Compact Energy Harvesting Power Supporting an "A" size Sensor Navy SBIR FY2009.3 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2009.3 Topic No.: N093-172 Topic Title: Compact Energy Harvesting Power Supporting an "A" size Sensor Proposal No.: N093-172-0676 Firm: SeaLandAire Technologies, Inc. 1510 Springport Rd Suite C Jackson, Michigan 49202-1418 Contact: Brian Montague Phone: (517) 784-8340 Web Site: www.sealandaire.com Abstract: Modern Air ASW operations are shifting to littoral areas typified by high ambient background levels, high reverberation and multipath, while targets are quieter than ever. One solution to retain the desired acoustic field performance in these challenging scenarios is to increase the sensor spatial density by deploying more sonobuoys. Unfortunately, these extra buoys have historically been used to reseed the field to extend the mission. Since ASW aircraft are limited both in overall numbers and payload, maximizing individual sonobuoy endurance is particularly desirable to extend field life. The current production version of the ADAR sonobuoy (AN/SSQ-101) falls short of the 8 hour endurance metric and operates 4.5 to 6 hours. The opportunity, then, is to extend the life of the ADAR sonobuoy by improving on the existing energy system. This can be accomplished through increased onboard energy storage as well as harvesting energy from the environment as it is available. These improvements must be implemented without affecting the system's acoustic performance with minimal impact on the existing mechanical configuration of the buoy. SeaLandAire's approach to address the energy deficit is to implement an ocean wave energy harvesting device in conjunction with an increased-capacity energy storage system. Benefits: For commercialization of the compact energy harvester, determining the specific technology need is critical to ensure the SBIR development effort results in a product / technology that is beneficial to potential customers. This requires identification of existing systems that might need increased onboard energy storage and what systems might want energy harvesting. An alternate approach is to identify specific customers with a general need for this type of technology. These include DoD customers (NAVAIR, NAVSEA, NOOC, NAVO, FNMOC), non DoD governmental agencies (NOAA, DOE, USGS, EPA) and research partners in academia (University of Michigan, MBARI, University of Washington APL). These other applications that could use this technology include moored buoys, drifter buoys, AUVs, underwater gliders, Expendable Mobile ASW Tracking Target (EMATT), Commandable Mobile Anti Submarine Warfare Sensor (CMAS) and small ASVs. The estimated market for this technology is 4000 buoys/year for NAVAIR and probably hundreds per year from other sources. This technology development will also create marketable products including battery modules and energy harvesting package with buffering energy storage. To assist in the transition to market, SeaLandAire plans to participate in the Navy Transition Assistance Program (TAP) and to also present and/or display at workshops and conferences such as NDIA's ASW conferences (East and West coast), ONR/MTS Buoy Workshop, IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Expo (ECCE) and IEEE/MTS Oceans conference. Return