N092-132 TITLE: Advanced Power/Energy System for Wet and Dry Submersibles

TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Ground/Sea Vehicles

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: Shallow Water Combat Submersible ACAT III

OBJECTIVE: Develop, design, prototype and evaluate a next generation power source/energy system for shallow water submersible operations.

DESCRIPTION: Navy wet and dry submersibles require energy storage systems for extended underwater operations. With the increasing demand to support additional electronics and longer mission durations current state of the art batteries are reaching their safe capacity limitations. The two principal examples of these submersibles are the Swimmer Delivery Vehicle (SDS) (wet) and the Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS) (dry). The Shallow Water Combat Submersible (SWCS) (wet) is expected to replace the SDS in the future. The ASDS has similar power and energy requirements to the SWCS only scaled for the size and systems of the vessel. Therefore, innovations developed under this SBIR could be scaled to support both the SWCS and ASDS. Potential application of the technology is not necessarily limited to these three submersibles.

The submersibles require power generation/and or storage capacity to sustain both propulsion and electronic loads. Submersibles operate at moderate water pressure and in a wide temperature range. Systems for submersibles must be as compact and light weight as possible. The technical innovation required is a significant increase in the safely available energy in the system. The energy storage system shall not be orientation sensitive regarding electrical, environmental, and safety performance. The energy storage system shall be designed to be resistant to the corrosive effects of salt water, resistant to the deteriorative effects of moist and humid environments. The energy storage system shall be capable of sustaining an exterior hydraulic pressure of 120 psi without leaking or damaging the system.

Research, develop, and evaluate a power source/energy storage system for manned/unmanned, wet/dry Navy submersibles. No energy storage system technologies will be excluded. The proposed concept must have capability to exceed the following requirements while occupying a volume of approximately 20 cubic feet.

Category: Typical Power Requirements
Propulsion power system (minimum): 185 volts/85 KW hours
Electronics power system (minimum): 37 volts/16KW hours
Storage Charge Rate (fully discharged to fully charged): Less than 9 hours
Energy Density, Cell Level / System Level (minimum): 300Wh/Kg / 250Wh/Kg

The solution must meet Department of Navy (DON) standards such Special Operations Forces (SOF) Carry-on Hardware Authorization Requirements and Standards for Transport and Stowage on Submarines and Deep Submergence Systems (DSS). Safety approval for the use of the Power Source Concept will have to meet DON, Naval Ordnance Safety & Security Activity (NOSSA) certification. Final Safety Approval will be coordinated between the Naval surface Warfare Center (NSWC), Crane, IN and NOSSA.

PHASE I: Develop and validate the proof of principle concept. Determine the data requirements necessary to produce the prototype. Provide a task plan and detail the plan on the verification process to determine the accuracy of the model/prototype. Document how the system would operate, any technical issues, how the system would meet or exceed power requirements.

PHASE II: The contractor will be expected to aggressively pursue opportunities to integrate the software and protocols of the developed model on applicable military platforms. The contractor shall complete the prototype development of the technology in preparation for its use and evaluation on Naval Special Warfare submersibles. A TRL 6 to 7 is expected at the end of Phase II. At the end of Phase II, the prototype technology will be evaluated in a laboratory setting.

PHASE III: Work will continue to transition the technology to programs such as SWCS, SDV, or ASDS.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: Efficient energy storage solutions that can withstand a marine environment at a wide range of temperatures have numerous commercial applications in the Oil & Gas and Marine Industries. A broad range of efforts are underway in various industries including the automobile industry. Commercial utility is not an issue with this topic.

REFERENCES:
1. NAVSEA Instruction 9310.1B Navy Lithium Battery Safety Program

2. S9310-AQ-SAF-010 Navy Lithium Safety Program Responsibilities and Procedures

3. IEEE Standard 45 Recommended Practice for Electrical Installations Shipboard

KEYWORDS: energy storage; fuel cell; submersible; power source; battery

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

DoD Notice:   Between April 20 and May 17, 2009, you may talk directly with the Topic Authors to ask technical questions about the topics. Their contact information is listed above. For reasons of competitive fairness, direct communication between proposers and topic authors is not allowed starting May 18, 2009, when DoD begins accepting proposals for this solicitation.

However, proposers may still submit written questions about solicitation topics through the DoD's SBIR/STTR Interactive Topic Information System (SITIS), in which the questioner and respondent remain anonymous and all questions and answers are posted electronically for general viewing until the solicitation closes. All proposers are advised to monitor SITIS (09.2 Q&A) during the solicitation period for questions and answers, and other significant information, relevant to the SBIR 09.2 topic under which they are proposing.

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