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Long Endurance, High Power Battery
Navy SBIR 2008.2 - Topic N08-143 NAVAIR - Mrs. Janet McGovern - navair.sbir@navy.mil Opens: May 19, 2008 - Closes: June 18, 2008 N08-143 TITLE: Long Endurance, High Power Battery TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Ground/Sea Vehicles, Materials/Processes, Battlespace, Nuclear Technology ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PMA-264 - Air ASW Systems; PMA-290 - Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Air The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals, their country of origin, and what tasks each would accomplish in the statement of work in accordance with section 3.5.b.(7) of the solicitation. OBJECTIVE: Develop a lightweight, long endurance, high power output, low cost sonobuoy and Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) battery to replace current chemistry and endurance limitations given the volume, weight and safety constraints. DESCRIPTION: The current sonobuoy battery is a magnesium/silver-chloride battery (18 volts, 8.2 amp/hour, 120watt, for 6 hours weighing 2.48 pounds in a volume of 4.29 inch diameter by 2.54 inches in height ). There is an excessive amount, approximately 20 troy ounces, of silver per battery currently used. The current UAV-sonobuoy battery is a lithium-polymer battery. There are limitations and various physical configurations and power requirements which will be a derivative of the sonobuoy battery listed above. There are two goals for the sonobuoy-UAV battery and they are; 1) reduction in the interior volume and 2) increasing flight endurance. The battery must be able to be certified for Naval aviation and be environmentally safe. All chemistries and nuclear options will be considered. PHASE I: Determine the feasibility of developing a long endurance, high power battery. Perform design and analysis of high power density, low cost battery system, and define its performance characteristics, develop a design configuration, safety and environmental parameters, and select the major components for proving the feasibility of the proposed system. Analyze all possible failure mechanisms and estimate battery reliability, based on the performance of the electrical and mechanical subsystems. PHASE II: Design and develop a full-scale prototype battery ready for sonobuoy and sonobuoy-UAS installation and conduct a land-based demonstration. PHASE III: Design and fabricate production prototypes for both sonobuoy and sonobuoy-UAS and transition to the fleet. PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: Batteries of this type have the potential of being used by volcanic and polar ice expeditions where long duration remote sensor operation is required. REFERENCES: 2. Tulenko and Crane, University of Florida, University Research Program in Robotics 2005-06 Final Report submitted 30 Nov 2006. 3. T. H. Bradley, B. A. Moffitt, D. N. Mavris, and D. E. Parekh, Development and Experimental Characterization of a Fuel cell Powered Aircraft, J. Power Sources, in press, doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2007.06.215. KEYWORDS: Sensors; Battery; Nuclear; Chemical; Power; UAV.
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