. However, in the case of submersibles (such as Swimmer Delivery Vehicle (SDS wet), Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS dry), future Shallow Water Combat Submersible (SWCS wet) and Shallow Water Surveillance System (SWSS)), the operation duration and transit distance are often limited by the energy storage capacity of their power systems. Current technologies used by the military for high energy density applications such as submersibles include Li primary batteries (e.g. LiSOCl2 ~500WH/kg, or Li-CFx-MnO2), Silver Zinc batteries (140-200 WH/kg), and Li-ion secondary batteries (180-220 WH/kg). However, these three battery chemistries do not fully meet operational requirements and have relatively high costs. In this SBIR program, a novel high energy density seawater battery is proposed and will be developed to meet this urgent demand from the U.S. Navy.
Benefits: In addition to the immediate military application, this innovative seawater battery technology will have unprecedented energy density, which will be immediately applicable in the marine market for use as an environment friendly power supply, emergency backup power, and power source for long term sensors. The power source could also be used in many other maritime applications including in oceanographic survey vessels, offshore oil exploration and salvage ships, and by the shipping industry, the Coast Guard and the Border Patrol.

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